The Legend of Archenold

Chapters

Prolouge
Chapter 1: Where The Hay Are We?
Chapter 2: Time To Get Out Of This Shit Hole
Chapter 3: The Real New Recruits
Chapter 4: The Journey Begins
Chapter 5: The Silver Griffin

Prolouge

The Legend Of Archenold

An original fanfiction by IBaBrony/IBMrYanshu

Prolouge

Two ponies are headed through a jungle, one being a rather tan Pegasus with black hair that fades into white in the midsection. Her mane is rather spiky at the tips. She is wearing a green shirt and is equipped with a whip. Her cutie mark is a compass revealing she has a talent in exploration. She has a few wrinkles showing she is starting to get a little old.

Her companion is a blue stallion with blue hair darker than his body. His mane is spiky as well, but the hair on the back of his neck is short. Some of his hair hides his purple eyes. He is equipeed with quite a bit more than the tan pegasus. He has a long rope, a steel knife attached to a knife holster on the leather strip rapped around his body holding both the knife and the arrow quiver full of razer sharp arrows. His cutie mark is a golden bow and arrow to show his talent in archery.

He searches through the heavy vegetation before looking to the tan pony to ask a question.

"Find any clues yet, Daring Do?" The stallion inquires in a rather deep voice. Daring Do continues investigating a specific bush, holding up her wing to indicate she is on to something.

"Got it." Daring Do concludes wipping her head up facing the blue stallion, cracking a smile. "Right here under this huge leaf is a big rock with some carving on it." She informs as she lifts up the vegetation to reveal the inconspicuous stone. "This means we're getting closer to the temple, Archenold." Archenold nods in acknowledgment looking ahead for a second before turning to the stone to examine it.

Examining the stone, he sees a the image of a target and some ancient text on it. "Hey, did you notice the text here?" Archenold inquires. Daring Do nods yes.

"I'll decrypt it." She declares, reaching into her shirt pocket to pull out a small notebook completely filled with writing. She flips a few pages before examining the text. Glancing back and forth from the notebook and the text, she decrypts the meaning of the text. "It says, "Thou who hath cometh upon the temple must hold thy sacred skill. It thou destined to pass, thou shalt be blessed. If not, thou shalt certainly perish." The rest is illegible. Probably due to erosion over time." Daring Do confirms, closing her notebook and replacing it in her pocket.

Archenold walks in small circles pondering for a second.

"Hmm. Seems as though we're going to find out what that sacred skill is for once." He stops walking in circles and faces Daring Do. "Also, do you have to decrypt into the language of old?" Archenold inquires with an arched eyebrow and a small smile. Daring Do chuckles to herself.

"It makes it sound dramatic!" Daring Do jokes. Archenold rolls his eyes and faces the direction of the temple.

"Well, we should continue. We don't want the Russian Mafia to get to that relic before us." Archenold warns. "I'm still surprised they found about our expedition." The two adventurers press on.

"Remind me again why we're doing this again, Archie. I don't want to mess around with some ancient relic told to have untold power of an alicorn for the wrong reason." Daring Do demands with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Because who wouldn't want to see a relic filled with power beyond all imagination?" Archenold replies excitedly.

"Well, there's me. I mean, sure I love a good artifact, but this one has power to chose whether the explorer lives or dies. Who knws how gruesome the death is? And the worst part, no pony survives even if they run away from it. Not even magic can stop this thing." Daring Do warns extremely. Then, she gets a thought. "This... This doesn't have to do with when I took you in as a colt, does it?" The smile on Archenold's face drains completely as he stops dead in his tracks. He lowers his head in sorrow and sighs.

"OK fine." Archenold starts beginning to confess. "The main reason I want this relic so bad is because of the power it holds. Untold power. This may have the the ability to give me a vision of my past. I need to know what happened to my father. You and I both know that mom died at my birth, but dad, he was murdered. His murderer still remains a mystery." A tear starts to form in Archenold's eye as he recalls the traumatizing event. Daring Do walks up to Archenoldand lays a hoof on his right shoulder in attempt to console him.

"You're really going about this then aren't you? I know this is a hard subject to think about, but will it really be worth it in the end?" Daring Do puzzles.

"That's a strange thing to say coming from you. You always think its worth it when you go on your adventures." Archenold replies semi-agitated.

"Because my adventures are just for the fortune. Not lust for power. But think about this. What if there are things in this world that should never be discovered in the first place? Things would go very badly if your heart is in the wrong place. It could unleash chaos ten-fold or even hundred-fold." Archenold shrugs Daring Do off.

"Well this I HAVE to know!" Archenold growls with his sorrow replaced by anger. "It's tearing me apart inside! I need to knw what happened to my father or it'll kill me! I vowed to avenge his death when I witnissed his murder and I swear to Celestia his death will not go unavenged." Archenold finishes, taking deep breaths to cool down.

"And all this because you think the relic could possibly have pshycic abilities." Daring do reflects. Archenold yes slowly . His face starts lighting up.

"Not only that, but I could also use its power to finally become something great. Just think! The power of an alicorn, it could give me the ability to use magic, let alone fly! It could let me find the murderer! It could give me fortune so that I never go hungry! It could... it could..." Daring Do interrupts.

"It could reject you and kill you. Those stories say it choses who it wants to be with. If you get to it and it doesn't accept, you will certainly be killed." Daring Do warns for the last time.Archenold just pushes her aside and moves on.

"That's a chance I'll have to take." Archenold replies ignorantly. Daring Do follows not too far behind.

"You're too hungry for power, Archenold. That's what worries me." If Archenold heard daring Do, he showed no sign of it. Instead, he just kept trotting forward.

Soon enough, the ground started become harder with cobblestone as they approached a huge structure made of stone. "Well here it is!" Daring Do concludes cracking a smile. The two stand there examining the structure. It seems like a primitive version of a stone skyscraper. The building is very wide, but due to erosion very time, there a cracks and holes in the side of it. Looking at the base of the temple, there seems to be no door.

"Well, that's great. How are we going to get in?" Archenold puzzles himself as he examines the place further. Daring Do immediately comes up with a plan. Still staring at the temple, she explains.

"I could fly up to the open cracks in the structure that are big enough for the both of us to fit in. I could pull you up every time until we reach that giant hole in the top there." Daring Do turns to ask what Archenold thinks when she sees he is missing. "Archenold?!"

"Relax! I can just climb up there grabbing onto these crevices." Archenold explains almost a quarter of the way to the hole in the wall." Daring Do sighs in relief as she sees him climbing with ease. Daring Do wips out her wings and takes off into the air to fly up to the hole. When she lands, she helps Archenold up as he is just about to slip off. "Gotta be more careful." Archenold says to himself in a note-to-self kind of way. Getting up, they both look into the new room taking in their surroundings.

They find themselves by a wall in a small room full of old pottery and stone tables. Some of the tables are split in half while the others are surprisingly still standing. There are two doors, both leading into seperate rooms. One doorway reveals a hallway to get to the next room.

As Archenold looks for something to lead them into the correct room, he spots Daring do peaking her eyes into the clay pots that aren't completely smashed to bits. "Still in it for the treasure, I see." Archenold concludes with a small chuckle. Daring Do whips her head up facing Archenold with smile holding three gold coins in her mouth, fluttering her wings in slight joy.

"Heck yeah!" She responds as she places the three gold coins in an empty pocket in her shirt, wings relaxing at her sides. Archenold just rolls his eyes. He travels by the wall to the nearest door to look through when he lifts his left hoof, looking down to the ground as he felt something move underneath him. He jumps back in surprise as the door slams shut. Daring Do looks over, sighs, then gives Archenold an upset look.

"Well, shit, Archenold. Looks like we won't be getting the treasure over there." Daring Do scowls. Their attention turns to the next hallway as the floor in it suddenly lights on fire and steel pendulums sharp enough to slice through bone cleanly swing alternately in rhythm inside the hallway. Daring Do glares at Archenold as he shrinks back nervously.

"uhh...sorry?" Daring Do does a face hoof when a section of the wall next to the archway leading to the hallway of doom falls off revealing some more ancient text. "Looks like there is some more work for you." Archenold points out. Daring Do trots over to the encryption with Archenold following. Pulling out her small notebook again, she translates.

"He who hath..." Daring Do starts when Archenold interrupts.

"Daring!" He scolds. Daring Do sighs in annoyance.

"OK fine. If you made it this far, you must only go one way. The path behind has been blocked off. Obviously." Daring Do shoots a quick glare at Archenold again. "If you hold the sacred skill, then the path shall become easy. Let that pony be purified." Daring Do finishes.

"What the buck is all that supposed to mean anyways?" Archenold wonders impatiently.

"I don't know..." Daring Do starts as she lowers herself to the ground spreading out her wings wide. "But I know how I'm getting across." Daring Do jumps up and flaps her wings to hurdle herself through the hallway, dodging all of the steel pendulums yet just getting past the last one for it to cut off a small portion on the tip of her tail. "Shit. That was close." Daring Do concludes after examining the missing bit in her tail. "I'll try to find a way to stop these traps." Daring Do. informs Archenold.

"All right. Make it quick though." Archenold watches as Daring Do disappears behind the walls of the next room, only for her disappearance to be followed by screaming shortly after as the floor in the next room opens up. "Daring Do! You okay over there?!" Archenold inquires frantically. Soon enough, a splash is heard to relieve Archenold. Then the response came.

"Yeah." the distant voice starts. "I just landed in a huge pool of water. I can't fly. The water makes my wings too heavy." Archenold starts to look for a way to get across the hallway without getting burned or sliced into pieces. Then Daring Do speaks up again. "I... I think I saw something in the room above as I was flying over. Is there some sort of image in the wall?" Daring Do inquires curiously. Archenold looks across the hall to see an image of a target cut into the wall of the next room.

"Yeah and guess what. It's a target." Archenold informs. Noticing a hole in the center of the target, he takes off his bow and stands on his hind hooves to get in an archer's position. He readies an arrow, pulling it back on the string of the bow. Taking a deep breath, he let's go of the string propelling the arrow forward. It flies majestically past some steel pendulums, spinning as it flies forward increasing the accuracy of the shot. As it flies towards the next room, it gets sliced in half by the last steel pendulum. "Bucking stupid little..." Archenold launches another arrow, this time getting it past all the pendulums and into the whole. A small click is heard followed by violent quakes. As Archenold falls to the ground, he notices the fire subsiding and the steel pendulums going back to their original positions to stop swinging. "I'm coming, Daring Do!" Archenold replies.

"Better hurry! The quaking seemed to have brought some "friends" out of their homes!" Daring Do shouts with urgency. Archenold hurries through the hallway, staring down into the massive water pit to see something moving towards Daring Do. "Toss your knife down!" Daring Do orders with a hint of fear in her voice. Archenold upholsters his knife and tosses it down for Daring DO to grab it in her mouth by the hilt and using it to stab something as it launches itself at her. Daring DO just killed an alligator. "Quick! There's a tree branch up there that can..." She stabs another alligator. "That can lead us to a room above!" Archenold looks up quickly to see the branch. Seeing it, he takes his rope and quickly ties it onto an arrow. "HURRY UP, CELESTIA DAMN IT!" Daring Do cusses with impatience and fear.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Archenold shouts back as he gets into the archer's position again and launches the arrow, hitting the branch. He drops the rest of the arrow down for Daring Do. She grabs onto the rope with her hooves and starts climbing up, grabbing the knife with her wings to help fend off any alligators jumping up at her. Archenold also hurries and climbs up to the upper room hoping the tree branch would support them both.

The tree branch starts to snap as he nears the ledge in the upper room. "Daring, I gotta get on this ledge! It'll help you get up here faster." Archenold informs as he jumps off the rope grabbing onto the ledge with his forehooves. He hangs there waiting for Daring Do to get up. As he waits, one of his hooves slips. "Shit!" He looks down to see Daring Do is already up. His last hoof slips, only to be grabbed by Daring Do. He helps himself and Daring Do out by climbing up the ledge as Daring Do pulls him up. "Thanks." He says gratefully as he plops down onto the floor with his heart beating in shock and relief. "damn. I'm not doing that again." Daring Do chuckles.

"Here's your knife back." Daring Do drops the knife out of her wing onto the floor next to Archenold.

"Thanks." Archenold picks up the knife and puts it back in his holster. He takes a minute to relax before getting back up. He then asks Daring Do a question that surprises her somewhat. "So, You were holding the knife with your wing. Pegasi are able to do that?" Daring Do raises an eyebrow.

"What, you never knew?" Archenold shakes his head no. "Well... We pegasi can hold objects with our wings. we can bend them to our will allowing them as some sort of fifth and sixth limb. Haven't you ever hung around Twilight? She'd know." Archenold shrugs.

"I'm not one to hang around nerds." Archenold take in a deep breath then helps himself up. "Right, so next..." Archenold notices something behind Daring Do. "Wait, how come you never told me about the wing thing?" Archenold inquires with an upset tone. Daring Do blinks.

"I thought you'd pick up on it sooner or later." Daring Do replies. Archenold gives a mad face.

"What so you just wanted me to figure it out? All this time for about 10 years and you never wanted to tell me? Why so secretive?" Archenold fights.

"Why so serious about something that shouldn't even matter?" Daring Do replies with annoyance.

"Well first off, you know how I don't like it when ponies hide secrets from me, you poverty stricken son of a..." Daring Do glares at Archenold intensely, clutching her teeth in rage, raising her wings in an offensive gesture.

"Don't you dare bring up my wealth in this!" She snaps.

"OK fine." Archenold replies as a slight rumble is felt. He walks past her through a doorway that wasn't there before, flicking his tail at a stone brick with an image on it, leaving Daring Do still furious, yet confused and curious. She trots up to the stone brick to see a detailed image of two ponies fighting.

"Wow, Archenold. Just like the damn unicorns that helped build this temple, you are such a troll." Archenold looks back to Daring Do with a wide grin.

"You mad?" Daring Do roles her eyes as her anger and confusion dies down along with her wings retracting to her sides again.

"I gotta keep you off the internet more." Daring Do concludes as Archenold starts laughing. As Daring Do takes her eyes off Archenold to look at the room in front of her, her jaws drop. "holy..."

The room before them is a large cylindrical room with a broken bridge in front of them that is impossible to cross and a massive drop down to lava. The ceiling he some openings for a skylight. The pillars curving to the center of the roof forming the skylights are covered in vegetation and vines hanging down from them. In the center of the room is an alicorn statue with six arms. It seems to be sitting down. The bottom-most four arms are in a position to make it look like the alicorn is praying and meditating at the same time. The other two arms are raised above the head to provide a platform with a diamond and emerald chest sitting there on a pedestal just waiting to be opened. "That... That statue. It's a statue of the ancient Hindu pony goddess, Jhoenay. She was said to have ruled over the land by Saddle Arabia. She..." Archenold zones out as Daring Do goes into a long explanation.

Meanwhile, Archenold scopes out a way to get to the chest. "Many said that maybe her heart is..." Archenold interrupts Daring Do impatiently.

"Sorry, but as interesting as that is, we have to get a move on. How're those wings of yours?" Archenold inquires. Daring Do flaps her wings a few times, but cant take off.

"Still wet." Daring Do reports irritably from when Archenold interrupted her.

"OK, no problem. I'll just hoist you up onto the crevice above the entrance here then help myself up. We'll make our way to the roof where we'll swing from the vines to the chest. Got it?" Archenold plans. Daring Do nods in confirmation. Archenold then gets on his hind hooves right in front of the doorway into a sitting position holding out his forehooves together at waist level. Daring Do steps onto his forehooves to be helped up, yet still pushing off to get more height. She then reaches up and grabs onto the crevice above the door, dangling as she waits for Archenold to grab on and get up.

"Oh, and Archenold..." Daring Do starts as Archenold looks up to listen. "Be careful what you touch down there or later on I'll kick your flank to the next adventure we go on." Daring Do threatens. Archenold chuckles as he grabs onto Daring Do's hind hooves. Daring Do reaches out her wing to grab Archenold's other hoof to help him up further. Getting to the same height, Archenold grabs onto a crevice nest to Daring Do. "Good. I'll lead." Daring Do informs taking authority from there.

They start climbing from crevice to crevice heading towards one of the pillars in the room when they comes across a huge gap that would have been impossible to climb to. "Alright, here's what we do." Daring DO notices a vine hanging out from a stone brick hanging out of the wall. She jumps off the crevice towards the vine, grabbing onto it and using the momentum to launch herself towards the next crevice letting go of the vine. She keeps going on from there.

Having doubt in making it across from noticing the brick loosening a bit from Daring Do's jump, Archenold gathers the courage to attempt himself. Just as he is about to let go of the vine, the brick falls out causing Archenold to fall to his doom. "ARCHENOLD!!!" Daring DO shouts in worry. Archenold reacts quickly, grabbing onto a ledge in his path with the difference in inertia causing his upper arms to shriek in pain.

"Celestia damn, that hurt!" Archenold shouts in his pain. Daring Do lets out a sigh of relief when she sees Archenold is okay. She then heads towards the roof going from crevice to crevice again, Archenold doing just the same.

When they get to the ceiling, They grab onto a nearby vine and start swinging to the next vine towards the center. They land with ease onto the statue with the chest right in front of them.

"Oh my god... This is it!" Daring DO exclaims in half excitement and half worry. "Well... Not turning back now." Daring DO impatiently goes to open the chest when Archenold stops her.

"wait a second." Archenold examines the chest, front and back to spot a small wire running from the chest to a hole in the statue. "there. You see? Have you not learned from previous adventures that the chest can be booby trapped as well?" Daring Do rubs her main with a weak smile, chuckling nervously. "what else you got in that pocket holding the notebook?" Daring Do searches the pocket to dump out a small tube with a cap on both ends of it.

"Epoxy from when you rushed me out when I was trying to fix the dining room table after you crashed into it when trying to escape from the Black Hooves." Daring Do reports. Archenold smiles.

"Perfect!" Archenold grabs the epoxy and opens one end of the tube to squeeze out the primer onto the hole. He then closes that up and opens the other end to lay the epoxy on. After waiting about five minutes, the epoxy hardens making the trap disarmed. "OK! Lets open up this seapony!" Excitedly, Archenold busts the golden lock off by shooting it with an arrow at point-blank range and opens up the chest.

"Holy shit. The legends are real!" Daring Do Exclaims in awe of the sight before them. Inside of a glass case inside the chest, levitating inside of it is a Jade Heart that seems to pulse with a white light. "Right before us... A relic that hasn't been touched for nine thousand and one years, never seeming to ever be uncovered, and yet here it is right in our hooves." Daring Do swallows in nervousness, yet still captivated by its white pulse. Archenold hesitantly raises his hooves to take the glass cover off. Once he does, the Jade Heart starts rotating in a fixed position.

It starts rotating faster and faster until it starts rising into the air. It keeps rotating faster until at an impossible speed. It then shoots towards Archenold striking him in the head and disappearing inside of him. Archenold, feeling raw power surging through him, clenches down as he feels the white light surging through his veins sending an icy chill through his entire body. Daring Do just stares in fear and confusion as she witnesses Archenold's veins pulsing white faster and faster until they remain white. After a couple of seconds, The light disappears along with the feeling of ultimate power in Archenold as he collapses to the ground. The last thing Archenold remembers before passing out is Daring Do Screaming in fear as she sees him drop, then a bang, then the feeling of a feathery wing on his back. Then everything goes black.

Chapter 1: Where The Hay Are We?

Chapter 1

Where The Hay Are We?

"Hey. You awake?" Archenold slowly stirs, opening his eyes slowly, only to squint in the brightness of the lights. In a different location than where he was before, he shoots glances everywhere with a worried look on his face when he hears the sound of somepony's voice behind a wall. The voice sounds muffled for some reason to Archenold. "You awake yet, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Who... who are you? Daring Do? Is that you?" Archenold asks with worry and confusion.

"Ah'm sorry, sugarcube but Daring Do was... she was murdered." The strange voice replies Archenold shakes his head no in defiance.

"No... No she can't be. Who the buck are you and why do you spread lies?!" Archenold demands, still in denial.

"Ah'm bein honest with ya, Archenold. Daring Do was..." Apple Jack gets interrupted by Archenold.

"LIES!!!" He shouts. A new voice suddenly comes in.

"Be quiet over there or when the boss comes in, he'll make sure you die in the most painful way!" The new voice warns.

"Pardon him, warden. He's probably just having a hard time taking things in." The pony reassures.

"You think I don't know that?" The warden scowls.

"I'll ask once more. Who are you?" Archenold interrogates further. Without hesitation, the response came.

"Ah'm Apple Jack. Pleased to meet ya!" Apple Jack greets. Archenold slowly starts laughing.

"Wow. you... You really expect me to believe that? Apple Jack is one of the Elements of Harmony. A legendary pony. She's probably off somewhere in a shrine waiting for the chosen pony to come and retrieve one of the 6 magical runes." Archenold responds doubtfully.

"Archenold, listen..." Apple Jack gets interrupted again.

"How the hay do you know my name?!" Archenold growls.

"No one cares! Now shut up!!!" The ward yells again.

"Warden, if you'd please, let us talk! We aren't going anywhere or planning anything! Besides. We're both shackled against a wall. How the buck are we supposed to get away?" Apple Jack fights back. For a moment, there is silence. The ward then breaks the silence, seeing the logic in Apple Jack's words.

"OK Fine, but if you two escape in the next ten minutes, I'm calling down the boss for immediate action." The ward warns.

"Listen, sugarcube, no matter how many times you say Daring Do is not dead, forget it. What was the last thing you remember?" Apple Jack inquires trying to get her point across.

"I remember her screaming my name worriedly, then a bang... and... oh shit..." Archenold stops in revelation. A tear starts to well up in his eye, starting to drop down his face. "How... How did she... die?"

Two Days Ago...

"ARCHENOLD!!!" Daring Do Shouts as he starts collapsing to the ground. Then, something catches her ears. The sound of voices. She looks to the entrance of the massive room they are in to see a black figure for a second before hearing a bang. She shrieks in fear and pain as something hard hits her neck. Her eyes roll up, eye lids closing as she passes out. Her wings fall out of their resting place on her side as she falls. One of her wings falls onto Archenold's back before she passes out.

The next moment, Daring Do finds herself passed out on the floor in a jail cell, her vision blurry at first noticing the black outline of the cell bars. Soon, everything becomes clear.

"Where the buck am I...?" She asks herself. She hears the voice of a pony nearby.

"You're being held captive in the prison cell of the main Black Hoof Headquarters. You better enjoy yourself now while you can. The boss doesn't take kindly to prisoners. One of his tortures to make ponies talk is a machine that slowly pulls all your limbs apart until your skin starts ripping causing it to bleed. It continues pulling ripping all the way through your muscles until it gets to the bone where it snaps right off. Without any limbs to hold you against the wall, you drop right into your own pool of blood, wishing you were dead. Then he just leaves you there until He takes you to some sort of operating table where you have one last chance of talking. If not, there's these circular blades almost like those on power saws on this one machine. Once activated, that's it. it comes down slowly until it gets to your face then starts shredding all the flesh on your face apart when it..." Daring Do Shrieks in fear.

"OK! OK! That's enough! I don't need to hear anymore." Daring Do pleads in nothing but fear. "Why are you telling me this?" Daring Do inquires in disgust.

"I'm forced to otherwise that will happen to me. I guess it's some scare tactic the boss has to help make ponies talk. Honestly, I gag thinking about it myself. Especially when I say it. Speaking of which, one second..." Daring Do hears the sound of gagging noises followed by some body fluids flowing into a trash can. "OK, I'm f... wait..." More puking is heard. "OK Now I'm fine." The ward reassures.

"You better be." Daring Do warns even though she knows she's powerless right now inside a jail cell.

"Well, it was nice talking to you. I was just informed the boss is coming soon." The ward informs, yet Daring Do couldn't help but wonder if that was despair in his voice.

"Wait, you seem kinda sad to stop talking." Daring Do starts again. "What's up?" there is a small pause before a response is heard.

"Well, I usually don't get to talk to much ponies. Whenever I do, it's usually when the boss is barking commands at me or when some henchmen are taking in a prisoner, and believe me when I say they aren't too nice about it. The inmates that usually come are either too anti-social or so mentally insane they can't even talk right. I don't even bother with them." The ward confesses.

"Hmm. Poor guy." Daring Do reflects. "Have you ever had a decent conversation before?" Daring Do wonders.

"No. This was the only good conversation I've had since my colthood." The ward replies. "If only I got to see your face better when the henchmen brought you in. Then I could remember your face when it's all over for you." Daring Do thinks she heard him sniffle in sadness.

"There's always time. You are the warden here." Daring Do responds thinking of a plan. There is more silence.

"Y...You're right." There is another long pause before Daring Do hears the sound of a chair being pushed out and back into place. Soon enough, the warden peeks into the cell with a soft expression on his face. Daring Do notices he is a gray stallion with a brown mane and tail. His cutie mark is some hoof cups to show he is good at law enforcement. "You... You're..." He struggles to think of something, his expression obviously showing he is starting to care more for her. His expression hardens as the sound of double doors open. He looks in the direction of where the pony entered going on his hind hooves, holding one of his front hooves up in the air in salute. "Hail Cyphento!" He salutes as a pony in a black body suit covering his skin, mane and tail comes up to the cell and dismisses the ward. Daring Do can't see who the pony is because of a dark glass mask the pony is wearing that allows the pony to see her, but not let her see him.

Shit, well there goes that plan. Daring Do sighs in defeat at the thought of failure.

"Ahh! Daring Do!" The pony starts with a robotic voice due to a voice disguise hooked up to the glass mask. "So you helped out that blue fellow to the Jade Heart. Such a pity you two were so close to discovering its true potential. I guess all that raw power was too much for him to take?" Cyphento puzzles. "How come it took so long for us to finally catch up to you?"

"I don't know." Daring Do responds dryly. "Why do you sound like the Terminator?" Cyphento chuckles in a creepy robotic voice.

"That is just like you, Daring Do. I've always known you to be like that." Daring Do looks at Cyphento with confusion and disgust.

"And exactly what the buck do you mean by that?" Daring Do growls with a little curiosity. Cyphento turns to the warden who is sitting back at his desk filling out his paperwork who looks up at Cyphento when he notices him looking in his direction.

"Warden, look away now. If you catch even a glimpse of my image, remember that torture method you just recently explained to Daring Do." Cyphento threatens. The warden spins around on his desk chair to face the wall and close his eyes. "Now. To show you what I look like." Cyphento checks to make sure the warden is obeying his order before taking off his mask to reveal his true face. Daring Do gasps in shock as the revelation comes upon her.

"B..but...you...you're...how...?!" Daring Do stammers with questions racing through her mind nonstop. Cyphento puts on the glass mask, laughing.

"All in due time, Daring Do. All in due time. It's okay for you to look now, warden." Cyphento informs. The warden turns away from the wall to get back to filling out the paper work. "In the meantime, have a good night." Cyphento pulls out a pistol and aims it at Daring Do's chest. Noticing the gun, Daring Do starts backing up to the back of the cell.

"Y...You wouldn't!" Behind the glass mask, Cyphento smiles deviously.

"Good night!" He shoots Daring Do square in the chest letting her drop to the ground without any blood leakage. Cyphento starts laughing maniacally when the warden spins him around to meet his gaze.

"What was that for?! I thought you wanted to interrogate her! Instead you just come in, reveal yourself, and kill her! What the buck?!" The warden inquires mutinously. Cyphento smacks the warden square in the head.

"Never question your boss like that!" Cyphento warns with a hint of anger in his altered voice. "I thought you knew better than to stand up to me like that! You were so loyal! Unless..." Silence lingers in the room for a moment before Cyphento starts laughing again. "You liked her! Oh my Discord! You seriously like her!" Cyphento pushes the ward aside as he goes to head out. "Remember your place, warden. And to think I was just about to promote you." Cyphento scoffs before heading out the double doors. Holding his hoof to his head, the warden takes in the pain from the blow. Then he looks at Daring Do in her cell. A moment later, a tear forms in his eye.

He wipes off the tear and gets up with his attitude hardening. He goes over to his desk and starts working again. "I swear, in the name of Celestia, I'm going to..." He quits talking to himself as he notices some henchmen bring in an orange pony with blonde hair, a hat and freckles with red bands holding together some hair at the tip of her mane and tail. "No way. That's Apple Jack!" The warden exclaims to himself in surprise with his mouth gaping in shock.

Present Day

"When I was in the vent, I saw Cyphento take off his glass mask, but I wasn't able to see his face due to the angle I was looking at him." Informs with a sad tone in her voice. "I personally witnesses him shoot her in the chest." The story gets Archenold thinking.

"Hmm. Interesting." Archenold ponders for a while. Maybe... The ward could possibly help us out. Archenold decides to change the subject. "So How did you actually come to know that I acquired the relic when you weren't even there to witness it?" Archenold inquires rather curiously.

"Never underestimate the power of news! Spreads faster than parasprites in an apple orchard!" Apple Jack replies.

"Dang. It really spreads that fast?" A new voice chimes in to answer the question.

"Eeyup!" Archenold hears Apple Jack gasp in excitement.

"Big Macintosh! Thank Celestia you're here!" The jail cell next to Archenold's open with a loud squeaking noise from the metal bars. Then Big Macintosh comes to open Archenold's cell with the keys he acquired. He notices that Big Macintosh is crimson with an orange mane and tail as well. His cutie mark is half a green apple. The only visible physical features is the freckles on his face along with a huge scar running down his left eye. Big Macintosh is wearing an eye patch to cover what would look like a horrific battle wound. Archenold's cell opens up after Big Macintosh found the right key. He then starts searching for the right key again as he tries to free Archenold from his shackles. Falling to the ground after the last shackle was released, he sees his bow, arrow and knife fall onto the floor in front of him. He looks up at Big Macintosh. "I believe these are yours?" Archenold grabs his gear and gets himself situated.

"Thanks." Archenold thanks as he adjusts the strap on his arrow quiver. "Wait..." He takes an arrow out of the quiver and examines it. "Oh wow!" He notices the arrows are sharpened to a fine point along with some ridges in the blades designed to start internal bleeding by rupturing a few blood vessels. "Holy shit! Thanks!" Big Macintosh rolls his eyes before turning to Apple Jack.

"He swears too?" Apple Jack nods her head. Archenold speaks up again.

"So! What's the escape plan?"

Chapter 2: Time To Get Out Of This Shit Hole

Chapter 2

Time to Get Out of This Shit Hole

"Well, Ah was able to do a little reconnaissance on mah way here to rescue the both a y'all." Big Macintosh Starts. "It was really hard to get my way in here to begin with, so we're not going to go out the same way. Now, I've done a little research in the laboratories eventually coming across the database in one of their computers. Using mah hackin' skills, I was able to get passed their security without bein' detected. I've downloaded a map of the whole vacinity on this here PDA." Big Macintosh pulls out a PDA and pulls up the map. "Now, we're here in cell block B of sector A." Big Mac points to a red flashing dot on the screen. "We need to get through the rest of the cell blocks to get to the trash pits." He explains as he points out the route.

"Wait a sec." Apple Jack starts. "We have to go through all of them?" Apple Jack inquires worriedly.

"Eeyup. That's the only way to the trash pits." Big Mac informs. "Why? Is there something I should know?" Archenold starts getting antsy as he realizes whats coming up.

"Well... It's just that Archenold here... he had a friend who was just... killed in the hands of Cyphento." Apple Jack replies. Big Mac glimpses at Archenold who is now frowning.

"Oh...well, ah'm real sorry for that." Big Mac apologizes. "If there's anything we can do for you when we're done, let us know." Archenold nods his head slowly as a tear forms in his eye. Big Mac puts a hoof on Archenold's shoulder to try and cheer him up. "Listen, let's get out of here then we can plot revenge." Archenold lifts his head higher and smiles weakly. Big Mac pulls out his PDA again and starts going over the plan further.

"So, we head through these cell blocks possibly stopping by for Archenold to pay his respects quickly, then we head out towards the armory. There we get some grappling hooks to swing across the lava drop and some guard uniforms to disguise ourselves. After that, we go to the trash pits. If we come across anyone who asks who we are, we just say we're new recruits and are headed to the trash pits. OK?" AJ and Archenold nod in acknowledgement, Archenold a bit more pumped than before. "Good. Let's head out." Big Macintosh finishes. The three head towards the cell block exit, knocking out the warden who started gaining consciousness again.

The three ponies head down a long hallway white hallway with doors leading to multiple offices. At one point, a guard noticed the three from far away. Archenold noticed the guard running to set off an alarm, but Archenold acted quickly drawing his bow back with a razor sharp arrow, launching it at the guard getting him square in the back of the neck, with the guard dieing instantly from a broken spinal cord. The three head out again. Reaching a corner of the hallway, they notice two guards talking, one of which is facing away and blocking the other guard's view of the impending doom. Big Macintosh looks to AJ and does some sign language. Giving the signal, Big Macintosh makes the first move, grabbing the guard by the neck holding his mouth shut, alerting the other guard, when AJ jumps right over Big Mac and subdues the guard with one quick buck to the face. Big Mac snaps the restrained guard's neck, lowering the body to the ground silently, looking around for any witnesses. Archenold pulls out another arrow and launches it through the empty hallway for it to hit a guard who turned around the corner. AJ and Big Mac stare at Archenold in surprise.

"What? I just...sensed him." Archenold responds to their puzzled looks. The two just shrug and drag the bodies into an empty supply crate where the bodies would be inconspicuous. After hiding the bodies, they run past the next few cell blocks, occasionally running into some guards. They are silently dealt with and quickly hidden. Passing by the last cell block, they knock out the ward as they enter the room. They rush past the prison cells, only for Archenold to stop completely in front of a specific cell. "That's...That's her." Archenold starts with a loss of words at his fallen friend. "that's Daring Do." Archenold starts tearing up when he realizes something. He searches the ground around Daring Do. "W...Where's the blood?"

"Archenold, you done?" Archenold gives a quick look to AJ before taking his knife and reaching into the cell to lift Daring Do slightly, sliding the knife under her.

"Just in case..." Archenold gets back up and follows AJ and Big Mac out with one last look at Daring Do, this time with a sign of hope on his face.

"Let's go." Archenold orders as he heads out with the other two. A few seconds after exit, Daring Do's ear twitches.

Heading down their path occasionally snapping a few necks on the way, the three finally make it to the armory. They get suits their size, first putting on the black body suit, then the black visor that blocks out their eyes and most of their head. They equip themselves with the grappling hooks. They tuck in the grappling hooks under their body suits to make it inconspicuous. When they're about to leave, Archenold notices something.

"Well this should be nice." He comments with glee as he takes a powerful pistol off the racks.

"What would you need that for?" Big Macintosh inquires curiously.

"You never know when you'll run out of arrows." Archenold responds wisely as he takes a couple extra magazines. "Let's move out." The three leave the armory to head to the trash pits when a pony stops them.

"You three, where are you headed?" The pony interrogates.

"We're headed towards the trash pits. We've recently been recruited." Archenold lies to the pony.

"You best be on your way then. and quickly. Cyphento doesn't take kindly to those who are late. Even if it's only a second." The pony warns.

"Right away." AJ and Big Mac head off when the pony stops Archenold, staring intensely trying to see through the visor on his helmet. "Something wrong, sir?" Silence answers him for a moment when the pony finally decides to speak up.

"N...Nothing. You wouldn't have happened to hear about a pony who died in the cells recently. Would you?" The pony questions suspiciously.

"I can't say that I have, sir." Archenold replies swiftly.

"If you're lying, you're doing a very good job at it. Be off now." The pony steps aside for Archenold to go. He then activates his com link and speaks into it. "Cyphento, could you send somepony to replace me for a second? I have to keep an eye on somepony suspicious. Thanks" He then heads off to secretly follow the three ponies to the trash pits.

"You guys are the newest recruits here?" a guard asks in curiosity.

"Eeyup. Heard the pay was pretty good." Big Macintosh lies.

"Well, hopefully you guys will have it better in this line of work than me. I've been employed here for at least ten years now and I'm still stuck throwing away this shit. Do you even know what we're doing right now?" The three start looking closer at the trash.

"Damn. These are burnt bodies and torn limbs!" Archenold exclaims.

"Yeah. These are Cyphento's victims. The ones who were lucky, were those who were burnt alive. That's his way of taking it easy on them. Poor bastards never stood a chance against him. Those, along with any guard or worker of his who deny him. You two best follow his orders without question or this'll be you. burnt, or face shredded into millions of bits of skin." The guard warns. "I know how all this works. I've been here longer than anyone in these pits. Of all the Celestia damn times I could have got a promotion, I was denied higher authority. I feel like giving Cyphento a piece of my mind, but we all know where that'll lead. all the way back here. Either in pieces or fired. literally." He turns to the three giving a creepy smile. "Good luck in life." They three feel a shiver run down their spine when the lunch bell wrings.

As everyone rushes into the cafeteria to eat, the three ponies sneak off undetected to the target garbage chute. Archenold looks around to make sure no one followed them.

"You go ahead. I'll keep watch for a second." He replies. AJ goes first, then Big Mac. Archenold surveys the area one last time, when he notices a small pair of silver eyes staring at him on top of the roof of the nearest building. When he blinks, the eyes are gone. "The hay...?" Shaking the thought out, he jumps into the chute, pulling out his grappling hook. At the last second, he jumps out of the chute to see a huge pit of lava down below. He uses his grappling hook to swing across the cavern to one of the most inconspicuous holes where AJ and Big Macintosh are waiting for him. He retracts the grappling hook as he hurdles towards the hole, only to grab onto it with his hooves. Aj is about to help him up when the ledge breaks loose, causing Archenold to plummet to impending doom. He closes his eyes accepting his fate.

Then, he hears a voice close by.

"Ar...Archenold...?! You're... flying!" AJ informs with great awe.

Archenold flings his eyes open to meet AJ at eye level. He looks to his back to see transparent, sparkling, jade wings flapping about keeping him suspended in air. He smiles ecstatically and starts flying around in great joy.

"Yes! Thank you Jade Heart!!!" Archenold finishes celebrating the gift of flight by landing down next to Big Mac and AJ who are still staring in awe. When he lands, the wings lose their color, and sparkles as they retract to his sides. "Move out!" Archenold orders with a sense of great joy. As he moves, he has a sort of bounce to his trotting showing his excitement. After what seemed like forever, they finally reach the end of the tunnel. they look up in alert as they hear the sounds of guns being cocked.

"Oh shit."

Chapter 3: The Real New Recruits

Chapter 3

The Real New Recruits

"Well you didn't get far now, did you?" The warden asks rhetorically. "You thought you'd get out undetected?" The three hang their heads down in shame of their failure. "Why so down? Don't you need some help out of that hole?" The warden asks in a light tone. Archenold looks up in disgust.

"Why would you want to help us?" The warden shakes his head as he holds out a hoof to help up Archenold.

"Because I'm against Cyphento. I saw him kill a girl I was starting to have feelings for." The three look at him raising an eyebrow.

"What about them?" AJ asks curiosly looking to the other three guards.

"They're close friends of mine. That and the big guy here lost his sister in the hands of Cyphento." The warden informs, patting the biggest rogue guard on the back in empathy.

"But... This don't make sense. How did y'all find us here?" Big Macintosh inquires.

"Because. We aided in the previous attempt to escape. We wanted to stop Cyphento before. Who's to say we wouldn't try now?" The warden holds his hoof out again to help Archenold up. Reluctantly, Archenold grabs on and is helped up. The other rogue guards help Aj and Big Mac up. The warden pulls out a map. "You guys will want refuge somewhere close by for the night. It's starting to get late. I suggest you head down this path here." He points to a small, curvy line on the map. "Follow it down to the closest town. If you don't make it to the town, I know of a pony who might give refuge if she's nice." Archenold looks at the warden with a raised eyebrow.

"How do you know so much?" He asks with suspicion. The warden shrugs with a small smile.

"Like I said. I aided in the last escape attempt. That and being employed here for 32 years, you get to know the place like the back of your hoof. Anyways, if you have a cellphone, here's my number if you need anything." The warden gives Archenold a piece of paper with his number pre written on it. "Need any muscle, hacks, sabotage, just call. I'll try to get the job done. As long as its on the inside of this base." The warden starts to walk off with the rogue guards when Archenold pulls out an arrow, grabs the warden by the shoulder and points the arrow to his neck.

"Just be warned that I still don't completely trust you. Got that?" Archenold threatens. The warden just keeps smiling.

"Of course. You have my honest word." AJ chuckles.

"I see what you did there." Archenold looks back then releases the warden.

"You sure about this, warden? We're not walking into a trap or something?" Archenold asks, deep in thought.

"Like I said. You have my word." The warden walks off with the rogue guards, activating his com link. "This is warden CJ reporting back, nothing suspicious. Just a few newbies who needed... direction." He deactivates the com link as he heads back around the base to the front. Archenold gives an unsure look to AJ and Big Mac who just shrug, unsure themselves. With only one thing left to do, they travel down the path.

10 minutes later in the cell blocks...

The warden enters the room and sits at his desk tn starts working. After a while, he thinks he hears movement, despite the amount of inmates in the vicinity. He shrugs it off and starts working. He then thinks he hears the sound of metal tapping against metal. "What the hay...?" He reaches for the pistol at his waist when he sees the cell door open with Daring Do flying out of it, throwing a tactical knife at him. Reacting quickly, he ducks down for the knife to just miss his head. He gets up and reaches for Daring Do's whip as she flies at him with remarkable speed, hatred showing in her eyes. The warden grabs the whip and tosses it to Daring Do, causing her to stop flying at him, holding her whip, looking at it, puzzled.

"Slow down there. I thought you were trying to get me on your good side before you "died". It worked." Warden CJ activates his com link. "Hey, could you and the others come down here? We've got a friend." He hangs up, seeing Daring Do give a worried look.

"Who did you just call?!" daring Do interrogates worriedly.

"Relax. Just a couple of friends who will help you out of this damn facility." Warden CJ informs, letting Daring Do relax a little.

"Why should I trust you?" Warden CJ chuckles.

"You know, I was asked that just recently by some blue fellow who goes by the name Archenold." Daring Do goes wide-eyed. "I helped him escape earlier. They're on their way to plot revenge on Cyphento right now." Daring Do thinks hard for a moment when a squeaky door breaks the silence. "Good! You're here! Help Daring DO to the armory and equip her with a uniform and take her out the front. Say you're supposed to be on patrol." The rogue guards nod their heads as they are about to help Daring Do. She just pushes them off in defiance. "Relax, Daring Do. Don't you even know what will happen if you stay here? I explained the torture method when you first came to." Daring Do follows the guards in fear. "Oh, and it's probably best not to look for Archenold right way otherwise he might not want to go against Cyphento anymore because he'd know he spared your life." Daring Do nods in agreement. Soon enough, she is out of the base.

"Damn it! I'm so hungry!" Archenold complains as his stomach starts growling. He observes their surroundings to find a purple berry bush. "There!" Archenold runs towards the bush and is about to eat a berry when AJ stops him.

"Archenold, them berries are poisonous." Archenold throws it back into the bush as his stomach growls again.

"Celestia damn it, do any of you know how to make a bucking salad out any of any of this vegetation?!" Archenold inquires driven by hunger. The other two shake their heads no. "Bucking shit!" Then a voice comes out of nowhere.

"You know, you could come to my place for a few muffins." Archenold looks around to find the voice, only to hear chuckling. "You're funny." Archenold, AJ, and Big Mac turn around to see a light purple pegasus with blonde hair levitating as her wings flap up and down. "Hi! The name's Derpy Hooves!" The friendly pegasus greets. Archenold rises an eyebrow.

"Wait, you're Derpy?! You mean, The Derpy?" Archenold asks excitedly, noticing her eyes are not derped. "How come your eyes aren't derped up?" He asks curiously.

"That's because it only happens when I'm excited. Should happen in a matter of seconds though. Not many come down this road." She explains as her eyes start dis aligning. Taking note of her vision impairing, she stops levitating in the air, retracting her wings to her side to relax them. "Come with me! It's getting late, you know?" The three adventurers put a smile on their faces and follow Derpy to a rundown wooden hut. Then their smiles disappear.

"Whoa, wait a darn minute. You live here?" Apple Jack wonders.

"Eeyup." Derpy replies somehow triggering Big Mac's annoyance.

"How come you don't live in town?" Apple Jack asks in curiosity and worry.

"I...I was fired from my job as a mailmare. Started with a small group of ponies that complained about how I always messed things up. Got to other ponies and eventually to my boss who fired me. With no income, I was robbed of most of my bits due to taxes and food. I was forced to live outside of town where I wouldn't be taxed with my daughter Dinky. She eventually grew up to live her own life. She supports me by sending a small amount of her income to me. I'm surprised though. She makes quite a lot of money." Derpy explains. Archenold trots up to her and pats her on the back in empathy.

"I had a friend back in school when I was young who was picked on for being a blank flank. lots of ponies resented her too. Then came a cutesenera and a couple other blank flanks showed up and stood up for her. Then they got more attention after that. Good attention. Things'll turn out alright in the end." Archenold consoles. Derpy just smiles weakly.

"thanks for the story." Archenold's stomach growls ruining the moment. He chuckles nervously. "So, how about those muffins?"

Meanwhile, quite a bit away from the main base...

Daring Do nods to the rogue guards who nod back and head back to the base. Daring Do then rushes off into the dark woods of the Everfree forest. Not knowing where to head to, she keeps running, being cautious enough to avoid poison joke. After heading quite far into the woods, she sees a dark, hooded figure.

"H...Hello?" She asks it. Silence answer her. instead, the figure moves in a different direction than daring Do was headed and gestures for her to follow. Hesitantly, she trots behind the hooded figure, still at a distance. "Where are you taking me?" Still no reply. Soon enough, they come across a familiar tree set up to be a house. "Why does this all seem familiar?" She heads inside after the hooded figure when it all comes clear. Looking at the hooded figure draw back her hood revealing herself, Daring Do is struck with a sense of joy. "Zecora!"

Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

Chapter 4

The Journey Begins

The four gleeful ponies enjoy a relaxing and ironic dinner of muffins, laughing at each others jokes and stories. Then, seeing that the sun has set, they all go to bed. Derpy heads to her room where she lays on a beaten up mattress, Archenold claims a torn apart recliner, Apple Jack falls asleep on the hard couch, while Big Macintosh falls asleep on the bathroom toilet. When back at the Everfree Forest, Zecora welcomes Daring Do into her home and gives her a spare bedroom to sleep in for the night. They all wake up feeling somewhat refreshed before their epic journey is about to begin. Archenold wakes up feeling refreshed, yawning, which wakes up Apple Jack. She stretches, then gets up to find Big Mac asleep on the porcelain throne.

"Uhh...Big Mac?" AJ begins, causing Big Mac to wake up, startled and embarrassed to know someone found him asleep in the bathroom. He quickly gallops past AJ out of the bathroom to join Archenold at the dining table. Soon enough, they spot Derpy walking out of a hallway, yawning, rubbing her eyes with her hoof.

"G'morning." She greets as she heads towards the table to join them.

"Good mornin' to ya." Big Mac returns. "Ah'm guessin' we're havin more of them muffins?" He asks, eager to have more. "They were good." He compliments. Derpy lights up at the comment.

"Yes we are and thanks! At least I'm good at something." She gets up to prepare some more muffins in an old, yet well-maintained oven. Archenold starts a conversation.

"You didn't see anything odd when we were escaping, did you?" He asks Big Mac in wonder.

"Nnope." He replies.

"Weird. Because when we left, I saw a pair of silver eyes staring at me on top of the roof back at the base. When I blinked, they were gone." Archenold admits.

"That means you saw the Silver Griffin." Derpy replies as she sits next to them waiting for the muffins to cook.

"Pardon me but, who is this Silver Griffin?" AJ inquires as she leaves the bathroom to join them.

"You never heard?" Derpy asks, looking at AJ.

"Nnope." Archenold, Big Mac, and AJ reply in unison.

"That's interesting. The Silver Griffin is the most notorious thief and assassin out there. Hired to take care of the most notorious criminals or just some pony who bugs somepony else. She is almost never seen and always does her work in the shadows. Whenever the media arrives at the scene, she's off somewhere else doing more dirty work. Never been caught once. Never will be. Some ponies say that she's a unicorn who has a grudge against the world for something they did to her or her family. Others say, she is an invincible entity in the world. No one knows anything truly about her. Peculiar how she'd be at that base though. Was she hired to kill Cyphento or something? Maybe just a guard someone knows. Either way, she was probably working against the Black Hoof." The four ponies start pondering for a while when the timer goes ding. Derpy gets up and serves the muffins. "Breakfast is served!"

Back at Zecora's house...

Daring Do wakes up refreshed and ready to take on the world like always. She gets up and stretches, then puts her clothes back on, finishing up by putting her hat on. She puts the whip on her side and heads out of the guest room. Strange how she has a guest bedroom even though not many ponies visit her. Daring Do thinks. She leaves the room to see Zecora doing her morning meditation, sitting on a stick in some sort of zen pose, meditating, reciting a chant under her breath.

"Good morning." Zecora turns around and lowers herself off of the stick, smiling.

"Ahh! Good morning, Daring Do. May I ask, how are you?" greets in her usual rhyming.

"Just fine. I had a good sleep. So, what's for breakfast?" daring Do asks, getting a bit hungrier.

"I don't have many ingredients, but don't be sad. I have enough to make us salad." Zecora heads to her shelves to pull out the ingredients for a usual salad. Daring Do waits patiently for the salad to finish.

"So, anyways, thanks for letting me stay." Daring Do thanks.

"No problem. Anything for a friend. I'm always nice in the end." Zecora replies.

"How natural is it for you to rhyme like that so easily?" daring Do asks curiously.

"Just as natural as it is for you and I to see." Zecora replies as she finished making the salad. Daring Do sits down at a circular, wooden table as Zecora passes a bowl of salad and a couple of utensils to eat.

"Thank you." The two enjoy their meal when Daring Do asks a question.

"So, what am I supposed to do when I leave? Do you know? I'm clueless." Zecora looks up to Daring Do.

"Daring Do, listen carefully. A great destiny, I foresee. You must go out and recruit some friends. Search through all the odds and ends. Get allies to assist to fight a great battle to help bring down Cyphento in his saddle. Bring forth a great army to help Archenold, while he goes searching for the ponies of old. Once reunited, you will bring this great evil to an end. You simply cannot get a sword, for he is no Discord. A far greater threat he is. to start, take this." Zecora hands over a small, metal stick with a blue tip at one end.

"Doctor Hooves' sonic screwdriver. How did you...?" Zecora interrupts.

"Find Doctor Hooves to get the most strategic moves. After you found him and have done that, you two will have a chat. After talking, he will see. He'll gather some friends to join the army."

"Umm...Thanks for the rather...cryptic advice." Zecora nods as she starts eating again. Daring Do finishes her salad and heads out.

"Have a nice day! Safe travels to you along the way!" Zecora sends off.

Back at Derpy's house...

The four ponies eat their muffins in delight.

"Damn! You make the best muffins ever! How come they picked on you for everything else?!" Archenold compliments.

"Thanks. It means a lot that you appreciate something I can do." Derpy thanks as they all finish off their muffins.

"Right, so our first objective is ta get to mah alter. There we'll find the first magical rune to enhance Archenold's power." AJ reminds everyone. "Right now, he's stuck with some wings." Derpy looks over to Archenold in confusion.

"You have wings? You seem like an earth pony." Derpy asks in confusion.

"They lose their color and sparkles when they retract. I do have wings though." He spreads out his wings, causing them to turn back to a jade color, sparkling again. Derpy goes derp-eyed as she smiles in excitement.

"Wow! That's neat!" She compliments as Archenold retracts his wings causing them to lose their effect again.

"Yeah. I was really surprised to find out I developed wings after taking in that idol's power. " Archenold admits.

"No shoot. You were flyin' around in circles like a square dance broke out in the middle a nowhere!" AJ confirms. Derpy starts chuckling.

"You two are funny." She comments. "Anyways, If we're going somewhere, we best be going now." Derpy suggests. AJ looks at Derpy with agreement.

"Right. We'll need to go to Las Pegasus." Derpy lights up.

"Whoa, Las Pegasus?! That means I might get to see Dinky again!" She flies to her room to pack immediately. Caught up in her excitement, she crashes into the wall. Archenold rushes to her and helps her up. "Thanks!" She starts packing as she rushes into her room.

"Wow. She must really miss Dinky." Archenold comments. Everypony else gathers their belongings and get ready to move out. The only thing stopping them is the wait time for extra muffins to be baked for their long journey. As soon as that's done, they move out of the run down shack Derpy calls home and walks towards town. Derpy starts getting anxious as they near town. Her anxiety keeps building until they enter town where it cant build any further. As they walk through town, they notice some ponies giving looks of disgust towards Archenold and his friends, along with even worse looks at Derpy. Derpy tugs at Archenold's tail to get his attention.

"Umm...I think we should hurry. It's clear we're not wanted here." Derpy suggests.

"Don't worry. everything'll be fine." Archenold reassures. They head further into town to arrive at the train station. Archenold walks up to the ticket booth with AJ and Big Mac, without noticing Derpy isn't there. "Four tickets to Las Pe..." He's interrupted by the sound of Derpy shrieking in pain. Archenold looks in her direction to see her surrounded by a bunch of ponies who are beating her up brutally. "AJ, get the tickets." He orders as he rushes to the scene. "Everyone, back away. NOW!" Archenold commands as he pulls out his bow. The ponies start laughing.

"You think you can threaten us with that wimpy little weapon?" One of the ponies taunt.

"Why don't you fight me and find out?" Archenold challenges. Accepting the challenge, the pony rushes towards Archenold, only to be stopped, dropping to the ground in a lifeless sack with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. Reacting to the death, the other ponies rush at him. Archenold engages in close combat by dodging every attempt to attack, countering, and letting them beat themselves up. A couple times, Archenold is able to snap a couple necks. For the most part, he is bucking ponies in the head, knocking them unconscious. The fighting stops once all the ponies are dead or unconscious. "Let this be a lesson to all you damn ponies who tried this on Derpy." Archenold yells out gathering every ponies attention who happen to be there at the time. "You will not jump her like this at all because she has friends now." Archenold declares. He trots over to Derpy who is curled up with a bunch of bruises all over, crying.

"Are...Are they gone?" Derpy asks still frightened by the sudden event. Archenold helps Derpy up who is wincing in pain as she tries walking.

"Yes. I dealt with them." Archenold replies giving Derpy a smile. Derpy smiles back.

"Thanks for standing up for me." Derpy Thanks.

"Lets get you onto that train." Archenold nods to AJ who got the tickets for their ride to Las Pegasus. Archenold happens to look up to see a black pony on top of the train station with silver eyes again. "It's..." He blinks and the pony is gone. All that's left is a paper airplane flying in his direction.

"It's what?" Derpy asks. Archenold grabs the paper airplane when it gets close and opens it up. There is writing inside it.

"Thanks so much for standing up for her. However, I'm still going to keep a close eye on you.

-The pony you saw back at the mane base of the Black Hoof, Silver Griffin"

"It's a thank you note from the Silver Griffin." Archenold responds handing the note over to Derpy. She looks at Archenold with a raised eyebrow after reading it

They soon find their bedrooms on the train. Archenold checks on Derpy every few minutes to see how she is doing. As soon as the train starts, they sit back to enjoy the trip.

Meanwhile...

Daring Do exits the forest to come by a town. Upon entry, ponies start giving her fearful looks. She takes notice. She tries to ignore it, but her curiosity bests her. She walks up to a pony who shrinks back as she draws near.

"Hey, what's up with everypony? Why are they so scared of me?" The pony starts sweating, keeping a look of fear on his face. He looks around for a place to run.

"Ummm...you wouldn't happen to be a friend of Derpy, would you?" The Stallion asks with a shaky voice. Daring Do raises an eyebrow.

"Derpy? What does she have to do with this?" Daring Do asks with concern.

"She...There were some new ponies over by the train station. One of them was blue with a golden bow and arrow as a cutie mark. He... He fought a group of ponies. Some were killed. others knocked out." The stallion answers with a less shaky tone.

"Why would he do that?" Daring Do asks wondering what possible reason Archenold had.

"They were beating up Derpy pretty bad. Now I just feel bad for her. I mean, shunning her for making simple mistakes..." The pony gets lost in thought as Daring Do wonders what to do next.

"Hay, have you heard of Doctor Hooves?" Daring Do asks the pony.

"Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. He takes residence over in Manehattan. Nice guy. He saved me once from a vicious gang that tried to kill me for not having "protection money" when I lived in Las Pegasus." Daring Do lights up.

"Great! Do you know exactly where he lives?" The pony shrugs.

"I dunno. Just ask around once you get there." The pony suggests.

"Alright." Daring Do heads off to the train station.

"Its alright. She's cool." The pony reassures the ponies in the area. They all relax.

Daring Do gets to the train station, only to be stopped by a police line.

"Figures." Daring Do. rolls her eyes. "Hey! Officer!" She shouts grabbing a police pony's attention. The pony walks over.

"What the hay are you doing here? can't you see this is a crime scene?" Daring Do ignores the question and gets to the point.

"I need a train ride to Manehattan. If you could just let me on..." The officer stops her.

"I'm sorry, but with the investigation, no one is entering or leaving this town." The officer apologizes

"What if the world depended on it?" The officer starts laughing.

"Then I would but it doesn't the safety of the citizens depend on us right now. Why would the world depend on it?" The Officer asks in his humor.

"Well, first off, the Black Hoof is trying to..." The officer pulls out his pistol and points it at Daring Do.

"I suggest you leave right now, missy." Daring Do doesn't flinch as she looks at the pistol, then back at the officer. Seeing the reaction, she knows that she might not entirely be safe if she stays there any longer.

"Right. I'll be off then." Daring Do leaves the station to find an inconspicuous area for her to fly off undetected. She soon finds the right place behind a rundown part of the town where nopony is and heads over there. "See ya later, you sons of sea ponies." She says to herself as she spreads her wings and takes off into the air heading towards Manehattan.

Chapter 5: The Silver Griffin

Chapter 5

The Silver Griffin

"How are you doing?" Archenold asks Derpy as she lays down in her bed still bruised from being jumped.

"I'm doing better." Derpy reports as she moves her head to look at Archenold. "Thanks for tending to me."

"Any time." Archenold replies with a smile.

"You should meet my daughter sometime. She's just as nice as me." Derpy suggests.

"I was hoping to. Seeing how you treated me, I thought your daughter would be just as nice. Dinky, was it?" Derpy nods yes. "You know what I don't get?"

"What?"

"How they call her the Silver Griffin when she isn't even a griffin." Archenold replies still puzzled at the thought.

"Sometimes, there are things in this world that just cannot be answered." Derpy responds sagely. "Hey, could you help me to the dining car?" Derpy asks with a stomach growl following afterwards. Archenold helps Derpy out of bed, supporting her as she leans on him trying to keep balance. They head towards the dining car where they are served a nice breakfast full of exquisite foods and fancy assortment, all of which consists of a vegetarian's diet. The two enjoy their meals, when Archenold notices something that disturbs him.

"That... That older pony. She's been watching me this whole time. I feel uncomfortable." Archenold informs tilting his head to a wrinkly old pony who had her eyes turned towards him.

"Yeah. I noticed to. Creepy, right?" Derpy responds as she finishes her meal. "Wow. I'm stuffed. I need to get this recipe sometime! Although, I still think muffins are better." As if a response to the statement, the waiter hands Derpy a plate with a muffin on it.

"Compliments to those farm ponies over there." The waiter says tilting his head towards Apple Jack and Big Macintosh who are sitting at a table chuckling. This makes Archenold laugh a little as well.

"Wow! Thanks!" Derpy thanks as she digs into her muffin. The waiter heads off to take more orders for other ponies. Derpy finishes her muffin and lets Archenold help her back to her bed.

"You stay here and rest, okay? I have to use the bathroom." Archenold lies. Derpy nods in acknowledgement and turns toward the wall. Archenold leaves the room to find that older pony. He searches everywhere, but doesn't find her.

"Who ya lookin fer?" AJ asks Archenold when he bumps into her accidentally.

"A creepy old pony who has been staring at me during breakfast." Archenold replies giving AJ a puzzled look. He walks past her to continue searching, when he notices sompony else staring at him. "Hey. What are you staring at?" Archenold interrogates. The pony doesn't respond. "You able to talk?" Still no response. Archenold's suspicion rises. "Seriously? No answer? what are you, mute?" The pony slowly nods yes. Archenold doesn't buy it.

"Ok fine. I can talk." The mare responds finally.

"O...k, so, you haven't seen an old pony around here staring at me, have you?" Archenold replies suddenly a bit weirded out.

"Can't say that I have. Why, is the Black Hoof after a dangerous pony or something?" The mare asks. Archenold stares.

"And how the hay do you know about the Black Hoof? More specifically, why would you ask that question in the first place?" Archenold interrogates with his wings starting to rise in a position of offense. The mare surveys the area for a second the responds.

"Come with me to my room. It's more secure there." The mare walks off towards her room with Archenold following behind, still suspicious. Archenold enters the room and looks back to see the mysterious mare looking around quickly before closing the door. "Okay, so you have questions and I got answers. For the main question floating about in your head right now, I am in league with the Silver Griffin. I supply her with intel on special targets and supply her with all these kinds of weapons." The mare smashes a button on the wall next to the door to activate some machinery. Archenold's jaw gapes open as he sees beds replaced with surfaces assorted with nasty weaponry such as bi-claws, tri-claws, assault rifles, pistols, tactical knives, magazines for all the guns, along with heavily plated armor. Not to mention a couple of add-on goggles painted silver. "That along with this extra button to supply my favorite candy cane even though it isn't anywhere near Hearth's Warming." She pushes another button and holds out her hoof as a compartment opens up on the other side of the room and launches a candy cane at her. She catches it and unwraps the plastic to start eating it. Archenold just stares at the scene before him. He then breaks the awkward silence after a couple minutes.

"So, this whole room right here is pretty much a safe-house?" The mare nods as she she continues sucking on her candy cane. Archenold observes the equipment further noticing the hi-tech attachments to each of them. "Damn. That's some pretty serious weaponry for one pony." Archenold comments as he heads to some equipment closer to where the mare is.

"Hay yeah. I mean, why wouldn't an assassin or mercenary need lesser equipment?" The mare asks rhetorically.

"So, where is this Silver Griffin anyways?" Archenold asks in curiosity spiking the mare's suspicion. The mare presses the previous button again, hiding all the weapons. She takes the candy cane out of her mouth, sucked on so much it started to form a sharp tip at one end of it.

"Why would you want to know?" Archenold cant gather the right words to answer. After a small moment of silence, the mare holds Archenold against the wall and attempts to stall him by stabbing his eye with the candy cane, only for Archenold to grab hold of her hoof and knock the candy cane away. Being caught off guard, the mare trips Archenold. Taking advantage of her time, she runs to the window, bursting through it while grabbing onto the top of the window, flipping herself up onto the roof. Archenold hurries up and follows after her.

"Get back here!" He shouts after her as he lands on the roof. He gives chase as the mare runs towards the front of the train. Occasionally, he jumps over a few signs and lights in his path. He soon comes across this one structure just low enough for him to slide under. He slides on his back, head flying backwards as he attempts to dodge the obstacle, only for it to impact his nose with great force. He pushes the pain aside and keeps pursuing the mare. He is just about to get her when she jumps down between the next two train cars and enters the train in a hurry. Archenold continues on, running after her. He is about to burst through the door when it opens outwards towards him, causing him to fly off the train. He gets back on quickly using his wings to fly back on the train. He then jumps down between the next two train cars as a door opens with a surprised look. "Surprise, mother bucker!"

The mare immediately turns around and rushes through the kitchen again, grabbing a bottle of cooking spray. As Archenold runs after her bumping past a few chefs who shout at him angrily, the mare throws the cooking spray against the wall next to a stove causing it to spray potentially causing fire to fly at him. He dodges the attack by sliding on his back again, this time unscathed. He then jumps up afterwards to dodge a knife being thrown at him. Giving up, the mare moves on to the next train car. Archenold bursts through the next doors to find himself in a storage room. He immediately hides behind a metal office desk as he sees the mare equipped with an automatic rifle.

"Try getting me now!" The mare taunts. Archenold starts thinking quickly as he hears her hoof steps coming closer and closer. He then sees a fire extinguisher. Perfect! He waits for her to get into place before pulling out the pistol he stole earlier and shooting the extinguisher causing it to implode, sending the mare flying in the opposite direction from the extinguisher. The mare flies into a cardboard box full of mines. Hearing beeping, the mare panics, when Archenold grabs her by the shoulder and pulls her behind the metal desk, safe from the blast, if not bruised a little from the metal desk launching towards them with some force.

"I'm guessing this is one of the safe-houses too?" Archenold holds the mare into a threatening position of an impending neck snap. "Now tell me who you really are!" He interrogates, tightening his grip starting to choke the mare a little.

"Okay! Okay! just... *cough* let go!" The mare pleads for her life. Archenold lets go of the mare letting her collapse to the ground to catch her breath for a minute. After gathering her breath, she gets up, coughs, then looks Archenold straight in the eye as her gets up to meet her at eye level. Then, she takes a hoof and reaches just above her neck, pressing an invisible button. Her disguise flashes blue for a second before disappearing to reveal a pony in a heavily armored black suit with the familiar silver goggles add-on. She then takes off the mask and the goggles to reveal her face, causing Archenold to go wide-eyed in astonishment. Before him is a more purple unicorn with a blonde mane and tail, looking rather similar to Derpy, about his age. "I'm the Silver Griffin."

"Oh...my...Celestia..." Archenold says breaking another moment of silence.

"I know. Mom would be so bucking pissed if she knew. I never wanted anyone who knew mom to ever find out my secret. Well, I guess you can go tell her now." Dinky slumps to the floor in defeat. "I feel so awful right now." She admits.

Archenold takes a think about what he should do.

"Y...You know, she was going to find out sooner or later." Dinky looks up, still saddened. Archenold stares into her her pretty amber eyes, trying to think further. He then comes to a decision after his stomach growls. "Tell you what. I'll decide what to do over lunch. I'm getting hungry. If you want to join me, I suggest you put on that disguise again. I don't want you getting into more trouble until I've come up with my decision." Archenold decides.

"Right." Dinky puts her mask on and activates her disguise turning herself into a different mare than before.

"Let's..." He hears the sound of the authorities arriving. "Let's go back on the roof." They both head out the back door just in time as the guards investigate the scene. They silently get onto the roof and sneak past the guards from above until they get to a section where they wouldn't be suspected. Soon enough, they sit down at the dining tables to eat some lunch. They both just go with a simple dandelion sandwich.

They both eat their food in silence when it comes, saving their drinks.

"So, where did that gun come from? It sounded way too powerful to have been bought at a conventional gunsmith." Dinky asks curiously.

"Stole it from the Black Hoof. You know, before I escaped in the trash pits." Dinky nods in acknowledgement.

"Quite a nasty pistol that is. Why didn't you just use your bow?"

"Because despite the force this bow could give upon the target, the arrows I have are only sharp enough to pierce flesh and wood. Not metal. If you want to take a look at the design, go ahead." Archenold offers.

"Could I?" Archenold takes off his bow and gives it to Dinky who examines it. "Y...You think you could teach me archery sometime?" Dinky asks causing Archenold to raise an eyebrow.

"You need archery lessons? I thought you would know." Dinky shakes her head no as she hands back the bow.

"I only trained myself with guns and tactical pursuit. Not older weapons." Dinky confesses.

"I see... I might take up on that offer." Dinky raises an eyebrow.

"I thought you had to figure out what to do with me first." Archenold just smiles.

"Yeah, I decided not to get you into trouble. You...almost seem just like your mother. Too nice to be in trouble." Archenold replies causing Dinky to shift her gaze to the floor with a small blush.

"Thanks." She then looks up to notice Derpy coming into the room. Archenold looks back and notices her as well.

"Good thing you have a disguise option on that suit of yours." Archenold looks back at Derpy and waves at her.

"Hi, Archenold!" Derpy greets with a big smile on her face in her usual cheery mood. "Who's your marefriend?" She teases.

"Oh, come on. Just because a mare happens to be nice enough to join me for lunch, doesn't make her my marefriend." Archenold responds.

"Yeah, I'm just messing with you." Derpy admits.

"I see you're doing better. A lot better." Archenold observes. Derpy flutters her wings in happiness.

"Yeah! My legs and hooves feel refreshed." Derpy replies with glee.

"You friends with Archenold here?" Dinky asks trying not to be seen as an anti-social stranger.

"You have no idea! He saved my life!" Derpy answers proudly.

"They were just a group of thugs beating you up. I highly doubt they would have taken your life." Archenold argues.

"It felt like they were going to." Derpy responds with her wings lowering as her smile fades in remembrance of the traumatizing event.

"Well, good to know any friend of Archenold's is doing just fine." Dinky then takes the last bite out of her sandwich and gets up from the table. "Well, I'll be off now. Nice meeting you two. Archenold, if you ever want to talk again, you know my room number." Dinky offers.

"Right. See ya." Archenold waves by to Dinky as she heads towards her room. Archenold then notices a train guard enter the dining room from the opposite side of the train car. "I best be going too." Archenold gets up and walks with Derpy back to their bedroom where they meet up with Apple Jack and Big Macintosh who were talking to each other. After a half hour of chatting, Archenold decides to visit Dinky. Upon arrival, he knocks on the door.

"Who's there?" Replies the familiar voice from behind the door.

"You know who." Archenold replies. Soon enough the door opens to reveal the same room, without the stash of weaponry showing. Only beds and shelves. The window is now only slightly broken, probing Dinky was tending to it with her magic abilities.Archenold notices Dinky sitting on one of the beds, using her magic to move a brush as she finishes brushing her hair.

"Hello again." She greets, looking at Archenold with a slight smile.

"Hi." Archenold closes the door behind him. "I would like to continue where we left off when your mom came into the Dining car."

"Yeah?" Dinky listens as she opens a drawer in the dresser next to her bed, putting the brush away. Archenold gets distracted looking at her, when he remembers why he was there.

"So, yeah, like I said, I'm not going to tell Derpy." Archenold starts lamely.

"Yeah. Thanks again." Dinky thanks smiling warmly at the thought of his last reply.

"How come you got into mercenary in the first place?" Archenold asks, breaking into her thoughts.

"Umm...I'd rather not talk about that right now. Maybe if you explain why the Black hoof wants you dead?" Dinky answers questioningly.

"Alright fine." Archenold goes into great detail about how he ended up where he is now. He feels happier knowing that by the engaged look he was getting that Dinky was interested in the story.

"Wow. Seems like you had to go through some serious shit there." Dinky reflects.

"Yeah. Now I believe you owe me a story?" Archenold urges.

"Right... well, It began when I was younger. When I was a filly to be more specific." Dinky begins. "I was in school, doing my normal thing. I went to my locker to get my books in order for my next class. I entered the classroom when I saw Miss Cherilee walk up to me in front of my desk staring down at me."

23 years ago...

"Dinky, principle Ivy would like to see you." Cherilee informs with worry. The whole class starts going "ooh" until Cherilee shoots them all a glare, even though she rarely does. Confused, Dinky gets up and trots over to the office where she is seen immediately.

"D...Did I do something bad?" Dinky asks in a higher pitched voice.

"No, Dinky." Principle Ivy reassures. "I called you to my office because... well... Have you seen Petal around?" Dinky shakes her head no. "Well, I'm aware she's one of your best friends, and I thought I'd let you know, we got a call from the police." Dinky twitches. "We were informed that she was found unconscious in her house, everything ransacked. She is currently in the hospital being brought back into consciousness. She's still alive but, her mother, I can't say the same. She was hurt bad in the assault." I honestly don't know why she told me this story. It was just... out of nowhere. It's true I haven't seen my friend, but she didn't have to call me to her office to tell me that, you know? However, what she told me next came to play later on. "This random pony is still out there. Be careful when you get home, Dinky. Don't worry if there are police officers stationed nearby your house. They're there for your security, but I can't help shake the feeling that the pony could still do bad things. Remember this when you get home. Be very careful." Dinky blinks at the news given to her. "You are dismissed. Be very careful, Dinky. We all care about you."

Dinky gets up and heads back to class and finishes the school day. As expected, there was extra police officers in the area when she got home on the bus. feeling nervous, she walks home, looking at a few officers who just smile at her. She goes to bed, then wakes up the next day to see her room messed up. She gasps as she sees clothes torn apart and thrown on the floor, furniture knocked over, a couple of plants fallen down and broken, and the door wide open. Dinky gets out of bed when she feels a stab of pain in her side. she examines the source of the pain to find a fresh wound in her side, still bleeding. Who the hay would hurt a filly anyway? I wasn't doing anything to the pony and I was asleep the whole time. I wonder how the buck I was able to sleep through it, but the pony bucking harmed a filly! You know what I mean? Dinky ignores the pain a little bit and gets out of her bed, dropping to the floor in pain. She holds a hoof to the wound as she trudges out of her room to find the whole house had been ransacked.

She searched through the debris when she heard moaning. She looked over in the direction of the noise to see her mother lying on the ground, breathing heavily. "Mom!" She shrieks in horror as she goes to rush to her side. She sees multiple wounds and gashes all over her body.

"Dinky... Call...*cough* call the police..." She orders weakly. Dinky looks outside to see a police officer coming into the area. Dinky rushes to the door and opens it, shouting to the police officer.

"HELP! My mom has been hurt!" The police officer hears her and gallops over quickly to see the wound on Dinky, causing him to stare in shock.

"What happened, little girl?!" The police officer asks in confusion.

"I...I don't know. I woke up and this happened." Dinky lets the officer inside who drops his jaw when he sees the huge mess. "My...My mom, she's been hurt badly." Dinky repeats as she heads back over to Derpy. The police officer looks over to see the bloody pony lying there, breathing a lot slower now.

"I need an ambulance here, NOW!" The officer shouts the transmitter on his chest as he goes over to grab a few tissues and rags to cover the wounds.

"Is... Is she going to be okay?" Dinky asks the officer in worry.

"I don't know. Do you have a father?" The officer asks.

"Well, there is this one pony who is like a father..." The officer looks at her.

"Call him." Dinky gets up to grab her cell phone on the ground in her bedroom which is cracked, but still functional. She calls the pony.

"Doctor? Mom was hurt." She reports to the Doctor.

"Yeah? What happened?" The pony asks in a British accent.

"Somepony broke in and ransacked the house. I think mom tried to stop the pony." Dinky replies. On the other end, the Doctor starts talking to himself.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, Dinky." The call ends. Dinky gallops over to the front window to see a blue police box fading into existence. The pony who exits is a brown pony with his spiky mane and tail darker than his skin. He is a stallion about Derpy's age with an hourglass as his cutie mark. He gallops over to the house with worry. He enters the house, mouth dropping and eyes wandering at the scene set before him.

"Sir? I'm going to need your help with investigation after we get her onto the ambulance that should arrive soon." The officer informs as he looks over to the Doctor.

"Umm...of course. Yes, let me just..." The Doctor starts looking through the debris for something specific that might have been taken. He finishes his search at a computer monitor in the study. The monitor screen is cracked, flickering images. The computer is obviously on, but the Doctor keeps staring at the monitor. He then pulls out a metal rod with a blue, rounded end and points it at the computer. He presses a button on the rod and a blue, fluorescent light emits from it. Soon enough, the monitor freezes an image on the screen. One specific image that sets off his alertness. The image shows a pony's hoof. The skin is black and the text on the bottom of the picture says "Black Hoof". The Doctor turns away from the monitor to activate the metal rod again, this time switching to the next image. This time, it's a document with words in bold saying "Project Jade". The document goes into great detail about the project and what will happen. At the end of it is text in red saying "Ponies will die" in a font that makes it look like blood. His attention turns behind him as he hears a small "ow" come from behind.

"Doctor, is everything alright?" The Doctor smiles warmly at Dinky.

"Yes. Mom will be fine. You just go to bed and relax. I'll take care of you until she's better." Dinky smiles back.

"Okay. Also, the ambulance is here." Dinky informs.

"Fantastic." The Doctor rushes out to help Derpy into the ambulance. Dinky goes to her room and uses her magic to clear her bed of any debris and lays down in it. All in the meantime, the monitor flickers back to the Black Hoof image. It zooms out to reveal the full image of a very familiar pony, smiling deviously. The image turns into an animation as the pony starts laughing maniacally before the monitor shuts down completely.

A couple hours later, Dinky wakes up feeling slightly less pain in her side than before. She gets out of bed to find the house a mess still, wishing it was all a dream. "Doctor?" Dinky calls. She notices him looking around the Debris along with the officer.

"Yes, Dinky?" The Doctor asks as he keeps searching through the debris, talking to himself making mental notes.

"I'm scared. What if the pony comes back when night comes?" Dinky confesses. The Doctor looks up at Dinky and smiles.

"Don't worry. He won't be back. It was a one-time event. You're safe now. As soon as we're all done here, we'll clean this mess up and the house'll be back in order. Okay?" The Doctor reassures.

"I'm not scared of that." Dinky replies, getting the Doctor to think. "I...I'm going to get something to eat." Dinky heads to the kitchen where she opens the fridge. The first thing she sees is a muffin. Tears start forming in her eyes as she remembers the good times she had with Derpy. Along with those awkward moments where Derpy accidentally did something that made Dinky laugh. She keeps thinking of her good moments, along with what the principle said. The way she thinks of it now, it seems like Ivy's mother probably died. She collapses to the ground sobbing, worrying if her mother would share that fate. She looks up when she feels a hoof on her shoulder.

"Dinky, we're both worried about how this will all turn out. I've been in this kind of position once before and trust me, it is not easy at all." Dinky sniffles once before speaking up.

"W...What happened?" The Doctor closes the fridge before sitting down at the grabbing two chairs and placing them at the table. They both sit down as the Doctor explain.

"She...She was helping me save lot of lives. I was in this room where there was a pathway to stop the station from imminent destruction and there were these huge fans spinning way too fast..." The Doctor goes into great detail about how he stopped the situation and the cause of the other's death. "She burned up because she was organic. A living tree." The doctor finishes up.

"A timberwolf?" Dinky asks in great confusion.

"No. No not a timberwolf. Something you wouldn't understand. Not in this dimension at least." The Doctor explains. "That damn human deserved to die for what she did." The Doctor says as he gets off the chair and walks away a bit angry from the memory. Dinky just sits their wondering what he was talking about. Then, he speaks again.

"Hey, I think I found something." He reports. The police pony comes over to check out what the Doctor had found. The Doctor steps aside to reveal a tri-claw with blood stains on the blades, along with some black fabric and a torn off piece of flesh. "This tri-claw here is unimportant, but the skin and fabric, that's another story." The police pony looks at the Doctor questioningly.

"What do you mean the weapon isn't important? That's probably how Derpy was assaulted." The Doctor gives the police pony an emotionless look.

"Nope. The skin here is blue. That and have you taken a closer look at her scars? None of the wounds were parallel to each other. This means, she was probably wounded by a knife." The Doctor reveals. The officer forms an o with his mouth in revelation. "The pony, however, was blue as shown by this torn flesh here. That's all I can pick up from this." The Doctor reports.

"Now how the hay did you figure all that out? Are you some kind of detective?" The officer questions. The Doctor just smirks.

"You have no idea."

Present day...

"After that, we never found the one who did it. However, one clue led to the fact that the pony traveled in time because that police box was gone. Doctor Hooves was stuck with us." Dinky says starting to finish her story. "I found out that Ivy's mother had died in school the next day which only worried me more. I was relieved to see mom was doing just fine, but seeing her there with all those wounds, it...it was unbearable. The next few months, mom was fully healed and decided that Doctor Hooves and she were at a turning point in a relationship and decided to marry. That day even though it was supposed to be full of joy for me, I was thinking. My rage was building up inside me at that pony and I decided I would take that tri-claw and learn how to use it. I took technology courses in school which helped me come up with everything I needed to become the Silver Griffin. I've been trying to find a way to locate that blue pony and when I saw you at the main base, I got suspicious. You sure as hay are not the pony I was looking for." Archenold gets off the bed he was sitting on and thinks for a moment.

"That pony... You said he was blue and along with the story he was supposed to have a wound with three parallel scars?" Archenold questions with serious alertness.

"Yeah." Dinky replies. Archenold chuckles.

"That's strange. Daring Do told me that the one who killed my father after my mom died at my birth held three scars just the same."