Wormholers

by The Rar

Rating: teen
Tags: Crossover, Dark, Human
Length: 10988

How far would you go to save your home? Across the street? Across the country? Across the galaxy? Across the universe..? How about other universes.

War rages. In every sector of the universe, people are shooting, killing and decimating each other. Massive factions of humanity turning on each other and fighting it out, at the cost of a billion lives a day.
Desperate to end the destructive wars, four friends scour the universe for a solution.
They find it, deep within the wreckage of a long abandoned and long forgotten planet.
A project, classified above top secret. Code named "Wormholers". The aim of the project was to enable travel between realities themselves.
Equiped with prototype Warping Watches, the team of four search the far reaches of time and space for the assistance they so desperately desire.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-02-22 21:25:33 UTC

Negotiating 101 - Tell them nothing

Solace. A glowing white ball of a planet, situated on the outer fringes of the Geller system, one of the very first defences the system had. It was a world with only one defining feature: the fortress. Standing high on the snow covered plains the world was dominated by, and being made of brilliant white steel, the fortress was an ugly, yet beautiful spire of military power. With its large, pin like tower stretching to the sky, acres upon acres of buildings of varying purpose surrounding it like a city, and a circular wall protecting it for miles around, it was a sight to be feared. It housed hundreds of thousands of soldiers within its metre thick walls, and had a space port big enough to hold spacecraft that could carry the planet’s population twice over. It was a shining torch to the craft of man, an almost indestructible fortress defended by revolutionary energy barriers and maintained by some of the greatest soldiers and technicians the legion had ever known. Not to mention the raw power the fortress possessed, in the form of both weaponry and strategic knowledge and its perfect camouflage.

The day was a normal one, and began as such, with a blaring voice booming out of mega-speakers all through the Fortress-city as the sun rose. The message was different for every district of the city, but it had the same base message: get up and report to your station. Men from every district of the city emerged from their barracks and marched sleepily towards their stations. Some men marched towards the walls, getting ready to man one of the gates allowing exit or entrance of the city, or to maintain the automated weapon systems that monitored activity around the gate. Not that there was ever much to see, but it was good practice. Some men walked to the place where things may actually have been seen, the great spire and its observatories.  Spending hours upon hours searching the sky for any craft, threat or not and logging the time seen and the direction heading. Tireless work, but worth it to protect an entire system containing hundreds of planets.

The rest of the population milled within the city doing whatever it was they did on their time off rotation on patrol or training exercises.

Normally the streets contained one or two people running from building, carrying various pieces of equipment, weapons, or, most likely, fuel tanks to keep heaters going.

The planet was a frozen land, and nothing natural lived on the surface. So, normally, the soldiers never saw any action within the base. Everything was out in space or on other worlds.

Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened, on a normal day.

“Well, this isn’t exactly ideal.”

Today was not a normal day.

In one of the million snow laden streets of the city, four intruders stood, surrounded by several armed guardsmen.

The guardsmen were quite confused… Actually, incredibly confused.

Not only were there intruders within their base… Actual physical intruders on a world of death, ice and within their impenetrable fortress. If the fact that their seemingly impenetrable fortress had been penetrated without anyone even knowing wasn’t bad enough, the guardsman who had been first on the scene had claimed they appeared out of thin air. So, there they stood, back to back covering all directions, shivering in the freezing cold. The soldiers nervously and confusedly standing around them examined them.

One of them stood shifting the aim of a very powerful looking rifle between several men, who pointed rifles of their own back, looking tiny in comparison. He wore a jet black boiler suit, which hung loosely from his body and was rather tattered. His clothes were more than enough protection though, as they had several rather thick, dull grey metal plates attached to them on every possible surface. Not much of the black could be seen; it looked more like he was wearing a suit of solid metal like a medieval knight. The only part of him that was relatively exposed was his head, for he lacked a helmet like some of the others wore. He looked old and beaten, with his facial skin a tattered mess of scar tissue from long healed wounds. His dark blue eyes glew like new within his face of ruined skin, and were the only relatively normal feature on the man’s ruined, shaven head.  The soldiers couldn’t tell who exactly this man was, but they could tell he was a fan of very heavy weapons, as they examined the large calibre shells feeding into the gun.

Another of the group, the one who had spoken, had a more obvious affinity for technology. He stood a little shorter than the rest, but was no less intimidating to the soldiers. He pointed a shotgun at one of the soldiers examining him, but it wasn’t held by an arm of flesh and bone. His entire left arm was a bulky bionic replacement of dull iron and brass. Most of it was covered by the thick, grey riot gear he wore over his torso and legs, but enough was visible to be noticed. Frost was forming on the arm, but it didn’t seem to faze the figure. His bionic replacements didn’t end there though. Not only was his left arm a bionic replica, both of his legs were the same solid metal skeletons, as were both of his eyes. Sitting in the eye sockets were things that were clearly not organic. Silvery orbs with spherical glass lenses in centre acting as the pupil and allowing the devices to be used for sight. The spherical lenses glew a murky emerald colour, and switched from target to target. Compared to the eye snatching bionics of his arms and legs, his eyes were rather discreet pieces of technology. In fact, if one were to ignore the silver metal of the eyes, it would look like the man had a normal face and bright green eyes. His face was unlike that of the other man, bearing no scars of any sort. As before, he had a face that was almost normal. Maybe it too was one huge artificial implant.

The third member of the group, the woman, had a talent that was harder to see. Naturally of course. Wearing the same riot gear the technician wore, draped in robe of midnight black; the female figure of the group was truly a puzzle to everyone. Her mouth was completely concealed below the nose by a piece of fabric drawn across it, and her hair, the same colour as her blackened robes sprouted from the back of her head in a tight ponytail. Her bright, electric blue eyes were like tiny oceans set in her skull and peaked out above the veil covering her jaw. She stood in a pose that spoke of large amounts of agility and flexibility, but also of some amount of strength and fortitude. In both her hands she held two rather large and boxy pistols made of metal that seemed to consume all light unfortunate enough to touch the slate grey paintwork.

They all stood confidently facing the armed soldiers.

The only thing preventing the soldiers from being turned into corpses was the gloved, staying fist of the fourth member of the group being held above his head.

All three of the others refraining from causing havoc simply because this man in dirty, faded camouflage overalls had his fist clenched. Their leader.

“I’d take this over where we were.” The leader cautiously respond.

Although he was their leader, he certainly didn’t look the part. Old camouflage overalls covering his entire body. The clothes were covered in pockets and pouches all containing various pieces of equipment deemed important enough to have, a bulky black combat belt kept his trousers held tight, and they too had their fair share of pockets. All practical and simple things.

He was the typical soldier, down to the standard silver tags hanging around his neck and the dark, closely cropped hair clinging to his scalp. Not the mystery of the woman, or the protection of the bigger man, and certainly not the augmentation of the smaller man. He was simply a man. He had some bulk to his body, perhaps concealed body armour, but it was impossible to tell because of the overalls.

“Looking for instructions Boss” The man with the bionic limbs whispered over to his leader.

The leader surveyed the soldier in front of him for a moment, before responding.

“Lowering your weapon would be a start” The leader whispered back in a slightly amused tone.

Any other person would likely be reluctant to lower their weapon in the face of other armed men, but the bionic man trusted his leader. While he couldn’t quite understand his leader’s methods, they rarely failed, and he trusted them.

He simply grinned and slowly lowered his shotgun towards the ground.

The other two members of the group did likewise.

“Let’s see where this one leads us…” The leader whispered to himself as soldiers moved towards his group, ready to detain them.

“This cell is rather pretty, would you not agree, Grimock?” The bionic man amusedly yelled to the heavy weapon wielder across the corridor.

Rather unsurprisingly, the group were taken directly through the cold steel of the fortress-city, to the prison within the central spire. Long, wide corridors with doors made of thick bars lining the entire length.

“If you’ve got a fetish for white steel and neon blue lighting strips. No doubt you do, Logar.” Grimock responded.

“This seems more like blue steel.” Logar reported with a slight laugh as he tapped the solid, bare wall of his cramped cell.

“I meant the colour…” Grimock groaned at Logar’s silly joke. “Well, may as well get comfy.” He continued to sigh as he sat on the smooth bench in his cell.

The group had each been given a small cell to “rest” in, made of the same cold steel that the entire fortress was made of, and was lit by odd, blue glowing strips, as Logar had observed.

Despite its bright and cheerful colours, it was far from that. Prisons never seem fun, and for good reason.

“Do you suppose they’ll just leave us here to rot for trespassing, or will they allow us to explain ourselves?”  The woman clad in black robes asked her comrades.

Logar’s metal hand clanked as he rested himself upon the door of his cell.

“One would assume both, my dear Keyla. Questioning followed swiftly by rotting.” Logar answered.

“Bringing the enthusiasm, as always, Logar.” Keyla chuckled as she too slumped onto her bench.

“What do you think boss?” Keyla continued to ask.

“I think we’ll be questioned, like Logar said, but I disagree with the rotting. I think we’ll pull through this and reason with them.” The camouflage wearing man yelled back.

“I’m highly reluctant to doubt you, but I fear these men may be beyond reason, Titus.” Logar disheartendly responded.

“And why would you think that?” Titus half laughed back to Logar.

“These soldiers just don’t seem like the type to be reasoned with.” Logar said as he shrugged.

“You seem awfully eager to reside to a fate in these cells.” Titus laughed back, “What’s the matter with you today, hmm?”

Logar chuckled and slumped back from the door to his cell.

“You know me Titus.” Logar laughed, “Never really liked the cold.”

“Well I’m afraid you’re going to be in your own personal hell for quite some time.” A powerful voice maliciously chuckled from one end of the corridor.

The voice was enough to draw all four members to the doors of their respective cells.

“And I’m also afraid your friend in the overalls was the one who was right. On the questioning part, at least. We’ll see about the reasoning later…” The voice trailed off to be replaced by the sound of footsteps, marching ever louder towards the group.

“Come on Applejack! We ain’t got time to dilly dally!”

“This better be the last one Braeburn! I’m getting mighty tired of this…”

Applejack and Braeburn had spent the best part of the day fumbling around the desert looking for crates of seeds, of all things. Appleloosa’s shipment of tree seeds for planting had been subject to a series of unfortunate events while traveling on the Friendship Express, and ended up scattered all along the length of the train track. Tensions were high.

“I didn’t force you to do this missy, you agreed to help me.” Braeburn flatly reminded Applejack.

“Yes, I know that cousin, I just don’t remember ya’ll mention the walking across half a desert part.” Applejack threw back.

“What’d ya think I meant when I asked you to help me out? Ya’ll know our family well enough. When is our work never long and difficult?” Braeburn laughed back as he pushed a crate towards the cart they’d both been pulling.

“Heh… I s’pose you’re right, I know our work.” Applejack agreed.

Applejack always loved spending time with family. Everyone in her family were so nice, and were a complete pleasure to work with. Even if the work is even more repetitive and physically demanding than usual.

“So where d’ya reckon the rest of these crates went Applejack?” Braeburn inquisitively asked Applejack as he squirmed into the harness to begin pulling the cart again.

“Well most’ve been along the track, so I reckon we should just keep followin’ it until we get ‘em all.” Applejack responded as she joined in pulling the cart.

“Heh, well. That seems like a good idea. Let’s see what the track takes us to…” Braeburn trailed off as both he and Applejack began pushing the now heavy cart.

“So, let’s take this from the top, shall we…” The man sighed. “How exactly did you get into this facility?”

The man who had collected the group from their cells no less. The group of four had garnered quite a bit of attention, including from the Lord General of the fortress-city. The Lord General was the highest position of power on Solace, and he ruled the entire fortress. The Lord General happened to be the one who had claimed them. A large, old, man, weathered by time but not completely worn. Wearing his ceremonial black suit, complete with the General’s hat, commendation meddles and a long sabre made of some foreign, blue metal. It was both an ornamental piece and a functioning sword. His long white hair, the norm for someone born on Solace, contrasted his dark uniform perfectly, and besides certain medals, was the only thing that had any brightness to it on his entire uniform. He certainly looked the part, and he was in the mood for some good, old fashioned negotiations.

“We have our ways.” Titus responded.

“Right… And who are you again?” The general continued to sigh.

“Titus.”

The room they were in was completely apart from the prison. After a few turns down the confusing corridors and traversing the many elevators of the spire, the aesthetics completely changed from dark and doom to something akin to joy and comfort. The topmost levels of the spire were for meetings of the higher ranking residents of the fortress-city. Discussing the status of the fortress and news from their superiors. The room the party was situated in was normally used for simple gatherings. Large circular room with a large clear glass window letting the day light illuminate the room. In the centre of the room a large, circular, crystalline table which everyone was sat around. The Lord, unsurprisingly, the only person not in a set of cuffs and chains.

Naturally, guards at the doorways.

“And you?” The general asked as he gestured to the bionic man.

“Logar.” He flatly responded, just as bored as the general.

“How about you young lady?”

“Keyla.” The woman lightly laughed. She was quite amused by the man’s frustration.

“And finally you…” The general groaned as he pointed to the biggest man.

“Grimock.” The big man grumbled.

“They’re all very interesting names. I’m afraid I can’t match those however. I’m simply Dane.”

The entire room fell silent again, as it had the first time that conversation had taken place.

When you break into a city designed solely to keep people out, you can’t really get away with saying “It’s our secret”.

General Averol Dane was certainly not the type to take such a vague answer regarding the infiltration of his fortress. However, his captives weren’t being very forthcoming. The most he’d been able to get were their names and the fact that they’d gotten into the fortress. He was rather losing his patients with them. They’d been going around in circles multiple times.

“Look, I’m more than willing to pardon your trespassing if you’ll just tell me what I want to know.” Dane groaned as he slapped the irritatingly blank sheet of paper on the table, which he’d brought to jot down anything of importance.

“We’re terribly sorry, but our methods are not something you can know, as we’ve told you before.” Logar explained once more. “There is no disputing that.” He finished.

“Ah, but you see, I am the one with the guns, the guards and the fortress. Most importantly to you maybe, I’m the one who holds the key to your freedom, or inversely to your eternal captivity. Now, I would really like to know how exactly four people infiltrated my fortress.” Dane pressed.

“We snuck into your fortress when an opportunity arose.” Titus hopefully said, hoping that that would satisfy the general.

“An opportunity you say? I’m eager to hear what my base is lacking that would give you such an opportunity.” Dane laughed, masking his impatiens now that he was getting somewhere.

“A number of guards patrolling your perimeter were distracted by something… We managed to sneak in.” Titus reluctantly explained.

“That’s quite a feat my friend. Do you have much experience in infiltrating military fortresses?” Dane slightly laughed.

“He doesn’t, but I do.” Keyla interrupted. “I was the one who noticed the guards were distracted and devised the way to get in. I could explain it if y-“

Dane interrupted Keyla before she could finish the explanation.

Everyone in the room, besides Dane of course, silently held their breath.

“The walls are kept clear by automated gun systems and all the gates to the fortress are also protected by even more gun systems. Can anyone tell me what that means?”

All four members of the group shared uneasy looks. Most directed at Titus. Titus, being the leader, was the first to be looked to in times of trouble. He didn’t really have any solution.

“You’re lying to me” The general spat as slammed his fist on the gleaming table.

He slowly stood up from his silver chair, and walked towards the large window behind him.

“I tried to be civil with you.” Dane signed. “But you won’t co-operate with me, and when I finally think you are, you lie to me. Why are you even here?”

“To ask for your help.” Titus enthusiastically said, happy the subject had been changed to something he wanted to talk about.

“Hmm?” Dane confusedly muttered at Titus’ statement.

“We’re here to ask for your assistance” Grimock repeated for Titus.

Dane rounded back on the four members sat around the table and slowly grinned.

“You think I would be willing to help you after you refuse to give me information, even while you’re my captives? Really?”

“We were hoping, yes.” Titus flatly responded.

“And what kind of assistance would you be requiring, hmm? Would you like your weapons? Armour? A legion of men?” Dane laughed as he collected his papers.

“That would be nice, actually.” Logar quietly chuckled to himself.

“Well you’re not getting any of it. Until you tell me what I want to know, you can sit in the damned prison.” Dane spitefully spat back. Despite the fact that he was intrigued by the group, he could not take any chances trusting what was a very large security threat. Especially with weapons.

“Guards,” Dane bellowed to the guards he’d stationed outside the entrance to the room.

The instant the words had left his mouth, two guards in black, beautifully gilded combat armour, carrying shotguns similar to Logar stomped in.

“Sir,” Both guards said in unison.

“Both of you take these fools back to the prison cells.” Dane ordered as he turned back to face the glorious gleaming sun of Solace rising over the horizon.

“Yes sir.”

Both guards bowed to their leader, and faced to turn the four unfortunate captives.

To Dane’s surprise, the four prisoners went without dispute. They simply stood, and began to walk out of the room with the guards.

Before he left, Titus turned and said: “Why not take a chance? Why not help us?”

Dane laughed.

“I’ve been the Lord of this fortress for forty years. I don’t take chances. You’ll stay in those cells and you’ll get no help from us. Congratulations, you just blew your one chance of pardon.”

Titus sighed and left with his friends.

“I’m assuming you have a plan.” Logar whispered to Titus as he marched back towards the prison complex.

“Considering the options, give me a minute.” Titus whispered back.

“Options? We have options?” Logar confusedly shot back, in a slightly raised tone.

“Be silent, fool.” One of the guards bellowed from behind, hearing Logar.

“Yes, we do.” Titus whispered, even quieter, almost inaudible. “Assume Dane is being truthful saying there will be no pardon or wait this out and see if we get help. These people are powerful and could be valuable.” He finished.

“I’m not entirely sure we have a choice in what happens. We’re waiting this out.” Grimock disheartendly sighed.

“I said silent damn it!” The same guard angrily yelled as he cocked his shotgun loudly.

“Hmm… Don’t be so sure…” Keyla sung as she nodded towards a convoy of men carrying familiar looking pieces of equipment down a large, long corridor veering off to the right. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking Titus?”

“Well, it’s this or spend a few years in a prison cell.” Titus lightly laughed. He nodded towards Grimock and said: “Do it.”

That was all that was needed for the plan to be understood. The group worked in sync with each other, and knew how they assessed situations perfectly. Grimock turned around to the guard who had been particularly aggressive, Grimock being at the back of the group, following Titus, Logar and finally, at the front, Keyla. He twisted his body heavily to the right and before the guard could raise his shotgun to fire, Grimock slammed his linked hands against the side of his skull. There was a cry of pain, and then a clunk of an unconscious man slamming onto the floor.

“Go!” Titus shouted to his comrades.

Grimock was already way ahead of him, having begun picking up the shotgun from the downed guard. The other guard standing at the front of the group had not been completely deaf, and heard his co-worker go down. He was already turning his gun on the group.

“Run!” Titus bellowed to Keyla and Logar as he gestured to the corridor with his shackled hands.

They set off sprinting towards the gear, which the servants promptly dropped on the floor as they ran from the intruders.

The remaining guard began to set off after them all, having lost sight of them down the corridor, but as he took a sharp turn around the corner, the thought struck him that there were only three people running down the corridor. The guard, much like his counterpart, felt a sharp stab of pain against the side of his head as Grimock smacked the stock of the shotgun hard into him. He stumbled and fell hard against the cold steel floor.

Grimock stepped carefully over the unconscious man and set off running to his friends, who were gathering their equipment.

“Good job Grimock.” Titus happily said to his friend as he let Logar begin to remove his cuffs.

“They’ll be out for a while, but I’m fairly sure those guys who ran will surely sound the alarm.” Grimock nervously responded.

“You heard him Logar, get these damned things off of us.” Titus ordered, switching to his normal, serious tone.

“No problem boss.” Logar enthusiastically said as he strongly spread his arms to the side, his bionic one providing more than enough strength to break the chains. He could’ve done that at any point, be breaking out of his chains wouldn’t really do well for negotiations.

He didn’t strip the actual cuffs off, as time was short.

“Now you lot.”

Logar flexed his fingers and rapidly snapped the chains bonding his friends.

Click after high pitched click, the links broke, until everyone was free.

“Gear up, we’re leaving this place.” Titus said as he began to pick up his weapons and re-equip his combat armour, which was indeed concealed under his overalls.

Everyone had been relieved of their armour and weapons, following their capture. Good move, Titus had to admit. If they tried to escape like they were now, they wouldn’t get far without weaponry or protection.

As they were checking their weapons were in working order, a claxon blared from loudspeakers in the immensely large ceilings.

“I think they realised what happened.” Titus groaned as he cocked his rifle.

“That’s not very good.” Grimock droned as he scanned one end of the corridor with his beastly rifle.

“I hear footsteps from my end.” Keyla quietly said as she began backing away from her end of the corridor, the one they’d left the unconscious guards in.

“Run the other way then.” Titus groaned, having to say aloud the obvious. He stood from his crouched position, finished checking his equipment, and began sprinting away from the loud footsteps. His friends followed suit.

“I thought ya’ll would be with your friend, that’s why I was so surprised when you agreed to help me.”

Braeburn and Applejack had continued following the rail road through the dry, dusty desert. They’d collected all but two elusive crates of seeds while following it, but they were both being particularly tricky, and weren’t anywhere in sight. They were both beginning to lose all hope.

“I think we should just cut our losses and haul these babies back to town. We’re gonna get lost out here in this place.” Braeburn sighed, having seen enough dusty dirt for one day.

“Wha- Come on Braeburn, don’t be so easily defeated! When has the Apple family ever settled for “cutting our losses”, huh?” Applejack gasped at Braeburn.

Braeburn awkwardly looked down at the ground.

“Never-ever, Applejack. We Apples always try our very best. But can you even-“

“I see a crate!” Applejack announced triumphantly as she pointed a hoof in front of her, and at the crate cresting the horizon next to the rail track.

Applejack detached herself from the cart and set of rapidly trotting towards the cart that was now within sight.

Breaburn quickly raised his head as he saw her leave.

“Now you just slow yourself down Applejack, what are you gonna do without the cart!” Braeburn yelled at Applejack as the distance between the two increased. He turned to look back at the heavy cart. He couldn’t well pull it by himself, nor could Applejack push the surprisingly heavy crate by herself. This was going to do nothing but waste everyone’s time.

“Maybe not…” Braeburn thought as he eyed the land across from the rail. The ground was mostly dust and boulders, but there was a hint of something wooden. Nestled in a big collection of red-rock boulders, there was something different.

There wouldn’t be a cart this far away from Appleloosa, so it could be the other crate of seeds.

“Well, Applejack’s ran off over yonder,” Braeburn reasoned out loud  “so I may as well run off and see if that’s a crate, if nothin’ else.”

Braeburn slowly detached himself from the various holdings of the cart and set off walking in the direction of the possibly useful, possibly nothing he’d seen.

“I think we took a rather wrong turn!” Keyla yelled as she hid behind a large pillar.

The group of four had the awful fortune of being confronted by a four way intersection in the corridor they’d ran down. They’d ran past their cells in the prison complex, which was surprisingly sparsely guarded, and continued down the corridor to what Logar remembered to be the way they’d entered.

All but one of the three corridors they had to choose from led to relatively safe locations, and even closer to the exit, except the one to the group’s right, which led to the Royal crew’s chambers. The Royal crew being men who were assigned to protect the Lord General whenever he left the main spire of the fortress.

“I think that much was obvious!” Titus angrily yelled back as he too hid behind the same pillar.

The room was something that looked similar to a giant shower room. Large room with nothing more than beds installed in the walls and support pillars for the building spiking up from the floor to the celling. The fortress never seemed to deviate from shining steel as a building material, as this room was also almost completely constructed form it. How a tower of complete steel could stand so tall without collapsing was a wonder.

Bullets were ricocheting all around the place and each round hitting the steel walls made a tremendous noise.

“Permission to retaliate boss?” Grimock bellowed over the din of fire from yet another pillar.

“Denied!” Titus bellowed back, his voice a mix of anger and frustration.

“A Jump then?” Logar suggested.

“That looks like the only option!” Titus agreed.

The soldiers were beginning to realise the group’s lack of retaliation, and were beginning to move away from the opposite side of the room to them, and press their attack.

“Shame too! These people could’ve come around to helping us!” Keyla disheartendly half yelled half sighed to her friends.

“Doubt it!” Grimock laughed as some smaller bullets clinked off of his armoured clothing. “They seem to want information and nothing else!”

“Running out of time here, set ‘em for one-five-nine-six!” Titus ordered rapidly as he began furiously clicking at the watch like device strapped to his right wrist. Each member of the team carried one, concealed on their person. In reality, they weren’t that dissimilar to a watch in both size and appearance. Simple digital read out and various buttons and dials.

“How are we doing?” Titus questioned hastily

“All set on my end, one-five-nine-six.” Keyla reported.

“One-five-nine-six, set.” Grimock repeated.

“Ready.” Echoed Logar.

“Good, on the count of three then.” Titus sighed as he readied his hand over a button.

Such a shame that the inhabitants of this world be so hostile.

“Three…” Titus held the number and checked around, making sure his team were all ready to go.

Titus could hear footsteps coming from the corridor they’d came from. Pretty soon they’d be caged in and shot.

“Two…” Everyone’s fingers hovered over big red buttons on the watches.

“One…” Titus could see figures emerge from a passage leading into the corridor they’d come from.

“Go!”

Everyone mashed the red buttons, a series of bleeps emanated from all the watches, and a haze spread from the watches across their bodies.

“Here we go!” Grimock sighed in a distorted tone.

The haze began slowly creeping out to join with all the other members, and intensified until it was almost like an aura of white light surrounding the four.

It was a rather magical sight, and more than a few of the royal guards stopped firing to observe it.

The ones coming down the corridor were not among these guards.

“Arg!” Logar bellowed as a heavy calibre bullet punched right through his metallic arm.

The fact that his arm was bionic was, in this situation, a benefit. The complex bionics may have been able to feel limited sensations, like pain, but they were fleeting, and it didn’t really matter if the arm was damaged because it could be repaired or replaced. So it should’ve been no big deal that the arm was damaged. That would’ve been the case, had Logar’s watch not been strapped around the bionic limb. And it was now hanging by a thread, or rather, by a cable.

Titus looked at Logar with a mask of confusion and fear set on his face.

He didn’t actually know what would happen if the watch was detached from Logar.

“Time to find out…” Titus thought as the artificial arm snapped at the elbow and fell to the floor.

The fizzling haze that was engulfing everyone vanished from Logar, and he was completely exposed.

Titus dived from his cover, met by a hail of barking gunfire, and jumped at Logar.

The haze intensified, and Grimock, Keyla and Titus were all surrounded by the glorious white light, and Logar covered his eyes.

Titus landed heavily on him, and embraced him. Logar was quite confused, and opened his mouth to protest.

“Urmf!” Was all he manage before Titus smashed the air from his lungs on the ground, and drowned him in the light.

Even more guards stopped and stared in amazement. Two grown men wrestling on the floor and two other people simply watching.

*Crack*

The world did almost exactly what it sounded like it did.

It looked to the guards like the reality they saw before them cracked into a million shards, as if made of glass. Reality melted away for a brief few seconds, but it hung like an age.

And then, normality.

The world sprang back into focus, and all that was left of the cornered captives were mulched chunks of a metal arm, a tiny little watch, and a dissipating white light.

Solace; normally a very fitting name for the planet. Today, not so much.

The first thing that greeted the group upon exit of the crack in the fabric of reality was, to their surprise, solid dirt ground. They landed in a clear patch of land in what looked like a bolder field. Lots of rocks dotting all over the place.

Each one of the four tumbled out of the portal and slammed hard onto the dusty desert floor, kicking up a hell of a dust cloud. One of their less graceful entries.

Titus and Logar were the last to come out, following Grimock and Keyla. Titus was still holding tight to Logar, but released as they smashed into the ground.

Logar rolled away, half limp, and laid in a clump in the dust.

Titus did likewise.

For a few moments, everyone just lay there, motionless, with the desert wind whipping around them.

It didn’t last.

“Where are we..?” Keyla groaned.

Falls always seemed to bypass any protective clothing you might be wearing and shake you to death. No one had come off unharmed.

Grimock attempted to say something, but much like Logar, all that came out was a groan.

“Urg… Check Logar…” Titus mumbled as he pushed himself slowly up from the bone dry ground.

Grimock was already stumbling over to Logar, having righted himself by now.

He essentially slapped his hand sluggishly on Logar’s neck to check for a pulse.

“Pulse, check.”

He hovered his hand over Logar’s mouth and below his nose.

“Still breathing…” He sighed as he stood back up and straightened himself.

“Guys, where are we?” Keyla asked again as she surveyed the desert hell they’d spawned in.

“Check the watches.” Grimock replied with frustration as he retrieved his weapon, which had flown from his hands several metres when he crashed into the ground.

Keyla looked at the watch strapped to her left wrist.

Luckily the world they’d spawned in had a name wrote in a recognisable language, but it wasn’t a world they knew, which it should’ve been.

“Well we’re somewhere, but did the watches take us to the right place? The crashing through a rip in space has never happened before.” Keyla asked no one in particular as she sat down and leant her back against a large, red-rock boulder.

“Where was one-five-nine-six supposed to take us?” Grimock asked, still frustration in his voice. He didn’t like this.

“Not here, that’s for sure.”

“Someone’s coming!” Grimock half whispered half yelled.

“Cover!” Titus whisper-yelled back as he heard the mumbling in the distance that had alerted Grimock.

Everyone, save for Logar, who had to stay where he was, dived behind the collection of red-rock boulders, disregarding whether crashing into the ground would harm them or not. Getting caught out in an unknown territory could be fatal.

Something wasn’t… Right. Or rather, something didn’t sound right.

Footsteps have their own little sound. Depending on the footwear and the species, they sound different.

And the sound that was approaching…

“That doesn’t make sense…” Everyone silently said to themselves.

It could’ve been the dirt distorting the noise, but it almost sounded like the clopping a horse would make while walking.

Titus heard the unidentified voice mumble something about a crate, and it was at this point someone was a little too tempted to see this character.

Grimock peered over the rock he was hiding behind.

He rapidly ducked back down, a pale, confused look on his face.

“Grimock…” Titus whispered as he leant closer to Grimock, even though there was a sizable distance between their two hiding places.

“Horses, sir.” Grimock whispered back in a monotone voice.

“Excuse me?” Titus gasped as he slid back to his hiding place.

Grimock shrugged. He was being serious.

“Horses!” Titus thought.

He looked down at his watch again. One word. The name of the world they were in.

Titus sighed heavily.

“Equestria”.

Friendship with a hint of kidnapping

Braeburn liked the desert. He was surrounded by it the majority of the time, so it’s quite natural.

The uninhabited sections of the desert were his favourite. Appleloosa had its charm, but there was nothing that Braeburn loved more than places like this, nothing but the soft wailing of the wind and the great clouds of dusty red powder that drifted across the land. Most dust clouds dissipated before they reached Appleloosa, which was a shame, as they were actually quite pretty.

Braeburn sighed as he remembered why he was actually out here. Not to take in the majesty of nature, but to recover large, heavy boxes, one of the less loved parts of living out in a desert. Things had to be transported ridiculous distances from all over Equestria to maintain the town and pony’s needs. There was so much that could go wrong during the transportation it could simply boggle the mind. Ponies often had to go for a merry stroll through the desert looking for missing items lost during shipping. Braeburn vowed he’d be having words with the ponies who “secured” the crates onto the train.

“Well it looks like we’re done with all this business.” He thought as the wooden box came into full view, nestled in between two of the large red rock boulders. How it had gotten there was a mystery.

It probably had a very uninteresting explanation, but Braeburn didn’t really care at this point. All he cared about was getting the damned thing back to the cart.

“Time to get this stuck ol’ crate un-stuck…” Breaburn sighed as he saw the awkward angle it was jammed in the rocks.

He placed both his forehooves onto the crate’s flat surface and pushed with his powerful hinds.

Despite Braeburn having legs like industrial pistons, the crate went nowhere fast.

“What’s the matter now…” Braeburn thought as he frustrated examined the crate.

The rocks that the crate was jammed in between got narrower the way he was pushing them.

Braeburn sighed heavily. Even though he was use to this kind of work, he really didn’t like doing this. It didn’t really accomplish anything. He was simply doing an entire day’s work that he shouldn’t be doing. The crates should never have been here in the first place.

“The other side then…” He groaned.

Titus’ eyes shot wide open at those words.

“Uh-oh” He thought.

This was like a repeat of the last world they’d been on. Materialise, instantly found by population.

Well, there wasn’t much that could be done. Logar was out, in the open and would surely be found by the horse creature. Titus didn’t have anything to say; or rather he couldn’t say anything now, as the horse may hear.

He simply did what he could: looked to Grimock and Keyla and softly tapped his rifle. After years of practice, the team had gotten to grips with how to talk without actually talking. If Titus tapped his gun, he was asking if the targets were armed with any visible weapons.

Grimock shook his head.

Titus then proceeded to flick his safety on, which his comrades repeated on their own weapons. If the target wasn’t armed, the sight of a weapon would be enough to subdue them. Having the safety on helped prevent accidental discharge of the weapon. The worst thing you can have happen is for your weapon to decide for you whether the person you’re aiming at needs a bullet in them.

Now that that had been addressed they could find out the next piece of crucial information.

How many of them? Grimock had said “Horses” after all.

Titus simply cycled through different numbers of fingers being held up and tilted his head in question.

Grimock gave the perfect answer, and held one finger back up at Titus.

One unarmed horse, as crazy as that sounded to Titus: having to ask if a horse was armed.

This was good. If they’re seen, they can deal with the horse quietly and cause no damage to the horse and if they’re not seen, even better.

The sound of hooves clopping in the dust began circling around the rocks.

Braeburn began trotting around the jagged looking boulders. He didn’t think he’d be able to safely climb over them, and didn’t really want to try. Better to just walk around and find a break in the rocks to get through.

It looked like there was a relatively clear area behind the boulders, so there wouldn’t be much trouble afterwards.

If there was an afterwards, there didn’t seem to be any opportunities arising. The layer of rock was beginning to curb round, and pretty soon he’d be back where he started.

“This will have to do.” Braeburn settled as he saw a relatively smooth area of rock which he could possibly climb over.

He carefully clambered over the rocks, almost cutting his legs as he did. He watched his hooves every step of the way. He didn’t want to break a leg and have to stumble all the way back to Appleloosa. That would be a painful journey…

As he carefully stepped down into the large circle of rocks, he began to survey the surroundings for the crate. He’d become a little disoriented circling the rocks.

The first thing he saw when he looked up was an odd looking grey clump on the ground, slowly being covered by the dust in the air. Braeburn didn’t pay it much attention initially, too focused on the goal of the crate. When he twisted his view to his left, he wished he had paid it more attention.

There were three… things crouching behind the rocks, looking at him. They were all holding very strange looking metal devices in even stranger looking limbs. They looked like the hands Applejack’s dragon friend possessed. Braeburn had no idea what the devices did, and hadn’t seen anything like them anywhere in Equestria. What he did recognise however was the tell-tale glimmer of metal in the sun. In one of what Braeburn guessed was a hand, one of the creatures in blackened fabric held what was most definitely a knife.

“Uh…” Braeburn confusedly blurted as he looked from the three creatures back to the one on the ground, and then back to them. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what these things were or what they wanted, but one had a knife drawn, so that means trouble. For more than a few moments, everyone just hung there and looked at each other.

He began slowly backing away from them and back the way he came.

“Stay where you are, please.” One of the creatures said as they stepped up and forward. It sounded like a male; it had a typical stallion’s voice. It, possibly he, wore some green set of clothes.

Very odd: the creature walked on two legs and uses the other two hands to hold things. These things weren’t ponies; that much Braeburn could tell. Braeburn really didn’t want to find out what their deal was, as they stood much taller than he. In reality, Braeburn reached up to the thing’s mid-section, but in all the gear they looked a lot more imposing.

Still backing away…

The thing who’d spoken didn’t speak a second time, he simply flicked what Braeburn assumed was its head in the direction of the black clad one.

Now, Braeburn expected the knife to come flying his way. Things with weapons usually had an itch to use them. What actually happened was quite a surprise to him. The thing actually put the weapon away.

“Erm…” Braeburn awkwardly said with a half-smile half-terrified frown, still backing away.

“That’s a bad idea, horse.” The metal one warned.

Braeburn was… Scared, plain and simple.

He knew that it was stupid, but there wasn’t much else he could do, so he turned and started galloping back the way he came.

“God damn it…” Titus sighed. “Get after it Keyla!” Titus angrily ordered.

“Yessir.” Keyla promptly responded as she set of doing what she did best: running people, or in this case horses, down.

Braeburn was a strong pony, with incredibly powerful legs that could propel him at high speed, but strength and speed are relative. Braeburn was strong relative to other ponies, but compared to the creature chasing him? It was as if he was a crippled filly. He got about ten metres before a heavy mass of black cloth slammed into him. His legs buckled and he fell to the floor. His chaser, not so shaken by the impact, was already up going to grab him. He tried to move, but he’d be killed before his legs straightened, so he settled for a scream, but even that was snatched from him by the gloved hand across his mouth. All that came was a muffled grumble.

He wasn’t killed instantly, that was a good thing Braeburn supposed.

But he wasn’t overly fond of what was happening, that being the creature dragging him back towards where he’d been unfortunate enough to discover the four creatures originally.

A look of sheer terror was set on his face in stone.

The creature noticed this. The creature stared down at him with its bright blue eyes, and again, much to Braeburn’s surprise, loosened its grip a little.

All of this fear and confusion was ripping Braeburn’s mind apart. He only hoped that Applejack wouldn’t have to suffer this. As bad as it sounded, he hoped she went straight back to town and sent for her friends to help find him. All of those ponies would know what to do.

“Grimock. Continue to keep an eye on the other side of those rocks. I don’t want anything else from this world sneaking up on us while we talk.” Titus quietly ordered his friends.

Grimock nodded and rose from leaning against the rocks to survey the wastes on the other side for targets.

“Logar, I have a simple task for you: rest.”

Logar made an uncomfortable grunting noise and went back to leaning on the rocks.

Logar hadn’t been too damaged by the warp accident, thankfully, but he was missing a hand and a substantial amount of cockiness. Losing the hand, almost dying and having to be forcibly rescued had knocked a lot out of him.

“Now, perhaps you’re in the mood for talking now?” Titus asked as he sat in front of Braeburn.

The horse hadn’t been very forthcoming, which was quite understandable.

Titus understood now how Dane must’ve felt interrogating him and his friends.

“Hrmh…” Was all Titus ever got.

Hell, he only knew its name when it babbled “Braeburn, you were so stupid to come out into this desert” when Grimock has started stomping his heavy boots around.

“Alright then, let’s not talk. Something simple: nod if the answer is yes; shake your head if the answer’s no.” Titus tried to say in a calm and soothing voice. He just wanted to have some sort of heading, and perhaps this “Braeburn” could send them in it.

“We’re not going to hurt you, if that wasn’t apparent. We just want some help see.” Keyla added as she sat with Titus.

Braeburn looked a little relieved to hear that.

“Indeed, just some questions my friend.” Titus smiled.

Braeburn nodded. Titus assumed he wanted them to proceed.

“Okay: we’ll start off easy. This world is called Equestria?”

Braeburn nodded.

“And it is inhabited by horses?”

Braeburn shook his head.

“You’re not a horse?” Keyla asked for Titus.

Braeburn shook his head and said nervously: “Pony.”

“Okay, this world is inhabited by ponies?” Titus continued.

A nod in response.

“Capable of speech?”

Again, a nod.

“Interesting… Does this world have a ruler or leader?”

A very confused nod followed.

“Why did you want to know that..?” Braeburn slowly and confusedly asked.

Titus rubbed his chin with leather gloved hand.

“It may have escaped your attention, but we’re not from around here.” Titus slightly laughed.

Braeburn pouted in annoyance.

“I can see that. That’s why I ran from ya’ll!”

“I meant no offence pony.” Titus calmed.

“Then what did ya’ll mean?”

“We’re not from your world, and I’ll spare you the how and why and skip to it. We’re not in the best of shape, and need rest and medical attention for my friend over there,” Titus said as he gestured to Logar over by the rocks.

“The chief authority of your world will be the one most capable of helping us, so we’re looking for them.”

That was all Titus and his group ever seemed to do on their travels. Go to a person of power, ask for help, be denied and be allowed to go in peace or stay and rest, be denied and treated as hostile, like on their previous world, or be accepted and receive help. The latter of which had yet to happen.

“Well… I’m not sure if I should be helpin’ ya’ll… Ya’ll don’t exactly look friendly…” Braeburn said as he nervously eyes Keyla’s knife.

“Help is all we want creature, nothing more and certainly no trouble. Point us in the right direction and we’ll be on our way.” Grimock added from afar.

“How do I know ya’ll aren’t lying?”

“I give you our word. We have nothing else to offer.” Titus promised.

He awkwardly held out his hand, just now remembering he wasn’t dealing with a creature with hands.

Breaburn placed his hoof just as awkwardly into the hand’s grasp, and shook.

“Guess that’ll have to do… I can’t believe I’m doing this…” Braeburn sighed as he shook his head. What else could he do? Either this or die out here in this God’s forsaken desert. “The place you’re lookin’ for is called Canterlot. The power of this world lives there. Big fancy tower, can’t miss it.”

Braeburn pointed a hoof roughly north-east, drawing direction from the sun, which was going down now in roughly the west. A lot of approximation, but it had never done Braeburn wrong.

Titus looked at where Braeburn was pointing, and then put his hand to his head and looked to the sun and then down to Keyla, who was doing the same.

“What say you, Keyla?”

“Probably an hour until it’s totally dark if the day-night cycle is anything like Earth Standard, and a mere twenty minutes until dusk.” Keyla grinned collecting herself and standing.

Titus copied, followed swiftly by a confused Braeburn. Odd how someone, or rather somepony can go from total and paralyzing fear to slightly inconveniencing confusion.

“We can move in the dying light.” Titus and Keyla said simultaneously.

“Grimock, check your coms are working.” Titus ordered as he peered over the rocks in the direction Braeuburn had pointed. He didn’t want to travel too close to the tracks, a train could come and cause panic in the populace. That’s something the group wanted to avoid: causing panic on a world they only intended to make a pit stop on. Although, Titus didn’t know how many times his watch could carry two people. It wasn’t what it was designed for, anyway.

The direction Braeburn had pointed unfortunately ran dangerously close to the track.

They’d have to follow it as close as possible, but still with some distance. They had no idea how far this journey would be, and being a few metres off course could mean miles at distance.

“Grimock take point, thirty metres between us. If you see anything buzz me.” Titus said as he tapped one of his various pockets on his chest containing a communication device.

“We’ll follow behind with the pony.” He finished.

“Beg your pardon?” Braeburn disheartendly sighed. He almost thought they’d let him go.

“Sorry pony, we don’t need you running off and causing panic.” Keyla flatly said.

“Urg… What a day…” Braeburn sighed as he stretched his achy legs out.

“Logar, do you think you can run?” Titus asked.

“My chest is in ruin sir, that’s as plain as I can put it…” Logar sighed. It hurt him beyond the physical having to say that. He wasn’t a fearless hero, but he was by no means a coward. He always wanted to perform to his optimum, and when he couldn’t, he felt dead.

Titus groaned. Speed was essential when running ops in an unknown location.  They had to take advantage of every second of darkness at their disposal. Logar was going to slow them down. Could Titus blame him for having lost his watch and causing this? Not really. Titus was glad that he couldn’t. He hated having to place blame.

“I’m sorry Titus; I’ll try to keep up…”

“If you fall behind, I guess I’ll have to carry you.” Titus half laughed, half seriously said.

“Twenty minutes people, twenty minutes until it’s dark. Get ready to run. You too pony.”

“Braeburn?”

Applejack was quite shocked when she found the cart that she’d left Braeburn at eerily abandoned.

She’d been unusually foolish, running off like that. She’d be paying for that if Braeburn had just got up and left her. Hauling the full cart with two ponies was bad enough as it was. She deserved as much. The whole day had been a stressful hunt for blending boxes and had taxed Braeburn especially, and Applejack had probably pushed it ignoring him and running off. However… Braeburn wasn’t the type to go wandering off for no good reason. He’d normally be more than content waiting, being the patient pony he was. So... Where was he, Applejack thought.

She wandered up to the cart slowly, half expecting Braeburn to jump out and scare her, and half brushing the thought off as silly.

“Ahem.” Applejack cautiously coughed.

She became all the more worried when nothing but the howling wind answered her.

It was getting rather late, and the sun was almost down, the sky being a deep orange. Applejack didn’t want to risk walking through the desert alone at the best of times, let alone night. While Equestria was relatively peaceful, the weather can be unforgiving in these areas, and Applejack didn’t know if any storms were scheduled.

“Braeburn? Where are ya’ll hiding?” Applejack said in a raised voice. She was slightly scared and losing her patients.

Again, no reply what so ever.

She sighed and sank her head to the ground at the thought of where he’d gone. Was he in danger, or had he just wandered off?

Looking at the dusty desert ground, Applejack concluded that it was probably the latter, seeing hoofprints in the ground leading away from the cart.

“Braeburn…” Applejack angrily sighed. Why had he left? He shouldn’t have abandoned the cart or her. Then again, she couldn’t blame him, because hadn’t she just done the exact same thing?

It was getting darker now, and the sky around Applejack was a deep dark blue. Applejack set off after the footprints before they were lost to the dark. She decided she’d only follow a little way, and then turn back. No sense in getting lost.

Applejack thought she’d be heading back empyhooved, as all she could see was the black silhouette of a collection of boulders against the darkening sky: nothing out of the ordinary there. Maybe Braeburn had gotten himself lost, Applejack thought.

“Huh?” Applejack exclaimed to herself.

She could’ve sworn… There it was again! Was the rock’s silhouette… moving? There was a small lump on the outside of the rock that hadn’t been there before.

All of a sudden, the lump receded back into rest of the rock.

“What’s going on…” Applejack thought.

Then all of a sudden, a new black silhouette sprang from out of the rock, and set of running across the horizon. It wasn’t… a pony; that was for sure. Or, if it was, it had some odd structure.

Hundreds of odd possibilities shot around in Applejack’s head, but two made themselves very prominent: this wasn’t Braeburn playing a joke, and the only thing Applejack knew that had anything even resembling the creature’s build was a Diamond dog. Alarm bells instantly rang in Applejacks head. Diamond dogs: not very pleasant creatures.

“Oh Braeburn no…” Applejack groaned a few seconds later as another four more silhouettes emerged from the rock, three like the first and one that was definitely a pony. The pony shape and what could be a Diamond dog was trailing behind the other two who’d emerged with them. The Diamond dog was hunched over a little and slightly limping. Maybe Braeburn put up a fight, Applejack reasoned. No time for thinking about that though, now was the time for action.

As far as Applejack was concerned, there were two options: run head long at them and attack the trailing dog and then run with Braeburn, or call for the assistance of her friends or the Royal Guard.

As stupid as the first option seemed, it was really the only one she had. How long would it take to run back to town and get help? Far too long Applejack thought. Braeburn would be long gone with the Diamond dogs, for whatever reason. No, she had to do something a little bit stupid and attack, as uncomfortable as that idea made her. She didn’t like fighting. Who in Equestria in the right mind would?

She had no idea if she could win, but she had to try, and so she ran. Urg… This was a foolish idea…

“See anything Grimock?” Titus whispered.

“It’s too dark to say for definite, but I’m confident it’s clear.” Grimock whispered back, ducking his head back into the rocks.

“And I can’t check with thermal scope either, the desert ground is still radiating too much heat.”

Titus silently swore.

“Bah, it’ll have to do. Let’s just hope if anyone does see us they pass it off for a cloud of dust.”

Titus wasn’t pleased, not pleased at all.  Running after a heated engagement, with wounded, and a civilian, at night and with no idea what might be out there.

“A tactical nightmare!” Titus quietly seethed. If Titus were employed by any military force in any universe you’d care to mention, he’d lose his stripes for even considering something like it.

“Keep low and move quickly” Keyla added. “I doubt many people will be in a desert at this time of night, or any time for that matter.”

“You’re right, not many ponies wander this far astray from the town. Ya’ll should be ok.” Braeburn whispered to the group. If he were going to be prisoner, at least he could be a helpful one and not aggravate his captors.. And who knows, maybe Applejack will throw her gaze over this direction and get help? Braeburn could hope.

“Thank you pony.”

Titus realised just how much he’d been referring to Braeburn as “Pony”. While it was what he was, it was rather rude to keep calling him that instead of his name, like some abomination. Titus didn’t actually think this creature was that bad, albeit very odd in his eyes. The idea of an animal he wasn’t used to talking suddenly joining conversation was throwing him off. Maybe they’d be able to get along with the inhabitants of this planet.

“Sorry, I mean Braeburn. Grimock, go when you’re ready.”

Grimock was ready the moment Titus gave the order, and set off running in the direction Braeburn had dictated. Pressing his heavy rifle to his shoulder and scanning the world in front of him. After the decided thirty metres had approximately passed, the rest of the group set off after Grimock.

Applejack sprinted like she’d never sprinted before. Rarely did she find herself in a position of danger alone. Normally she had the comfort and support of her friends, but not now. But Applejack had always been strong and independent, and while she’d rather have her friend’s help, she could do this just as well alone. She supposed she’d have to.

Luckily for her, the creatures ahead of her hadn’t noticed her yet. Whether it be the background to her rear masking her, or simply that they weren’t looking, it was a good thing.

She was closing distance quickly, and she was certain she would be seen soon. When she was, she had no idea what she’d do. This was a badly thought out plan, she thought. She’d let her worry for Braeburn and the desire to do something right that moment get the better of her.

She regretted it now, as one of the group, the one with what she thought was Braeburn slowed down. She’d been spotted! There was still a good fifty metres between them.

“Oh well… Here goes nothing…” Applejack groaned, quickly slapping her hat firmly down on her head.

The things before her certainly weren’t Diamond dogs. Well, Applejack thought they weren’t. They didn’t have the bulk up close of a Diamond dog. One, the one at the front, was pretty close.

The one with Braeburn yelled something Applejack didn’t hear, and instantly the other three people turned around.

“Maybe I won’t have to fight anyone…” Applejack happily said to herself.

The happiness dissolved instantly when she caught sight of a large piece of sharp metal hanging on the mid-section of the one near Braeburn, who now appeared to have hold of him. Applejack was sort of thankful that the moon was rising now, as the moonlight reflecting off of the blade had alerted her to this new threat.

“Dang it!” Applejack silently cursed. Why didn’t she think of that? The moon must’ve provided just enough light for her to be seen, or if it were behind her, she would’ve been an obvious blip against the moon.

Twenty metres left. Applejack had to make a quick decision: attack or not. The thing had what Applekack thought was a weapon, could be a Diamond dog but probably not, had hold of Braeburn and was possibly hostile. A lot of “probably” there. But Applejack couldn’t take the chance. She hated the fact that violence was her solution, but it was the only solution available that made sense right now.

The thing began to lower one of its… limbs, Applejack guessed, down towards where the metallic object was. That was all Applejack needed now. She had to do this. Less ten metres. The thing had a confused look on what Applejack could see was its face, and took a step backwards on its odd limbs.

Five metres.

It turned its head to its right and looked at the other two creatures ahead of it, who were simply looking on.

Zero metres.

Applejack, with a hint of regret, leapt into the air, twisted her body, and delivered a kick to the thing’s chest with her hind legs.

If one wanted a metaphor for the manoeuvre, Applejack’s legs were the hammer, and the creature’s chest the anvil.

“What just happened?” Grimock slowly gasped as he jogged over to where Titus and the rest of the group were stood.

Keyla was still silently laughing to herself, a huge grin set on her unmasked face.

Titus was the one who answered instead, having recovered from his very brief chuckle.

“Logar was attacked.” Titus said, unable to mask the small amount of humour in the response.

“By what?” Grimock said, aghast. How had something like that happened? The world was inhabited by ponies for God’s sake, how could ponies be such a bother to the group?

“Something we failed to spot just broke most of Logar’s ribs.” Titus responded as he pointed to Logar, who was sitting on the floor lightly rubbing his chest.

“Good god man, what did that to you?” Grimock half chuckled. Broken ribs aren’t the most serious injury in the world, and they can be treated with simple rest and pain killers. Grimock felt ok to chuckle about that.

“I’m sorry.” A voice whimpered. A voice that had the same unmistakable accent as Braeburn.

“The… Pony broke Logar’s ribs? Good God, how strong are you creatures?” Grimock said, the amusement gone.