“-so selfish! I mean really! He just had to run off and-”

“Oh quit worrying your itty bitty pretty little head, Rarity! You’re the one who found the note after all!”

Applejack sleepily rubbed at her eyelids until the mare could just barely keep them open, letting out a ferocious yawn as her subconscious counted the figures before her.

‘One. Two. Three....’

And counting herself made four, which meant somepony was missing. Further proof began to reveal itself as the groggy mare noted there was an empty space between her forelegs where a muscle-bound black ‘teddy bear’ had been present the night before.

….Applejack then made a mental note to never let anypony catch her saying that aloud.

“Oh, good morning, Applejack darling. Sleep well, I presume?” the glamorous unicorn asked with a hint of amusement in her tone, a sly smirk noticeable as she dug into her saddlebag. The orange mare did her best to shrug off her snooty friend’s teasing as she tried her hoof at an awake and alert response.

“Good mornin’, girls. Have any o’ y’all seen....” Applejack paused in between yawns before she could continue on. “Pardon. As I was sayin’; any o’ y’all seen Red anywhere? We should be gettin’ goin’ perdy soon if we’re ta be makin’ it to that profa-whatever’s, don’t ya thin-”

“Um, Applejack...?”

Applejack turned to the timid yellow pegasus before a small Blue Jay caught her sights; dropping a sheet of paper in the country mare’s forehooves as it flapped it’s way back onto Fluttershy pale pink mane.

“E-Excuse me for interrupting and all, but I thought you would want to read this; it’s a note from-”

Applejack didn’t wait for Fluttershy to finish before unfolding the sheet of paper to read:

“I must admit; for a brute, he has surprisingly neat mouth writing. Though I still fail to see why he couldn’t have at least given us directions before he left....” Rarity continued on with her griping, a brush coated in a sparkling blue aura running it’s way through the unicorn’s curly purple mane.

“Oh, but Rarity! This just makes it all the more fun when we find him!” the energetic pink pony sprang to her hooves, any signs of sleepiness completely untraceable. “Well what’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Pinkie Pie, you can’t just barge in on somepony’s private time. He most likely won’t be decent once we got there anyway, and I imagine the rest of the walk would be rather uncomfortable-”

“Uh, Rarity,” Applejack interrupted, “We... don’t normally wear clo-”

“Yes, yes, I’ve heard you bring it up before,” the white mare rolled her eyes with a coy smile on her muzzle. “So to save the argument for another day, I suppose we should start looking. I’m sure just a peek wouldn’t hurt.”

“Wee~! I’ll bet I can find him with my Pinkie Sense!”

“Do they even work like that, darling?”

“I dunno!”

“Um.... girls?” the meek mare managed to squeak out, “Don’t you think we should maybe give Crimson his privacy.... I mean, the note says right here-”

But they were already gone. Which only left the lone Fluttershy to panickingly scurry on forward in a desperate attempt to catch up.

“.....Ahhhhhhh.....”

Red could feel the tension leaving his body, even as he channeled his aura. He couldn’t stop the water from falling, not here, but he could bend the flow enough to make it more soothing than bracing. After about three days lacking of any sleep, he could definitely feel the difference now that he’d gotten a proper night’s rest.

Even if it meant him waking up to....

‘Enough is enough! Thinking about what happened won’t do me any good; I need to just let it go and.... relax.’

Mentally shaking himself of the thoughts, the black colt let out a heavily loaded sigh. He felt his muscles relax as the beating in his chest slowed to a calm along with the rest of him. And it felt.... soothing.

That was, of course, until his ear made a sporadic flick.

‘Sonovabitch....’

His thoughts now concentrated to his ears, Crimson noted that he was definitely not alone. Could it be the girls somehow managed to find their way here all on their own? ‘No, that’s way too much ruckus for only four mares. Besides, I have quite the hunch I know who it is.... Hahaha! Fuck yeah; it was just getting a tad boring here anyway!’

The forest air grew deathly silent, the gently raging downpour of the waterfall the only source of noise for miles. Any muscle movement from the colt came to a tensed halt; not out of dread, but pure exhilaration. As he stood still, a large, bloodthirsty smile slowly grew over his lips....

“Celestia be damned. You guys seriously don’t know when to quit.”

“Not even in a million sunsets, Shadow Slayer,” the masked pony growled, holding a blade which dug into the amused stallion’s lower back. “Don’t you so much as even roll your eyeballs if you wish to cherish the precious moments of life you still have left.”

“No worries,” a chuckle made it’s way out from Crimson’s lips, gently fluttering his eyes to a close while taking this time as an opportunity to relax. “As well as no need; only ten of you Nightmare Night jackasses isn’t going to do you much if you’re trying to kill me.”

“How could you have- N-Nevermind that! The spirit and will-power radiating from our clan alone is enough to subdue a monster like yo-GAH, DAMMIT! My eyes!”

Desperately wiping at the liquid flung from the dastardly bastard’s mane, his vision was re-greeted with a large hoof smashing right into his snout, sending him skipping through the waterfall’s reservoir like a small pebble. The black colt snorted; this was too easy!

“Dumbass clanscolt! What, was I a little too rough?!” Crimson roared in sadistic rapture, meanwhile the rest of the masked clansponies revealed themselves from their nearby hiding spots and charged head-first at the deranged stallion. “You ignorant fools are too underclassed to be graced with the title ‘assassin’. Here, let me lend you a hoof and show you how it’s done....”

Whether it be sidestepping a clanscolt’s katana, playing leapfrog with another, or kicking off an airborne pegasus in mid leap; nopony could even come close as to laying a single hoof on the retired hitcolt. As two sword wielding stallions cornered Crimson from either direction, and before they even knew what hit them, Crimson was already balancing with nothing but his forehooves resting over both their crossed katanas from their attempted stabs before shifting his weight in order to rotate and slam his rear hooves into the now unconscious clanscolts’ snouts.

Crimson ducked, a row of shuriken embedding a horizontal pattern into the rocky walls just above his head. With almost nothing but a faint blur, another member fell victim to the colt’s power; the masked pony’s head and neck receiving excruciating whiplash from Crimson’s highspeed jump kick to the jaw, following up with a perfect Butterfly kick onto the face of yet another oncoming armed clanspony.

As yet another pony tried their hoof at charging him head on, Crimson couldn’t help but scoff at how predictable these band of washed up, leaderless Nichibotsu really were-

SHUNK!

Crimson swept under the clansmare’s spear, almost falling victim to an overhead arrow fired off by a pegasus in mid flight. ‘Okay, maybe not quite as predictable as I give them credit for....’

A slick grin formed over Crimson’s muzzle as he eyed the bow-wielding pegasus overhead, paying no mind to the familiar spear mare as she once again retaliated in a familiar fashion. This time, however, the black colt hopped over the stick and kicked the attacking mare in the chest with enough power to rocket off at least fifteen feet or higher up into the air; propelling a hind leg back as the arrow-happy pegasus could do nothing but watch in a strange mixture of awe and horror....

“I don’t have any arrows, it seems; guess you’ll do just fine!”

Crimson backflipped just over the pegasus, using the momentum left from the flip to smash his kick into the back of her head with enough force to send her crashing down, smacking nose first into the previous spear mare and causing the two to bounce and tumble about on the ground.

As Crimson righted himself onto his back legs once more, he once again swooped down to avoid the blow from a spiked mace ball attached to a lengthy chain. Vanishing once again from raw, untrackable speed alone, Crimson shortened the distance and delivered an upward elbow to the mace wielder’s chin, swirling around chaining it on another oncoming clanscolt with an uppercut courtesy from his free hoof.

This was way too easy.

The black colt tilted his head very slightly, airborne arrow just grazing the pricks of his charcoal fur. Crimson orbs landing on a unicorn archer, he only smirked as he began a slow trot, effortlessly maneuvering arrows along the way; each shot getting more and more wild in a desperate attempt to hit his target.

After what felt like centuries for the now full-on panicking masked stallion, his eyes scanned the “battlefield”, spotting each and every arrow that failed to make it’s mark as sweat rolled past the cloth of his mask.

“Yo.”

An effeminate squeak escape the clanscolt’s lips, only strengthening the crimson-eyed devil’s smirk, who was only a nose away from his own.

“Seriously, archers are so damn annoying. At least most of these other idiots had the balls to face me head on....”

With each step taken, the archer found himself taking one step back, eyes locked as the Crimson Shadow’s worldly infamous glare looked as though it could take out the clansmen by itself. Finally, the masked ninja felt his back touch the bark of a tree, looking as if his short life was finally coming to an end....

“....Boo.”

…..THUMP.

“Wow... didn’t actually think he’d pass out....” Crimson sneered, taking in the fallen soldiers with much mirth in his expression. “I was even going easy on you punks, too. Worthless-”

“Red, watch out!”

The could have sworn his ears were playing tricks on him if not for his eyes confirming the suspicion. “....Pinkie Pie?”

“Watch out, Red!” the pink pony cried out, “Behind you!”

“Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Crimson once again smirked, and, without even so much as turning around, tilted his torso as a blade glided past his coat. As the hilt of the long blade got past his chest, the colt clasped his hooves around the flats of the blade. “I didn’t forget about this one...”

“But... there’s no way! That is not possible!” The clanscolt cried, pulling uselessly at the hilt of his sword. “Even with her help, you couldn’t have known to dodge fast enough to-”

“I can count, you know. I did say that I counted ten of you, yet I only took out nine...." Crimson’s smirk grew into a cold, eerie smile, one to even send a chill down the pink mare’s spine.... “Hahaha.... you were definitely aiming to kill me, eh? Wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t return the favor.”

Not even a split second later, the tip of the katana snapped in the black colt’s hooves. But before the clanscolt could create any distance, the cloth around his neck was already fully in the crimson demon’s grasp; no time to react as Crimson spun around and stabbed in between the masked stallion’s eyes with no signs of hesitation in the slightest....

….However, as the clanscolt opened his eyes, he was literally staring death in the face; the tip of the metal would have been the cause of his untimely death if not for the Crimson Shadow’s arm being held back by a twine rope and a magic encoated layer of silk cloth.

“....Drop ‘im, Red.... Now.” Applejack gave a heart stopping scowl, rope gripped firmly between her teeth.

“Stay the hell out of this, you two....” The black colt never broke eye contact with the captive ninja, entrancing him in his empty, soulless stare that thirsted for spilt blood....

“We are not asking you, Crimson,” Rarity spoke with equal fire in her voice, her horn ablazed with a light blue aura that matched the one coating the cloth. “We are telling you. Drop. The. Colt.”

“Yeah.... so am I.” the black colt growled, the expression on his face almost as monotonous and lifeless as his tone. “In reality, he tried killing me first. This could count as self defence-”

“Cut the bullshit, Crimson! You’re threatening another pony’s very life, and you are acting like a masochistic lunatic!” The unicorn was long done with being calm, as if a fury of her own had been tapped into....

“If ya go through wit it, y’all ‘ll jus’ be provin’ to be no better than him!” the enraged apple farmer raised her voice on par- if not equal with Rarity’s. “Really, ya’d be provin’ to be just as bad as Boss!”

“You’re right,” Crimson chuckled, a small, yet emotionless smile creeping onto his lips. “I’m worse. What do you think I’ve been trying to nail into your heads ever since I met you all....”

A silence as cold as the grim reaper’s touch chilled the air. Finally, the clanscolt dropped right onto his flank, crawling away like a madcolt without so much as getting back on his hooves. The binds loosened, resulting in a twisted smile once again forming over Crimson’s muzzle.

SHUNK!

High-pitched shrieks went all around, and not just from the mares.

“You have no idea just how lucky you are....”

“B-B-Bastard....” was all the clanscolt could utter, eyes still flashing over the hunk of shrapnel dug into the ground between his legs.

“Really is your lucky day; any closer and I would have had to get a doc’s licence for gelding.” Crimson silently chuckled, the colt sprawled on the ground staring up in fear that had yet to fail at bringing him amusement. “But don’t thank me! You should be thanking these lovely young mares!”

Motioning to said mares, each failed to form a coherent response. The pale yellow pegasus shielded herself behind Pinkie Pie, who looked as though she could collapse at any moment herself.

“Now... beat it.”

Not needing to be told twice, he and the rest of the still conscious clan members dragged the limp bodies of those who had yet to gain their consciousness at speeds that would even make Rainbow Dash writhe in envy. “And if I hear that one of you jackasses told anypony about my face, I’ll personally hunt you all down and tear you a new-”

“Red.”

“Eh, I think they get the idea....”

When the clansponies were finally out of sight, Crimson turned towards the group of mares- all of whom were giving him looks ranging from fear to horror.

“What.... What was that all about?” Rarity questioned, anger slowly being replaced with a tone of nausea.

“What do you think?” Crimson snapped back, trotting over to his cloak, digging through it just to make sure everything was still there.

“Red.... would ya....” Applejack twirled a hoof through the blades of grass, forcing herself to make eye contact with the pony she thought she knew all too well. “...would ya really’ve done it if it weren’t for-”

“What do you think?” Crimson repeated, this time inserting much more emphasis. “I’m not the one chasing them around, they are. If I kill ‘em, just call it self defense, I don’t care. I had to take care of a group of them right before I entered Ponyville the first time.”

Needless to say, gasps were heard all around. Pinkie Pie looked as if she was going to burst into tears at any moment; holding it in more than likely for Fluttershy’s sake.

“I warned all of you. One of my conditions was that you were more than likely going to see bloodshed.... and you all still agreed. You’re all just as lucky as those group of idiots I just dealt with.... This time.”

And without a single word, Crimson trotted past the girls with a demeanor terrifying enough to put down even Nightmare Moon. Well, at least Fluttershy thought that. Pinkie was probably starting to think if fear would ruin her appetite too much for a cupcake. He stopped briefly when he heard Fluttershy break down in sobs, and Pinkie Pie’s hushed words of comfort. Without a word, he began to move forward once more.

Sometimes.... even kindness needed to know where it didn’t belong.

“.........Soooooooooooooooooooooooo....... are we there ye-”

“Dammit. I will not repeat myself again, you schizophrenic twit....”

Teeth clenched, Glitch let a deep breath flare out through his nostrils in hopes to regain his normal stoic composure once more. Unfortunately, it seemed as though not even the inventor’s professionalism could save his sanity from the hyperactive insanity that is, was, and probably always will be; Wild Card.

“Ooooooooooh; big words AND insults! He mad!”

“I can’t say I blame him, Wild.” the flamboyant stallion spoke up with an exasperated groan, trying desperately to massage the quickly growing headache from the bridge of his snout. “I’m honestly surprised that you managed to convince Boss to give second thoughts about you coming with us-”

“Hold on, wait, wait. You actually believed that?” the brown colt deviously smirked, tipping the black fedora upon his head to the point of hiding his golden eyes.

“What do you mea-”

“I lied! Boss wouldn’t let up so I snuck here myself. Isn’t that fantastic~?”

“........Oh.”

“I figured as much...” The pegasus gave off an annoyed sigh. “Going against Boss’ orders isn’t wise for anypony. Even you should be aware of this by now.”

“Ol’ skull head won’t even know I’m gone, and I couldn't miss this action! And breaking the rules just makes this all the more fun~! Know what I’m getting at, hm?”

Glitch figured if the strength of his facehoof was only measurable by the sheer amount of idiocy that flooded the air, Glitch’s hoof would have been lodged into the back of his skull.

Years ago.

“And ‘sides, I don’t wanna miss the reunion,” Wild beamed as he gave a carefree hop to emphasize his point. “I’m sure you guys are just as hyped about this as I am~!”

“Well.... I must admit I am rather enthusiastic about getting back together with our old friend Diana.” With a chuckle, a small and unsettling smile began to form on Notch’s muzzle. “I have been meaning to ask him which one of his hearts he treasures the most.”

“Don’t get any ideas.... Ezekiel.” Glitch found a bit of amusement in the feminine stallion’s grimace before turning away altogether. “This is also a negotiation mission. If we can help it, hooves won’t have to clash and a lot less trouble will be had with this mission.”

Seconds passed as the green stallion lit a cigarette hanging in his mouth from the narrow slot made specifically for doing so. He took one last drag from it before speaking, “....Fortunately for you bloodthirsty psychopaths, there’s no way this is going to be that easy.”

“Get a chariot, you two! You can’t go five minutes without making me want to hurl!”

Rainbow Dash exaggerated her point towards the blushing unicorns by making gagging and retching noises as her head dangled over the side of the currently airborne golden-plated chariot. Rainbow Dash could’ve sworn she spotted one of the pegasus pullers of the chariot form a slightly disturbed expression before shifting his business towards the skies once more (and to keep himself from almost crashing into a nearby cloud).

“....Well then, would you mind explaining why exactly it is that you're in here complaining when you could be out there flying with the rest of the royal guards?” Twilight huffed, still seated fur-rubbingly close to her equally flustered stallion.

“Are you kidding? Flying out there would be suicide with this massive hangover,” Dash countered, slightly swaying. “But it takes a lot more than a couple drinks to forget those little displays of “affection” the two of you put on at the rave last night. And from what Sprinkles’ colleague told me,” the cyan mare sung with a deviant smile,”you’ve become a real puss lately, but I’m sure it has nothing to do with last night...”

“You’re really pushing your luck, you know,” Storm growled, getting nothing more out of the rainbow maned mare than a shrug. It soon grew quiet. Storm slid his eyes shut, he couldn’t let this mare grate his nerves so easily or it could jeopardize the entire missio-

“Oh, and you’re lucky the music was blasting so loud, otherwise the entire rave would have heard you two going at it last night.”

“W-WHAT did you say you little-”

“Sir Scratch.”

The white stallion shot his head towards the winged guard strapped to the chariot, responding in a venomous growl, “That’s Lieutenant.”

“Apologies, Lieutenant, but I’m afraid this is as far as we’re assigned to take the lot of you.”

Storm and the two mares took notice of their surroundings, only just now realising that they were on solid ground; trees, trees, and more trees littered the grassy area as they took in the forest where their mission was to begin. Without another word, the pegasus guards gave a bow of respect and made their way towards the sky, leaving their four passengers behind; the large, now empty chariot soaring through the skies behind them.

The stallion fell quiet, an intense stare leaving his royal blue orbs and focusing on... well, nothing in particular.

“I can feel it,” the lavender mare piped up, catching Storm’s immediate attention. “There are five magic signatures just up ahead. It must to be the others!”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head, as well as paired with a look of confusion on her expression. “There’s no way that can be right, Twi. In case you forgot, Rarity’s the only aside from you and Sprinkles over there that can use magic.”

“It doesn’t matter; unicorn, pegasus, or even earth pony, we all have magic inside of us. Unicorns just happen to be the only one of the three that can tap into and manipulate it directly,” Twilight explained, wearing a proud smile that was used when sharing her knowledge. “We should get going; it’s getting dark as is. If we hurry and get a move on it we should be able to catch up with-”

“You go on ahead.”

The two mares turned their attention towards the previously silent stallion, not a clear sign of emotion on his stoic muzzle. “Twilight, you don’t sense any dangerous wildlife around here, do you?”

Twilight met the soldier’s gaze with her own as she gave a shake of her head. “None. I wonder why that is....”

“In that case, go catch up with your friends. I’ll be right behind you momentarily.”

The cyan pegasus gave a slick grin. “So, you think leaving two “helpless” mares alone in one of the most dangerous forests in Equestria at night is a good idea? Some stallion you are.”

As much as Storm wanted to refute the hotheaded mare’s statement, he couldn’t help but keep away a grin himself, if not only for a brief moment. “Then I guess you’re going to have to be enough stallion for the both of us to make up for it. Shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“You’re lucky I’m letting that one slide.... for now.” Rainbow Dash chuckled, taking flight low to the ground and keeping speed to a minimal- or as minimal as the fastest pony in Equestria could get- motioning to the lavender mare to tag along.

Twilight hadn’t moved an inch, still in the same spot as before as she watched the colt maneuver between the tightly placed trees that lead to a different path together. “Well, what are you waiting for? It won’t be long.”

“....Be careful, alright?”

Storm gave a quick nod before the lavender mare finally turned to follow her impatient cyan friend. His glare grew intensely morbid, the trees that towered over him negating any moonlight from entering as he made his way past them, only one thought in mind:

‘Let’s settle this. If you’re not a coward, you’ll follow....’

“Dammit....”

The four mares came to a halt, turning their attention back towards the cloaked black stallion that had been tagging a safe distance behind them. His breathing grew heavy, a hoof clamped over his forehead as a roll of sweat traveled down his scalp.

“R-Red... are you okay? Do you have a headache or-”

“It’s nothing,” Crimson cut the pink mare off, obviously not easing her worries in the slightest. “I.... I’ll be back. We’re almost there, so this shouldn’t mess with our schedule much.”

Nopony could get a word in before Crimson galloped through an alternate path between the trees. ‘Dammit! Of all times for you to pull something like this, why now?!’

“....You feel that, right?”

The green stallion gave a nod, his always stoic glare still present. Even the hyperactive earth pony previously swinging in the trees without a care in the world had stopped in his tracks, a look that signified both awe and excitement in his smile.

“It looks as though we have some company.”

“Looks like it, Notch.” Glitch confirmed with a nod, digging through his cloak with a hoof only to pull out a carton of cigarettes. He brought the end bud to the lighter of his watch; the pegasus took a long, deep drag before puffing the excess smoke from his lips, a slight wave of calm take over his body. “Now Notch, as.... tempting as it seems to hunt those two down, we have to stay on course so we can get this-”

“Uh.... Glitch,” Wild Card gave an amused smirk, though hard to tell considering he was hanging upside down. “...Who are you talking too?”

The four-eyed equine let out a hint of an exasperated groan, “Didn’t you hear a word I just said, Wild? I just said that....” but as he broke eye contact with his cigarette, the pink haired stallion was nowhere in sight.

“He bailed, dude.” Wild chuckled, enlightening the confused stallion before he could even let the question escape his mouth. “And while you were sucking on your cancer stick there. Told you smoking was a bad habit!”

“....Not entirely sure why I even bother....”

In the deep, dark depths of the forest of Everfree, there was a mysterious, yet beautiful grass field where the only sounds were the wind flowing, and the crickets chirping beneath a cool full moon. In this case however, there was one more set of sounds heard throughout the field. The clashing of raw steel.

Two full grown stallions traded blows with each other, a black stallion with his black-bladed katana, and a white unicorn in a Lieutenant’s jacket with his twin Celestial Army daggers.

“I said get the hell out of my way!” Crimson growled once more, the two stalemating each other with equal power of their blades, Crimson’s black coat contrasting Storm’s white one. “I don’t have time for this bullshit right now, Storm! So move!”

“Hehe... That stings a little bit, Red.” Storm snarled, baring his metaphorical fangs at the colt. “But don’t think I forgot my real goal, asshole... I’ll crush you like a bug!”

“Yeah? We’ll see about that!” And with that, the black colt slid the footing of one of his hind legs and swept it under one of Storm’s. As the white coated unicorn struggled to keep balance, Crimson gripped the hilt of his katana with both hooves and swung as hard as his arms would let him, launching Storm a good twenty feet into the sky.

As Storm backflipped in the air to regain his balance, preparing for the worst, the black colt lifted the sword over his head. Using both hooves, the colt spun the sword like a windmill, the gust around him very similar to one as well, the furious winds even reaching the still airborne unicorn colt. Blade still spinning wildly, Crimson jumped and threw the katana, the spinning sword propelling towards Storm at an incredible velocity. Storm managed to block the sword from cutting clean through him, his electrified daggers just barely holding the rampaging black painwheel off, the torrent of wind nearly cutting him alone. He couldn’t hold it back any longer.

The katana’s exerted winds launched the unicorn downwards, and he began plummeting back down towards the grassy earth, the shuriken-like sword still following in tow. With the horn on his head sparking with raw magic voltage, Storm launched an everlasting flow of lightning from his hoof. It fused with the sword, but never the less the sword popped with a ear piercing CLANK, spinning off in the opposite direction. That is, until it was caught in mid air by a lone black hoof. Wings at the ready, Crimson propelled himself down towards his still falling foe, black blade drawn at the ready.

‘That sword...’ went through the head of Storm, his fall growing ever more near. ‘Any other weapon would have shattered into pieces after that attack, but that sword... What the hell is that thing made of?’

Only about an inch away until impact, Storm was slammed to the ground by Crimson’s blade, a small explosion forming as the ground under them crumbled. As the dust cleared, the black colt held his blade down on Storm, who held it off with twin daggers that surged with electricity, as he was on his back inside a wide, but shallow crater.

“Just give up already, you ass!” shouted Crimson, their blades shaking from the pure force they exerted into each other. “You’ll die if we keep this up! Lets just stop this! Please...”

“....Just shut up.” the white unicorn colt growled, a single stream of blood dripping down the side of his mouth. “Don’t you fucking dare belittle me. I’ll kill you, even if I have to risk my life in the process!” Once again, his horn began to spark.

The black colt leapt back as far as he could to avoid the wide-ranged stream of electricity crackling around the crater. Just as he got one hind hoof to touch the ground, Crimson tilted his head to avoid a dagger aim between his eyes. As the next set were shot off, Crimson sheathed his sword and dug into his cloak for a counterattack of his own; then he unleashed a barrage of kunai to redirect the daggers. The two colts then shot off at blinding speeds, the only things visible were the collisions from the hundreds of seemingly endless knives. When the two finally skid to a stop, Storm had a devious smile a mile wide.

The white colt sneered, his horn still sparking as lightning dancing on it. "Looks like you stupidly fell into my trap, Red."

"What are you-"

Before he could finish, Crimson found himself completely and utterly surrounded at each side and angle. Hundreds upon hundreds of daggers were floating overhead, blades coated with enough electricity to take down a full grown elephant.

The first three were shot off, avoided easily by the black colt. Then came the next five, and like before, were avoided, but it was starting to become a challenge. And then, the next twenty shot off.

With every duck, roll, slide, and even backflip, Crimson found that dodging these were becoming increasingly more difficult. Not only did you have to completely keep your distance from the blades to avoid the electricity’s shock, but the ones that were thrown prior were finding their way back into Storm’s magic grasp just to be thrown again. After what seemed like centuries, Crimson unfortunately, but surely slipped up.

“GRRK!” Dropping to his haunches, Crimson felt every last jolt of electricity coursing through his body as if it were frying his insides. He was only able to find an almost unnoticeable trace of broken skin on his left hind leg, but he knew anything was more than enough to count as a hit for Storm.

“Feeling tired yet, Red?” Storm scoffed.

“Not... even... clo-URK!” Without any moment’s rest, the piercing corner of cold steel scraped across the black colt’s cloak; Crimson felt a small edge of the blade make contact with his shoulder, the pain minuscule compared to the the electrocution that followed. If he hadn’t evaded the blade’s tip completely, Crimson might have been done for.

Ears still ringing and vision fogging over, his crimson pupils darted back to the white unicorn standing proudly. Crimson managed to make out a faint, but twisted chuckle escape his lips as snarled “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this, Red...”, all while holding a small, but just barely noticeable smirk. Crimson also managed to notice each dagger was fuzing their electricity with one another, as if creating multiple clotheslines to prevent the colt from escaping. “You’re in my magnetic field now, Red.... Have fun.”

Knowing he’d be killed if he didn’t step it up, Crimson managed to find his way back onto his hind legs, ignoring the pain that followed. The colt backflipped away from one dagger, ducked under another, and reached into his cloak of weaponry. Aiming more towards the sky, Crimson threw from his cloak a lengthy steel chain with a metal, marble sized sphere at the tip. As it skyrocketed through the sky, the ball expanded in a matter of seconds, tripling the size of a full-grown stallion even. Pointed, cone-shaped spikes of metal now protruded out of the wrecking ball-like object as Crimson grabbed hold of the chain as hard as he could. He swung the ball with as much strength as he could muster. The ball then began to scatter all of the daggers it could smash into, and after a swing or two, there were maybe only a couple dozen left airborne.

“Not today, Red!” Holding his front hooves close to each other, Storm commanded the rest of the remaining daggers that sparked with his electricity to create an aerial assault from every direction, blades ready to impale their next fresh slab of meat. “You won’t get outta this one standing!”

The chained wrecking ball smashed back to orbit, creating an earthshaking SLAM as it made contact with the earth. Crimson yanked at the chain until is separated its hold from where the chain and wrecking ball connected. Pulling it close, the cloaked colt swung the chain furiously, and it swatted over half of the daggers like a metal whip. Crimson then began to spin in place, the chain swinging with him, as it moved to wrap and cover any exposed black fur on his body like an iron cocoon. Finally, the rest of the daggers dug into each corner of the chain, causing it to appear as if it were a metal pin cushion.

Not a moment too soon, the chain cocoon burst out once again, knocking back every last dagger and revealing a perfectly unharmed Crimson Rays. Swinging the chain one last time, Crimson lashed the chain at the awestruck white colt with deadly accuracy, Storm only able to observe as the chain wrapped around his torso, binding his arms and chest completely.

“You like it? I learned this one from Applejack!” And with that, Crimson yanked. Hard.

Storm could feel himself being lifted off the ground, and he propelled forward, straight at Crimson. As the black colt wrapped extra amounts of the chain around his right hoof, Storm charged his horn’s magical electricity, an unnatural pressure beginning to surround his entire body at an alarming rate. As Storm neared, he could see Crimson about to thrust a straight shot punch at an accelerating speed.

Just as the two were about to make contact, the chain scattered into pieces, leaving Storm completely freed from his metal rope binding. Dragging against the dirt, Storm dove his upper body straight down, kneeling at a now sweating colt, who still held his post punch stance.

“H-how did you-”

Crimson was cut off by the white unicorn colt’s chuckle, a dangerous amount of electricity forming upon the ground’s surface under them, “When two magnetic forces of the same power collide, they push off each other. Haven’t you ever played with a magnet before!”

And with that, Storm shot upwards and let loose a perfect uppercut, his forearm completely coated with raw lightning. Jaw arched upwards, Crimson launched into the air at terminal velocity. His jaw felt numb, as a small strand of electricity still lingered in his system.

‘D-Dammit.... what kind of attack was that.....!!!’

Don’t worry, he’s just unconscious. All I did was create a strong magnetic force around my hoof.

In other words... telekinesis...

Well, I guess you could say that. You could also think of it as an augmented push spell.

-chapter 4

‘That’s right. He must have used the same trick as last time, only.... a hell of a lot stronger.’

Crimson flared his wings like a parachute, finally managing to halt himself altogether. He remained suspended in the night sky just long enough to regain the feeling in his muscles. The black colt turned his gaze downwards, shocked to discover that he was hovering well over a kilometer in the air, meaning that blow must have shot him even further than he had thought....

“Fine, I’ll admit, you’ve gotten more tricks up your sleeve than when we were kids!” Crimson threw his voice towards the ground just loud enough for his opponent to make notice of it. “Now, I think it’d be only fair if a showed you some tricks of my own!”

Digging both hooves into his cloak, Crimson spread the cloak open, fully exposing the various tools, pouches, and weaponry underneath. Reaching down towards both sides of his tool belt, he slid his hooves over two twin pouches and pulled the flap up with a small pop. Row by row of small, compact shurken peered out of the now open flap, each looking sharper than the next and ready to experience the first taste of blood on their cold metal tips.

Readying his wings with a airborne stretch, the black colt grasped his hind legs with his forehooves and, with a mighty breath, began to somersault in place. Each rotation became faster and faster until the colt resembled a black pinwheel, the small throwing stars dropping from the pouches and propelled down spinning in every possible direction.

Storm had to rub his eyes to find that they really weren’t playing tricks on him, which he honestly would not have minded one bit for once in his life; the longer the freefalling shurikens spun towards the ground, the larger they begun expanding until their size each could rival a full grown stallion.

Multiple stars impaled the ground near the unicorn with monstrous impact; the mini craters in the ground a convincing enough indicator for Storm to cast a magic bubble to act as a shield. Each shuriken to graze it managed to shave the bubble open, the sheer force of each throwing star proving too powerful for the shield to withstand much more damage....

As the last of the shuriken fell, a large cloud of dust and dirt engulfed most of the battlefield. The black colt’s hooves landed shakely onto the ground, his chest puffing in and out in it’s struggle to catch his breath. The dirt cloud was slowly beginning to dissipate, thought as his crimson orbs scanned desperately throughout the visible area, his electromaniac opponent was still nowhere close to being spotted.

With the flick of an ear, Crimson arched his entire torso backwards, just barely managing to limbo under an immense half of a split shuriken, it’s spinning blades just barely hovering over the colt’s snout before disappearing into the nothingness of the dirt cloud. There was a loud CLANK, the air being filled with the ear piercingly loud sound of metal on metal.

And carefully observing where his hooves were standing, he could see why. As Crimson regained his balance, his eyes spotted dozens upon dozens of scattered metal dug deep into the ground where the shrapnel previously aimed for his head had landed. Most of them looked to be split into pieces with deadly accuracy precision, along with melted ends where the cuts were made....

“Persistent as ever, I see.”

“You clearly.... underestimate me.... Red...”

Crimson turned his gaze towards the culprit of the response. As the smoke has finally cleared, in the middle of the scattered metal shards was a unicorn stallion of white fur, surrounded inside a blueish aura of electric energy. The bubble as though it was on it’s last legs; chunks of the shield missing as it flickered to stay alive. To be fair, the white colt didn’t fair much better; there were a few noticeable, blood-dripping scratches colonised around his body, along with numerous holes around his jacket.

As the magic of the bubble had finally faded into the thick dusty air, it was apparent that the shield was only a fragment of the unicorn’s successful survival. A katana, sparking rapidly along the magical blue blade, was firmly gripped in one of Storm’s forehooves...

“You’re.... more trouble than.... you’re worth!” Storm growled between breaths. “Luckily for me, you’ll fall and be crushed by Celestia’s divine right-hoof....”

The charcoal stallion’s eyes were filled with deadpan, a sigh irritatingly escaping his lips. “....You really like to hear yourself talk, don’t you?”

“Hmph... perhaps,” Storm retorted admittingly. “but the time for talk has officially ended....”

The Celestial Lieutenant slid his eyes to a close and clapped his hooves together, a satisfying CLOP filling in for the silence. His breathing became short and controlled, letting out one final breath before his horn lit up with his usual crackling magic aura. The cloaked colt couldn’t put his hoof on it, but somehow, in someway, the magic looked- and even somehow felt.... different.

As the seconds passed, a small light flashed from his hind-hooves up, crawling it’s way tightly close to the colt’s coat. What followed shortly after was a light blue radiating off Storm’s presence, the occasional dance of electricity across his figure as the colt kept his firmly closed shut.

Crimson’s ears flicked once again, but the sound picked up didn’t seem limited to one location. His eyes traced over the scenery; once after another, the metal shards dug into the ground beginning to glow with the same light emitting from his opponent. Soon, the entire crater-filled excuse for a battlefield was lit up with hundreds of metal coated in the same light...

As the steel shards started to pluck themselves out of the ground, Storm’s literally electric blue orbs were firmly fixed on the soon-to-be black pincushion. “No more playing around. The only things I want to hear from you after this are your agonizing screams!”

….bboooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooommm........

“....U-Um....P-Please tell me... I wasn’t the only one who....”

“....Nope.”

The four mares stood like statues, each of their gazes glued towards a large cloud of dust blown over the trees miles into the distance. While their minds weren’t exactly idle, they each shared one thought amongst the flurry of others going on inside their heads:

‘....What did Crimson do this time?’

“Girls! Over here!”

Simultaneously coming back to reality, the mares turned their heads to meet the new voice and found two specks growing through the endless rows of trees; one lavender, the other cyan.

Rarity clenched her azure eyes into a squint. “If I’m not mistaken.... is that-”

“Well Ah’ll be...” Applejack’s lips stretched into a confident smile. “Looks like them two party gals fahnally decided ta join this lil’ rodeo!”

Trots turned to gallops as the four shot forward, eventually closing the distance with tight embraces from both parties.

“You have no idea how much I missed you girls!” Twilight gushed as she nuzzled the farm mare and fashionista close.

The cyan mare gave a wispy chuckle, crushed to death between the two yellow and pink fillies. “Yeah, feels like it’s been months or somethin’.”

“And speaking of which, how was your little.... “trip”, darling?” Rarity turned her concern towards her lavender friend.... “He... he didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Sorry everypony, but questions are gonna have to be saved for later. We’ve got to hurry; I can sense two ponies from where the dust lifted up, and one of them has a rapidly increasing amount of magic.” Twilight turned her gaze towards the slowly disappearing dust cloud, eyes swimming in a sea of mixed emotions. “Storm, he....”

“Tha’s a mighty fahne trick ya learned an’ all,” Applejack struggled to suppress a gulp, “but are y’all sayin’ Storm came all the way down here wit ya?”

The unicorn said nothing, only affirming the mare’s worries with a silent nod. “Let’s just say.... Crimson isn’t the only one looking for a certain professor. Which is why we’ve got to hurry before those two boneheads end up killing each oth- GYAH!!!”

Twilight halts mid-trot to retract her hoof before a solid, pink sustenance digs it’s way out from underground. The mares watch awestruck; the glossy crystal stretching even past the trees for miles in width, soon growing higher than the trees until it resembled a large wall of pure....

“....Diamond?”

Rarity placed a hoof over the sparkling barricade, caressing the tough, yet smooth surface in an almost hypnotising fashion. “It’s simply beautiful....”

“Will you stop drooling over this.... thing already, Rares?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, taking to the sky at unsettling speeds. “Is this thing meant to block us or something? Pah! Everypony should know you can’t stop the fastest mare in Equestri-OW!”

Dash rubbed tenderly with a hoof at her now aching snout. From the looks of it, she flew schnauz first into the wall. ‘There’s no bucking way....’

With an equine puff from her nose, the hotheaded pegasus shot to the skies at a ferocious velocity even for her, determined to out “fly” this stupid wall- “GRH!!!”

The enraged Rainbow Dash stared bullets at the literal obstacle before her, the two of them almost touching the self-moving clouds. “There’s no way in Equestria a stupid wall is as fast as-”

“Rainbow Dash!!! You get down from there this instant!”

Even from forty feet off the ground, the words that Rarity hissed were still convincing enough for the grumbling pegasus. “Grmhhmm... yeah, okay.... mom.”

“Honestly, Rainbow. Racing a wall is not going to get us out of this mess any quicker.” the white unicorn scolded the eye-rolling pegasus.

“She’s right you know,” Twilight chimed in. “We need to stick together and find away around this wall.”

“Terribly sorry, miss. However, I cannot let you do that.”

Full attention was placed on the foreign voice behind the six mares. A stallion, more specifically, a unicorn. His shock pink mane, about withers length, looked as though it had been freshly groomed and lathered, despite being in a forest. His coat, a white-ish blue, emitted the sweet scent of lilac and other girly shampoos, most of which was covered by an alabaster cloak of the same variety as Crimson’s....

“Where are my manners,” the mysterious prettycolt bowed, “allow me to introduce myself. My name is........ Pinkamena?”

A silence filtered the Everfree air. All eyes were drawn to the poofy pink pony, whose silence was far too out of her character, much like out of all the ponies to shatter said eerie silence, the one nopony expected was Fluttershy. “Pinkie... do you know this guy?”

“.......Ezekiel?”

“Coward!!! Come out and face me like a stallion, or I’ll blast this entire forest to bits!”

In the deep, dark depths of the forest of Everfree, a unicorn, bathed in an azure light that crackled with electricity over his coat, stood in the middle of a natural wasteland. Bark from once standing and plentiful trees littered the dirt-covered fields; deathly silence looming through the war zone, where the only sound was the continuous beating inside the black colt’s chest.

‘Has that Celestia damned nutcase finally lost it?!?!’ Crimson held in a sigh, afraid only one release of breath from his lips would reveal his hiding spot located behind half of a still standing tree. ‘This is fucking insane. It’s almost like that armor of lighting he sucked dry from the clouds during our last fight. He’s learning to create it without an energy source; I’m surprised he hasn’t killed himself by now.’

Crimson’s ears focused past the remaining stub of a tree, listening as the electrically charged stallion slowly trot. ‘That magic around him looked... incomplete. I can’t put my hoof on it, but there’s something about that armor that-’

The black colt made a desperate somersault to avoid the tip of the magic blade. It chirped with electricity as it carved its way down the tree bark, finally coming to a frightening halt when the two halves of the stump fell their separate ways to reveal Storm’s sharp, radiating eyes.

“Careless. To think that the feared Crimson Shadow would be hiding like a scared little foal,” the glaring unicorn spat, an unsettling smile making it’s mark over his muzzle. “But then again, isn’t that what you’ve been doing with those new.... “friends” of yours?”

Crimson held the unicorn’s stare at bay with his own, but was unable to hold back a gulp, a wave of unease following down his throat after his saliva. “Bite me....”

“Aw, what’s wrong? Nothing clever or witty to comeback with? How disappointing....” Storm snickered, raising the translucent katana crackling with his magic in his hoof as he prepared to strike. “Don’t worry. This will only hurt a lot.”

With a swift motion of his hoof, the magic sword crashed down heavily over the steel of Crimson’s ebony one, the force of Storm’s enhanced strength too much for one hoof to hold up alone. “That’s a tough blade you’ve got there; any normal weapon would have shattered, or at the very least cracked by now.... Shame if you couldn’t even land a single blow on me with it.”

A snort puffed through Storm’s nostrils, retracting his strike to deliver a horizontal slash against the his helpless Crimson’s katana. The sadistic lieutenant was impressed the hitcolt could even keep a grip on his weapon as it was knocked to the side along with the hooves used to cling to it. However, this left his opponent wide open for the finishing stab.

“This is the end, Red!”

Storm’s arm thrusted at speeds that blurred the line between impossible and reality, the pointed, crackling tip of the magic sword aimed dead between the black colt’s crimson orbs. As his arm fully extended, the blood Storm expected was absent, only a black colt’s head resting just to the side of the crackling blade.

With a growl, the unicorn strengthened his grip and horizontally slashed, Crimson’s head ducking under the blade just at the nick of time. Each slash and stab that came after came with the same result, the determination in Crimson’s eyes rivaling the frustration in Storm’s. ‘His movements are becoming.... clearer. I can almost react to all of his moves....’

“Just... stay.... still!”

Horn sparking more powerfully than ever, the air in front of Storm started to distort once again before a force smashed into Crimson’s gut, sending him rocketing through the air as he dragged his wings through the air currents, finally coming to a stop. Without warning, Storm launched his sword like a lance into the sky, not long before the military stallion summoned two more in each hoof to join the first. All aimed directly at the charcoal assassin.

Gaining momentum with extreme haste, Crimson shot through the skies only to find that with each aerial dive and flip, the magic swords were not far behind. Wherever he flew, the magic blades followed in exact accuracy. For what felt like hours, Crimson stopped dead in his tracks, turning face-to-face with the incoming blades. “If I remember right, when these things touch....”

“What the hell is he doing...?”

As the blades gained up, Crimson held his breath and made a desperate leap in between, counting his lucky stars as he managed to come out unscathed. Not even seconds later, he could feel a giant surge of energy run through his bones when the tips of the electric blades met, resulting in a pony-sized explosion with pressure strong enough to send the cloaked colt rocketing towards the ground. It took time to regain control of his body before Crimson armed his blade for Storm, both readying for the blow that would decide the match.

Storm clapped his forehooves together and spread them apart, a trail of lightning surging through his hooves. He waited for Crimson to near before chucking the wad of energy like a baseball, meeting with the pegasus’ black katana as the two forces clashed in ground-shattering power.

Crimson’s wings and hooves were beginning to tire under his sword’s grip, the force of the bolt of lightning proving too much for the colt to handle. Luckily he wasn’t alone, as Storm too was beginning to feel faint; his horn feeling as though it would burst on top of his head as it struggled to push past the black stallion’s katana and shatter it to bits....

CLANK!

Crimson’s hooves throbbed as the sword flew yards over his head, lighting coating the blade as it took Storm’s lightning with it. Without losing momentum, the black pegasus tucked in his wings and dived towards the earth. Storm cursed lightly under his breath, barely able to stand, and certainly without the strength to move.

“It’s OVER!!!”

The two stallions finally made contact with one another in a ground shaking headbutt. The dirt sank from underneath Storm’s hooves, his blue orbs rolling to the back of his head as he collapsed back first onto the grassy battlefield.

“Ouch....” The black colt rubbed at the small scratch made from Storm’s horn; as indestructible, or thick as ponies told him his skull was, landing pinpoint onto that thing probably would have ended in less than desirable results....

Crimson’s ear flicked, turning to see that his trusty sword had finally landed into the dirt. As he trotted over to yank his sword from the ground, he looked over to his now unconscious opponent with indecision in his eyes, but ultimately knew what Twilight would do to him if just left him there.

“Psh. I must be getting soft....”

Slinging the unicorn over his shoulder, Crimson looked into the distance of the Everfree forest. He couldn’t put his hoof on it, but something didn’t feel.... right.

“.....Either I put way too much into that headbutt, or that’s a giant pink wall of diamond almost touching the clouds....”

Author's Notes:

Once again, sorry for the late chapter. Hopefully, Mac and I will be able to update better with time....