A large gathering of guards stood outside of the Appleloosa police station. Many of them have shed their armor for more casual outwear or just came as they were, others were clad up in full-dress armament. However, there was an uneasy hush amongst the ponies in the group. Rainbow, who lead the group, could only pace back and forth, too stunned to hover in the air as she normally would. As the others continued to mumble around her, she started to curse herself for not thoroughly voicing her displeasure of what the commanding officer had in mind. And it was because of her petty decision to ignore him, she bore the weight of possibly losing her friend.

She, in seeing the pictures from earlier, was unwilling to be convinced that he was alive.

Yet in her welling sadness, which she hid so well from the others, she apprehended the paparazzi pony and had the local sheriff book him for trespassing in a military-only zone, or a red-zone as it was often referred to. She wasn't willing to let him post those pictures to the press unless it could be verified for certain that the captain was indeed a fatality. And one mere photo of his being cornered didn't completely resonate as a death to her. It did, however, stir the fears that had already crept throughout her mind and made her even more terrified.

A few moments later, more and more ponies started to gather around the police station, genuinely curious of the gathering as opposed to the possible news of a human death occurring in Equestria, all of the civilians were unaware of that. And the crowd kept growing, and growing, and growing so big that the guards were eventually put to work as crowd control officials. A few tried to direct the traffic flow of pedestrians and occasional carriages that came through the town square. Some others were doing what they could to disperse the crowd from the police station. And it almost seemed to go smoothly, that was until Sheriff Silverstar emerged from the office with the paparazzi beside him.

Rainbow Dash approached him quickly, trying to grab the unicorn stallion as quickly as she could. "So, you're taking this one to the slammer?"

Silverstar shook his head slowly and removed the pegasus' hooves from the unicorn's own. "I'm afraid not. I can't arrest him."

The cyan pegasus was infuriated and expressed extreme impatience at the sheriff's decision. "Bu-bu-but why not!?"

The paparazzi smiled and started to walk towards Rainbow Dash slowly. "See, I told you that you couldn't touch me. You need to accept that I am well within my right to enter that area until it becomes a red-zone. Any journalist can waltz right in the place if there's no indication of a red-zone being established."

The gathering of guards started murmuring to each other as a few voiced concerns of what was going on. "But I thought that the whole area south of the Macintosh Hills were off limits to civilians!" Humbreeze stated.

Sheriff Silverstar then explained the reasoning. "Actually, it's classified as 'yellow', or a neutral zone. Civilians are advised to not enter the area, but it's primarily a warning as opposed to a restriction. Arimaspi Mountain itself is the red zone according to these documents this journalist was carrying." He held up a beige folder with the photographer's name on it.

Rainbow turned to the sheriff with bewilderment. "Journalist? This idiot's a journalist?"

The stallion puffed his chest out proudly as he walked past the rainbow-maned mare. "Paparazzi is one of the things I do for money. But I distinctively told you what my purpose was. 'Purveyor of information', you remember that tidbit?"

Rainbow was left flabbergasted while she tried to find words to say. But the sheriff went on to explain the folder. "It's noted that he's a beat writer for the Cantered Voice news agency up in Canterlot. Often they'd get writers to expose some of the most intense developments in the parliament, the royals family, the bankers, the social elite, and the high-profile athletes. They've sent reporters into red zones, but often while it was considered as a neutral zone. I guess you could say they have a knack for being there when the news happens."

With a smug smile, he held up the manila envelope. "And of course, I've got a story to break, so if you'll excuse me."

Rainbow extended her wing, cutting through the air and shaving a few hairs off of the journalist's coat. "HALT!" She called out. "I cannot let you post questionable information that could possibly incite a change in the the chain of command as well as a breach in national security. You need to prove that these photos aren't doctored and fully factual."

The journalist scoffed before he turned around to face the pegasus. "Lady, look. You saw me making the damn things in an industrial garbage bag, the sheriff over there was even so kind enough to let me retrieve my finished work. And the to top it all off, I wouldn't have the time to doctor any photo if I'm trapped in a confession room. Nice try, but I've seen the whole situation as it went down."

"Then would you care to explain it if you saw what happened?" Private Humbreeze inquired.

The stallion rolled his eyes dismissively at the young guard. "Okay, look here. This is the unshakable, certified, Dream Star truth. As I was flying in the air, I noticed that there was some loud popping noises being made in the forest. When I tracked it down, I came to this one clearing where there was this tree. And then there were like two of those huge monsters that just picked up the damn tree and tossed it aside. Now the captain managed to down one of them, but the other knocked his ass into another part of the forest. Next, he finds his sword and then tries to defend himself. But as he did, he lost his bearings, he crumpled over, and in comes that picture I showed to miss lady over here ."

Did anything happen after that?" The sheriff asked.

"Oh yeah, I just saw the creature's paw come crashing down and then I heard a really loud scream. By the time that paw started to come down, I knew it was going to be gross. So I just looked away and got my ass out of there because I didn't want to be seen by one of those things. And to make matters worse, the guy had this really ugly look on his face before the paw came down, clenching his eyes shut and everything. Safe to say that he's pretty much gone."

The sheriff turned to Rainbow Dash. "Did you see any of the photos he was talking about?"

Dream Star then pulled out the same picture he showed to Rainbow earlier and gave it to the sheriff, who grew a bit paler in seeing what was happening and allowed his imagination to take him to a gruesome place. The sheriff shook his head. "This looks to be supporting what he said, I don't see traces of the image being edited in any way. I'm afraid to say it, but he might have the merit here along side a witness testimony. We can't do much to stop him now. By constitutional law, I can't deny a freedom of press."

The cyan pegasus' ears folded back as her eyes slightly watered. She took a sharp draw of air and clenched her eyes shut to hold back her emotions. The journalist walked back up to Rainbow and gave her a hug. "Aw, well for what it's worth, he did kill a lot of those monsters before the got to him. But a story is a story, no matter how you tell it. Now if you excuse me, I got a story to print and post to every stand in the country."

The guards that all waited in the town square were silenced completely as the stallion galloped for the nearby newspaper printing press. After running into one of the buildings, seemingly the location of the local gazette, he screamed at the top of his voice.

"STOP THE PRESSES!"

All while my life was flashing before me, I desperately pointed my sword upwards as a prayer in being able to defend myself. I wasn't thinking too much into the results or the possibility of failure, it was either live or die. The creature's hand tried to slam down upon me, causing me to close my eyes for the eventual case of my attempt failing to stop anything and bringing an end to everything I am. It wasn't going to be pretty, and I wasn't sure if death was truly instant. I know that I would feel pain when it happened, but it was all a question of how long. Either way, I was scared to know the result.

The creature's hand cast a shadow over my body, giving me no room to escape. And as it was brought down upon me, the world got significantly darker. Even with my eyes closed, I could see that the morning light was being snuffed out. My sword was forced downwards, the pommel being driven into my chest. More and more, I felt the weight come down upon me. And as this was happening, I caught myself praying.

More of the weight shifted onto my chest, now causing me to have troubles breathing. By that indication, it was a definite show that I wasn't going to live. It was about that time.

Thus, I waited. I waited for the resolution that would probably never come.

For a second my eyes jumped open at the familiar voice urging me to go forward. It was my grandfather's voice. But instead of seeing his face, I saw a callous-ridden oversized hand in my face, just maybe a foot or two away from my stomach, inches away from my face. My hands felt a warm fluid trickling over them, and above me, I could hear screaming. I trembled as I felt air feed into my lungs once more, my body shook while my hands rattled the blade I held onto.

Suddenly, the creature yanked it's hand back and shook it off the blade. I was left lying on the ground, covered in it's blood. For the most part, I couldn't say anything, I couldn't even move initially. I was in shock, mentally, physically, and spiritually. The creature cried out grasping at the palm of it's hand, seeing a hole that continued to produce blood.

Without my knowledge, the muscles in my legs activated, causing me to stand up. My arms flexed as my hands regained a firm grip on my sword. When I had gotten back to my feet, I saw the creature look back at me. This time, my mind was already sending signals throughout my body, telling me that I needed to fight like hell. Without thinking about anything, I ran for it. My legs willed me into the creature, my arms and hands sent the blade into it's abdomen. With another painful cry, the creature tried to remove me from him. But when I saw the uninjured hand, I violently pulled my sword out and put every last bit of my adrenaline-enhanced strength into that swing. I felt initial resistance, but I suddenly found nothing but gravity take over.

Part of the creature's arm yanked back, only half of it remained. Looking towards the ground, I saw it's claw, flinching and flexing. And as the creature started to express shock over losing it's arm, I turned back around to slice into it's leg. That time I didn't cut completely through, but I managed to disable it's ability to stand. The creature collapsed without warning, leaving it to crawl with a bad hand. In seeing the creature crawling from me, I felt that I needed to finish the job if I were to live. And I wanted to make sure that I finished that thing off for certain.

Walking up to the creature, I drove the blade into it's side, dragging upwards until I met with the severed arm. I walked around and thrusted my sword into it's neck. And in seeing that one spurt of blood from it's jugular released a totally different feeling within me. I traded a thrust for a slice to the neck of the creature, and yet another, and yet another. Repeatedly, my sword mined for blood as a man's pickaxe mined for gold. Chunks of meat and small fragments of bone flew into the air as I hacked and hacked away at the creature. My face was splattered with it's blood, the creature stopped moving aside from the jolts it received whenever I sliced into it. I felt the fatigue eventually wear me down, bringing my swing to a weakened thud.

By the time I realized it, I had actually started swinging into the dirt.

Quietly, I wiped the blood out of my eyes with an even more bloodied shirt, causing it to smear all over my face. When I got a somewhat clearer view of things, I had realized that I had cleaved through the creature's neck, leaving not even a single muscle fiber connecting it's head to it's body. In fact, I had left a v-shaped indent in the dirt from where I was chopping. I didn't have much to say after that, I just leaned against a nearby tree, sank down and rested. My hands trembled from the absent feeling of force being placed into it, even the hilt of the blade sat lazily in my open hand. I took deep breaths, not even wanting to look back at the mess I've made.

The sound of a twig breaking didn't even move me as much, causing me to slothfully turn my head to the right. I saw the manticore from earlier, staring back at me silently. Walking towards my direction, I realized that I didn't have the energy to fight it. But it didn't seem to want anything to do with me, instead walking towards the decapitated body of the arimaspi, sniffing it, cautiously looking at me, and then walking off into the deeper parts of the forest.

...I guess we have an understanding.

Three hours later in Canterlot...

Spike sat in the corner, quietly reading a comic book as he heard the indistinguishable mutterings of an annoyed Senator Count. Stacks of documents pertaining to several legislature changes were met with disdain, a few with approval. But most of the time he shook his head while stamping the documents with a red sigil, declaring his disapproval of the document. Spike often looked at him with an unkind glare, becoming more and more incensed over what took place the previous Friday. The young dragon didn't like how he was thrown under by the senator in front of all of his friends and family. Because of the circumstance, it forced him to stay with the senator, the only one who kept his freedom intact.

So long as he stayed with the senator in his work to or from the parliament, neither the senator or his associates could be arrested. A law put in place that was to originally protect royals had then been extended to include members of the parliament and their assistants. Senator Count often quoted this clause as he stayed around the palace, sleeping in his office and remaining on castle grounds, and it continued to protect him as he hatched the most heinous conspiracies known to anyone in the senator's faction.

However, few opposed him. And Spike knew why it was so: he blackmailed everyone, including him.

The senator groaned while opening his drawer for a silver drinking flask and a bottle of pills. "I swear it's getting worse than usual." He mumbled to himself. The senator then turned to Spike as he started to throw two pills in his mouth and take a quick sip of his liquor. "My little dragon, would you mind telling me what you're reading?"

Spike didn't answer immediately, but knew that it would be best to entertain the senator's conversation... for now. "The latest issue of Power Ponies. Kids stuff, you wouldn't like it."

The senator shrugged. "I don't have a complaint for that series. In reality, I had many students who read that stuff when I was teaching back at the school. It's been carrying on for how long, twenty years?"

"The first issue came out exactly twenty-nine years, nine months, three days, and seven hours ago. The thirtieth anniversary issue will be coming out in a few months."

"Indeed." The senator stated as he took another swig of his drink. "I think it is nice to have a hobby outside of the usual grassroots politics and lobbying for the suppression of the Royals' privileges. A change to fantasy is always appreciated, though I do discourage an overindulgence in escapism."

The young dragon rolled his eyes as he closed his comic book. "Let me guess, you have something else you want me to do?"

"I'm more than glad that you are so perceptive of my demands." Praised the senator. "I do wish there were more assistants of your caliber, Princess Twilight knew not what she gave up in you, and neither does that fashionista."

The young dragon frowned as he thought about what Rarity had said to him and how she walked off from him that night. The tone she had with him was far colder than ever and Twilight seemed totally distraught in seeing him go down this route. "I just want thing to be what they once were."

"Spike, you and I do share that common belief. Conservative values are to be looked at with a fondness as opposed to a disdain for traditional moral values. And the bipedal primitive presence here is nothing short of a disturbance of that. Now young fillies and mares everywhere are fetishizing these monkeys, creating culture clubs and advocating for 'human rights'... damn him and his rights. The only right he has is the one to leave."

As much as Spike agreed with his sentiment, he didn't appreciate his method or his attitude towards him. The drake opened the door to leave as he spoke. "So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to go fetch me a few phials of red ink. I fear that my stamp will soon dry if they keep pushing all of these proposals in my face. I swear, so much money being spent that could be put in infrastructure and they're using it to fund these supposed 'party planners', our national budget is going to keep seeing red if there's a party or 'x-festival' being held every other day of the week."

Spike thought about Pinkie Pie and her work, he then felt another strong tinge of remorse for working under the senator. "You really like hurting my friends, don't you?" He mumbled to himself.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" The senator questioned.

"I said 'You really like... cutting loose spends, don't you'?" He said with a nervous smile.

The senator shrugged at the young dragon. "Just get me the ink, please."

Spike was about to set foot out of the door before the senator's primary assistant galloped into the office, causing a whirlwind of air to enter the room. Stacks of papers fluttered all over the office floor in the wake of his speedy arrival. In his possession, he held a newspaper. "SIR, READ THIS!"

Senator Count glanced at his assistant and the mess he caused when he entered. With a groan, he telekinetically took the paper and unfolded it to read the headline. But nothing grabbed his attention quite like the photo on the front page. Instantly, the senator forgave his assistant for his transgression. Upon reading the headline, the senator knocked a few quills off of his desk and smiled from ear to ear. "By Holy Faust, HE'S A GONER!"

Spike, out of habit, started to pick up the papers off of the floor before Senator Count leapt from behind his desk and started dancing with Single File, crumpling up a few of the other documents. "I figured you would need something to cheer you up, sir."

"Just look at his face! You can see he knows it!" He shouted with a jubilant cry. "Spike, come! See the face of a creature who is no longer!"

The young dragon halted what he was doing and looked at the picture on the front page. The human he detested the most had become a front page article for what could be the last time. As he read on, he could hear the two ponies dancing and singing with one another over the likely death of their adversary. Spike wanted to smile over the news of hearing that the one who took Rarity from him had gone before him, but was reduced to a bitter state once he remembered that Rarity wouldn't have anything to do with him. And since he help get him in that front-page headline, he knew that the others would not be willing to see him anytime soon. If anything, he felt that he would be truly abandoned, especially now that the Count had gotten what he wanted and how his purpose was essentially fulfilled.

What awaited him next was a lifetime of loneliness and isolation. Cadance and Shining would not welcome him back to the Crystal Empire for this, Twilight would never want to see him again. And Rarity had long since dismissed him. As he held onto the newspaper, he began to realize the cost of his actions and what he no longer had. His worst fear had come to fruition. So for the first time, in looking at the human in the headline, he bowed his head and cried.

His desire for things to go back the way they used to be would only go unrealized.

In Ponyville...

Shining stood outside of his sister's bathroom, Twilight lying before the toilet as she heaved up the contents of her stomach. While she was in between heaves, she was heard crying loudly, mournfully in not only hearing the news of the human's possible death, but in seeing the paperwork sent to her. Shining was not too pleased in seeing his younger sister suffering in such a manner. He didn't want to think about the fact that there was a piece of paper naming her one of the top researchers in the dissection of one human cadaver.

Cadance wasn't too thrilled to hear of it either. "This is disgusting. Count DuMoneé is a monster."

Shining wanted to plug his ears as he heard his sister in so much pain. He couldn't bear to watch her go through so much. He was still in complete disbelief over the situation. "This is unbelievable. There's no basis to it other than some witness account from the journalist."

Cadance turned to her husband. "You're suggesting he was paid off to write something like this?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if that photo was made up."

The pink princess scowled as she realized that now their plans were in severe jeopardy. "Dammit, we needed him. He was the one thing that was gonna keep us afloat. And now that's gone."

The alabaster prince started to walk off as he spoke to his wife. "He's not dead, he doesn't go out that easily."

"Shining, what going on? What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking of a contingency plan. If he is dead, then we need to get him to his family. They don't need to see him in a display case in some museum. You get in contact with his brothers and let them know what's going on. They need to hear about this."

Cadance for a brief moment followed her husband into the hallway. "Hold on, you aren't going to do anything rash, are you?"

He turned back to his wife and smiled. "I wouldn't do anything you wouldn't do for me. I've got top ponies in mind for what I'm going to do."

"What? Who are you talking about─"

He turned around and placed a hoof on her muzzle, giving her a smile before he left to the weapons room. "Top. Ponies."

In Austin, Texas...

Alex drove quickly from work, making his way towards his younger brother's apartment. All while he was running through yellow lights and weaving though traffic, he got a phone call from his youngest sibling. As the Bluetooth connector in his car indicated he had a phone call, he tapped the screen on his radio to answer it. "Hello?"

"ALEX, PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS JUST SOME BULLSHIT!"

"I don't fucking know!" He hollered back. "Here I am getting a phone call from Cadance telling me that our brother could be dead!"

"HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THIS TO MOM AND DAD!?" Stanton asked frantically.

"You're asking the wrong goddamn person! And it's not like we can call him and ask either, his phone is out of service!"

"YOU TRIED CALLING HIM TOO!?"

"Why wouldn't I? He's our brother, we gotta make sure he's alive somehow!"

As he was driving, he could hear his younger brother breathing erratically on the receiver. "OH GOD! ALEX... I-I-I CAN'T DEAL! I CAN'T DEAL, ALEX! I WANNA BELIEVE HE'S ALIVE! HE HAD ALL THAT GOOD SHIT THE OTHER DAY!"

As Alex tried to calm himself down, his radio indicated yet another phone call. This time it was Melanie who called him. "I'm getting a call on the other line, hold on a sec!" He then switched off to answer Melanie. "Hello?"

"ALEX, THEY'RE GONNA FUCKING CUT HIM OPEN LIKE A FUCKING FROG!" She screamed loudly, distorting the receiver.

Alex, suddenly looking up had realized that he was going to rear end a person at a stoplight. Slamming on the brakes, he avoided the fender bender and took a few deep breaths. "Shit, I almost fucked you all the way up." He mumbled before returning his attention to the phone call. "Mel! Calm down! I'm on the way to the apartment! Stanton's on the other line, I gotta keep talking with him!"

"HOW CAN YOU BE CALM ABOUT THIS!? THEY'RE GOING TO DISSECT HIM LIKE A 5TH GRADE SCIENCE EXPERIMENT! TWILIGHT IS VOMITING HER GUTS OUT AND I'M PROBABLY GONNA HURL CHUNKS JUST FROM THE THOUGHT OF WHAT THOSE BASTARDS ARE GONNA DO!"

The light ahead turned green, Alex slowly applied his foot to the gas and spoke in a softer tone. "Mel, I gotta talk to my brother. Let me at least calm one of you down so I can stay calm. You just get to the apartment and we'll talk about everything once we get there."

"OKAY!" She answered back before hanging up, leaving him back to the conversation with his brother.

"Stanton?"

"Dude, my fucking brother's dead! They took him from us. We haven't told mom or dad what the fuck's going on. How do we do this!?"

Alex was trying his best to remain composed throughout the phone call as he heard his brother breaking down on the other end. "You, I need you not to call them just yet until we can confirm that this is real. If we see our brother again and physically see that he's not breathing, then you can call them up and have them make the arrangements.... We'll explain everything later."

"Alex, we just got him back." Stanton said as he wept.

"And we're gonna keep him for good this time, okay." He said, trying not to choke up as he spoke.

"Love you bro."

"I love you too. Get here safely, don't panic yourself into an accident. I can't lose two of you today."

In Arimaspi Territory...

After a while, I finally got off the ground and wandered back to my campsite. The aches and pains from yesterday, now with more of them built from this morning was bogging me down. Each time I took a step forward, it felt like I was walking through four feet of mud with heavy plate armor on. And it didn't get any better because I had to scavenge around the site for my equipment.

And to also kill of that one arimaspi I left blinded.

It took me two and a half hours to track down everything that was scattered in that early morning ambush. I managed to find the revolver, the shotgun, the rifle, the grenades, all my ammunition, my crossbow, the knife, the com radio, and my equipment bag. In speaking of that, I was definitely in need of some medical equipment because as it turns out, I had this incredibly large gash in my right arm that just started burning recently. It could've been the fact that I was so hopped up on adrenaline that I hadn't even noticed that I was hurt. To be honest, I thought my arm was just covered in the blood of my enemies. Guess that'll only apply to my face for now. I probably look a terrible mess and should smell like one...

Smell... Now that I think about it, when I went hunting with Gramps, he'd always tell us to mind our bodies and keep away from strong artificial scents. I guess that was one thing I overlooked when I bathed yesterday morning. I just went in the shower and walked out feeling like a million bucks, but I forgot to mind the smell of the clothing. Well can't do much of that now, I'm covered in dirt and arimaspi blood, a mix of earth and strong copper. Safe to say that I won't have access to a bath to keep myself clean, so I'll have to keep with what I have on. Maybe the mixtures of scents will throw mine off and keep them off of my trail.

In speaking of scents, I wonder if the MRE's also had something to do with that.

Looking around, I also noticed that the area had offered a pretty nice view of the sky above. I guess I also broke one of my own rules; I wandered into a clearing as opposed to a enclosed area. But now that I know that they like to hang around in the trees, that would probably be an issue as well. And it probably didn't help that I had let them gang up on me instead of taking the preemptive route and running for the hills. I also didn't set up any alarm system that would notify me of an impending threat, so I left myself wide open.

As much as this could've been a tragic end for me, it wasn't. It turned out to be a deadly learning experience, and it definitely turned out to be a one-shot prayer in the dark that managed to get me out. Guess I'll chalk that one to the mystical man above and keep it moving. And moving was definitely something I needed to do asap, the flies are starting to gather and the smell of death is getting a little pungent.

The last thing I need is to get killed by something that's been dead long before me.

It's been a total of four hours since my morning wake-up call. But I did manage some good news: I've made it to the foot of the mountain. Originally, I was going to be here by the sun's setting of yesterday evening. But things happened, mistakes were made, and calls were close. But I managed to walk away from it with more knowledge of what I was facing and how I can work around my disadvantages.

I even came away with a useful piece of information in terms of cutting down our opponents with the cruelest of efficiency.

As far as what these creatures actually are, I'm still questioning the depth of their intelligence. It may seem odd that I still am after that ambush, but I'm more curious in knowing if they can express a method of communication outside of grunts, roars, and laughs. Wolves travel in packs and can communicate with one another. Gorillas can communicate with humans, expressing a variety of emotions. But the thing that separates the realm of being sentient or sapient all relies on if they were taught to communicate with humans or if it is done naturally. Gorillas were taught sign language, and are smart enough to use it. Dogs are taught to speak or sit. Cats are taught to 'knock' or notify their owners if the need something. The logic could also go for humans and equines of this world, but our brains are far more developed than theirs.

Hell, mules, donkeys, changelings, dragons, griffons, yaks, centaurs, minotaurs, cattle (hence why I cannot eat beef here), sheep, and even special offspring of the canidae family are capable of speech and communication with other species. Even then, they have governments, societies, methods of tool-building, an ability to express consent or discontent vocally with an enhanced vocabulary. Their level of emotions surpass that of sentient animals, and it's a farcry more diverse than that of our world. Could be the magic factor, but that's a thought for another time.

So in the case of the arimaspi, is it possible for either of our species to communicate with one another? Can they be taught to do so? I do know that they can communicate with money, but they automatically have a kink for shiny things. And they can be capable of expressing laughter, but that doesn't go far enough for me. Is it possible that their savagery is because they lack an in-depth understanding of morals?

See, that's another thing. While gorillas are taught to communicate, they are born with a sense of duty and morals. If one of their kind was caught trying to rape another, the whole gathering would turn against that one and cast him out. That level of intelligence immediately registers as sapient to me. But there's been a lack of that same principle for this particular group of bodivae.

And yet, they have a very keen awareness of death. In the case of a gorilla, f they see a dead body of another animal, they leave it be. If they kill something, they leave it be. In the case of an arimaspi, they kill it and play with it. If they see something dead, they leave it out for the other species to pick up after it...

...The more I think about their mental state, the more it becomes clear that these creatures are truly of some nightmarish shit.

You know what, I think I'll reclass them as sapient, but only to a certain degree. It would take a significant event for me to consider them as otherwise.

Rumblings from with the forest alerted my ears, causing me to quickly hide amongst one of the trees. I may have been on the foot of the mountain, but I was still a distance within the treeline. Of course clearings were more apparent, but cover was still plentiful. And it didn't take much for me to hide my presence, considering that I was covered in dirt, leaves, and dried blood. In fact, that might actually help me as long as I'm within these trees.

But as three arimaspi came walking back, holding a headless arimaspi corpse in their possession, I started to realize that my encounters had dropped off by a large margin. I still ran into a few on the way here, but it seemed that their focus wasn't so much on me as it once was. Perhaps my human scent was dulled enough by the earth to thrown them off track. And it also helps that I didn't use any MRE's on the way here. Of course that left me a little hungry, but that's a risk I'm willing to accept until sunset.

I sat behind the tree, patiently watching as the three arimaspi were greeted by a fourth. This one was significantly more decorated than the others. This one had golden nose rings, a golden brace on it's left ankle, and even more gold on it's mane. If anything, this was a lot more gilded than it's lighter-shaded counterparts. The three dropped the body before the one I'd call 'Goldilocks', they then backed away with their heads hung low. Goldilocks looked at the body with a grunt and roared at the group. One of the three then presented it's head to them, placing it atop of it's own back.

"RAAAK!" Goldilocks roared viciously, repeating that same roar as it ran in a circular motion, knocking over whatever piece of wood it found loose on the ground, whatever rock was not claimed by the earth. For around thirty seconds, this continued until Goldilocks settled down, looking at the body laid before it.

The others grunted quietly. "Nak... Kadaas shigge sommda. (Sir, we're truly sorry.)"

...Okay, they are VERY sapient. I just wish I knew what they were saying.

One of the bowed creatures grunted a response. "Jaanki soodu zolzadii! Kardah vaddah yinnu Nuda goah lae jaanki. (This is unforeseen! Our Chief would never stand for this.)"

Goldilocks placed it's hand upon the corpse, examining the damage done to it. After a few seconds, a conclusion was quickly made. "Mmmmmnn... Kloppu. Kloppu ekka yindehnaae lae jaanki. (Hmm... Ponies. Ponies are responsible for this.)" He stated before pointing to the neck on the body. "Kuur, kuur. Onae jahm yoddo gadei sek maambidae. (Look, look. The neck has been cut repeatedly.)"

One of the other creatures further examined the body and groaned. "Ugi. Onae sek egunu kradrah u denagi goj. Jaanki uhe u gadduba, nanke ruudah kuus ja nago dembe. (Yes. The cut seems like a butcher job. This was a slaughter, never before seen of their kind.)"

As I remained hidden, I could see a large dark-gray body approaching from the distance with another arimaspi in tow, draped over it's shoulder. The lifeless corpe seemed to have been left a while as it showed signs of rigor mortis. As the dark gray creature, whom I'll identify as 'Smokey', laid the stiff body before the other four. Afterwards, I could see a golden choker on it's neck, seemingly to signify a status of prominence. He pointed at the creature's chest.

"Ka nukk domei kloppu, vahen jaanki zobe ja owagabo. Bal vaha naag anki edajemogo, onae klaas zempabo va jaanki sheddik. (We don't recall ponies having this kind of strength. Nor have they ever displayed the tools capable of this carnage.)"

"Raak gonbo de baj mede? U griffod? (What could it be then? A griffon?)" Goldilocks grunted.

Smokey gave a response. "Nem. Dejambu ruud onae sekkabu, vaha bende jo edabu jaanke, onae zuad ja kardah bojaga noniem, vaj bende za onae indu, ja u funaaka ankonuki dobugo, bu zakkajiku ja gokkes. (No. Reports from the wounded have come to verify that the source of our sudden scourge has come in the form of a bipedal creature carrying an assortment of sticks.)" I'm sure they're having an interesting conversation that pertains to these bodies.

"Gokkes? (Sticks?)" The first lackey grunted.

"Funaak? (Biped?)" The second lackey groaned.

Goldilocks grunted back at Smokey while digging in the hole within the body of the fallen arimaspi. "Nem gokke gombo anki, zabuk jaanki ogabojuke. Ka vaha mugo gachi-bo ja kardah, nudae ona jaanki ankonuki. Moja zuulbaje soodu jaanki? (No stick could ever cause this genocide. We have lost fifty-eight of our tribe to this creature. What hellspawn is this?)"

Smokey clicked his tongue, flicking it's two fingers back and forth, the index and middle going in opposite directions to mimic how a human would walk. "Ka jambogo noju de... Funaki. (...We shall call it... Funaki.)"

"Bamengo un kii vaj, nen poajoge ga nuam. (Surely an ape has not evolved so much.)" Goldilocks groaned out while touching the decapitated body.

Smokey knocked against the petrified arm of the fallen arimaspi and snorted. "Bame moja uhe kuus, d'ja goge, d'ja ganti, benu d'ja zalaki bomjaku jaanke ja un kii, bakalago mu dej aboga majengi. De uhe benu zahe jaanke. de nemai jaanke ena, naum bekano ja ajiga dogak. Bomaj onae bogaki ja u kloppu, dago onae ujikobanki ja nemi. (From what was seen, it's head, it's paws, even it's posture resembles that of an ape standing on it's hind legs. It was even said that it runs that way, much similar to young dragons. Twice the size of a pony with the intellect of one.)"

Goldilocks grumbled with a low growl. "Ku moja goe soodu kanej, ikan jaanki Funaki soodu nemjigobo. (If what you say is true, then this Funaki is dangerous.)"

Smokey then proceeded to collect the two corpses beneath him. As he slung the stiffened body over his shoulder once more, he did the same with the other and bit the mane of the severed head to carry it. "M'boh u gobuje ja kardah nudae, omedi klaje ya demageki kokunji. Igaba kaj onae ankonuki Ak jegaboboa, burje nem kongu klo gokka. Kea nomo goe bojugo de... (Such a threat to our tribe should only be removed quickly. Search for the creature I described, spare no rock or tree. And when you find it...)" After collecting the head, he turned to the other three and growled with an authoritative tone. "...Kill it."

...Those two were the only words I could understand, but they were a VERY STRONG statement. So not only do they have a developed language, but it seems that they can also speak my language, at least this one can. Either way, I was trying my best not to shit myself with the imagery that I was presented with. Smokey took the two bodies and the severed head and crawled back up the mountain, Goldilocks took the two lackeys and went back into the forest for a search. The only thing that lingered was the smell of the corpses Smokey collected.

That was probably the most disturbing thing I grabbed from that whole exchange, but don't think that the small amount of his spoken English was a distant second. These guys are the full package, no bullshit, no ethics for sanitation, no fucks to give. You walk in their den, you're about to get looked at... in a way so intimate that you'd get to know more of yourself in the process. 'Oh, I didn't know that my X was that color' would be some words that would come to mind. Suddenly, the shit from five years ago became monstrously terrifying, there was no way to alter the perspective.

I gotta get the hell out of here.

I know I said that I had to get out of here.

I know what I saw was enough to send any sane man off on a trip to rediscover the meaning of life or something. I know for certain that hearing that these creatures can very well speak means that I can't get away with saying anything without them picking up on it. And the fact that they're on an actual manhunt for me should be a critical factor in making the decision to leave this place in order to keep my organs in place.

So why in the hell am I following Smokey with his two dead buddies draped over his back like they were the newest fashion trend?

As he walked towards the caves on the mountainside, I was steadily finding less and less to hide behind. Every now and then there was a rock I could use as cover, but the trees had completely disappeared. It was starting to get so open that there was no possible way that I could avoid being seen. Eventually, I had to wait until he finished climbing up the mountain before I could advance. And then I had to scope the area for any other of his fellow headhunters. Thankfully, I didn't see anything that threatened to creep up the mountain behind me. No movement of trees from below, no grunts, no roars, no clicky-grunty talk, not a single trace.

After verifying that I was in the clear, I hurried up the side of the mountain and stood quietly outside of the cave's entrance. When I looked inside, I could see that the place was somewhat lit with luminescent stones and torches on the walls. Upon entering the room, he laid the two bodies to rest. A small gathering of five smaller arimaspi with shorter horns, others completely without. I can safely assume that these are females looking after the establishment while the menfolk are away.

Also on a side note: I was right. Smokey was a dude, balls as big as Boston.

The females, which I could call nannies in this case, were looking over the bodies and shared some conversation. Obviously they must be mourning their fallen.

"(More of them? I can't believe this is one creature doing this!)"

"(Disgusting, is this creature truly of ape descent?)"

"(It's too bad, we're losing some attractive mates. The next season will be a busy one with re-population in mind.)"

"(I personally wish to see what this creature looks like. It's obvious that it must be pretty strong to do this much with a stick.)"

While the others grumbled and grunted, albeit in tenor voices unlike their contrabassy male counterparts, Smokey grabbed the head from out of his teeth and placed it on the back of the corpse it was once attached to. "(The Funaki appears to linger towards the mountain. I do not understand why it is here, but it's purpose must pertain to this location, being that it's sightings were always within the vicinity of the mountain.)"

One of the females appeared to respond directly to him. "(Our tribe is already dwindling because of the stragglers who leave in search of their own riches. This kind of loss cannot be sustained for long. We will try and look for this creature and do what we can to capture it.)"

"NEM!" Smokey roared loudly, causing echos throughout the cavern. "(We will not leave it alive, just as it has not spared the fifty-eight lives it claimed.)"

"(Sixty-four.)" Another one of the females grunted. "(Sixty-four has been claimed. It seems that two have bled to death, we could not use our methods to treat them. The other four have seemed to contracted some foreign illness, they have been ex-communed to the sky chamber, where they will await their fate for the good of the tribe.)

Sky Chamber. Maspian translation: Gui Kalajigo.
The sky chamber is often used in sky burial ceremonies. It is an open-air dome where the bodies of the deceased are laid for birds and bugs to feast on. Sometimes the remains of the bodies after these burials are kept as ceremonial items or cosmetic adornments. The gold on their bodies are collected before the ritual and given to the young to grow into.

"(This creature is the bringer of death.)" Smokey growled back at the female. "(I am even more convinced that it should be treated as the ponies.)"

You know, it would be really interesting if I could decipher any of what these guys are saying. The most I can possibly get out of the two recent exchanges is that the word 'nem' must be some expression similar to a denial of passage or request. Would make a lot of sense if it was simply put as 'no.' It's probably just that given the body language Smokey uses when he says it: quick horizontal swipe of the hand and a slightly horizontal head turn. I hear the word 'Funaki' being thrown around as well, probably could translate that on a later date. I heard the word 'griffod', so I can assume that it's griffon. Kloppu... cloppu... clop... I don't get it.

Putting that business aside, I know that I can decipher a situation. And it's pretty obvious that I'm not going to be able to get in this way. If I walk in there, even if I just outright used a flashbang grenade to sedate them, it would more likely alert others in the cave and have them chase me down. I've already had enough of that from yesterday and this morning. I'm being chased as of now, no need to find myself in their home turf without any sort of guidance or assistance...

Guidance... If only they would capture me alive, I'd be willing to trail inside, talk my way to the leader, and fight my way out as opposed to fighting my way in AND out. And I know for sure that these bastards want me dead because Smokey wrote it out for me in plain English. Plus it's not like they have an ambush ready for me when I walk into one of these caves. If I walk into anything, it would be them standing there looking back at me with a grin and possibly sharpened claws and a stone club. I'm not too interested in their definition of club-hopping, it's not something I'm dying to experience.

I suppose I'll just keep looking for entrances.

Five humans have quietly gathered as eight ponies silently looked at the newspaper at the center of the throne room table. The princess of friendship sat at the head, her face showing signs of her crying for an extended period of time. The other at the table could do nothing but hold back tears as the image on the front page stirred a strong sense of emotion as well as an unshakable feeling of doubt and despair. Pinkie was the only one of the ponies who kept a stoic resolve.

The humans, on the other hand, were not so calm. Alex was trembling, Melanie cried lightly while trying her best to not break all the way. Stanton paced back and forth while blaming himself for the situation that lead up to his assignment. Cliff sat on the ground with his head resting on his knee and a forearm covering his face, still overcome with disbelief. Rickey got on one knee and proceeded to pray while holding his bible. While he prayed, Stanton shook his head at the sight. "You know he doesn't believe in God, right?"

Rickey broke his prayer and responded. "It ain't gonna stop me from praying for him."

Stanton sighed with a sense of resignation before he spoke. "Yeah... I guess that's all we can do. Pray to God that my brother is still alive somewhere."

Cadance took pity over the humans and offered her words. "I know that you wish for it to be one way. But just know that no matter the result, we will still be here to support you. I want him to be alive too, but you'll have to forgive me for my lack of faith."

Applejack traced the outline of her hat as she spoke. "I know you guys wanna see him again, and I know that you all wanna be able to confirm what's really going on. But I gotta ask... Is it really something we're prepared to see?"

"Don't talk like that." Melanie pleaded. "It's like you know he's gonna be dead."

Twilight finally spoke, her voice sounding damaged and broken. "Statistically speaking..." She swallowed to remove the words that tried to choke her. "Chances of a return on a solo mission to the mountain is calculated to be 5.2 percent. Chances of surviving multiple days in such an environment drops it to 3.1 percent."

Cliff interrupted her. "Well I'm hoping for that 3.1 to become 31 percent."

Pinkie followed up on his statement. "I see 310 percent. He's gonna make it through. I know Nonny, he doesn't let this get to him."

Fluttershy quietly spoke up as she continued to look at the image on the front page. "I know this may seem grim, but I think that the arimaspi in this picture got to him far quicker than we could ever do anything for him."

Shining looked to his guardian Flash Sentry, and whispered to him. "Has the preparations been made?"

"Got him on the Crystal Express line. He's good and sealed up, so he won't be getting loose anytime soon."

"Good job." Shining praised the young guard. "We just gotta get to him before anypony else does."

"We even have a few of those crates you told me to grab from the other room. Are you sure this is a good idea, sir?"

"This is our only option of getting in without having to worry about getting too close. Unless you wanna fight those bastards mono-a-mono, this is the safest option."

Flash groaned with uncertainty as he cringed. "Sir, let's think about this. These are foreign weapons, that only you trained for, which you've never even used in a combat situation, much less against a group of larger opponents capable of wiping out an entire platoon."

"Hence our other weapon on the train."

Flash decided not to argue the point any further, realizing that it was no use in debating. "Your highness, I hope this works for us, or they'll be looking for OUR bodies."

"Just follow my lead, and you'll be fine." The prince said before he mumbled to himself. "I'm not making the same mistake twice."

Cadance and the others had finished their conversation when she turned to her husband. "Is everything ready to go?"

"Yeah, we're all set." Shining stated openly while giving his wife a salute.

She then turned to Twilight to see how she was holding up, noticing that she was still somewhat unstable. The pink princess drew a long breath before she summoned a clear crystal orb to give to Shining. "This will allow for us to communicate with one another. From what the humans state, the strength of the signal their devices use to communicate with one another fades out past the Everfree Forest. You know how to use it."

"Uh-huh." Shining hummed to himself while he took the orb and placed it inside of his travel sack. "I got it. Stay safe, don't get in too much trouble, run a five-point scan of the area before settling in, blah-blah-blah, don't die."

Cadance forcefully grabbed her husband by the chin as she spoke. "Yeah, but guess what, asshole? Remember the last time you went there? Don't put me through that again."

"Promise." Shining said just before his wife gave him a long kiss on the lips. As he pulled back, she gave him one more peck for good luck and cleared his mane out of his eyes to look at them one more time.

"You can't keep doing this crazy shit and not put foals in me."

"Meh, I'll think about it."

Later That Evening in Appleloosa...

Often the scene in a saloon would normally be rowdy, loud, and filled with drunken mischief. There would normally be someone who was causing issues at the bar, screaming for another drink. But the bartender was wiping off a glass in peace, the squeaks it produced could be heard across much of the room. The saloon, however was not empty, quite the opposite. The entire platoon that was sent on the mission gathered there to discuss the future of the assignment and the eventual course of the mission. As it was previously determined, Rainbow Dash presided over the conversation.

The train engineer was still denying the image that was sent to every newspaper in the town, throughout the nation for that matter. Many of the townsfolk called him mad or so far in denial, but he retorted by stating what all he saw from the human. "I swear, he's out there alive! He's still ripping those bastards to shit!"

One of the guards looked at him with a hopeless frown. "Then I'm pretty sure these photos are actually hyper-realistic paintings then?"

The engineer argued once more. "I'm not denying what's in the photo, I'm just saying there's a possibility of his not dying. If you saw how he fought those beasts once he got off the train, you'd agree with me."

"Well we didn't." Private Humbreeze replied. "We can't just simply ignore the fact that he hasn't been on the link or anything for the past day."

The engineer once more argued the point. "Well it could be that he's in enemy territory. Would you break your cover and make a call to us when you're behind enemy lines?"

The private then answered. "I would if my life depended on it, or if it was an emergency! What if this was the result of an ambush? If so, then there's little chance of him living past that! A cave of twenty-plus arimaspi wiped out a small platoon like it was nothing! You honestly expect that they wouldn't do the same to him or us?"

Rainbow finally broke her silence as she stared at the mug of foamy apple cider sitting before her. "He's not gonna call for help."

The young private then turned his words to her. "And why not!? Was it not him who said that we should fear each other, because our lives were in each other's hooves? Our lives are in his hands, and he's possibly somewhere in the forest being drug in the dirt!"

Rainbow quickly answered him. "You should remember that he left us all here while he went out there into danger by himself. Nondis went on a glory trip, this isn't about us, it's about those politicians who sent us here. He left to make a statement, a dumb one."

Once more, the young guard tried to bring up another point. "B-but he said that he didn't send us with him because of the hell he was going to bring."

And just as quickly, Rainbow shot him down. "Let me explain this in a way you should be able to understand. All of us, every last one of us, are placed under his responsibility. That's thirty lives on his shoulders, all placed there because one politician exploited his tendencies and placed him in a compromising situation. Why you ask? Because he's kissing a young princess who's probably having second thoughts right now. What purpose does this serve? He tried to make a statement saying that he'd still go out there and take the brunt for us, because his own ego got hurt and he got blackmailed. He won't tell you that much, but the hell he's bringing is probably translated to 'Don't follow my corpse.' There it is, the manifesto of our 'late' captain."

The room grew silent once more. Even as the others looked into their drinks, the young guard dropped his head in defeat. The engineer was even left without words, the bartender continued to wipe his glasses and clean the counter. Downburst was the first to quietly bring up the question. "Then... what do we do?"

Rainbow clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, looking back to the engineer. "...It's only been a day. He told us to give him four days at most to let things ride out. If Nondis IS alive, he'd get in touch with us. If not, then we withdraw as his orders stated."

Another one of the guards then raised the hoof to question her. "But if he's already dead, then why are we still here?"

The cyan pegasus kept her eyes closed, still clinging to hope while she tried to appear unphased. "Let's say he didn't die. And then he tries to get in contact with us tomorrow or something. If he were to live through all of this, radio us a message to come get him, and we're not in place but quietly sitting back home, then we would've left one of our own behind, correct?"

Humbreeze shook his head without a shred of hope. "It took a little over a week before they saw the bodies on the hill just five years ago. What makes you think we'll hear from him or even confirm that he's dead before the next three days?"

Suddenly, another voice interjects. "Corporal Dash has a point."

The entire room of guards turned their heads to the front door, seeing another fellow guard standing in the way. As he walked in, he continued to speak.

"Nopony gets left behind, even if it is in Arimaspi Territory."

Humbreeze jumped out of his seat and screamed violently, throwing his helmet at the guard. "FUCK YOU! THEY LEFT MY SISTER TO ROT! NOPONY GET'S LEFT BEHIND? EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM GOT LEFT BEHIND, AND IT TOOK A WHOLE FUCKING WEEK AND THEN SOME TO GET THEM BACK! WE COULDN'T EVEN SEE HER BECAUSE OF THE SMELL! WE HAD TO FUCKING CREMATE HER BECAUSE SHE WAS RENDERED AS A GODDAMN BIO HAZARD! FUCK YOU!!!"

Flash Sentry, staring back at the young guard with widened eyes and flared wings, collected himself and picked up the helmet that was thrown to him. "Sorry for your loss. I'm sure if things were different back then, you'd still have her with you. But that's not the case, it's in the past. I can't ever hope to tell you that I know your pain or that I can understand, I sympathize with you. But meaning that process was bypassed for the sake of saving the lives of the survivors, it's not without reason. Those who knew their time was done, they did what they could to buy time."

Humbreeze didn't back down from his stance. "TIME FOR WHAT!? GIVE ME BACK EVERY LAST ONE OF THESE FIVE YEARS I HAD WITHOUT MY SISTER, THE TIME MY MOTHER SPENT CRYING OVER HER GRAVE! BUY ME THAT! I'M FUCKING TIRED OF BEING LIED TO AND FINDING OUT THAT EVERYTHING WE DID WAS FOR NOTHING!"

Flash gave him back his helmet and maintained his discipline for a moment. "There is not a single moment where our work is 'for nothing'. If anything, this past month has been a testament to how much we do for our country. And if you ever got to experience the things I did, private, you'd recognize that our purpose is hardly for naught. We're the one thing between danger and our citizens. So if our guards are citizens, naturalized or natural-born, we make sure that we collect on each and every one of them." After placing the helmet on the table, Flash then yanked the young stallion and slammed him on the table next to it. "And the next time you make an outburst like that against your superior, I will be sure to have you shipped to deep-freeze to cool off. Do you copy?"

The young guard grunted with anger as he complied. "Solid copy."

After he left the young guard on the table, he turned his attention to Rainbow Dash. "Staff Sargent, being that you're the highest ranked here, I need a sitrep."

Rainbow jumped out of her seat and saluted the guard. "First Lieutenant Flash Sentry, what are your demands?"

"There's some business to discuss with you, comes from a higher paygrade. You're with me from now on until our assignment is completed."

Rainbow looked back to the room of guards and expressed herself. "With all due respect, sir, this platoon has been placed under my care."

"We have another to take your place. We need you on staff for your eyes."

As Flash continued to explain the situation, Rainbow noticed Soarin walking right past them, he gave her a quick nod before he brought himself before the group of guards. With a loud boisterous voice, he called out to the room.

"COMPANY, ATTENTION!"

Later on the Crystal Express...

The exquisite caboose was hardly filled with anyone as four ponies sat in the cart. Rainbow Dash quietly listened to Flash's perspective of the news breaking in town. Though it appeared to have taken place a few hours after it broke in Appleloosa, the effects would still be the same. Ponies who were saved from the changelings started to organize various vigils around town while Princess Celestia tried to calm the citizenry. The political response appeared to be mixed, with varying emotions on either side of the room. But the most important thing she was notified of was the response her friends had to the news.

Though the cyan pegasus remained quiet about the situation, she felt herself slowly losing her ability to maintain her facade over the news. But she tried her hardest not to let her emotions show. As she was being debriefed, the mare paced her breathing to prevent herself from breaking composure.

"So what you're saying is that we can't leave his body here?" She asked sadly.

"Under normal circumstances, even the humans would be fine with him being buried in Equestrian lands. However with the recent developments that came forth, it would be best to return the body to the humans so that it can get buried." Flash explained.

"And what's stopping him from being buried here?" She questioned.

"We believe there is a forged document that stated he gave consent to the Ministry of Science and Magical Research to retain his remains for research purposes. And to top it all of, paperwork is being pushed by a certain political faction to have the Princess of Magic to assist in the research since her knowledge of humans was deemed beneficial."

She clenched her eyes shut as that bit of information hit her exceptionally hard. She started to realize that there was more difficulty in remaining emotionally stable when finding out your friend is set to be the newest science museum piece. "So they're trying to get Twilight to engage in a crappy science experiment to dissect her special somepony? That's ridiculous!"

"From what I was informed, the princess was vocal about her thoughts of the idea. And it also seems that the humans are very much unsatisfied with the circumstances, stating that there would be severe consequences if the whole process goes through as planned."

In the back of her eyelids, she envisioned the angered expressions on both Alex and Stanton's faces. And she knew what the were capable of after seeing what happened with the changelings just a few days ago. Her stomach turned at the thought. "...I can only imagine."

"To safely put it, Princess Cadance has made a very strong point that we would evacuate the body quickly and without notice so that he can be returned to his family to be laid to rest."

Rainbow caught herself wiping the blur out of her eyes, only to find her hooves coming out with streaks of wetness on them. Her breath grew shorter and shorter as those key words became the final breaking point. After an entire morning, afternoon, and evening of trying to keep herself from crying, she had finally come to terms that her friend was gone. As she sat on her haunches, she found her exterior rapidly deteriorating, revealing a much softer and broken side of her. She sniffled, trying to stave away hysterics. Stomping on the ground, she vented her frustration and anger over the situation, at last leaning against one of the seats with half her mane covering her face. More tears fell from her cheeks while she whispered to herself. "...I can't believe this is happening..."

Flash realized that she hadn't given herself a chance to mourn and immediately reconsidered giving her the assignment. He then walked over to one of the doors and opened it for her to leave. "I know how saddened you are, and I completely understand if you wanted to stay here. Chances are it's not gonna be pretty when we show up. The mission is dangerous and could be a very traumatizing experience if you were to─"

The cyan pegasus let out a high-pitched scream and smacked herself, the impact being so powerful that she stumbled afterwards and broke her crying spell if only for that moment. Flash ran up to her to make sure she was okay, only to be shrugged off. "I'm already on an assignment that's gonna send me over to the mountain anyhow. All this is gonna do is help me confirm whether or not I need to send my company back home."

"Soarin's already arranging that. As soon as the word comes through, your company will be sent back to Ponyville Station. You'll be sent back home as well, it will be labeled as a failure, but I have a strong feeling that the politicians and press won't have too much of a grievance about it, especially with your name being thrown in the mix."

Appearing to be a little more stable, Rainbow gave him her answer. "You said you needed my eyes. Just tell me what I'm looking for."

Rainbow Dash quietly sat on the train, watching the scenery pass by. As the sun's rays were quenched by the horizon, she stared down at the lip of the window seal. A storm of melancholy and despair stirred within her mind while thoughts of her friend made her realize how little time she truly spent with him. Many of the questions she had about him, including the ones she had in relation to him and her, would go unquestioned while she went off to meet with him for what could possibly be the last time. It was the all-too-familiar sensation of a bitter farewell wished upon someone far too soon.

It's always difficult to lose an acquainted coworker in any circumstance, much less having to bear the idea of their voice being doomed to slowly become a faded noise. She clenched her jaw and her eyelids closed shut to stop more tears from welling up. The five other crystal guards on the train watched the mare and tried their best to offer words of laughter, healing, joy, whatever could be categorized as a positive emotion.

"You know... I heard many good things about him. Even the prince makes a few comments about how he wants to shove his hoof in his ass come the rematch of their spar." One guard said as he cleaned his sword.

"I heard he was always getting in way over his head, but that he'd somehow come out of it. I just don't believe he'd check out like this." Another guard stated as he checked the tip of his spear.

"You guys are sitting here talking about the guy, and you hardly even know him." A third guard argued. "Do you believe in all of the rumors you hear?"

"I'm just basing everything off of what I've been told." The first guard stated.

The third guard shook his head while he checked his crossbow. "I swear, someone of a prominent position dies and you guys start chattering like you hung around him for a deployment or two."

"I heard he wore a dress one time." The fourth guard added, causing Rainbow to chuckle a little bit.

All the guards looked at the mare as she slowly let herself laugh at that one mention and poked at her over it. "It seems like she might know something about that."

Rainbow turned away from the window as they entered the tunnel moving into the mountain range. "Yeah. Turns out he lost a bet when that happened."

The five other guards looked to one another as they smiled and gathered around the rainbow-maned pony. "Really?" The fifth guard questioned. "Can you tell us more about him?"

The third guard rolled his eyes and scoffed. "If you're going to blow him now, you might was well be aware of the fact that he's not getting hard anytime soon."

The other four guards brushed off his comments and vied for the mare to continue her story. "Nevermind him, he's just mad that he's a rental." The first guard said with a dismissive tone.

The third guard snarled at the stallion's sentiment. "So I guess that our worrying about the inevitable encounters with creatures almost six times your size isn't nearly as important as learning about paltry gossip parlor. No wonder the guards will always be seen as incompetent, even the leadership is just as useless."

While the others felt mildly offended by the stallion's words, Rainbow took them personally and directed her quandary back to the guard. "Look, whatever the hell is your problem, it's got nothing to do with us. And you're probably some green-boot momma's boy who couldn't even fathom what it takes to be in the E.U.P. Guard. You have no idea what we sacrifice in our daily lives for the citizens we protect."

The guard immediately responded. "I know when I see fridge operation, I call it as it is: Fresh meat sent for slaughter for the sake of political viewpoints, geological appropriation, and socioeconomic greed. You know nothing of me."

Finally, Flash and Shining entered the cart dressed in dark green camouflage robes. The prince held out six similar garments and distributed them to the others with a scowl on his face. "Put these on, ditch your armor."

When the other guards realized that they would be without optimal protection, they started to feel uneasy and quickly raised concerns about the situation. "Uh sir, with all due respect─"

Shining lashed back at the guard who questioned him. "Do you wanna give away our position every time you so much as take a step forward? Do you realize that where we're going is considered as hostile territory? Stealth is our only approach here. If you wanna live to see the Empire again, I suggest you follow my lead. No questions asked, got it?"

The stallion saw a hint of something cold in the prince's eye. Instantly, he acknowledged the prince's commands. "Y-y-yes sir!"

As soon as the first guard grabbed his garments, the others were already dressed by the time he even got started. Rainbow proceeded to change on the other side of the train, where the other stallions couldn't glimpse at her and rejoined the group once Flash pulled out a blue bin from the caboose just ahead. Rainbow immediately recognized what the bin was and saw Shining pull out a travel bag and filled it with magazines. Next he pulled out an ACR and inspected the weapon for the safety function. After going through the weapons check he was taught by Rickey, he gave a hearty snort with a triumphant stomp of his right hoof. "Now it's my turn." He whispered to himself, closing his eyes and reminiscing on the days gone by.

Rainbow walked up to him and whispered. "Why are you using the humans' weapons? None of us know how to use this stuff."

"I do." Shining states matter-of-factly. "And when those monsters even think of looking our way, they're going down right where they stand."

The group arrived at the drop-off point, just where the other engineer marked his stopping point. As soon as they got off the train, they were greeted with an unimaginably foul stench that caused two of the guards to gag. Rainbow and Flash covered their snouts with disgust while guard number three and Shining didn't even so much as budge. The alabaster unicorn took point and looked around the drop-off point and saw that the area was clear. There was almost no sign of an arimaspi in the area, but only stains of dried brown remained baked into the grass. Guard number three walked over to one of the spots and scraped it with his hoof, seeing that a little of it chipped away.

"Obviously something violent took place here." He pointed out. "Could be to our advantage if we'd simply follow the trail of blood."

Shining looked at the photo of the human frantically battling the arimaspi, the same image that graced headlines across the nation. As he looked at the trees around it, he saw that the tree he rested on had a deep gash five feet above where the human laid. Also observing the lighting of the photo, he deduced that this event took place in a fringe area where an opening was close by. "We head straight in the direction of that mountain. Going by what I see in this picture, it seems like he was last seen close to a clearing. We'll have to get closer to the foot of the mountain and then search for a tree with a deep gash in it."

Guard number three looked at the surrounding trees and deadpanned. "This place is riddled with gash marks. This is also a clearing and an area that's close enough to the mountain where the canopy above isn't a complete sun quencher."

Shining grumbled and pointed to the brown streaks leading into the forest. "I'm not arguing your suggestion, in fact I'm more into following it."

The guard rolled his eyes and marched forward. "I guess this will have to do then. I still can't shake the feeling that we're walking into a trap."

"Not this time." Shining grumbled while trotting forward into the forest.

Flash and Rainbow noticed that the two had an odd chemistry between them, it seemed that the third guard was mostly out of order, but Shining didn't immediately correct him like he would any of the others. It stood out all the more considering the fact that he jumped down the throat of one of the other guards just earlier on the train about the camouflage robes. To see him deal with such a mouthy guard with such patience was unusual.

"Hey, Flash." Rainbow started to question. "What's the deal with those two?"

"Apparently, they both served with one another way back when. I guess that camaraderie between them is stronger than what we could produce with him at the moment."

Rainbow shook her head with disbelief. "Wait a minute, no way. Shining would jump in my tail if he'd caught me talking to him like that."

"Just like I'd jump in both of your tails now." Shining interrupted, levitating the two pegasi to the middle of the pack after being left behind. "Now shut the fuck up and march." The two looked to each other and carried on while showing a desire of not being mauled at verbally. The third guard chuckled and turned to the road ahead.

"I see he's still just as diva as ever."

Much of the forest has turned a deep purple, indicating that the sun was taking even more light than what the group was comfortable with. The crystal guards that joined Shining and the others have already begun to lose their confidence, slowly growing even more intimidated by the eerie lack of conflict they've experienced. From what they were informed, they were expecting some encounters just from getting off of the train. But it seemed to be the exact opposite. Even as Shining mumbled to himself how all of this seemed familiar, it only made the others more uneasy.

Rainbow Dash kept a good eye out for any sudden movements, which were often the cause of birds and forest creatures. She was already starting to feel like the other guards. Flash tried his best to put on a brave front, but his shaking legs were a stark contrast to his face. The third guard seemed too collected for the group they traveled in, causing Rainbow to inwardly question his sanity.

"Keep your eyes sharp, they may just try to surprise us." Shining noted quietly, causing one of the guards to swallow his spit to moisten his dry, nervous throat.

"They already have." The third guard whispered, causing everyone to stop and stare at him. "This smell... It's a weak stench, but it's the smell of one of them tracking us."

"How are you so sure?" Flash questioned.

The third guard turned to the orange pegasus. "I did a scouting five years ago in this area. Our group managed to kill one that tried to swat us around, when it roared at us, I could smell it's breath, so strongly that I've come to identify the smell immediately from a short distance. After so many of them, you learn to identify what's what, whether it's a pile of dung, a puddle of piss, or even a corpse. And they have the lung capacity to breathe on your neck from even five feet out. But bad breath is still noticeable from twenty feet out."

"You mean to tell me that it's been following us?" Rainbow asked.

Shining lifted the rifle and readied himself for an encounter. "And we should be seeing it soon, now that we've brought attention to it."

The sound of a branch breaking from behind them caused them to sharply turn their heads to the rear, while Shining and the third guard continued to look forward in anticipation of it landing. And without fail, the creature descended upon their path with a powerful thud, landing on it's hind legs and front claws.

The immense size of the shockwave it made upon landing caused much of the group to fall to the ground. One of the other guards whimpered as he realized what he signed up for. "Holy crap, that thing's huge."

A loud roar came from his mouth, spewing forth an unpleasant odor and giving the guards a strong confirmation of the third guard's testimony. "It's coming this way!" Yelled as the creature started to charge for them.

Shining cocked the rifle and frantically aimed it for the creature's head. With a cheeky grin, he summoned his magic to pull the trigger. But his expression changed to abject horror as the only thing that was produced was a single click from the weapon. "SHIT!" He called out with a frustrated groan. With the creature barreling towards them, he emitted a shield to protect the group, which required him dropping the rifle from his telekinesis and applying that to his total magic strength. When the creature's claws came in contact with Shining's shield, the stallion buckled back three steps from the impact. While the stallion grimaced, the other crystal guards felt their morale immediately crumble to nothing and they ran to hide amongst the trees. Rainbow was left paralyzed from the amazing display of strength the creature had shown. Flash tried to fly in and distract the creature, only to anger it into wildly swiping the air around it.

Seeing that the situation had gotten dangerous, the third guard ditched his cloak and yanked out a sword. "Oh for Faust─"

Without any further hesitation, he charged from the creature while it's back was turned to the group, still trying it's best to swat Flash out of the sky. The earth pony stallion then ran between it's legs and sliced the tendons connecting it's haunches to it's hooves. The creature stumbled and fell with much resistance, trying to grab at one of the trees. Flash drew his crossbow and fired a few bolts into the back of the downed creature, causing very little damage.

The brown stallion came back to action and ran for the creature's shoulders, slicing the very pit of it's arms, blood and matted fur flying everywhere as the sword escaped the bloodied entanglement. Flash shot another bolt into the back of the creature's neck, causing it to cover it after it was wounded. The stallion groaned as his job was made a little more difficult and elected to improvise. Driving his sword into the creature's arm, he quickly withdrew the blade and jumped into an open space where the side of it's neck was exposed. With surgical precision, he drove the sword into the side of it's neck, causing for it to lose blood rapidly.

The creature fell into shock, twitching as the stallion jumped off of the body and grabbed it's bloody sword with disdain for the creature he brought down. One of the other guards who hid in the trees jumped back down while praising the stallion. "Whoa... He's on a whole other level of fighting with these things."

While the others proceeded to praise him, Rainbow Dash grew indignant from the sight of him. Upon tossing his cloak away, she immediately identified him. Flash flew beside her and gave her a pat on the back. "Phew! If he wasn't here, I'd be dead."

Caramel walked up to Shining, who had picked up the rifle with disappointment. He spat at the alabaster prince. "'A revolutionary method of combat?' The only 'revolution' I see is your head once they knock it off."

After picking up the rifle, Shining saw that the chamber was still empty. He quietly swore to himself as he cocked the slide and bore witness to one of the rounds falling in place. "I shorted it, that's all." Shining argued.

"And in using a weapon you never once practiced with for use in formal combat, you almost paid with the lives of yourself and your squadron. Going in on preparation without any proper practice, some things never change." The brown stallion snarled through gritted teeth.

"Rainbow Dash!" Flash hollered as he tried to pull back the cyan pegasus.

While she was being restrained, she continued to lash out against the stallion as violently as she could. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH!? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE WASTING AWAY IN JAIL!"

Caramel rolled his eyes as he turned back to the mare and scoffed at her. "And undisciplined guards? I see your prima donna ways have led to a lack of principles and conduct. No wonder the rest of you lot are incompetent."

By that point the other guards went from admiring him to feeling contempt for his statement. As he marched onward into the forest, past the dying arimaspi, Shining used his magic to freeze her in place. "Rainbow, let him go." He calmly ordered.

"But he hurt Pinkie, and now he's standing out here?!" Rainbow lashed out at the prince.

Shining walked beside her as he continued to hold her in place. Not even looking at her, he whispered towards her sternly. "You either wanna live or you wanna join Nondis. Your choice."

Rainbow stopped lashing out at him, only for the thought of her friend being dead to swirl around her mind once more. An overwhelming sadness brought her argument to near-silence. Shining felt that her physical resistance had dropped significantly and released her from his telekinetic hold. She clenched her eyes shut and walked off seething in anger. She continued to mumble at the prince, still showing dissatisfaction over his decisions. "I never thought that the brother of Twilight Sparkle would be so stupid. I guess brains don't run in the whole family."

Shining walked in front of her and stood over her as he growled his response. "I am still your commanding officer, and you will treat me with the utmost respect. You have no choice in the matter, you do it, you accept it, and you will like it."

Realizing that she couldn't disobey the orders from a commanding officer as well as a standing royal, she clicked her tongue and grumbled through gritted teeth. "Yes sir."

After she begrudgingly accepted her orders, the rainbow-maned pegasus flicked her tail once and stormed off. Caramel chuckled at the peeved prince. "No discipline, low morale, and we're on a mission to find something that's in the possession of the arimaspi. I didn't think that history could be so deja vu."

Shining then turned his attention to the former guard and gave him a similar stare. "You shut it, I'm only tolerating you because of your skills."

The stallion shrugged his shoulders with a sarcastic smile. "Or you could just ship me back off to the prison, but I suppose that's a risk you'd be willing to take then?"

A quiet sound of teeth grinding against each other was heard by much of the group as Shining Armor stared at the stallion. He decided not to entertain him and his mind games any longer. "...Let's go. Everypony, shut up and keep moving."

Shining started to walk forward as Caramel made yet another remark. "Remember Shining, there's no innocent mare for you to take advantage of this time, nopony to unload your frustrations on."

Shining ignited his horn and immediately raised the rifle to his side, his anger almost pushing him to aim the weapon at the stallion. He took a deep breath and stopped himself before he devolved into killing the stallion in cold blood. He once more gave his order, this time with a blood-culling tone. "Let's... move..."

Caramel obeyed his order, as did the rest of the group, who now shared a disdain for the former guard's attitude. The brown stallion didn't show much concern for their reaction to him or their sour expressions. He simply walked past them as if they were so far beneath him. As the group followed Shining and Rainbow, the stallion mumbled to himself while he looked at the prince.

"Guess I hit a tender spot. But realize, if you still sting from it, then you should know that I was burned by it, for five continuous years."

Shining continued to lead the group as they arrived at an open area where the moon could be seen above. The stars above started to gather all around the sky, while the sound of nocturnal creatures created the ambiance capable of putting any casual listener to rest. Shining, however, didn't find that it was an appropriate time to take in the sounds. His eyes were met with a unusual scene in the clearing. "This seems to be the spot."

Caramel walked beside him, bumping him out of the way. "Well, wouldn't you know it, it's the old stakeout spot. Songbell, Fair Weather, and I used this spot to map out the arimaspi migratory patterns."

Flash looked around and saw that there was hardly any cover to use aside from a fallen tree. "I don't see how you could camp out here, it's way too open."

"There was a tree here." Caramel explained as he looked to the fallen log. "A large trunk with a nice area we hollowed out to accommodate for three ponies. Seems it was uprooted recently."

Rainbow Dash got a closer look at the tree, noticing that many of the leaves were still very green and healthy. She also took note of how the dirt and roots seemed to be elevated in an unnatural manner often seen when trees uproot and fall over. "Not just uprooted, pulled out of the ground."

The fifth guard walked around the area and stepped on something hard. When he moved his hoof, he could see an unusual yellow cylinder with a brass base. He picked it up off of the ground and showed it to the group. "What in Equestria are these little barrels for?"

Shining walked over and saw the item the guard held. Immediately, he confirmed what it was. "That's a shotgun shell. Nondis was here!"

While the group had circled around the unusual item, Flash took notice of another disturbance in the forest. He saw a clearing in the bush, seemingly cleared away by a sharp object. In the distance, as the pale moonlight highlighted another opening in the canopy, He saw a tree with a large scratch in the bark. "Um sir, you said to look for an area where there's a large gash in a nearby tree, right?"

Shining threw the used round aside as he trotted over to Flash's side. "You found it?"

"Seems like it. Also looks like the area's been leveled. Branches and smaller trees seemed to be either knocked aside or cut to size."

Caramel walked beside the two stallions and looked at the tree in the distance. "I remember this place, our stakeout group ran into a smaller arimaspi here. Rare occurrence of a female leaving the mountain to forge for food. It found us and we had to fight it off. Thankfully it's size made it a far-cry easier to put down, but it didn't go easily. It tried to swipe down Fair Weather against that tree, but Songbell dealt the finishing blow."

Shining turned to his most gifted flier and gave her a clipping of the picture from the newspaper and issued an order. "Rainbow, I need you to fly up and confirm the angle of that photo. If it matches, then we got the right spot."

Without even saluting or giving a vocal response, she took the picture and quietly flew into the air, past the verdant ceiling and a considerable distance from the forest floor. She hovered around the area, trying to match the perspective of the photo with her own. In the matter of a few seconds, she caught a similar angle and raised the picture in front of her, a complete match. Without warning, she jettisoned towards the tree, leaving the others below to just simply go by her example.

"She's not even going to come back to us and confirm it?" Caramel joked.

Shining didn't need a verbal confirmation, her response was more than enough to convince him that they had the right angle. While he and the others were catching up, she landed just a few feet from the base of the tree, staring quietly at a small puddle of blood on the foot of the tree. She trembled as she held the photo, looking between it and the tree before her. Shining called out to her. "Dash!"

She turned to the prince and pointed at the spot where he was supposed to be laying. Her eyes showed a terrible emptiness, her voice trembling as she started to fear the worst. "He's... he's not here."

Caramel sighed as he shook his head. "Well... I suppose they took him in for a good time before they'll eventually leave him to pasture on the hills."

The other guards turned the heads downward in a solemn display, realizing that their mission was a failure. Flash offered to comfort Rainbow Dash as she folded her ears and collapsed under her own weight. "So, he's gone?" She questioned weakly.

Shining brought a hoof to his face and pressed as he felt himself lose confidence and faith. The others remained silent while Rainbow sobbed softly. Flash patted her head as she took in the news. He was left with nothing much to say that would bring comfort. In the end, they couldn't even bring a body or any remnants of him back because of this. Caramel showed disinterest, seemingly bored while also wanting to repeat the words 'I told you so' in ad nauseam. While everyone had their moment of silence, Flash couldn't help but to notice something odd about this. One outstanding fact resonated in his head:

If a pony were to be crushed in such a manner, it would leave more blood than this. If a human is twice the size of a pony, then shouldn't there be even more blood on the tree? "...Wait a minute."

The orange pegasus slowly placed Rainbow back down as he started to investigate even further. When he looked at the tree, he noticed that there was indeed blood spilled, but there was an outline of where the blood fell and didn't. There was only one conclusion that came to his mind as Caramel stared at the suddenly-lively stallion. "What?"

"He's gone, but he's not dead." Flash stated.

Shining opened his eyes and walked towards Flash as Caramel rolled his eyes at the thought. "Excuse me?"

"This area here, the blood stains here seem to be fresher than the other places we've looked. And if he died against this tree, then there'd be way more blood than what's on it now."

"It still smells like death." Caramel pointed out.

"That's true, but it's much too similar to the smell we encountered once we got off." Flash stated. "Albeit it's much less concentrated, it's distinctive qualities are still present.

"I'd like to think that we all rot the same way." Caramel stated in deadpan.

Flash walked over to an area next to Shining Armor, where there was a definite sign of blood being spilled indiscriminately. He walked over to the drying puddle and saw the dark crimson streaks trail from there to the direction where the mountain was. "Yes, but these track marks, they indicate that something large was forcibly moved from here, and quickly at that."

Rainbow rose off of the ground and tried her best to collect herself as she questioned him. "An arimaspi?"

Shining looked at the streaks and saw more of them trailing towards the mountain. As he saw that, it started to click in his mind as well. "That explains so much... They're collecting their dead. That's probably why we haven't seen any of them near the rails."

Caramel dismissively waved his hoof at the prince and scoffed. "So you mean to tell me that the creature I easily defeated one-on-one in a back alley is the one doing this to the arimaspi?"

Flash examined the puddles of blood even more, especially in one area where it seemed like the dirt was an indication of the kill. "There seems to be a large collection of blood here, and also appears to be a bit of a miniature trench dug here. It's not thick at all, but it looks to be similar to the work of either a shovel or axe."

Shining nodded with confirmation. "Nondis carries a sword that reaches up to his chest. So it could be possible that he killed the creature that made an attempt on his life..."

Rainbow, who seemed to breathe with new life and energy as she started to feel optimistic. "And the picture that was captured was actually a fake?"

"Not a fake, but misleading. The one who snapped the photo probably knows the truth behind it." The first guard stated while looking at the puddle of blood.

"He just told me that Nondis was dead, confirmed by his own eyes." Rainbow argued.

Caramel, who once was a skeptic of the whole situation, realized that there were too many facts supporting the fact that this was not the human's final resting place. "He just told you an outright lie then. Somepony must be shilling out to get the narrative they want instead of the truth. I changed my mind, this should be interesting."

The fourth guard started to look around the area some more, only to see a large creature slowly revealing itself outside of the bushes. "Sir... sir!"

Shining quickly turned around at the sound of the panic in the stallion's voice. "What?"

As another arimaspi revealed itself through the bushes and snarled at the group, the guard pointed towards it. "Can we draw an interest in... *gulp* that?"

Shining and the others all readied themselves for the encounter, especially Caramel who brandished his sword. "Enclosed areas are always the easiest to fight in."

The creature, it's wool locks covered in golden sleeves, walked up to the group and raised a claw to crush them. Caramel had already started to formulate his approach in taking down the creature, when suddenly...

The loud sound of a report startled him and the others. The arimaspi that stood before them dropped it's arm and stood motionless for quite some time before blood started to trickle out of the creature's eye and nostrils. As balance gave way, the creature slumped to the ground without so much as a whimper. None of the limbs moved as the whole group stared at the downed creature. All of them were amazed, and also confused, in the sudden death of the creature. The all turned to Shining, who was holding the rifle in his magical tow, the barrel still slightly smoking.

"Well I lost interest in that pretty quickly, what's next?" Shining said confidently.

Caramel shoved one of the guards out of his way as he walked up to Shining, completely stupefied. "It was over there, how did you─"

"Revolutionary methods of combat. Welcome to the new age." The prince answered to mock the brown stallion with a smug grin.

The fifth guard, who picked up the shotgun shell from earlier, picked up the shell that was ejected from the rifle. "These barrels seem a whole lot smaller than the others." As he held the small object in his hoof, he soon realized that he committed a significant mistake. The frog of his hoof stung with pain as he shook the casing out of his possession. "AND SIGNIFICANTLY HOTTER!"

Caramel looked at the weapon once more and quirked an eyebrow. "You know, for a revolutionary method, it's rather loud."

"I'd rather it be loud than ineffective." Shining responded happily.

In the distance going back towards the train, they heard a loud shriek, followed by a series of grunts and roars. Both Shining and Caramel's disposition immediately changed. "And more of them will start tracking us down." The brown stallion added.

"Should we head back to the train now?" Flash asked.

Caramel didn't give Shining a chance to answer, rather he responded in his stead. "That seems to be our safest bet right about now. If anything, we're looking at another three or five looking to find wherever we are."

As the group started to plan their way back, Rainbow stared at the base of the tree, staring at the area where the human once laid. She thought about the times she argued with him over how she thought him going alone was a bad idea. As her mind ran those conversations on a loop, she looked towards the bloodied path and grew emboldened to do something drastic. "Sir, if I may offer a suggestion?" Rainbow said as she called out Shining.

"What is it?" He asked.

She didn't show any signs of backing down, she felt like she could do something since she came this far. She knew there would be no turning back. "If we know that Nondis is somewhere around here, then why don't we try to find him. He's probably made his way to the mountain by now."

Most of the group turned back to her, they seemed floored with the very thought of going towards the nest of giants. Shining didn't think to answer her, rather giving one out of instinct. "No chance."

"Absolutely not. I am not going back into that nightmare of a cave. That's not what I signed up for!" Cosigned Caramel, who had started to show signs of anger.

The second guard also agreed with the others. "I think it's better if we just count our chickens and run back to the train. The sun's already gone down and it's almost pitch-black with the exception of Princess Luna's lighting."

"I'm actually with Rainbow on this one." Flash said, gaining some favor with the cyan pegasus. "There's a whole unit of guards waiting for their commander to give them word of something. And for all that we know, he might not have a means to get back with them."

Shining then provided another argument to counter Flash's. "The engineer specified that he had a com system on him. If he wants to speak with them, then he's capable."

Rainbow then tried her best to debate the issue, resorting to noting the objective they were set to complete. "It's still helps to check. If the com is out of range, then he can't get through anyhow. You saw that picture of him, he's probably got knocked around like hell, and he's easy on getting hurt. We need to verify the status of his body, and as far as I'm concerned, we've only come to the conclusion that his body isn't here. Who's to say that he didn't get himself killed between the incident that took place here and now?"

Caramel looked to the heavens as he showed carelessness for her argument. "Who's to say that he didn't already make it into the mountain and died there?"

"Precisely!" Rainbow exclaimed. "If he's dead, then we owe it to the others to get him back. This isn't just our issue, but a transdimensional dispute we're trying to resolve."

"I don't care what dimension he's from, they're going to have to accept it." He bluntly answered.

"And if he's alive, then we need to see if he's okay because there are others who are waiting for him. And I'm sure that the humans would be more than willing to get a visual confirmation as opposed to a verbal one. And even if it was a verbal one, wouldn't you rather hear it from the mouth of the one in question? I know if I had a brother, then I'd wanna know if he was okay, I know that I'd wanna hear him say it."

Caramel groaned and faced Rainbow, even walking up to her as he made his point. "You're asking us to go into a place, knowing that they will be set on killing each and every one of us, for the possibility of finding your friend? No way in hell, I'm not being dragged out here for a second suicide mission."

"We're already here, we might as well go forward and commit." Rainbow responded, crudely shoving her face back in his.

"I understand your concern, but I don't think it's ideal." He replied with a condescending tone.

"We have an ally behind enemy lines, and a substantial one at that. You mean to tell me that you wouldn't take up the opportunity to preserve that ally?"

"I'd take up the opportunity to preserve my sanity over taking up the opportunity of dragging a dead body out of that mountain."

Seeing how this was going nowhere with Caramel, Rainbow turned her debate to Shining Armor. "I don't know what happened with the two of you five years ago. And I can understand that it must've been pretty bad. But can't─"

"If you understood it, then why would you even recommend something so stupid?" Caramel interrupted.

Rainbow ignored the stallion and started to provide an argument that would be more likely to persuade Shining. "Your highness, if I can make any statement to spur you to action, it would be for the sake of our future. Not just mine or yours, but for the future of any royal or guard. You know this mission is bigger than just us, it's a turning point. If we come out of this, then how much social pull do you think Nondis will have if he lives? How much political power would be gained if he was shown to be trustworthy with even the hardest assignments? And if he can pull this off, won't it also hinder the efforts of any of your opposition as well as bolstering the chances of removing that stupid law that got him into this mess in the first place?"

Caramel then proceeded to present his own argument, one based on past experience. "Shining, your decision should be based on the logic of preservation. Think about your unit, making selfish decisions and executing poorly is only going to get most, if not all of us, killed. We need to look at the chance of us living when we return to that train vs the minuscule chance we personally know of when we enter that mountain. We have no means of moving forward, we don't have the numbers, we don't have the ability─"

"Nondis made it this far by himself, because he knows what's at stake." Rainbow interjected in an attempt to give her argument more ground. "He did this to save us, though I honestly think he's doing it for pride as well, but there's some weight to his actions. And I might be angry at him for not trusting me enough to go with him, I'm not gonna be angry enough to leave him here alone, with less of a chance of making it. If we join up with him, we would have that much of a better chance of making it out of this alive. For all we know, that train could be a trap right now, and they could be waiting on us to show up again. Why not take a chance and maximize our strength and our opportunity to get out of here alive?" Rainbow then bowed to him, prostrating herself as she plead to him. "Why are we leaving behind someone who we could save?"

Caramel didn't bow to him, but walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak and shook him. "How many deaths have you been responsible for up to this date, Shining? Would you be so foolish as to commit the same mistake as last time? Would you fuck us all for your glory and your own pleasure?"

Shining grabbed Caramel and threw him off of him, freeing himself of the stallion's grasp. Caramel looked at him with an icy gaze and stood up quickly. Shining then froze him in place as he turned to Rainbow Dash.

"...I know what happened in the past, I can't stop dreaming about it. Each time I do, I wake up screaming. And you should already know just how broken I was when I saw that newspaper. I had to apologize to every family and still got wailed on for it." He then turned to Caramel and bowed his head. "And you were right, what I did to Songbell was unforgivable. And I let myself become petty in that respect as opposed to leading like a leader should. I made hasty decisions without research or thought, and that was what caused us to fall into that ambush." Shining finally turned his attention to the rifle that was slung over his chest, then to the dead arimaspi lying right before them. "But now the tables are completely flipped, they're being ambushed by a single being with an arsenal of weapons that's capable of slaughtering hundreds within minutes. I've seen the humans do it. And I'd say that this time, we've got a shot."

"But you just said NO!" Caramel hollered, causing the other guards to nervously look around for fear of his voice drawing more attention.

"I said no because I was caught up in the past and I fell into the same trap I always fell into: making hasty decisions based off of emotional response. This time, I need to commit to route that's right, not the one I think is safest or the easiest. If I learned anything from five years ago, it's that I should never be willing to accept what's actually not there."

Caramel was more wary to mask his voice, but the resentment was still just as strong. "Shining, you are making a CRITICAL mistake."

"We have a CRITICAL advantage. I may not know how many have been killed before we arrived, but there are a whole-lot less of them now then there will ever be. There was a point where we needed to stop, and we have clearly passed it. So I'd say 'let's keep going and see what happens'."

"Madness... Madness, that's what you're full of." The brown stallion snorted vehemently.

Shining dropped the stallion out of his magic field and highlighted an area around the stallion's neck. As the magenta aura surrounded his neck, a set of arcane runes appeared, they started to glow a light blue as the prince smiled coyly at him. "Yup, and you don't have a choice in the matter, remember?"

Caramel clicked his tongue with exasperation and pouted, sitting on his haunches as if he were protesting his moving from that spot. "If we ever die, which we will, I pray that every tormentor of yours will wear my face so that I may mock you. I pray that when we meet in Tartarus, I will get to see you suffer more than I ever will." The runes on his neck flashed white for a fraction of a second, causing him to feel a painful burning sensation that drove him to his hooves. The stallion stressed as he breathed, holding his neck with his hoof until the prince saw that he had enough. Caramel, groaned with irritation and walked towards the direction of the mountain. "Fine! At least I'll get to see you in Tartarus with me!"

Shining smiled smugly as he responded to him. "No chance, Cadance will probably drag me back just to make me give her a foal first."

The group continued to move in the path, sparsely illuminated by the pale light of the moon above. Shining forced Caramel to take point as Rainbow Dash covered the rear. The group proceeded onward in that manner until they came to the foot of the mountain itself. Though the large skull on the top wasn't as visible, the silhouette of it made it appear all the more menacing. Shining took a deep breath, closed his eyes and chanted to himself. "This is not the past, what's happened before won't happen again." With those words, he took his first steps in walking the same path he once took five years prior.

As they went up the mountain side, the trees gradually disappeared, leaving them with no cover or any place to hide. Caramel, feeling a sense of deja vu, walked up the prince and whispered to him. "Can we possibly get an explanation as to why we're here again?"

"You know why we're here." He answered.

"I mean on this mountain, there's hardly any cover, and the caves don't fare a better chance of survival."

"I told you, we're here to confirm whether or not our objective is active duty, missing in action, or terminated."

"This is insane." Caramel grumbled. "Isn't there any way we can mark this as a 'missing in action' so we can leave? I'm getting the unicorn-blackout shakes again." He said in reference to the event that triggered the ambush.

"We're in a smaller group, it should be harder to track us like they did five years ago."

As they walked, Flash took point and scouted the area ahead. The orange pegasus looked around and saw a small arimaspi laying on the side of the path. He quickly glided back down to the group and whispered to the prince. "Sir." He motioned for the group to keep it quiet as they moved forward. Upon reaching the area, he pointed to the smaller-bodied creature. "Look."

The creature appeared to be resting, it's body slowly moving up and down indicated a sign of life. Caramel whispered in a quiet voice to Flash. "Primitive creatures with no sense of decency or moral conduct."

"Looks to be a youth, never seen one this small." Flash added.

"Let sleeping beasts lie, no use in poking it." Shining advised, urging that the group move past it.

"I say we kill it anyways. Kill it before it lays eggs, or however these monsters reproduce." Caramel stated.

"I'm sure they're method is as mammalian as ours." Flash argued.

Shining waved his hoof at the two bickering stallions. "Cut the chatter, keep it moving."

With utmost caution, the group of guards crept past the resting creature, one heard a light grunt coming from it, causing the others to freeze in place to make sure they weren't discovered. When they figured it was safe to move forward, they did so with as minimal noise as possible. After passing the creature, they crept their way into a nearby cave. Inside, they saw how dark it was and realized that there was no chance of visibility from that point onward. Caramel tapped on the prince's shoulder and motioned at him. "Shining, you're the leader. Take point."

The unicorn prince swallowed his nervousness down and crept inside and cast his illumination spell. The room lit up to the same magenta glow that his aura produced. The cave appeared to be mostly empty. After looking around the area, he confirmed it's uninhibited state. "Clear."

The others galloped in, each of them conducting a five-point room scan, even going so far as to check the ceiling of the cave for any sudden surprises. After they verified everything, Rainbow walked up to Shining. "There's nothing here, it's a dead end. No tunnels, no passageways, no arimaspi raining from the sky, I think we're in the clear."

Caramel stopped for a moment to sniff the air. His antics went largely unnoticed by the group while Shining continued to illuminate the space. "Well I say this is probably good news. If there's no tunnels to feed into this place, then this should be an easy out."

Caramel sniffed around until he realized the smell was coming from outside of the cave. This time, there was a slight scent of iron, mostly attributed to blood. He then heard a rock fall just outside of the cave. Without a second to process the thought, he ran back to Shining and drew his sword. "You might wanna redefine that 'easy out' you just mentioned."

More rocks fell from the mouth of the cave, indicating something was just outside of it. Just as more rocks fell, a pair of horns and a single eye peered just from the top of the cave's entrance. When the creature took notice of what was before it, the creature flipped itself down to it's rear hooves and landed facing the party of guards. It's hair was adorned by several golden sleeves and it's neck was adorned with a beautiful choker. On it's chest was a streak of blood. Standing on it's knuckles and hooves, the smoke gray creature looked at the ponies, slackjawed and smiling.

Rainbow Dash giggled and saw the significant number advantage they had. "Dumb idiot, you've let yourself enter into a cave without reinforcements?"

However, the arimaspi snorted with amusement as it scraped one claw on the floor. After that, another two approached from either side of it, joining the creature to form a party of it's own. At that point, the number advantage was for a moot point. Flash stared at the tight-lipped mare with a deadpan expression. "...You were saying?"

"Shining, you should try out that that 'revolutionary method of combat' you've been bragging about." Caramel mumbled to the prince.

The right arimaspi threw a sizeable rock at the party, causing them to scatter in avoiding the impact. But in the aftermath, their party was split to either side of the cave. "(Filthy ponies.)" The center one grunted incoherently.

Caramel kept his head low as he appeared to be readying for a charge into the center creature. "Click your tongue as much as you'd like you walking carcass. But coming across me is a death wish!"

The creature appeared to laugh before pointing at the two parties on either side of the room. "(Slaughter them.)"

The one on the left then threw a barrage of rocks at the group, causing Shining to dedicate much of his magic to defend everyone in the cave. Flash volunteered himself to take to the sky, only to be yanked down by Caramel in an attempt to keep him alive. The center arimaspi made a charge for Shining, who raised the rifle to aim for the creature charging after him. His attempt was foiled when another rock landed just before him, causing him to move his right hoof out of the way to avoid being hit. Next, the smoke gray arimaspi grabbed the rifle from Shining, causing the stallion to panic. "What the─"

The creature inspected the weapon and held Shining by the tail as he did so. "(This strange stick, the Funaki has one like it. The creature is with you!)" It roared before tossing Shining into a nearby wall. As he was in mid-air, Shining enveloped himself in a protective barrier that allowed him to take a significant amount of damage. When he landed against the wall, the impact caused a substantial amount of stress on his forcefield that he inevitably dropped it before he hit the ground, taking even more damage. The creature then tossed the rifle to the other side of the cave, causing it to fire a stray bullet into one of the walls.

Flash flew over to quickly help up the prince. "It sounds really angry." He noted as Shining tried to regain his focus.

As his vision blurred in and out, he looked to the creature that tossed him aside. From the vantage point, he saw a flashback leading to that one fateful moment five years prior. As the creature walked slowly towards them, he started to see the phantom image of Songbell sitting just before it. Looking at the creature's wool locks and facial features, more aptly, the jagged smile it wore, it was all-too familiar.

In fact, it was the exact same arimaspi that plagued his nightmares. "Caramel, this arimaspi─"

"Whatever it is, it can wait!" Caramel shouted from the other side of the cave as he was trying to fight off one that threatened to crush one of the other guards. Rainbow, who narrowly escaped the claw of one of the creatures, took to action in trying to distract the larger arimaspi.

"On it!" She shouted before she flew in with a powerful divekick. After she landed her hit, she took to the air once more and used her spear to slice into the creature's face. Though it took a blow to the brow, the creature snatched her out of the air and spun her in a circle by her tail before throwing her against the wall. "Gah!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Flash shouted as he tried to support Shining until he came to.

While she was dazed to a significant degree, she stumbled onto her hooves. In trying to take a step forward, she ended up taking one backwards, causing her to collapse onto the ground. As she writhed without complete awareness of her surroundings, the creature towered over her and raised a claw to crush her with. "(I will enjoy watching you crawl.)"

Before the creature could bring it's claw down to crush the rainbow-maned pegasus, the sound of an arimaspi body falling to the ground beside it, caused it to delay. As it laid lifeless, it's single eye staring into infinity, the gray arimaspi noticed the series of bloodied openings in it's chest. The then turned around to confront who it was that slayed it's comrade. Picking up Rainbow Dash, it roared loudly. "(Who dares?)"

"What was that?" One of the guards questioned.

As the other Arimaspi fell down to the ground, the other guards breathed a sigh of relief. "Whatever it was, it just saved our lives."

"I fucking swear..." The next thing they heard was the sound of an irregular rhythm of hoofsteps. The group then saw something covered in blood run past them, holding a large sword. With a mighty blow, the creature that held Rainbow Dash was left holding where it's right claw once was. Rolling on the ground, the creature screeched loudly and terribly.

"(MY ARM! MY ARM!)"

While Smokey still held onto a bloody nub where his claw used to be, I looked around the cave and saw a bunch of ponies standing around. I looked to check on Rainbow Dash and saw that she was still recovering from whatever blow she took and turned my attention back to the creature, who writhed in agony. While he continued to scream, I walked up to him and slit Smokey's throat to stop it from screaming, but not in a means to kill it. With a tired groan, I wiped the blood out of my eye and put my sword down.

"So... Guess stealth is out of the playbook."

Okay, that took forever to finish. The main reason why it took me so long to get through this chapter was two things entirely. The first reason was that I had a lot of distractions IRL that caused me to nibble away at this chapter, which makes the second reason more frustrating. The second reason was that I never had the opportunity to create a new language (which I'm pretty sure is some botched-up tribe language). I wanted to show an example of how the arimaspi dialog would appear to be in practice.

Needless to say it was terribly frustrating as hell. The reason the rest of their dialog is in parenthesis is pretty much translating what they're saying (of course) and to simplify the reading experience. Eventually, I will come back to this language and try to implement it in more situations where it would be appropriate.

Another thing to notice in this chapter, I gave a lot of significance to background events that occurred, giving things more context to the overall picture (which is needed in this case). It would allow for more fluid story-telling as well as foreshadowing to future events.

As for how Nondis managed to get to the cave so quickly, I'll point out one thing in spoiler: The answer was right in front of you.

I've already started on the next chapter, and hopefully I can blaze through that one with the little time I have in this month. Madi Gras makes for some good money to be earned.

See you next chapter. Thank you so much for being patient with me and I hope some of you stick around.
I'm also sorry to those I've disappointed.