The facility lights calmly lit the hallways with fluorescent lighting as the group silently made their way through the compound. Everypony was on high alert, silently walking through each hallway with only the quiet clacking of their hooves. So far, they were able to sneak past a few guards without having to do anything drastic. Even so, they were amazed by much of the advanced technology that they walked past by, seeing some doors that were able to open on their own and indoor fluorescent lighting that rivaled most buildings in Manehatten.

“These guys have some serious tech here.” Black Arrow remarked, raising an eyebrow as a door in front of him flickered a green color briefly before opening with a hiss.

“Yeah, this is decades ahead of most Equestrian technology.” Rune stated, closely inspecting some of the lights above the group. When she waved her hoof in front of it, it immediately turned off, but turned back on when she waved again.

“I’m surprised these guys are able to stay unknown with such advancements in technology. Doesn’t Celestia know about them?” Roughneck said, leaning out as he peeked around the corner to the next hallway.

“Who knows. I didn’t hear Fancy Pants mention these guys when I met him, so that means that they’re probably very secluded and secretive.” Daring crawled up to the window by the door that Black Arrow was examining, cautiously looking through the glass to see if anypony was coming.

“Well, what we need is a map.” The dark green unicorn looked to the group. “We can’t walk around the compound without knowing where we are.”

“But where are we going to find one?” Roughneck stated, looking over at Rune with a frown. “I mean, they probably just don’t leave one lying out in the middle of a hallway.”

“Standing here all day isn’t going to get us anywhere. We might as well keep going.” Arrow murmured, waving the others as he quietly rounded the corner where Roughneck kept a lookout down the next hallway. The other three ponies followed, catching up with him quickly.

As they silently continued on, they listened intently to the faint sounds doors opening and closing elsewhere in the facility. As the four were making their way down a hallway, they heard voices coming from around the corner and soon saw shadows making their way around the bend. Her heart racing, Daring flew to the ceiling and braced her hooves against the walls. Black Arrow followed her example while Roughneck looked around desperately, sweating profusely. Crystal Rune grabbed him and pulled him towards a nearby door. After waving her hoof in front of the green sensor, it slid open and they ducked inside. The voices coming from down the hall grew louder as Rune looked for a hiding spot within the vacant room. She pulled Roughneck underneath a table just as they heard the confused voices of the patrolling Neighland employees. Rune’s horn glowed with her icy blue magic and a shimmering bubble wrapped around her and the gray earth pony. A moment before the guards came in to investigate, the pair disappeared from sight. The guards looked about the room for a moment before shrugging and heading back out.

“Stupid doors. I swear, something’s wrong with the door system.” The guard that spoke waved his hoof in front of the door and it closed. Daring Do watched as they continued down the hall and went around the other corner. Once the coast was clear, she and Black Arrow dropped down and went to the door. It opened and Roughneck and Rune reappeared in another shimmer of magic. Nodding to each other, they left the room and continued on their way, but not before remembering to close the door again.

“Hey, do you see that?” Rune pointed up towards a small sign with a green light. The light shone from words inscribed on the metallic plate that said ‘Research Lab’. “I think we may have found out where to go.”

“Alright, everypony, let’s quickly finish this before somepony finds us.” Daring quietly announced, the group silently trotting as they moved on.

The trees shook as the masked hunter landed on the compound’s roof. Snarling as it stood. The ponies that it saw walk under the ancient temple had made it inside, complicating its mission to capture the Serpent. Looking at the rooftop, it scanned the building again before locating where the Serpent was being held. Switching to its infrared vision, the guards in the surrounding area lit up in its visor. It uttered a clicking growl in annoyance; it needed to get those guards away from the area.

Silently moving to the far side of the compound, it pulled a small, bronze, triangle-like item from its back. Orange lights glowed on the silver lines that connected to the center of the device. It looked to the roof below it before gently placing it. Walking across the building’s roof to another area of the compound, it placed another device before moving again. After placing a few of the devices, it pressed a button on its wrist pad, causing the triangular objects’ cores to glow red. Pressing the button again, the first device’s light began to flash with a quickly increasing pace.

A loud explosion shook the building, stumbling the four ponies as they tried to keep themselves upright. “What in Celestia’s name was that!?” Roughneck yelled, his eyes darting back and forth as he shivered where he stood.

The entire hallway was bathed in a red light of the facility’s emergency strobe lights, klaxons echoing through the hallways before another explosion rocked the entire compound. Daring looked around the halls before yelling, “What the heck is going on!?”

“Whatever it is, something’s rocking this entire facility.” Rune said, trying to keep herself steady on her four hooves. “We need to find that Alien before whatever is making those explosions makes its way towards us.”

The group quickly ran through the hallways, seeing that most of the guards were running to whatever was causing the explosions. Daring yelled as the sound of a metal object clanged against the wall next to her. She stopped and ducked, along with the others taking cover behind a corner. “All of you, put your hooves in the air right now!” A guard yelled as a squad of ten ponies took cover down the hallway on the right of Crystal’s group.

“Okay, guess we're going to have to get loud.” Crystal murmured, shaking her head as she summoned her magic. She peeked around the corner and shot a beam of magic at one of the guards, making him yell out before thumping on the ground. The other Neighland guards fired their crossbows, the bolts coming in waves as they bounced off the metal wall. Rune ducked behind the cover of the corner, being replaced by Arrow as he took his crossbow off his back and shot a bolt off. The deadly projectile zipping through the air as it hit one of the guards, his cry of pain cut short as the bolt pierced his neck, blood spraying the ground as he hit the floor.

Arrow jumped back as two bolts zipped past his muzzle and bounced against the wall behind them. Getting back on his hooves, he looked around the corner and saw that seven of the guards were still up, firing bolts at their position. “Those crossbows sure do have a lot of bolts.” Black Arrow mused, shaking his head as he wound his crossbow. A loud explosion blasted through the wall, sending the Neighland guards flying down the hallway away from the group. The Neighland ponies each landed with the loud clunking of their gear, remaining motionless where they laid.

The group had hid behind the corner from the explosion and each popped a head around the corner to check the aftermath. Daring herself didn’t see any movement, except for the flames that flickered from the explosion. “Come on, we need to hurry.” Rune ordered, before taking off down the hall towards the carnage.

“Aren’t we supposed to run away from where the explosions are coming from?” Roughneck glanced at the others as they ran off towards the flames. Looking around himself, he shook his head before running after the others, catching up to them quickly. Daring looked about the room, seeing that most of the ponies were running for their lives and completely ignoring them. She didn’t, however, have time to think about why these ponies didn’t try to stop them and continued on with the others.

It didn’t take them long before they reached a door with the sign on it saying, “Research Lab.” The adventurer smiled as she reached to open the door, but it opened on its own. She cautiously looked through and noticed a large blue magic field surrounding something below them. Next to it was a generator powered by a large blue crystal protruding from the side of a wall, the blue pulse of magic moving towards the shield through cables as the generator created a loud and vibrating noise. She moved further out, only to hear the sounds of crossbows firing. She gasped as she ducked out of the way, seeing bolts hit the side of the door above where her head was only a moment ago.

She saw a number of guards that remained in their position, even with the alarms blaring. Daring quickly took cover behind the wall where the door was. “Hey, I think we have company.”

“Yeah, too bad these guys didn’t leave their posts. Thought they’d finally make it easier on us.” Black Arrow mused before taking a position on the opposite side of Daring. He poked his head out and fired his crossbow at one of the guards, the stallion screaming as he dropped to the ground. Rune charged through the door before hiding behind the cover of a low wall, firing off a few shots of her magic.

The scream of another Neighland guard rang out, Rune watching as the Neighland mare fell down to the area below them. Daring watched as Black Arrow and Roughneck joined Crystal, Arrow firing another bolt before taking cover. Seeing her opportunity, she quickly joined the others and hid behind the cover of the metal wall. Bolts and magic beams echoed throughout the room as both sides fired at one another.

Daring looked down to the floor below and gasped as she saw the prize they were looking for floating within the blue glow of the circular magical field. The flesh colored larva bobbed slightly as it was suspended in the air, but otherwise remained motionless in its magical stasis. Its tiny limbs were curled up against its body in the fetal position and its tail was curled around it as it slept in its prison. “Hey, guys! I found the Alien. It’s down there on the first floor!”

Roughneck peeked over the edge as well, before looking over to a side of the room downstairs. “Hey, Rune. We got ponies down there trying to carry it out of its little room!” He stated, dropping as a bolt of magic zipped past his head.

“We need to end this now! Those Neighland ponies cannot be allowed to take the Alien. If they get away, we may never have the chance of capturing it ever again!” Rune yelled, before rising up and shooting another pony with a beam of magic.

Daring Do unfurled her wings, but a bolt whizzed passed her ear and struck the wall beside her, causing her to flinch. She prepared to take off again, but another bolt flew dangerously close to her. With all the bolts and beams of magic flying about the room, flying wasn’t going to be an option for the time being.

A loud explosion echoed above the Neighland guards before the ceiling collapsed on them, crushing an unluckier few. The masked mares and stallions got back to their hooves before continuing their fire on the three ponies. Daring looked over to their position, before seeing a blurry figure land near the guards. She watched as the Neighland enforcers took no notice of the invisible intruder and continued to fire upon their position. She watched as the blurry figure passed by the Neighland guards with such ease before disappearing from sight. ‘Oh great! The hunter’s here, too!’

She glanced back in time to see one of the guards shot a beam of magic at her, but missed his target and fired straight at the generator. The beam of magic exploded against the crystal, the gem cracking from the impact before a loud alarm sounded. A voice echoed on the comms around the building and the room saying. “Attention! Attention! All staff must evacuate the building immediately. The Magic Crystal has been damaged. Magical meltdown is imminent. Please evacuate the building and head to the emergency docks. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!”

“Oh… that sounds wonderful!” Roughneck yelled, looking towards the crystal as it shone a piercing blue, intensifying as the cracks continued to slowly spread across its surface. When the firing suddenly ceased, Daring looked up to see that the guards were looking at the alarm as well, before turning to run down the hallway where the blurry figure fled.

The field slowly gave way, before disappearing entirely. Down below, the creature dropped to the ground, growling as it finally awakened. It looked up, quietly snarling as it tried to stand up on its legs, adjusting its sight to the unknown surroundings. It turned towards the door leading down another hallway before finally standing upright. A loud and obnoxious noise assaulted its sensory organs and it turned to gaze at a red light twirling inside a glass container, hissing at the annoyance. Looking up at the railing, it noticed four ponies, snarling as it watched them stare at it. In its current state, it knew all of these beings posed a threat. It turned to the door, running awkwardly on its small legs as it charged through the archway.

Daring’s ears perked up as she heard the squeals of the Alien, turning towards the noise and quickly trotting over to the side of the railing, seeing the small creature run out of the room downstairs. “NO! It’s going to escape!” Daring yelled out, running towards the edge of the top floor. She went to jump over the railing, but stopped as she saw a blurry figure land in the room below them. She watched as it turned to face them, but quickly moved towards the direction of the Alien. “The hunter. Rune, the invisible thing is going after it!”

Rune quickly ran to her side, summoning her magic as she looked over the edge, eyes quickly locking onto the blur before she swiveled her horn and fired off a beam. The hunter stumbled under the force of the projectile and growled in annoyance while turning to face the group of ponies above it. Bringing a clawed hand to its side, it grasped a small cylinder object and tossed it straight at the unicorn.

The light gold pegasus watched as something extended from the object leaving the hunter’s hand, she squinted her eyes, not able to make out what it was until she heard Black Arrow yell out, “Crystal, get down!”

Black Arrow dived towards the unicorn and shoved her to the ground. A loud crack sounded from behind her and she quickly spun around as she raised herself up, gasping as she saw Black Arrow’s lifeless body swaying on the wall. An invisible object tainted in the stallion’s blood soon became wrapped in a wave of blue energy, slowly appearing to the ponies. “Black Arrow, no!” Crystal yelled out, rushing to the lifeless stallion. She pulled at the blood tainted object, a silver spear with unreadable markings were inscribed around the shaft of the metallic rod protruding from the side of his chest, firmly stuck in the crack it created in the wall. The invisible hunter growled in satisfaction, seeing that it distracted the equines for the time being, and turned away from the ponies to pursue the Serpent.

She pulled at the spear, grunting with effort before finally wrenching it loose. Arrow’s body slid off of the spear and onto the ground, leaving a streak of his blood on the wall. Rune quickly crawled over to his body, her eyes widening at the sight. A pool of blood formed around the now-deceased sniper, his body unmoving beneath the unicorn as tears threatened to escape her eyes. “No… no, no, no! No!” Rune screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she held her dead friend in her hooves.

Daring looked over to her, before the sparking energy crystal arced with a support beam. ‘That doesn’t look good…’, she rushed to her friends, stopping just short of the pooling blood, “Crystal Rune! We need to get out of here!”

The dark green unicorn didn’t respond, sitting in silence while cradling the body of Black Arrow in her fore legs. The adventurer grabbed a hold of her shoulders, turning the unicorn around to face her muzzle, but saw no hint of recognition in her glazed eyes. Daring shook her, “Please! I know how much it hurts to see Black Arrow dead, but right now we need to leave this building! There’s nothing we can do for him anymore!”

Crystal’s eyes darted around before she closed them. She shook her head and stared back at the pegasus. She looked back down to the body of her fallen comrade before reluctantly letting him go. Daring grabbed her hoof, quickly helping her up before heading towards the door that brought them into the Alien’s holding chamber, Rune’s attention fixed on Black Arrow the entire time. ‘We need to find another way down, maybe we could outmaneuver them in the hallways.’

Daring looked over her shoulder to see Roughneck looking at the ground, shaking slightly, before stiffly getting to his hooves and ambling towards the edge of the floor. “That thing… that monster is going to pay!” The stallion murmured before vaulting over the edge of the railing.

“Roughneck! What in Celestia’s name are you doing!?” Daring and Rune quickly ran to the edge, watching the grey earth pony running through the door. The two mares quickly jumped down, following the stallion as he chased after the hunter. Both ponies quickly trying to catch up with the angry grey earth pony, seeing him round another corner in his pursuit.

They quickly caught up with Roughneck, before Daring shoved him against the wall. “What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?” The adventurer questioned, keeping him in place.

“I’m going to kill that monster! He killed Rugged Muzzle and Black Arrow!” Roughneck yelled, struggling against Daring as he tried to push himself along the wall.

“Enough, Roughneck!” Daring ordered, looking at the stallion with a frown. “I know how you feel, but right now we need to think. If it’s after the Alien as well, then we need to separate them, so we don’t have to deal with it when we acquire the little nightmare.” Roughneck stopped fighting, looking away from Daring Do who spoke as she let go, “First of all, we need a distraction, so we stand a chance of escaping with the tiny monster.”

“Alright, but when we do, how long will it take before the monster finds us? I mean, we need to take care of it first.” Rune mentioned, looking over to Daring. Something was off with the dark green unicorn, Daring noticed as she listened to her friend.

Just as Daring opened her muzzle, she heard the Alien screech before catching a glimpse of it running down the hallway to their right and disappearing around another corner. “Come on!” Daring shouted, chasing after the small Alien. Crystal Rune and Roughneck hastily taking off after her.

Daring’s ears perked up as a roar from the hallway before her, watching a blurry figure run as they heard its footsteps echo through the corridor. The adventurer saw a blue light suddenly illuminate the red light around them before watching a beam of magic fly past her and up at the ceiling. The hallway rumbled as it collapsed, cutting the hunter off from the Alien. The blurred figure stopped as the dust settled, standing tall as it stared at the blocked-off corridor.

The hunter growled in annoyance, before looking behind its shoulder. It saw the three ponies standing in defiance, one equine in particular with its horn lit up in a ice blue aura. These ponies had gotten in its way too many times, and now the Serpent it was after was behind this wall of debris, or under it. These ponies had cost it the prize it sought, and snarled at the three.

The three ponies watched as it walked towards them, one menacing step at a time. “Hey, umm… it’s heading our way right now.” Roughneck piped up, his eyes darting between the two mares. “Shouldn’t we, you know… run?”

The hunter kept making his way steadily towards the three equines, the trio staring as it got closer. Daring, however, noticed that it didn’t seem to be staring at either her or Roughneck, but at Rune, never wavering from the dark green unicorn. Crystal summoned her magic and shot another beam, the bolt hitting the monster’s chest. The beam exploded in a flash of blue light as it made contact, but the invisible hunter shrugged it off before picking up its stride and going into a full charge.

Daring expected another beam to fly past her, but turned to see that Crystal’s magic had faded away. The unicorn stared at the rapidly approaching hunter with her mouth agape, unmoving as her pupils that shrank to pinpricks as the invisible monster continued to charge them.

The hunter growled as it raised its arm, twin blades shooting out from its gauntlet with a resounding “shink”. With a snarl, it thrust the arm forward, Rune raising a hoof in vain to protect herself from the blow. Rune closed her eyes as the twin blades came within inches of her torso, but suddenly sliced into the ground, scraping as the hunter let out another annoyed growl.

Daring and Rune looked to see that Roughneck had jumped on its back and wrapped his hooves around its neck, the monster standing up as it clawed for the pony clinging for dear life. With each twist of the creature’s body, Roughneck was flung about, barely managing to keep his grip.

“Roughneck!” Daring Do shouted as the hunter thrashed about.

“Go! You need to stop the thing before it escapes!” Roughneck ordered the two mares. “Leave me, I’ll try to keep him busy!” He looked down at the monster he clung onto, ducking each time one of its clawed hands reached towards him, nearly grabbing him as the hunter struggled to get the pest on its back. All the while, its laser targeted the two mares as they stood at the end of the hall, guiding a bright blue beam of energy that blasted the wall next to the mares, knocking them to their sides.

Daring and Crystal got back up, but stood watching for a moment longer before they ran down the hall, stopping to look back only as they reached the end of the corridor. The hunter finally grasped Roughneck’s mane before flinging him off its back with overwhelming strength and pinning him against the wall. Grabbing his neck, the monster unsheathed the twin-bladed gauntlet on its right arm before cocking it back and roaring as it stabbed the stallion through the chest, growling in satisfaction as it heard the equine’s pitiful screams.

“Roughneck!” Crystal and Daring screamed at the same time, watching the pony struggle under the hunter’s grip. The light emanating from the generator room began to glow brighter and brighter as the cracks on the crystal’s surface multiplied before spreading over the entire gem. Blood and spittle flew from the grey stallion’s lips as he grimaced up at the hunter. “Wow… you… are one ugly… mother-” A blinding light briefly shone before a blue wave of energy violently rippled from the room, engulfing the hunter and Roughneck instantly.

Crystal Rune turned to face Daring and grabbed a hold of the light gold pegasus, shrouding the two in an ice blue shield, grunting under the force of the shockwave. The bright blue explosion engulfed them as it hit the magic sphere, the force disorienting Daring as it rocked Rune’s barrier, her eyes feeling heavier and heavier before Daring blacked out.

After the explosion, the room was in complete ruin. The rest of the compound was either damaged beyond repair or missing, large chunks of the building were scattered across the floor. All was dark before Daring opened her eyes, the light stinging her vision before finally adjusting to let her see what was left of the facility around them. Her whole body throbbed in pain as she got up slowly, looking around herself and the area around her.

The smoldering flames flickered in the surrounding destruction, warming her body as she shook her head. “Crystal… Roughneck…!” She yelled, her voice cracking as she coughed from the smoke. Her ears flicked down as heavy rubble was tossed about. Turning towards the noise, she saw Rune shakily standing, coughing between ragged breaths. Daring slowly made her way over to the mare, legs shaking as she wobbled from side to side. “Rune… are you okay?”

The dark green unicorn looked at her with squinted eyes, before nodding. “Yeah… I’m alright.” Both mares twitched as coughing sounded nearby, before realizing that Roughneck was gone. Looking frantically for the source, Daring scanned the area until she found the stallion underneath a small pile of rubble. Calling Crystal over, she quickly dug him out, before grabbing hold of him and pulling him up, only for him to fall down.

“Daring… I can’t… move anymore. You need to… get out of here.” He murmured, flecking blood across the ground as it trickled down the sides of his mouth.

“No… we’re not leaving you here to die.” Daring shook her head, grabbing hold of the stallion before propping him up at her side. She coaxed him into moving only a couple of feet before he fell down again.

“Daring… please stop. I… I’m not going to make it.” Roughneck whispered, coughing again as he slowly closed his eyes, rapidly blinking them wide open as Daring placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Don’t you dare say that!” Rune sobbed, frowning at the stallion as she sunk to the ground, tears freely running from her eyes.

“I’m… s-sorry. But I just can’t go on… you two need to get out of here… now…” The stallion ordered, laying his head against the ground as he stared up at the sky.

“You are going to make it!” Daring quietly yelled, tears dripping down her muzzle.

“I… I can’t, Daring… I can’t feel my legs… you need to get out of here… please… for me.” Daring’s eyes widened at his words. She felt something in her hooves, before looking down to see his daggers and their sheaths in her right hoof. “You… go on. Please… live on for me. I… I want you to… to do something for me. My… s-sister I was talking about that night a couple of days ago… I want you to find her… tell her… that… t-that her brother misses her… that her brother loved her… can you do that for me?” Tears trickled down his cheeks, washing small rivers through the grime and blood as he stared up at the light gold pegasus.

Daring stared down at him before nodding. “Yes… I will. W-what’s her name?”

He looked up, before his eyes slowly began to close. “Her name… her name is… Coco…” He murmured with his last breath, before his eyes fluttered shut and his chest fell for the last time.

Daring and Rune stared down at the unmoving body of Roughneck, crying quietly as they looked to each other. As Crystal gazed back to the grey stallion’s unmoving body, memories passed through her thoughts as she recalled what she did before. She was so horrible to her teammates, never taking any of their concerns into consideration and not even giving a second thought to their own well being. As she stared down at the last member of her team, she couldn’t believe that he was gone. So much was lost, and now she couldn’t even make it up for how she treated them.

A loud explosion emanated from behind them as rubble was launched from part of the building. They quickly spun around to see what caused it, only to see that the monster they thought was killed in the explosion slowly rising from the ground. It stared at them before it yelled. “Motherbucker!” The creature’s voice box in the mask was distorted, however, the voice of Roughneck was loud and clear as it roared at them behind the broken mask.

“That thing is still alive… that can’t be possible.” Rune murmured, gazing back at the hunter, eyes wide.

The hunter looked at them, snarling at the equines that cost it the Serpent it was hunting. It turned to look at its equipment, growling as most of the devices on its belt were destroyed. It looked to the cannon on its left shoulder, electricity sparking from the distorted metal. Bringing its clawed hand up, it ripped the cannon off and threw it away. Taking off the belt with the rest of its ruined equipment, it dropped them to the ground by its feet. It looked back up to the two mares and growled before striding over to them. It held something in its clawed hand, gripping it tightly as it extended into an ornate spear with the ringing of well-polished metal.

A horrible realization washed over Crystal and Daring as they looked at the spear in its hand: the same type of weapon that it used to kill Black Arrow was going to be used against them.

A loud screech sounded behind Rune and Daring, both ponies turning to see what it was. They gasped as they saw the small Alien crawl out from the rubble, hissing as it finally freed itself from the rubble and began to slither away. Daring heard the hunter snarl and swivel its helmet. The light gold pegasus turned to the dark green unicorn to her right, “Rune, I need you to go after the Alien.”

“What!?” Rune looked back at her, “What about you? I can’t leave you alone with this thing!” The unicorn pointed at the hunter as it got closer.

“Well, we can’t let the Alien get away. If we do, it’ll be Ponyville all over again.” Daring looked down at Roughneck’s daggers before holding one in her right hoof and bringing the other one up to her muzzle. Before she grabbed it with her mouth, she turned to face Rune and mused. “Besides… I think I can take this guy on my own.” Daring smiled at the unicorn, before putting the second dagger in her muzzle, firmly biting into the handle.

Crystal looked at her before nodding and ran after the small chestburster. A loud rumbling sounded as Daring watched her chase after the Alien, until a large piece of the building landed where Rune disappeared. “Rune! No!” She screamed, her cry muffled by the dagger. She heard the hunter snarl before turning to face it, her eyes widening as it lifted a hand up to its mask.

It unhooked part of the mask, a small blast of air shooting from the tube, before it moved to the other side of its mask, unhooking several more lines. It brought its other hand up and grabbed the mask from both sides before pulling it off. It brought the mask down before dropping it to the ground, the metallic object clanging against the concrete rubble. Daring’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, her breath catching in her throat as she finally saw what was under the mask.

The hunter’s face was a pale yellow, black bristles covering the sides of where the eyebrows should have been. Four mandibles hung from the sides of its mouth, as a set of small sharp teeth lined a mouth behind the mandibles. Its eyes were a dirty yellow as it glared at the light gold pegasus. Daring shook her head before saying, “Roughneck was right… you are ugly.”

The creature roared at her before charging. Daring stood fast before shaking her head and charging the predator. It held a cocked fist back and swung at the pegasus. She dodged underneath it and lashed out with the dagger in her right hoof, glowing green blood spurting from the cut in its stomach. The hunter roared in pain and spun the spear in its right hand, striking the pegasus.

Daring yelped as hit her square in the chest, sending her skidding across the ground before slamming into a wall, gasping as the wind was knocked out of her. Hitting the ground, she quickly recovered before flapping her wings and flying at the monster. It quickly charged before swinging at her again, Daring ducking under the blow again before slicing the monster with both daggers, one hitting its left arm and the other scoring another cut across the hunter’s chest, its blood spurting onto her muzzle before its arm hit her right across the face, sending her skidding across the ground.

The hunter roared before making its way over to the downed pegasus. She got up quickly but was met with a swift kick to the side, yelling in pain as she hit the wall once more. Dazed, she saw the figure move leer over her once more. The hunter pointed the spear at her and drove it downwards. Daring yelped, rolling side to the side as the metallic rod cleaved the ground. She glanced at the spear, before bringing one of her back legs up and kicked the spear from its grasp, the rod flipping in the air before landing, pointing straight up as it lodged itself in the ground. The hunter growled in annoyance before quickly reaching for the equine’s neck. She gasped and her eyes widened as the creature’s clawed hand grasp her neck with a vice-like grip, its claws digging into her flesh. She grabbed at its hand, trying to pry the clawed fingers from her throat in vain.

Daring brought the dagger in her right hoof up and stabbed the creature’s exposed chest, the hunter roaring in pain before tossing her over to the side. She landed on the ground a few feet away from the monster, painting the ground red as she coughed.

As the light gold pegasus raised herself up, the hunter stormed towards her. She saw the blood glowing from its cuts, but it just seemed to shrug the wounds off as if they were nothing. ‘This thing just doesn’t give up. how much will it take to make this thing keel over?’ She turned to her right, looking up at a part of a wall that was still hanging onto one of the pillars. Seeing it on the verge of collapse, Daring smirked and flapped her wings before taking off and flying right at the hunter. ‘If this works, the monster will get crushed under the wall and all of this will finally end!’

She yelled as she flew straight at the hunter, swinging the blade in her hoof and striking another cut on the creature, hearing another roar of pain before spinning to it again with the dagger in her mouth.

It swung its arm at her, missing as she swerved under the punch and sped off towards the wall. It roared and unsheathed its gauntlets before taking chase, jumping after her with incredible bounds. Daring looked behind her and smiled as it took the bait. “Just follow me!” She called out, speeding off. She landed with a skid before turning around to face the hunter.

She saw it land, stand up, and make its way towards her. ‘That’s it… just a little closer.’ The creature stopped before looking at where she was positioned. It saw the wall behind her and noticed it shake. It snarled and found her tactic to be a smart one, but one that did not easily fool it. However, it would play her game and continued to walk towards the stationed pegasus.

Daring smirked, watching as one of the twin bladed gauntlets lunge straight for her. She jumped out of the way, but gasped as it moved the gauntlet and headed right towards her. She screamed as the blade cut her right foreleg. Daring landed on the ground, gasping in pain before looking down. It wasn’t a serious injury, but her vision blurred as it grabbed her neck again, raising her into the air. The light gold pegasus reached to stab its chest again, but the hunter’s claws quickly grabbed her hoof, ripping the dagger away and tossing it to the side.

It raised a clawed hand into a fist before striking her muzzle, sending the other dagger clattering to the ground. Daring yelped in pain, before her head violently jerked as the creature suddenly raised her above its head. Before she could struggle, the wind was knocked out of her as the hunter slammed her into the ground, pinning her with one clawed hand.

She squinted as it rose one arm, the blade extending even further as it growled in victory. ‘No… I can’t have come this far… just to lose. This will all have been in vain for my friends… Rugged Muzzle… Black Arrow… Roughneck… Crystal Rune… Rainbow Dash and her friends... I won’t let this happen.’ A light glinted in the corner of her eye, catching her attention as she turned to see what it was. She noticed the metallic spear sitting only a few inches from her. She reached out for the spear, grunting as her hoof shook, scrabbling at the ground as her hoof inched near the handle of the spear.

The hunter cocked its arm and thrust the blade at the helpless pegasus. She screamed as she pulled the spear and swung it towards the monster, watching as blood squirted from the hunter’s chest as the spear pierced it. The hunter roared as it stumbled backwards, growling as it grabbed the spear. Glowing blood trailed down the shaft and smeared under its shaking grip before it roared, wrenching it out with a splatter of blood. Daring quickly took to the air with a powerful flap of her wings and headed right towards the column. She yelled as she shoulder-checked, knocking the support loose.

A loud rumble heralded the toppling wall, the hunter looked behind it with a roar of surprise as it watched the wall loom over it before finally collapsing onto the creature. Daring slid across the ground, closing her eyes for a moment. Dust hung in the air around the pegasus as she stood on wobbly legs, cautiously approaching the rubble. When the dust cleared, she saw the hunter beneath the wall, its glowing blood slowly trickling from its mouth.

She wiped her brow, seeing that the monster was finally defeated. A weak cough erupted from the hunter and Daring’s eyes widened, “Are you kidding me?” She jumped back, quickly retrieving both daggers from the ground and whirled to face the threat once more, but saw that the creature was pinned under the wall. Sighing with exhaustion, Daring looked down to the sheaths at her sides and slid the daggers back into them, quickly glancing back up towards the hunter.

The hunter looked up at the pegasus mare, and was surprised that this equine had beat it in combat. It realized that she was a worthy foe, one that his brothers would have to be wary of. Looking down to his wrist pad, it flipped it open before pressing a sequence of buttons, loud beeps emanating from the metallic equipment. Daring looked down and noticed a sequence of lights on the wrist pad before watching one disappear from the rightmost box.

She looked back to the hunter, her eyes widening at her own revelation. “Oh, horse apples…” The monster underneath the wall quietly chuckled, rising in volume as balled its clawed hands into fists. Daring backed away from the creature’s crazed laughter, turning to fly away, but she saw Roughneck’s body slumped on the ground, Black Arrow’s lay not too far from it. Daring gasped and frantically glanced about the room. “Oh no, Crystal! She’s still somewhere in here!”

The corridor Rune had entered was now buried under debris, but Daring spotted an open door with daylight pouring in. She panickedly looked between the two paths, allthewhile the hunter’s wrist pad continued to beep urgently between red flashes. She shook her head before murmuring, “I’m… I’m sorry.” With a powerful gust from her wings, she launched into the air, heading outside through the door. The sun’s morning horizon welcomed her with its warm rays of light.

The countdown on the creature’s wrist pad quickly reached its last box and the symbol disappeared before a bright blue flash of light exploded into a huge field of blue energy. Daring looked back, grimacing as the explosion gained on her. She turned away and beat her wings harder as she pulled her limbs close, but the heat of the explosion set the tip of her tail aflame, the warmth slowly enveloping her, singing her feathers.

Daring spun in the air, her wings feeling like bricks as she tried to right herself until she saw the array of trees below her. She shielded herself as good as she could with her forelegs, feeling the force of the shockwave carry her through the sky as she braced herself. Her body was launched into the jungle, crashing through countless branches before slamming to the ground with a dull thud, skidding and bouncing across the dirt before coming to a halt. Shakily, she looked up at the mushroom cloud forming above where the facility used to be. Muscles that had long been overstressed finally loosened as her eyelids drooped while her head hit the ground, a grayscale mane hanging over her face like a dirty mop.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for that long wait, this chapter took longer than most of the others. Anywho, there is one last chapter to go till the end of this sequel. Once the final chapter is released, we'll announce our winner of the contest, for this person got the right survivors first before anypony else.

Now then, I do hope you all have a wonderful morning, afternoon, evening and night. And remember... sweet dreams.

Another Note: I will possibly do a questionnaire for anypony curious about any of the current topics on the story, and questions about the third sequel.