“What happened to them? I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.” Daring Do inquired as she scanned the lifeless bodies hanging above the group. She shivered at the thought of being skinned alive.

“I don’t know.” Crystal Rune replied, her blue eyes widening as the group stared up in horror at the bodies above them as they swung slightly in the breeze. “But whatever did this… it looks recent.”

“So you’re saying that whatever did this...” Roughneck pointed up to the hanging bodies, “is still around?” He took a few paces back, his breathing rate increasing as he searched for any sign to where it could be hiding.

Black Arrow trotted over to the frightened stallion and shook him roughly. “Get a hold of yourself, mate. You’re a stallion, not some frightened colt.”

“But,” Roughneck began. “But those ponies…”

“Calm down, Roughneck.” Rune spoke, turning to face the young stallion. “Whatever was here is gone now, so stop whining.” The gray earth pony’s pupils returned from being pinpricks, as he slowly breathed in and out, regaining his composure. “Now if you're done having a moment, we need to find out what happened here and figure out where Dr. Caballeron and his crew went.”

“It’s no use searching the camp. Caballeron obviously wouldn’t stick around here if he saw the ponies up there.” Daring pointed out. She walked back and forth, rubbing her chin thoughtfully before looking over to face Rune. “Do you think we could get a few of those ponies down?”

“Why?” Crystal asked, staring at Daring as if she was insane.

“Because they might have some clue as to who they were. We have no other leads to go on right now so there’s a good place to start.” Daring added, walking up to one of the tents and going through the flaps.

Rune raised a hoof to her chin and thought about what Daring said. ‘What she says is true. Those ponies up there might have some indication as to who they once were.’ Putting her hoof down, she turned to face Black Arrow and ordered. “Alright, Black Arrow you heard Daring. Fly up there and cut a couple of those ponies down.”

The maroon pegasus nodded and with a quick flap of his wings, he took off. Flying up to a couple of the skinned ponies, he took out his shortsword and slashed a couple of the ropes. They fell to the earth with a loud thud, blood splattering a couple feet around each body, causing the group of mercenaries to grimace. Arrow landed beside Rune before folding his wings.

The dark green unicorn nodded her thanks and walked over to the first body. She kneeled, gagging as its scent flowed into her mouth. After a thorough search, she didn’t find anything on the first skinned corpse. Walking around the first body, she went to see the next one, and like the last one, nothing came up. She stood back up, shaking her head. “Well… so much for just looking.” Reaching a hoof over to the body, she pushed into the pony’s flesh, gagging at the smell of decay. The pony’s flesh contracted under her hoof as she moved around, the stench of death quickly flowing into her nose. ‘Oh… s-so disgusting...’

Feeling nothing but blood and flesh, Rune pulled her hoof out, shuddering from the slimy texture.

The tent flaps parted as the light gold pegasus made her way to the dark green unicorn. “What did you find?” Daring asked, moving next to Rune.

“Nothing… sadly.” The unicorn sighed, raising her hooves in front of her muzzle.

“Wait… you actually put your hooves on that carcass?” Black Arrow furrowed his brow. Roughneck stood back, turning away and gagging, while Daring looked between Rune and her bloodied hooves, and yet, Rugged Muzzle didn’t seem fazed at all.

“So, what now?” Roughneck piped up. The other three mercs turned towards him to see a shivering mess of a pony. “I mean… where do we even begin?”

“Has anypony else found anything yet?” Rune asked, looking at her companions.

“There wasn’t anything in the tents.” Daring shrugged.

“I found something… rather quite interesting to say the least.” Black Arrow spoke up, waving for the ponies to follow him.

“By interesting… what did you find Arrow?” Crystal raised an eyebrow.

“I found the leftovers of our friends.” The maroon pegasus conveyed, pointing over to a pile hidden behind a bush. The smell of flesh floated on the breeze, skins and the clothes that the ponies once wore laid in a heap on the jungle floor.

Roughneck covered his mouth at the sight, choking as he turned around. Daring shivered a little, empathetic for the ponies that were killed in such a brutal way. Crystal, Arrow, and Rugged Muzzle simply stared at the gore before them. “I believe that our killer, left quite the decent clue behind. We certainly know that it isn’t a pony that did this. Whatever it was… was definitely a hunter of some sorts.”

“But what creature would do something like this?” Daring inquired, eyeing the pile worriedly.

“That is an answer I’d like to know.” Arrow replied, moving over to the pile of skins and clothing. He kneeled next to a piece of cloth and examined it. Rune and the others moved closer, looking over the ‘leftovers’. From what they could see, the cloth had a large tear in it, ragged in shape. “Whatever tore through their clothing, its weapon of choice easily cut through them.”

“Do you think there’s any sort of clue as to who these ponies were?” Rune asked, looking at the pegasus.

“Hmm… let me just take a look.” Arrow reached his hooves in, moving the hides aside as he examined each piece of cloth.

“Ugh, don’t touch that with your hooves.” Roughneck griped.

“You have any better ideas, Roughneck? I didn’t see Crystal Rune complaining after she searched that pony’s carcass.” Arrow smirked before turning back to the pile of flesh.

Rune rolled her eyes at the gray earth pony’s complaints and moved over to another part of the pile, sifting through the flesh and shredded clothing, trying to find anything that would give them a clue. “You know… something surprises me.” Arrow thought out loud.

“What’s that?” Rune asked, looking up at the maroon pegasus.

“I thought that whatever killed those ponies would be after their hides, but it just left them here with the clothing.”

The dark green unicorn looked back down and realized that what Arrow said was true. “Yeah… why would it just leave their hides?”

“Who knows,” Daring said, reluctantly moving over to the pile. Rugged Muzzle moved between Arrow and Rune, joining the search effort. Daring hesitantly moved a hoof forward and began rummaging through the pile as well, retching as the smell of decay flowed through her nose.

Rune felt a small metallic object brush her hoof. Grabbing it, she yanked it loose from the pile, a piece of cloth coming along with it. The chest piece was a silver gray, but what attracted her attention was the logo ensigned on a round black badge. A large yellow ‘N’ was located in the middle, followed by a white line on the bottom, spelling out ‘Neighland Industries’ in blocky letters. “Hey guys, I think I found out who our mysterious ponies are, or at least who they work for.

The others gathered around Crystal, all looking at the badge she held with a bloodied hoof. “Have you ever seen a company’s logo look like this Crystal?” Daring inquired, her gaze shifting from the clothing to the dark green unicorn.

“No.” Rune admitted. “I’ve never seen any logo like this before. Or, at least, we’ve never done business with them.”

“Guys,” Black Arrow began, “just who are we dealing with here?”

“I don’t know, but we do know the obvious.” Crystal said, her thoughts centering on the reason Dr. Caballeron was heading this way. “I would say that these ponies were who our target was going to.”

“You mean to say that these Neighland ponies are Dr. Caballeron’s new clients?” Daring asked.

“There was no other reason why he would travel for hundreds of miles and go through the middle of the jungle. This has to be why he is here. This was obviously the rendezvous station. He was going to deliver the item we’re after and collect his reward.” Rune explained, and the more she guessed these reasons, the more the picture came together.

“That still doesn’t explain what happened to them.” Roughneck mentioned, still shaking in his fur. “I mean… what kind of sick freak would do such a thing?”

“I don’t believe it could have been a pony.” Black Arrow spoke up this time. “For starters, a sane pony would never stoop this low, even if it was in self-defense.”

“What about the ponies that live in this jungle?” Rune asked, turning to face the bowman. “Could they have done this?”

“Maybe, but I don’t believe it was pony. It was something else entirely.” Arrow concluded, shaking his head for the poor ponies who met with such terrible ends.

“It wasn’t the ponies that live here. I know them and they wouldn’t do something like this.” Daring told them while she stood up, scanning the trees that surrounded them. “Well, we won’t find out by just sitting on our flanks all day long. We still have to catch Dr. Caballeron. And given that they possibly panicked after seeing this place in such a mess, I’d bet we can find some tracks leading towards where he took off.”

Rune turned to the other three and nodded. Roughneck looked back up to the other ponies hanging from the trees and said. “What about those ponies?”

“What about them?” Crystal inquired, staring back at the gray earth pony.

“I mean… shouldn’t we give them a proper burial?” Roughneck suggested, gazing up to the skinned ponies.

“Can’t.” Rune stated. “It would take too long and we don’t have time on our sides.” The dark green unicorn moved over to Black Arrow’s side before asking him. “Did you find any tracks while we came in?”

“No, none that were noticeable, anyway. Don’t worry, I’ll have a look around the perimeter.” With those words, he quickly trotted off.

Rune nodded and moved over to a log that was perched a few meters from the camp. Sitting down, she took out her water pouch and took a few gulps of the cold water. Looking back down at her bloodied hooves, she poured the water over them, the clear liquid running through her fur, washing away the blood in straggling lines until she scrubbed it out. Sighing, she looked at the mess above her once more. For the first time in a while, she shivered. What the ponies stationed at this camp went through was not only horrifying, but to die like that was something out of a horror story: a group of ponies surviving against all odds when a psychotic killer was after them, wanting to obtain fresh coats from both mares and stallions alike.

The log shifted slightly, making the cloaked pony look over to her right. There sat Daring Do, staring at the ground before gazing up at her. Crystal turned to look away and they sat in awkward silence until Daring spoke up. “Hey… I was curious about something.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rune turned to face the light gold pegasus.

“Well, about Roughneck. How did he end up with you guys?” Daring pointed to the grey stallion, he was keeping his gaze focused on the ground. “He seems a little more innocent then you guys. How did you find him?”

Crystal Rune chuckled, turning her gaze in the stallion’s direction. “That is actually an interesting little story. You see, I didn’t enlist him like Rugged Muzzle or Black Arrow. I actually found him… or let’s just say that he found us.”

The moon slowly rose into the sky, casting its eery silver glow across the city of Manehatten. Echos of ponies discussing daily life and the sound of carriage wheels moving through the streets was just another routine these city ponies followed. The silent clacking of hooves resonated in the alleyway as a pony dressed in black slowly moved within the shadows.

Living in this city wasn’t easy, especially for a pony like him. He had fought hard to survive each day and struggled to feed himself on most occasions. Two empty sheathes hung from his sides as the stallion scanned the alleyways he passed, eyes squinted slightly in the dark.

He turned his gaze to one of the many concrete buildings surrounding him and stopped for a brief moment when one building caught his attention. ‘There it is...’ Quickly trotting up to the building, he crouched below the window before cautiously peering above the windowsill. The room was dark and there was no sign of movement.

Carefully moving a hoof over to the latch, he found that it was surprisingly unlocked. ‘Huh… it wasn’t open the last time.’ Looking over the room once more, he gently put one hoof over the windowsill before moving his other three in. The quiet clacking of his hooves echoed in the room as the pony slowly made his way forward. A gleam of light caught his eye and the pony’s head turned to the left. He moved over to the object laying on the desk and smiled. ‘Yes… they’re still here.’

The daggers laid crossed in the shape of an ‘x’. Slowly, he moved his hoof over to the two blades. The light turned on unexpectedly, the stallion froze and quickly looked around the room. A clap of hooves echoed behind him. Slowly, he turned and saw a pony hidden underneath a dark green cloak with white markings etched into the cloth sitting down in a chair against the wall. “Well I’m glad to see you again… thief.”

Before the stallion could react, two other ponies rushed in from behind a set of doors to his left. The large dark orange stallion grabbed him, lifting him off the ground. The smaller stallion struggled under the strength the larger pony possessed. Realizing he was in deep trouble, he acted quickly, snapping his head back. He felt the back of his head come into contact with the stallions muzzle, feeling the grip of the larger stallion leave him. He glanced back and saw the larger stallion gripping his face, letting out a cry of pain.

Rolling over to the desk where the two daggers lay, he quickly grabbed one in his right hoof, flipping the other and catching it in his mouth. Turning around, he slid his left foreleg, getting in a crouched stance, but was met with a crossbow pointing straight at him. The stallion behind it kept a steady aim, murmuring, “If I were you, mate… I wouldn’t move. One step, one twitch… and a bolt is going straight through your head.” Pointing to the daggers, the stallion pegasus gestured at the ground with his crossbow. “Now… put those daggers down.”

Seeing no way out, the smaller pony reluctantly dropped his daggers, glaring at the mare that called him out earlier. The cloaked pony rose up from the chair and slowly made her way over to him. “My, you certainly do have quite the skills. Too bad you robbed me earlier of one of my valuable artifacts.” A pale ice blue light resonated from within the hood that hid her face as she lifted the two daggers from the ground, looking them over as the stallion in front of her growled. “I take it that these two weapons are very important to you. Family heirlooms, I presume?”

The dark grey earth pony looked away, a frown forming on his muzzle. “Oh… then they are stolen. From a merchant I take it?” She gazed at the gold colored spines, smirking as she looked back up to the younger stallion. “I wonder how many bits these two fine weapons cost? A couple, maybe even thirty-five hundred bits?”

“Yeah, well I’m pretty sure you have, like, a hundred more pieces of your precious jewelry lying around.” The younger stallion smirked, pulling his hoodie down to reveal a mess of black hair. “So why not just get it over with now?”

“Well…” The dark green mare began, looking out the window. “I do have two very reliable ponies with me but I’m looking to expand my ranks.” Turning to face the dark grey stallion before her. “And when you escaped, I was actually quite impressed with your skills. Nopony I have met before has been able to evade the accuracy of Black Arrow, here.” She gestured to the pony at her right, the stallion smiled as he heard his name called. “And you certainly surprise me with your skill.” Raising a hoof to her chin, she rubbed it thoughtfully before bringing it back down. “How about a proposition?”

“Like what?” The gray earth pony asked, his right eyebrow raising slightly.

“You, my young friend, if you join my little group here I will give you back your daggers.” As she promised, the two daggers floated over to the stallion, placing themselves back into their rightful sheathes. “And as an added bonus, I’ll pay you for your work.”

“And if I refuse?” The young earth pony stepped back slightly.

“Well, my friend, Rugged Muzzle, here.” The unicorn pointed to her left at the large earth pony. The dark orange stallion cracked his neck, his emotionless gaze locked on the smaller earth pony. “I’ll order him to break your legs, take away your daggers, and throw you back out onto the streets of Manehatten.”

The dark gray earth pony gulped, shivering under the gaze of the three ponies. Looking back outside he tried to think of some way out of this situation, but realized that the pegasus wielding the crossbow was only a couple feet in front of him, and being how close he was, he wasn’t so sure he would get away unscathed. He turned to face the mare, seeing her hoof extended towards him. He moved closer and shook it with a sigh, “Alright… you convinced me.”

“Good decision, my friend… very well done.”

The leaves rustled in the wind as the day began to wind down. The sun's warm rays weakened as it slowly descended from its place above the world. Above the forest floor, the creature perched itself above the jungle floor, balancing on one of the many branches that covered the floor of the forest in shadows.

It held one of the many pony heads it gained after attacking the camp earlier, gazing over them with interest. It drew a capsule containing a dark blue colored liquid. Opening the bottle’s cap, it poured the liquid over the pony’s head. The flesh reacted to the effects of the liquid and the creature watched as fumes of smoke rose from the pony’s head, the smell of rotting flesh quickly filling the air. A few seconds passed, and the pony’s head was reduced to nothing but a skull, all the flesh eaten away by the liquid.

Snarling, the creature added the skull to its collection of the other ponies it had killed. It turned its head, hearing voices echoing nearby, distorted by its audio sensor. Standing up, the creature quickly jumped from branch to branch, nearing the sounds it heard. Making its way forward, it recalled the direction it was heading and remembered the camp full of ponies. Upon returning, it hid behind a layer of branches, its vision of the camp was clear as it lay hidden from sight.

It scanned the grounds below, picking up five heat signatures. These ponies it noticed were definitely different. The clothing they wore did not resemble the ponies it had killed earlier. Watching with interest, the creature kept its gaze on them, studying the weapons these new ponies held.

“After some time, Roughneck adjusted to his new life and took to it faster than expected.” Rune murmured, closing her eyes and lowering herself, smiling.

Daring was surprised to say the least. Glancing back over to the grey earth pony, she caught his gaze and felt a little empathetic. He smiled and went back to flipping a coin. Daring found herself smiling back, surprisingly, before turning back to Rune. “So, how come he’s still so innocent? I mean, you saw the way he reacted to those bodies up there.” Daring asked, pointing up to the macabre sight hanging above them.

“I only sent him on a few menial tasks that weren’t too complicated. He’s the only one who hasn’t seen the worst that most missions have to offer.”

Black Arrow moved to Rune’s side and murmured. “Crystal, I found something.”

Crystal turned to face the pegasus and nodded. Looking back to Daring Do, she chuckled slightly. “This sounds important.” Daring nodded and got up as well, both mares quickly making their way over to where Black Arrow stood “So, what did you find?”

“A few set of hoofprints. Guessing who these belong to, Dr. Caballeron and his crew went this way.” Arrow pointed to a series of hoofprints leading away from the camp.

“Alright then, everypony, let’s get going. We don’t have much time to waste as it is. Dr. Caballeron and his buddies have a small head start on us and it’s almost nightfall. The sooner we can acquire the package the better.” Rune ordered, quickly running off in the direction of the hoofprints.

Everypony else stared at one another before hastily taking off to catch up with Crystal Rune. Minutes passed and the ponies heard a set of voices off in the distance. Rune glanced back at the others, waving her hoof for them to crouch and slowly make their way to the source. As they got closer, the sounds became clearer until they recognized who was talking.

“What in Equestria was that!?” One of the ponies asked, his eyes darting around as he looked for something out of the ordinary.

“Did you see all those ponies? They were just hanging there, nothing but flesh. What kind of sick pony or thing would do that?” One of the other stallions asked.

“Quiet! All of you.” Dr. Caballeron shouted, staring at the others with his slitted eyes. “We do not have time to act like whiny foals. In case you haven’t noticed, our original rendezvous point has been compromised.”

“Where do we go now? The client didn’t specify where to go if the camp wasn’t occupied.” A mare in Dr. Caballeron’s group spoke up.

“Our client told us that he is located in an area somewhere in deeper areas of the Tenochtitlan Basin. So we’re going to search until we find him.”

“But the Tenochtitlan Basin stretches out for miles on end! How are we supposed to find it when there’s something in these woods that could come after us!?”

“Enough with this talk of what dangers lurk within these jungles. There is nothing in these woods that can harm us.” Dr. Caballeron declared. A growling noise emanated from within the bushes surrounding them until the animal they heard, a black leopard, slowly walked out, snarling as it circled the group of ponies in a crouched stance.

A small lynx jumped in from behind one of the ponies, hissing at one of Caballeron's henchmen who stumbled backwards, falling on his rear. A cheetah, followed by a tiger, came out from the brush, ears folded back as they growled like the black leopard. “CABALLERON!” A voice yelled, echoing around the brush, as a large dark blue colored creature jumped from the treeline, landing with a loud thud.

“It’s Ahuizotl.” Daring murmured, staring wide-eyed at her old nemesis.

“What’s he doing here?” Rune whispered, glaring as Ahuizotl approached Dr. Caballeron.

“Did you really think you could fool me?” Ahuizotl questioned, glaring at the shivering pony in front of him.

“W-why, of course n-not, Ahuizotl… what would make you s-say that?” Dr. Caballeron stuttered, smiling nervously as the strange monkey-like creature moved closer.

“Well, would you mind telling me what you have hiding in that saddlebag of yours? I’d really hate to decommission my favorite pony.”

“Oh… you mean t-this?” The tan stallion reached into the saddlebag, pulling out a hidden case.

“Whatever your client is asking, I want a split of the money, got it?” Ahuizotl demanded, before reaching out with his right hand. “Now hand it over.”

“S-sure.” Dr. Caballeron flinched as Ahuizotl swiped it from his hoof, shaking as he cowered under the harsh gaze of his former client.

Ahuizotl examined the small case, moving it around so he could see it from every angle. He opened the lid and lifted the black silk covering what was inside. He smiled in interest at what he saw under the cover, chuckling slightly before bringing the case over to the hand on his tail. “I think there has been a change in plans.”

“W-what do you mean?” Dr. Caballeron asked, looking at the small case that was now in Ahuizotl’s possession.

“Whatever this… ‘thing’ is, it will be mine alone. Nopony will be taking it away from me!” Ahuizotl laughed before quickly taking off back into the brush.

“No! He must not escape!” Crystal Rune shouted, hastily taking off after the large creature, breaking her cover.

“Quick, everypony, we must not let Ahuizotl get away!” Black Arrow added, the ponies under cover took off after Rune and the monkey-like creature. Ahuizotl’s loyal cats yowled in surprise at the interlopers, but took after the ponies chasing their master.

Dr. Caballeron and his crew stood still for a moment, before he turned around and ordered. “We must not let them escape. Quickly, we must-”

One of his henchmen was thrown to the ground, something pinned him down, covered in the pony’s blood. A few sparks of electricity showed a silver spear jutting from the pony’s torso. Another small noise resonated around the area, followed by a scream as something pinned another stallion to a tree. A disc-like object with protruding blades was visible from the pony’s barrel, blood slowly poured from the wound and down the bark of the tree. A very low and frequent humming noise sounded as a red laser targeted the mare of the group. A loud boom reverberated as a blue beam of energy hit the pony dead-on, blowing her head into chunks of flesh.

Dr. Caballeron was breathing heavily, seeing his ponies being slaughtered so easily by an invisible force. His eyes darted around as he searched for a sign of what it could be. A thud sounded from behind the pony and he froze in place. Slowly, he turned to face whatever it was and gasped as a blurred figure stood to its full height. He tried to hit it, but it intercepted his hoof with a clawed hand and bent his hoof. Dr. Caballeron screamed in pain, he desperately tried to break free from the vice like grip, but to no avail.

The creature switched from its infrared scan to x-ray scan. It looked through the pony’s saddlebag, trying to find the Serpent, but there was no indication that it was there. Roaring in anger, the creature shot a blade from its gauntlet and stabbed the pony through the chest. Dr. Caballeron gasped in pain as was lifted from the ground with ease. It shot out the other gauntlet’s blades and slashed at the pony's neck, separating Dr. Caballeron’s head from his body. The creature made a clicking snarl, pleased that it had another head to add to its collection.

While it was busy dealing with Dr. Caballeron's group, Crystal was busy trying to catch up with Ahuizotl. The large creature was fast, she had to give him that, but he was making such a racket, it was almost impossible not to lose him. A sudden weight hit her side. Yelling in surprise, Rune was knocked off her hooves and sent straight into a tree. Quickly recovering, she watched as the black leopard came sprinting straight at her, leaping with outstretched claws. She ducked as it slammed into the tree behind her. Yowling in pain, it rose back up onto all fours and slashed at the dark green unicorn, Rune barely avoiding the claws of death. Summoning her magic, she encased the black leopard in a pale ice aura and threw it against another tree, pinning it on the wooden surface. It screamed in rage, thrashing about in its magical prison.

Crystal heard another roar and turned to see the tiger running straight for her. She shielded herself, bracing for the worst. Another yowl, this time farther away. Rune wondered why the tiger hadn't barreled into her yet, and moved her hoof down to see that Rugged Muzzle was wrestling the large striped cat, pinning it to the ground with his large warhammer, keeping it against the cat's neck as it struggled to break free. The large earth pony looked her way and nodded, grunting with effort as the tiger kept pushing back.

She saw Daring Do staring at the scene she and Rugged were in and yelled out to the light gold pegasus. "Go! Don't worry about us, we'll take care of the kitties here! Get the case from Ahuizotl before he gets away!"

Daring nodded and quickly took off, hot in her pursuit to catch up with her nemesis. Another cry was heard as Rune paid attention to the black leopard she had in her grasp. It kept yowling out, trying to break free of Crystal's magic hold. The pale blue aura around her horn intensified, and the leopard's bottom paws began to shake. Ice slowly formed around the black fur of the leopard, its cries of rage turning into screams of pain.

As Crystal was busy freezing the cat in her hold, she looked to her left, seeing that Black Arrow was dealing with the lynx easily, flying away from its claws while kicking the cat around. On the other hoof, Roughneck was on the ground, keeping the cheetah he fought with away from him using his bottom hooves, fumbling around for his daggers in the process of trying to not get ripped to shreds. "Yo, Black Arrow! Mind switching with me!?" Roughneck asked, pushing the cheetah away as he got a firm hold on his daggers.

"Nah, you seem to be holding up." Black Arrow replied, kicking the lynx away from him, hearing another scream of pain.

While the mercs were busy dealing with the cats, Daring was closing in on her target. Licking her lips, she flapped her wings before taking off into the air. Ahuizotl turned to look behind him, laughing as he thought he lost Daring Do. He felt something lift off his tail hand and stopped. Clenching the fist, he only felt air and growled as he saw Daring smile at him as she landed a few feet away with the case held by her left forearm. "Daring Do! Give that back to me right now!" Ahuizotl demanded, crouching down as he neared the light gold pegasus.

"No can do, Ahuizotl. You should know me by now." Daring smirked, lifting off into the air with the flap of her wings as the creature jumped at her.

Landing on all four feet, Ahuizotl turned around and glared at the pegasus. "What are you even doing with those mercenaries? You never work with anypony else."

"Oh, Ahuizotl, I just can't seem to stay away from you." Daring bantered, smiling as she avoided the question.

The creature slightly laughed. "You know, it won't be funny when I pry that case from your cold, dead hooves!"

"Well, then." Daring started, spreading her forearms wide open. "What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

Ahuizotl howled in rage, sprinting towards the mare. Daring smiled and ducked as he tried to grab her before bringing a hoof upwards, making contact with his chin and sending him flying back, screaming in pain. He landed with a loud thud, losing his breath. He slowly got up and noticed that the mare was nowhere to be found. He growled in rage, yelling, "Curse you, Daring Doooo!"

The mare chuckled silently to herself as she flew away from Ahuizotl. Landing back onto the ground, she folded her wings and made her way towards the others. She heard a snap of twigs and saw Crystal and the other three mercs making their way towards her. Smiling, she lifted up the case and announced, "Look what I got."

Rune smiled, encasing the object in a pale blue aura. Checking for any dents, she opened the lid and lifted the black silky covering up to inspect the item for any damage. Daring couldn’t see what the prize was, but whatever it was, it appeared to be contained in a glass cylinder of sorts. Rune drew a sigh of relief when she saw it was intact, and then quickly shut the case when she noticed Daring Do trying to sneak a peak. "Cargo hasn't been damaged. Nice job, Daring Do."

"Where's Ahuizotl now?" Black Arrow asked, drawing the attention of the mare.

"I lost him." Daring simply replied, smiling as she reminisced in the scene of punching Ahuizotl on the chin so hard that it sent him flying. "What about the cats?" The light gold pegasus inquired.

"Them? They've been taken care of." Rune smirked, looking at the black leopard that was frozen against the tree behind the group. It struggled as it tried to free itself from its icy restraints.

"We chased the other three off, they won’t be showing their mugs anytime soon." Black Arrow said, his expression unchanging.

Daring smiled as she eyed the valued case. Nopony told her what its contents were, not even Prince Blueblood. Curious, she asked "So... can I have a look at what's inside the case now?"

"N-no... not yet." Rune replied, her eyes darting in the other direction. "Our client said that nopony except for me can see the item of interest."

"Well, that sucks. I was hoping to get a peek at what our prize was, but if it’s orders from the client." A drop of rain splattered on Daring's muzzle, making her look up to see more drops of water come splashing down. Looking back to the mercenaries, she said. "So, where are going to set up for camp? 'Cause Ahuizotl will be here any minute, and I don't want to have to deal with him again."

Rune raised a hoof to her chin before saying. "I believe there's a spot nearby. It’s a couple of miles that way, but we'll make it there in due time."

Daring nodded and followed the mercs as they took off towards where Rune suggested they camp, the rain picking up as their journey seemed to be finally over.

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the wait, but I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Again, thanks to DiabloGuapo and TehSporkBandit for their wonderful help. As always, I'll see you in the next chapter, so have a good morning, afternoon, evening, night and remember... sweet dreams...