The quiet rustling of leaves echoed in the forest as the morning sun hid under a blanket of clouds, graying the chilly morning. Smoke faintly rose from the dying fire, embers glowing within the ashes of charred logs. Crystal Rune awoke with a yawn, stretching her forelegs. Rubbing her eyes, she blinked the remnants of sleep away. Raising an eyebrow, she brushed the sleeping bag off her legs, getting up onto all fours before making her way towards the entrance to her tent.

She brushed the flaps aside, squinting in the harsh gray light outside. It was quiet; an eerie silence had fallen over the woods. 'Where’s Rugged Muzzle? He was supposed to alert me when it was my turn for watch.’ Scanning the campsite from the tent, she didn’t notice the dark orange earth pony anywhere. Cautiously stepping forward, she warily looked at the surrounding treeline. Nothing seemed out of place as far as she could tell, but the silence of the forest was a little unnerving.

She swiveled her ears, hearing a noise behind her. When she turned around, she saw tent flaps brush aside as Black Arrow stepped out of his tent. The maroon pegasus yawned, rubbing his eyes. He looked her way and murmured, “Morning, Crystal.” Yawning again, he continued, “Get a good night’s rest?”

“Yeah… a little too much sleep for my liking.” Crystal murmured, turning away from the stallion as she continued her search.

Arrow raised an eyebrow as he watched her scan the area. “What’s wrong? Did you see something?”

“No, that’s not it. It’s Rugged Muzzle.” She said, turning around to face the stallion again. “He didn’t check in with me from his watch. He should have reported in a few hours ago.”

Black Arrow frowned, going through the tent flaps again for a few moments before coming back out with his outfit and his crossbow at the ready. “When was the the last time you checked in with him?” The stallion asked as he made his way over to the dark green unicorn.

Rune shook her head in worry. “It was last night, before I went to bed.” Pointing over to the north side of their campsite. “He was stationed over there.”

Arrow nodded and trotted over to where the mare pointed, quickly scanning the area before moving further into the forest.

Daring opened her eyes, standing up while rubbing the small fragments of grime from them. She heard ponies talking outside her tent and moved over to the entrance. Unzipping her tent flaps, she pushed them aside and walked out, Rune turned to face her with a frown. She heard the tent next to her open, Roughneck popped his head out as he murmured tiredly, blinking at the mare, “Hey, Rune? What’s with all the commotion out here?”

Daring turned to face the dark green unicorn and asked. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s Rugged Muzzle. He’s gone.” The dark unicorn murmured, looking over where the dark orange stallion was last.

“Gone? What are you talking about?” Roughneck inquired, raising an eyebrow as he made his way over to the unicorn.

“He didn’t report in.” Crystal said, looking at the stallion.

“Then what are we sitting around here for?” Roughneck questioned, quickly running back into his tent. He came back out with his jacket on and two daggers swaying at his sides as he trotted over to the south side of the camp. “We need to find him. If something like that creature from yesterday has found him, he needs help.”

Shaking her head, Crystal nodded and trotted into her tent, pulling her cloak on before coming back out. Daring Do made her way over to her side, matching the unicorn’s pace. “Don’t worry, Crystal. I’m sure Rugged Muzzle didn’t go too far.” The pegasus reassured her with a smile.

Rune nodded and the two mares quickly ran off into the forest. As the search began, Black Arrow noticed hoof tracks on the ground. Crouching closer, he inspected them and found a trail leading away from the camp. ‘These are Rugged Muzzle’s alright.’ The tracks were deeply imprinted into the mud, he looked up to see more tracks leading further into the jungle. ‘Why did he leave the camp? It’s too dangerous to be out here alone.’ Following the hoofprints, the pegasus quickened his pace.

He looked up and noticed a clearing through the brush. Seeing that the tracks led through the bushes, Arrow brushed the foliage aside as he looked out into the open field before him. He gasped at something lying on the ground only a few feet away, his eyes widening. “No… it can’t be.” Hastily turning around, he opened his wings and flew back through the trees, creating a racket as he flew through the branches in a hurry. ‘Why… that idiot!’ He closed his eyes and flew faster until finally breaking free from the brush. Gliding back to the ground, he ran into the middle of camp, calling out. “Rune! Roughneck! Daring Do!”

Daring heard his cry, and looking over to Rune, she nodded as well. Watching the unicorn run off, she picked up her pace, racing back to the campsite. Finally breaking away from the treeline, she saw the pegasus breathing heavily, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he shuddered. Rune skidded to a halt as she approached the pegasus. “Arrow, what happened, what did you find?” The unicorn quickly asked.

The maroon pegasus looked back up, shivering as he murmured. “I… I found something.”

It was a surprise to see the pegasus shiver, something Daring didn’t think he was capable of. Rune spoke up and asked. “Please, show us. What did you find?”

Arrow nodded shakily, trotting onward as he lead the group through the forest. The ponies noticed hoof prints as the stallion led them onward, seeing that they belonged to Rugged Muzzle from the deep imprint. ‘Where did you go, Rugged Muzzle?’ Rune thought, furrowing her brow. As the group continued to walk on, they came across an area of brush.

Arrow stopped and pointed towards it, looking away from the group. Seeing the pegasus with a somber expression, Daring and the other two quickly ran through the brush. Rune breathlessly screamed at the sight on the forest floor before her, Roughneck stared wordlessly, and Daring gasped. Lying on the ground was Rugged Muzzle, blood trickling from where his head would be and the wound in the middle of his chest. “Rugged… Muzzle…” Crystal whispered, her pupils shrinking as she stared at the horrifying sight.

“What… what did this?” Roughneck murmured, a frown morphing his features as he stared wide-eyed at the decapitated body.

Black Arrow walked through the brush, scanning the ground for any sign of clues. Moving a few feet adjacent to where Rugged’s body was, he noticed a large indentation in the ground. “Something skidded across the ground here.” The other three ponies turned towards Arrow as he spoke.

The maroon pegasus kneeled, looking for any other indications to what happened. He noticed more skid marks off to the side, smaller than the ones he was next to. “It seems whatever he was fighting knocked him back quite a distance.”

“But what kind of animal could do this? This isn’t the work of a pony.” Roughneck stated, looking back at the dead body of Rugged with squinted eyes.

Arrow scanned the ground as he continued his search. His eyes widened at what he saw after walking further away from the body. “Hey, guys… I think I found something.” The other ponies rushed over to his side, only to stare at the object below them. A large footprint was imprinted into the moist dirt below them. “Has anypony else ever seen prints like these before?”

“No. These footprints are way too big for something to be living in the Tenochtitlan Basin.” Rune murmured, kneeling down to get a better look at the print.

“It could be Ahuizotl’s print.” Daring pointed out. “I’ve seen his feet before, and they look like this.”

“But did he ever have claws at the end of them?” Arrow interjected, pointing to the imprint. There was an indication at the toe prints, something short but sharp extended out an inch or two. “Because a Chimera could easily have those type of feet, too.”

“But Rugged Muzzle would be more than a match for a Chimera. And didn’t we lose Ahuizotl?” Roughneck stated, looking around the group.

“Yes, but it has to be something.” Rune said, furrowing her brow.

A sudden thought came to mind as Daring looked at the footprints; she recalled Wise Heart’s words. She looked over to everypony else. “Hey… do you remember what Wise Heart said?”

“What do you mean?” Arrow inquired, raising an eyebrow at the mare.

“He warned us, saying that something came down from the sky. He said that whatever came from the object was something not from this world.”

The other ponies looked at each other, remembering the eerie warning. “But, I thought the old pony was spurting nonsense. You mean to tell us that what he was saying may actually be true?” Rune asked, raising a hoof.

Daring Do nodded. “It may be the creature that also killed all those ponies at the camp, too.” The three ponies looked to each other again, reconsidering the old stallion’s warning.

“You mean to tell us… that whatever killed those ponies, got to Rugged Muzzle?” Roughneck asked, shivering a little as his voice faltered.

Rune looked towards the body of her fallen comrade. She looked away before realizing that they had the item back at camp. Closing her eyes, she murmured. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Wait, we're just going to leave Rugged Muzzle’s body here?” Roughneck argued.

“We need to get going. The item we have is important to the mission.” The unicorn said, not looking back at the young stallion.

“What is your problem!?” Roughneck yelled, glaring at the unicorn. Crystal flinched before turning around to see the dark grey pony snarl at her. Daring watched the two stand in a silence that seemed to last forever before the dark grey earth pony spoke again, “You expect us just to leave Rugged Muzzle here to let his body be picked on by scavengers and not even give him a proper burial!?”

“We need to get going. Right now, the mission is more important than attending to Rugged.” Crystal reasoned, furrowing her brow at the stallion.

“It’s always about the mission, isn’t it, Rune!? The mission is always more important than the needs of others. You never cared about anypony except yourself-”

“Listen here, Roughneck!” Crystal shot back, walking over to the stallion to tower over him. He didn’t flinch and stood as tall as her. Daring went to intervene, but was stopped by Black Arrow; he looked to her and shook his head. Daring reluctantly stood back, watching the two argue. “The mission is our main reason for being out here. If we waste any more time standing around, we jeopardize the mission. Now be a good little stallion and follow my orders or else I’ll drag you back to the camp myself if I have to!”

Daring Do saw the dark grey earth pony backpedal, glaring at the unicorn for a while longer. He looked back to the body of Rugged Muzzle before reluctantly walking back to the campsite, pushing the brush aside without another word. Rune looked back to see Arrow staring at her with a blank expression before doing the same.

Daring slowly walked past the mare, staring worriedly at Crystal. She finally turned away before trotting to catch up with the other two. Crystal stood alone in the clearing, looking down to the ground. She gazed back at Rugged Muzzle’s body before looking away, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. The dark orange stallion was a good teammate and had served a good amount of time as her enforcer. To see him on the ground, motionless and without his head, chilled her to the core. Crystal shook her head, throwing off any tears she had before walking back in the direction of the camp, leaving the body of her fallen comrade.

“Ahhh! Curse that Daring Do!” Ahuizotl yelled as he slammed a fist into the ground. His feline friends watched as he smashed the ground for quite some time, cleaning themselves or lying on their sides as they listened to him blabber on. “That annoying little pony keeps getting in my way! She is the bane of my existence! Every time I have gotten close to my goals, she just happens to find out and interrupts every single one! That stupid pony ruins everything!” Clenching his fists together, he shouted up at the heavens, “Curse you, Daring Do!” He had enough of the pony, enough of her interfering with his plans.

“Well, no more! No more Daring Do! That mare is going to pay!” He snorted, growling as he roared into the gray sky. Looking back over to his cats, he pointed to them and barked. “All of you! Go home! I will deal with Daring Do myself!” The cats looked to each other before getting up and running back to the temple. Looking out into the open forest, Ahuizotl chuckled before erupting into laughter. “When I find you, Daring Do, you will wish you were never born!”

Daring Do stared at the mercenaries around her, seeing nothing but frowns. The walk back to the airship had been silent so far; nopony dared to speak up, not after what happened earlier. The pegasus mare looked around her, noticing that Rune’s gaze was locked on the ground, frowning as she walked on. Black Arrow was leading the group, showing no emotion as far as she could tell. Yet, Roughneck was glaring at the unicorn with a frown.

Daring sighed, wondering how Rune could even think about leaving Rugged Muzzle’s body like that. She thought that Crystal would have listened to her instead of keeping her emotions inside. Apparently, that wasn’t the case.

Rune looked up to the others before saying. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

A loud thud resonated to their right, making the ponies jump in surprise. Dust flew up before they heard a voice. “Daring Do! You’re going to pay for interfering with my plans!” Ahuizotl stood, roaring at the ponies before him.

“I thought we lost this guy!” Rune yelled, staring at the adventurer. Daring shrugged, smiling sheepishly. The creature charged them, creating a racket as he pushed past both trees and brush alike to get to the group. “Quick, we need to get back to the airship and fast!” Rune quickly ran off, the other three ponies following suite.

“You’re not going to get away from me this time!” Ahuizotl yelled as he ran after the ponies.

Daring looked behind her and saw that her nemesis wasn’t too far behind. “Uh, I don’t want to worry everypony, but Ahuizotl is catching up!”

Rune activated her magic, surrounding the group in a pale blue aura before teleporting. Just as Ahuizotl jumped to grab Daring, she vanished as he hit the ground, skidding on his chest and stomach. Growling in rage, he kept running straight, hoping to find them further ahead.

The group reappeared in a pale blue flash of light in a clearing, the airship visible in the distance. Daring shook her head and saw Rune rub hers a little before ordering, “Everypony, head to the ship right now!”

As the group closed in, they noticed movement on the deck of the ship. However, Black Arrow skidded to a stop and leaped into the bushes. Before Daring or the others could ask what he was doing, he urgently whispered, “Get down!”

They heeded his warning and joined him in the cover of the foliage. Daring Do and Rune crawled up to where the sniper was lying and peered out at the ship. From the rear, Roughneck asked, “What is it? What’s going on?”

Rune shushed him before looking forward again. Black Arrow pointed with his hoof at the ponies aboard the airship and whispered, “Look.”

Daring squinted at the figures and noticed that what she thought were the pilots that worked for Fancy Pants were wearing body armor and masks to conceal their identities. On the shoulder guards of the ponies’ armor was a bold, yellow ‘N’.

“Recognize the insignia?” Black Arrow asked.

Daring Do nodded and responded. “Neighland Industries.”

“Huh?” A confused Roughneck asked from the back.

“They’re the ponies we saw skinned and strung up yesterday.” Daring explained, casting a glance over her shoulder at the gray earth pony. “The company that Caballeron was supposed to meet and deliver the package to.”

As they watched, they noticed some of the Neighland ponies dragging something from the airship. It looked like the bodies of the pilots.

“We need that ship.” Rune resolutely stated. “It’s our only way out of the basin.”

“Yeah, so I say we rush them and take back the ship!” Roughneck declared.

“Not a good idea, mate.” Rejected the maroon stallion. “Take a closer look.” Upon further inspection, they could see that there were over a dozen ponies, all appeared to be armed. Most of them were carrying crossbows, but they looked more advanced than Black Arrow’s. Along with the archers, there were also large earth pony stallions, each of them a match for Rugged Muzzle’s physique, along with a team of unicorns, their horns glowing with magic as they rummaged the ship’s contents in search of something.

“It’s not here, sir.” They heard one of the masked unicorns report to another pony whose image was obscured in the shadows of the jungle’s canopy.

“Where is it?” A gruff, yet sophisticated voice asked a kneeling pony before him. Daring could make out that it was one of the pilots.

“I-I swear I don’t know!” The cowering pilot stammered.

“My team was supposed to receive something important from my contact yesterday, but they failed to report on time, and when I decided to handle the matter personally, what do I find?” He asked rhetorically. “My ponies were killed, the contact as well, and the package was missing. Now tell me, where do you suppose it could be?”

“I keep telling you, we don’t have it!” The desperate pony shouted. A nearby archer struck his face with the butt of his crossbow, causing the pilot to whimper in pain. Enraged, Daring was about burst out of her hiding spot and charge the assailants, but she felt a hoof pinning hers down. She looked over and saw Black Arrow shaking his head. Reluctantly, she laid back down on the grass and continued to watch, glaring at the pony interrogating the pilot.

“With my ponies and my recently departed friend, Dr. Caballeron, dead and the package gone, I decided to have a look around the area and, to my surprise, I find an airship and crew belonging to a rival company of mine. I assumed that if I was here, then perhaps Fancy Pants sent ponies here for the same thing. Dr. Caballeron was notorious for double crossing ponies in order to obtain a better offer. So, how much was Fancy Pants offering?”

“Please… I don’t know what you’re talking about!” The pilot sobbed as the archer placed the crossbow against the side of his head. The stallion in the shadows remained silent as the pony before him continued to beg. Seeing that he wasn’t going to get any more information from his captive, he looked to the archer with a curt nod and walked away. Daring could hear multiple shots from the crossbow, indicating it was an advanced automatic weapon, and saw the pilot’s body collapse to the ground, multiple bolts sticking out of the side of his head. Daring looked away, cursing the Neighland ponies under her breath.

A crashing noise resonated from behind them, not too far away. Daring looked back and sighed. “I think Ahuizotl has caught up with us.” She murmured, watching for signs of her nemesis.

“I think it’s time we ditched this scene. Come on, everypony, we need to get out of here.” Crystal ordered. The group quickly got up and took off, leaving the ship behind and losing Ahuizotl. As they left, they heard the shouting of somepony, accompanied by the noise of crossbow bolts and magic beams landing around them. The ponies ran for sometime, the noise of bolts and magic hitting the trees and ground slowly grew quiet as they retreated. They kept running, not stopping until they were sure that nopony was following them. Breathing heavily, the group settled down and took out their pouches filled with water, gulping greedily. The light gold pegasus watched as Rune got back up before saying. “Alright, so the airship is unreachable at this point, thanks to those Neighland ponies.”

“How did they find our airship, though? It was well hidden.” Black Arrow pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“No clue. But seeing how well-armed they were, I’d say our best bet is waiting until tonight before we attack.” Waving the maroon pegasus over, the two walked away from Roughneck and Daring, leaving them alone.

Roughneck looked at the ground, frowning. Daring looked his way with a frown of her own, wanting to comfort the poor stallion. He looked back up to her and murmured. “Hey, Daring… I need to tell you something.”

“What’s up? I mean, we did just get chased off by a bunch of ponies and Ahuizotl. What do you need to talk about?” Daring murmured, breathing heavily.

“I… we need to get out of here.” Roughneck simply said.

“Why? We need to stick together with the others.” Daring pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“But… Crystal. She’s going to betray you... and kill you.”

“What?” Daring murmured, her eyes widening at this revelation. She then scowled and looked at the ground. ‘Figures. I start to trust somepony and they try to stab me in the back.’

“It was the client’s orders… when we got the mission, Rune told us that we were to kill you when we got the target.” The grey pony said, pulling the case out from his saddlebag.

“How did you get that?” The pegasus inquired, looking down at the item.

“I stole it from Rune.” Roughneck said as he let Daring take a hold of it. “This was all a setup. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna actually wanted this to be destroyed, but our client said otherwise.”

“So the princesses actually want this item to be destroyed? Why?”

“I don’t have a clue. Rune never told us what was inside this thing.” He looked at the case intently. Daring looked at it again, moving the case around. “I know you probably don’t trust me after what I’ve said, but I don’t want to kill you.” Roughneck reassured, frowning sadly.

Daring looked at the stallion, her brow furrowing. True, she didn’t really trust most ponies, and after hearing this she wasn’t so sure. But he told her about his past and seeing him wanting to help her, she decided to trust him for now. Looking back to the case, she opened it up and took the tube out. The soft, black silk covering it was still over it, providing ample protection. “Whatever this is, they wanted to make sure it didn’t break.” Taking the silk off, she gasped at the sight before her.

Held inside the glass case was a small creature of some kind. It looked to be covered in bits of blood, while the rest of it was a pale, fleshy color. A long tail extended out of its back with a set of spindly arms and legs opposite that. But its head was elongated, stretching out until it flattened out to a crest, the tip of it a black color. The most unsettling feature was its lack of eyes. “What… what is this thing?”

“Is th-that thing alive?” Roughneck stuttered, staring wide eyed at the creature held within the case.

Daring already has an idea of what it is. Remembering what Fancy Pants told her. ‘But that is nothing compared to what happened to Rarity. This horrible creature was apparently like an overgrown parasite. Very much like the spider wasp, it lays its young in its victims’ chests, where they incubate until they burst their way out. Poor Rarity had one of those things growing inside her. But she was very fortunate. They were able to rescue her from the monster’s lair in time and remove the creature’s spawn before it was too late.’

“This…” Daring started to say. “This is the creature that attacked Ponyville. And we’ve been carrying it this whole time.”

“You’re actually talking about the monster that killed all those ponies?” Roughneck murmured, staring wide-eyed at the nightmare frozen in suspended animation inside the case.

Daring nodded as she put the silk over it again, placing it securely back into the case before closing it. Stowing it in her saddlebag, she said. “Come on, Roughneck. We need to get this to Canterlot and fast.” He nodded, quickly running along side her as they ran off.

“So that about sums up the plan.” Black Arrow murmured, looking up at Rune. “Think this should be over pretty quickly.”

“Don’t underestimate those ponies. They were able to find our airship and commandeer it. I don’t think they’ll be letting us take it back so easily.” Rune pointed out, looking down at the ground. The plan was well-thought-out, it was just a matter of luck if they were able to pull it off without a hitch.

“Hey, Rune. You alright?” Arrow asked, seeing the unicorn frowning sadly.

She looked up at him, and murmured. “I… I don’t know about whether we should kill Daring Do or not. I mean… after what happened to Rugged Muzzle and a conversation I overheard with Daring and Roughneck… I don’t know if I can go through with it.”

Arrow looked at her with his normal emotionless expression, before he asked. “I can see why you don’t want to. She has grown on everypony, and it seems that even you have lightened up a bit more than usual. The question is… do you want to go through with it?”

Crystal looked away, frowning as she thought of what to do. After all the things Daring said, after what she went through, even telling her about her own past. ‘I… I can’t… I can’t do it.’ She looked back over to Arrow and whispered. “No.”

“Then how about we tell her?” Rune went to interrupt him, but he waved her off and said. “I know that she won’t react all too well, but is it better to keep it a secret any longer?”

Crystal stared for a moment longer, before shaking her head. “No… she needs to know.” The unicorn turned around and trotted back to the other two, not seeing the smile spread across Arrow’s features. He caught up and walked with her. When they got back to the spot where they left the other two, they were nowhere to be found. “Where’s Daring and Roughneck?” Rune murmured, looking around the area.

“They should be here.” Arrow reassured, scanning the area, there seemed to be no trace of the two ponies. Moving towards the area adjacent to them, he spotted a set of hoofprints and waved her over. “They seemed to be in a hurry.”

“But for what reason?” Rune asked. She felt around in her saddlebag, feeling something missing. Taking it off, she went through both sides of the saddlebag, frantically throwing things out. “It’s not here!”

“What? What’s the problem?” Arrow inquired, rushing to her side.

“The case, it’s not in my saddlebag!” Crystal stood up, grabbing her head and shaking it. “No. It was in there the last time I checked.” Looking over to the direction of the hoofprints, she thought about why they left and suddenly thought of the case. ‘The case… the creature. It’s with them.’ Bolting off in the direction of the hoofprints, she left Black Arrow behind.

The maroon pegasus caught up with her and asked. “What? Why did you take off like that?”

“Daring Do and Roughneck. They have the case.” Rune said, cursing them silently. ‘Why? We don’t have the airship and being alone is the worst idea possible right now.’

Arrow realized the situation and nodded. Keeping up with the mare as they hurried after the two ponies.

Ahuizotl headed back to the last spot he had encountered Dr. Caballeron. After losing the group of ponies and seeing all of those other ponies guarding the ship, he knew that his old business partner was around here somewhere. “When I find that annoying pony. I’m going to make him tell me everything he knows about that creature.”

Having the ponies escape his grasp once again, he was infuriated. He was so close to getting Daring Do, but to have her disappear as soon as he almost had her made him growl at the memory. Walking into the opening where he caught Dr. Caballeron, it didn’t take long to locate him, or where he laid on the ground. His eyes widened, seeing his old business partner, dead on the ground without his head. Ahuizotl snorted, seeing that there was no use in searching the pony.

He looked around, seeing that his other comrades were dead as well, all killed by whatever got Caballeron. “I guess there is no other option. I’m going to find Daring Do, and make her tell me what that creature is.”

“Come on, Roughneck, we need to keep going.” Daring said, running alongside Roughneck. The stallion was slowing down a little, but kept at it. The sky began to darken slightly as they continued to run onwards. The two slowed down as they trotted on, the trees slowly swaying in the wind around them.

Daring swiveled her ears as she heard the faint sound of a waterfall nearby. “I know you're tired, but we need to keep moving.”

“I can see… why you run away from ponies so much.” Roughneck breathed heavily, sitting down as he caught his breath. They had been running for some time, and had gotten far from where Crystal Rune and Black Arrow were. “How far do you think we’ve gone?”

“I don’t know, but so long as we keep moving along, I think we’ll be fine.” A clicking sound resonated at Daring’s right ear. She turned to see what caused the noise, only to see a pony walking towards her with a crossbow drawn.

More ponies surrounded the two, all pointing crossbows at them as Daring looked around. Roughneck stumbled back, quickly pulling both daggers out as he got ready to fight the unknown ponies. The two ponies in the center stood back to back, as they watched the group warily.

One of the mysterious ponies ordered, readying the crossbow in his hooves. “Get down on the ground!” Daring noticed that they were the same ponies from the airship.

Another mare yelled, pointing at Roughneck. “Drop those weapons!” The dark grey earth pony reluctantly dropped them to the ground. The unknown ponies at the front stepped aside and another mysterious pony walked towards them. As the pony came into view, Daring saw that it was a stallion with graying brown hair around his polished horn. His eyes were green, his coat a darker yellow. Unlike the others, he simply wore a dark overcoat. The pony stopped a few feet in front of them, smirking as he said. “Why, hello there, Daring Do, it’s nice to meet the famous adventurer.” It was the same gruff voice from before. Daring stood still, glaring at the pony as he stood a few feet from them.

Pain erupted from the back of the adventurer’s head and she fell to the ground. She gritted her teeth as she held her head, figuring that one of the guards must of hit her with the butt of a crossbow. She heard another thud and she saw Roughneck land beside her, cursing as he gripped the back of his head.

“Who the fu-” Roughneck was about to ask before a hoof to the face silenced him. Daring looked up to the older unicorn before her and saw that his cutie mark was a white chess piece; a bishop.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Bishop Neighland, and you have something that belongs to me.”

Author's Notes:

Everything seems to have take a turn for the worse... hope nothing bad happens...

Again thanks to DiabloGuapo for his editing and TehSporkBandit for his proofreading. Remember everypony, have a good morning, afternoon, evening, night and stay tuned. Oh and... sweet dreams...