"Hey! Sparkle! Still with us?" Trixie asked, waving her hoof in front of Twilight's face.

"What? Oh, yes, Trixie." Twilight said while smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I was just thinking about our first mission. When we first met the Dazzlings and they hypnotized you, remember?"

"Yes, yes, fun times. But don't forget that there is a Giant Radscorpion on the loose in Canterlot and we have to stop it. There is no time for nostalgia!"

"What is a Giant Radscorpion even doing there, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I thought they lived in the badlands!"

"They do. That's the strange part. That's why Chief gave the Yellow Code. Somepony must have placed it there, so this is most likely a terrorist attack!"

"Ah sure do hope this is all a coincidence." Applejack said. "If this is indeed a terrorist attack, this could escalate into a war!"

"But I don't understand." Twilight said. "Equestria is in good terms with every other nation. Who would do this sort of thing?"

"We will figure that out later. We're here!" Trixie said while pointing down at Canterlot. She then turned to the pegasi pulling the cage-carriage. "You take the prisoner back to the HQ! We're landing!"

"Yes, ma'am!" both saluted.

The pegasi pulling the carriage with the four ponies inside soon landed in an empty street of Canterlot. The capital was quiet, save for the distant sound of commotion.

"It's coming from the castle!" Twilight said. Rainbow Dash flew up and looked around.

Yep, I can see it!" the cyan pegasus said. "A large crowd of Royal Guards in front of the castle and one average-sized Giant Radscorpion!"

"No time to lose, then!" Applejack said before running toward the castle, followed closely by the other three.

"So ya can finally keep up with me at full speed, eh?" Applejack asked with a smile. "Good job, Twi!"

Twilight smiled back at her.

The guards fighting the Radscorpion were being slaughtered, either pierced by its venomous tail, trampled by its long, slender legs or crushed by its massive pincers. A few L.R.E. Agents were also there, with two of them fallen on the ground.

"Sparkle, follow my lead!" Trixie yelled.

Twilight nodded and both mares charged a spell. A couple of seconds later, they had cast a two-layered shield spell around the Giant Radscorpion, who ceased to move.

"Not bad, Sparkle. Not bad at all!"

"It's all thanks to the Organization!" she said with a smile. "Now I know how you improved your magical abilities in such short notice; those books are amazing! Did you know that two of the Starswirl books in there aren't even catalog--"

She was interrupted by the Radscorpion, who started banging on the shield spell. Its blows were so strong that Trixie and Twilight felt it on their horns, flinching a little. After a couple more hits, cracks started to appear on the shield. The unicorns tried to increase the strenght of their spell, but to no avail; the spell shattered in no time and both mares yelped in pain.

"It's no use!" a mint-colored unicorn mare wearing the Organization uniform yelled. "Spells have no effect on it!"

"You could have told us that sooner." Trixie said while getting up, rubbing her sore horn.

"Well, I tried to, but--" something else caught her attention and she ran off. "Bon Bon, watch out!"

"If that thing is immune to spells, we're gonna have to do this the hard way!" Dash said while streching. "AJ, ready to rock?"

"Darn tootin'!"

Rainbow Dash flew up and grabbed knives from her saddlebags, holding three on each hoof. She shen threw them all at the Giant Radscorpion, not missing a single one. None of them did any significant damage to its carapace, but it managed to draw its attention to her. When the massive monster looked up, Applejack charged. A moment later and she was already in front of their foe. The earth pony turned around and kicked the Radscorpion's head with both hind legs as hard as she could.

"Never underestimate Bucky McGillycuddy and Kicks McGee!" she said with a grin. Unfortunately all she managed to do was anger the Radscorpion even more. Her face lost all color as she saw the pincer coming toward her. Applejack's eyes were faster than her body and she was swatted away like a fly by the Giant Radscorpion. Luckily for her, Rainbow Dash was fast enough to catch her before she rolled down the stairs leading back to the city.

"You ok there?"

Applejack nodded. "Thanks, Rainbow."

"Anytime, AJ!" she then glared at the black scorpion still attacking the guards. "Is there any way to stop that thing?"

"Of course there is." a pony standing behind them said. Applejack and Rainbow Dash immediately turned their heads to look at who was speaking: a light orange-colored pegasus stallion with sapphire blue mane wearing the Royal Guard armor and holding a Naginata - a long wooden spear with a curved blade on the tip.

"When did you got here?" Rainbow Dash asked with a raised eyebrow.

"There is a way to beat that creature." he said with a smug grin, before adjusting his helmet. "Watch and learn!"

The ponies who happened to blink at that exact moment missed the moment the stallion flew at the Giant Radscorpion and swung his weapon. At first the monster didn't reacted, but two of the legs on its right side suddenly detached themselves from the main body, making the scorpion lose its balance and fall. With a loud shriek of frustration, the giant arachnid tried to attack the pony with its tail, but the orange male not only blocked the attack with his Naginata; he also cut off the monster's tail!

"You might as well give up now." he said after landing on the monster's back. "Run back to the nest where you came from and never come back and I'll spare your life! A good deal, don'tcha think?"

But the Giant Radscorpion's brain wasn't developed enough to understand speech, so he just kept trying to attack with its pincers. The stallion flew up and shook his had.

"Wrong choice!" he closed his eyes, held his weapon with the blade down and simply stopped flapping his wings, allowing gravity to do the rest of the job. And even though the chances were slim, the stallion managed to land exactly where he wanted, making the blade of his Naginata hit the joint behind the Giant Radscorpion's neck, decapitating the beast.

The rest of the crowd watched everything with their mouths hanging open. It took exactly ten seconds after the body of the monstrous arachnid went limp for their brains to register what happened. The crowd then cheered! The stallion lifted his chin, pleased with all the attention he was receiving. He grabbed his Naginata and jumped off the dead creature's body, landing right on front of the pony closest to him: a certain purple unicorn mare with a dumbfounded expression.

"That... That... That was..." she said.

"Incredible? Amazing? breathtaking? The biggest display of awesomeness you've ever seen?" he asked with a smile.

"Nigh impossible!" she nearly yelled. "I mean, all those precise attacks at such high speed?! And that last stunt when you fell with your spear right on its weak spot?! How in the hoof did you--"

She immediately silenced herself when the stallion grabbed her hoof and blushed profusely when he kissed it.

"Or maybe I'm just that crazy good." he said with the same smug grin from before. "Name's Flash Sentry!"

"Tw-Tw-Twilight Sp-p-parkle." she stammered.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, miss Sparkle!" he said before walking toward the cyan pegasus who was still holding the orange earth pony; both were so amazed by the Royal Guard that they didn't even moved since he cut off the Giant Radscorpion's legs.

"Come visit me sometime." he said, holding Rainbow Dash's hoof and kissing it. "I can teach you a trick or two!"

Rainbow Dash didn't said a word. He then grabbed Applejack's hoof, but she pulled it back before he had a chance to kiss it.

"Hooves off, fella!" she said. He just smiled, shrugged and kept walking.

"That was... Admirable!" Trixie said, trying to hide her amazement. "Say, couldn't you drop by the HQ someday? We could use a pony like you!"

Flash chuckled. "Sorry, miss, but I already have a job!" he said while tapping the side of his armor with a wing. "But thanks for the offer. If one day I decide to get a more exciting life, the L.R.E. will be my first choice!" he then kissed her hoof before taking off.

Later than evening, in the cafeteria of the L.R.E. HQ, every member still awake who hadn't been called to the Chief's office for a meeting regarding the sudden appearance of a Giant Radscorpion in the middle of Canterlot and the possibilities of terrorism was talking about the Royal Guard who dealed with a full-grown Radscorpion by himself. Except for Twilight Sparkle, who was staring down at the carrots and lettuce leaves on her plate.

"Somethin' wrong with today's menu, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, startling Twilight.

"Huh? What? N-No, I was just..." she didn't finished her sentence and just looked back at her plate.

"Then what's wrong, Twi?"

"No-Nothing, I was just think about-- N-No, nevermind..."

"Thinkin' about that Guard?"

Twilight just blushed, but didn't replied.

"Eh, can't blame ya!" she said before reaching for an apple in the fruit bowl on the table. "Everypony is thinkin' 'bout him right now. A lot of 'em in the same way yer thinkin'!" she bit her apple.

Twilight blushed crimson red. "N-N-No, i-it's nothing like..." she trailed off again. Applejack didn't said anything, just kept eating her apple while looking at her friend and teammate. A random question then popped up in Twilight's mind. "What about you? Are you also thinking...?"

"Nah, not really my type!" Applejack said before finishing her apple and yawning. Twilight yawned as well.

"Long night that was." Applejack said, looking at the clock on the wall. "Caught Slendermane, fought a Giant Radscorpian... Ah'm beat! Gonna hit the hay! Ya comin'?"

Twilight nodded. Both mares got up, left the cafeteria and walked toward the room they shared. They walked past the Dazzlings on the corridor, who seemed to be chatting casually. They stopped talking, though, when the mares passed by them. The three sirens stared at them for a while. Adagio Dazzle, the yellow one, then turned to face Aria Blaze, the purple one, who looked at her as well. Aria pointed her hoof at Applejack, but Adagio shook her head and pointed her hoof at Twilight. They then started to giggle. Sonata Dusk, the light blue one, looked confused and just shrugged. Adagio groaned and facehoofed. Aria slapped Sonata on the back of the head.

Author's Notes:

The Waifu Stealer joined the party. Hold onto your pony waifu and never let go!