The five ponies, now all equipped with their respective weapons and armour, were set free under the watchful eyes of multitudes of Changelings mounted on Iopreys. They, the ponies, knew better than to engage the dozens of guards right now; they knew that they would be overpowered in an instant by the sheer amount of the bug-like ponies and raptor-like monsters. Even Pinkie Pie, one of the loudest and craziest mares in the land of Equestria, stayed quiet. Their plan to escape couldn't go wrong, or they'd be sleeping in the dust for the rest of their lives.

"Move along..." hissed one of the Changeling guards as they all traversed through the tinted red tunnel "Don't want to keep the boss waiting... You lowlifes couldn't imagine her power when she becomes angry."

Dark Thunder flashed Twilight a smirk, telling her that his plan was going smoothy as per planned. Before they even left, he had told his team and the two female others of his idea on how to escape, in a whisper of course. The lavender mare tried her best to keep the plan in her focus. She did this by remembering the entire conversation.

XXXXXX

Earlier...

XXXXXX

"Bro, we've been trying to escape from this place ever since we got here" spoke Butter Hero "All of your plans have failed so far, and to be honest, I'm getting kind of sick of them."

"Butter, for just one day can you not be an ass?" Rage Quit asked him before turning back to his leader with a smile on his muzzle "What's the plan this time, boss?"

"Well..." his voice went into a whisper, quiet enough so the guards couldn't hear but loud enough for Twilight and Pinkie to join in on the conversation "I was thinking we'd try number five again."

"Any reason why?" the light blue Pegasus asked.

"The only reason that plan failed was because we were short a few hooves" Dark explained before turning to the two mares joining them "But now that we have these two lovely ladies, the plan is ninety-nine point nine percent flawless."

"And the other point one percent?" Twilight spoke up.

"We're captured, each thrown into different cells, or prepared for execution" he listed the possibilities of failure "Or all of the above, exclusively in that order."

"Reassuring..." the yellow Pegasus of the five said "And what makes this plan any different from the others? We're still going to get caught, and even with some extra help, there were still a lot of flaws with with plan number five, such as the area, the monster we were fighting, the massive amounts of guards patrolling the area, and how could I have forgotten the-"

"DON'T SAY IT!!" Rage Quit shouted, breaking out of his whisper. He quickly shut his mouth with his left hoof and looked around the cell hall. After seeing no guards coming, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry..." he whispered again "But I can't bear to even speak its name. Just explain your plan to the mares, okay?"

"Right" Dark nodded and turned back to the two females in the room "Plan five goes like this..."

XXXXXX

Currently...

XXXXXX

Twilight went over and over the plan as many times as she could. Just as she thought that this plan was stuck in her head, Rage Quit came up to her and tried to converse with her.

"Sorry about earlier" he said "Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Rage Quit, and I'm the team's strategist. I'm the one who finds monsters' attack patterns and uses them against them. Although, not too many of my plans are set in stone because of a certain somepony's enjoyment in doing his own thing..."

"I'm guessing you don't like Butter too much?" Twilight wondered.

"What? Oh, no, sorry" the light blue Pegasus chuckled sheepishly "While it is true he can get on my nerves sometimes, he has massive amounts of potential. I can see it in his eyes. I only yell at him because of the stupid things he does sometimes. He's a good kid. Kinda have to act like I'm his father sometimes... Well, gotta practice anyway."

"Hmm? Why's that?" the lavender mare asked.

"My wife back home is seven months in" he smiled "We're both really excited, but I think she might be getting worried for me. I've been gone for a while, and being caught by Changelings doesn't exactly help me get back to her."

"Congratulations!" Twilight smiled "Not about the Changeling thing. Do you know if it's a filly or colt yet?"

"We talking about Unity?" Dark Thunder interrupted the conversation before Rage Quit could answer "Fine mare she is. Just don't stay around her in one of her mood swings... not pretty..."

"Well, we WERE talking about Butter before this" Rage said before cracking a smirk "Hey, do you remember when he nearly killed us a while back when we were fighting that black and purple dragon?"

"Wait, did you say black and purple dragon" the purple maned hunter spoke again "Oh no... Where did you see it last?"

"See it? Rather heard it" the ash grey Unicorn smiled "It was flying over us not a yesterday. Sprayed this mist all over the place and made some nearby Jaggies go insane."

"First time I ever felt bad for a monster" the Pegasus rolled his eyes.

"Will you three shut your mouths?!" shouted one of the guards escorting them to the hunting zone "At least your yellow and pink friends over here are staying quiet, or I'd have to personally execute all of you!"

All three of them shut their mouths as soon as the Changeling guard finished his sentence. The last thing they wanted was to ruin their plan. They should've known better. Even Pinkie Pie was staying quiet for this one. They just had to wait a little longer...

XXXXXX

"Greetings, one and all to the Changeling Gathering Hall" said the tall female Changeling Twilight saw earlier as she and the others entered the large, circular tinted red rock room "I am Queen Chrysalis, but I can allow you worms to call me either ma'am, or just Chrysalis is fine. I understand that two of you are new here, so I'll explain the rules" she turned toward the pink mare and the lavender one "You are not to disobey my orders, you are not to deviate from your mission, and you are not allowed to harm any of my boys. Failure to obey will result in death" she got up close to Twilight's face "Do I make myself clear, hmm?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am..." the frightened mare nodded.

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie Pie smiled, gaining Chrysalis's attention.

"My, my, you certainly seem very chipper..." she smiled darkly "You'll be quite the addition to the troop."

"I'm just here to make everypony smile, smile, smile!" the pink mare hopped up and down.

"Right..." the queen rolled her eyes "Anyway, all of you have a mission today. I want you to exterminate a Tetsucabra that we've been eying for a while. However, this Tetsucabra is... different..."

"How much different are we talking about here?" Butter Hero asked.

"As in subspecies different" Chrysalis looked at the yellow Pegasus. All at the same time, the three stallions shuddered in fear and sighed nervously from the mere mention of the word 'subspecies'. Twilight looked confused, but Dark Thunder noticed and began explaining it to her.

"Subspecies are rare versions of monsters that, to this day, have not been recorded by scientists" he said "Some ponies don't even believe that they exist! A shame too; they're dangerous creatures, and I'd honestly love to know more about them and how they tick."

"Do you mean like how a Diorekkusu and Tigrex are related?" the lavender mare asked.

"Sort of" he nodded "Those two species are considered cousins do to their similar body shape yet different attacks. Subspecies look almost exactly the same as normal monsters, only they have different colours and all of their attacks are the same, if not stronger than normal."

"Interesting..." the female Unicorn said with eyes of intrigue.

"If you're done your little biology lesson, mind if I continue?" the tall Changeling leader suddenly asked, gaining the five ponies' attentions "Good. Now, as I'm sure my boys have told you, I want the Tetsucabra's, or in this case, the Berserk Tetsucabra's tusks. They're selling huge right now and I don't want to miss out. Is that clear?" they all nodded their heads "Good. Now, guards, if you will escort them to the zone of the monster, that would be lovely."

The Changeling guards currently on their Ioprey mounts nodded and began to take the five to where they need to be. The 'queen of the hive' just watched them leave with a smile on her face.

XXXXXX

"You four remember your roles, right?" Dark Thunder asked his team whilst they hid behind a rock to protect themselves from the Tetsucabra, to which they all nodded.

The Changeling guards had left them to do their business and hunt the Berserk Tetsucabra, but hadn't ceased watching them. Fortunately, they hadn't bothered to listen in on what their prisoners were saying, making it so their plan could be executed much easier. Patiently, they awaited for their target to appear. Finally, after a tediously long five minutes, all five ponies heard the ground shake.

"This is it, everypony" Butter said as he stood up a bu"I can't wait to fight the-"

"Stay on plan, Butter" his brother reminded him "I don't need more of your rushing into battle. Not when we're so close!"

"...fine" he rolled his eyes and sat back down with his team.

"Ooooh, I'm super duper excited!" Pinkie squirmed around in her seat with a huge grin on her face as she pat her beloved heavy bowgun at her side "It's been forever since I spilled blo- I mean, had some fun hunting monsters!"

Everyone looked at the pink mare when she had her slip of the tongue in either shock or confusion. Nevertheless, they shrugged off their suspicions and turned to see that the Berserk Tetsucabra had already emerged. It was toad-like with a large hump where its shoulders were, not to mention its two large, rock-like tusks on its lower jaw and its spiked tail. It had a green hide on its back and tan scales on its belly. But its most defining feature was its seemingly painted orange face.

"What a marvelous creature..." Twilight studied it as best as she could "The shape is almost identical to a normal Tetsucabra, only green with an orange face and squinted eyes. My theory is that it-"

"Will you shut it?!" Butter loudly whispered before turning to his brother "Execute plan?"

"Three... Two... One..." he began to count down tensing the team up and readying themselves for battle "...NOW!!"

The second he shouted that word, the five ponies picked up their weapons and charged at the green monster. The creature immediately noticed them and roared, letting out a belch out from its mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tzq54DLcdI

"Rage, Butter, the legs!" Dark shouted at the two Pegasi wielding switch-axes in the grip of their wings. They nodded and began slashing their weapons at the Tetsucabra's back legs, eventually cracking the scales on them and making the monster flinch before roaring and picking up a large hunk of rock with its jaw tusks. Somehow, it made the rock look just about ready to explode if it touched anything. It lined up with the majority of the five before jumping up and smashing back down with the rock in front, causing and explosion in the monster's face and making it glow more orange than it already was.

"Fascinating..." the lavender hunter stared in awe before shaking her head "Stay focused! Stay focused! You can't let a rare discovery get the better of you! Stay focused!"

"Twilight, distract it!" Dark called out to her, to which she nodded. She was about to send out her Kinsect only to learn that it was nowhere to be found. She slapped herself in her mind as a small punishment for not realizing until this second. Improvising, she stuck her glaive into the ground, grabbed onto it and pole-vaulted onto the monster. She took out her carving knife with her magic and began repeatedly stabbing its back. It tried its best to shake her off by flipping in the air and fidgeting violently. But the Unicorn managed to stay on long enough for her to knock the Berserk Tetsucabra over on its side.

"Two steps in one, I guess" the ash grey leader of the group spoke before turning to the awaiting pink mare to his side "Pinkie-"

"Already on it!" she smiled before standing up on her back hooves and taking the heavy bowgun in her front ones. She aimed up at some stalagmites overhead the Changeling guards and fired a few rounds, letting loose the giant rocks and crushing the bug-like ponies. She laughed like a maniac before Twilight came over and calmed her down.

After that, the five ponies put away their weapons and jumped onto the downed monster's back, riding it around the place. Dark Thunder was in the lead and trying to control it the best he could. Just as it seemed out of his power to do so, the rest of his team tried to slow it down at the same time as he did. Eventually, they gained total control over it.

"Okay folks, this next part is gonna get a bit bumpy..." he smiled as he kicked his back legs on the Tetsucabra's back, making it move forward an smashing a wall down, revealing a secret passage way they could escape through "One thing to note about the Badlands; there are caves and tunnels everywhere. HIYAAAAAA!!!" he got the monster moving again through the tunnel.

(Music stop)

"I can't believe we did it!" Rage Quit said with a sigh as he held onto the back of the Berserk Tetsucabra "Man, if Unity knew that I was caught by Changelings and rode a Tetsucabra to safety, she'd never believe me or I'd never hear the end of it... or both..."

"We'll get home soon enough, old friend" the male Unicorn chuckled "Right now, we need to get as far away from this place as possible."

"While we're here, mind if you tell me a bit more about yourselves?" Twilight asked the three stallions.

"Since you already had a conversation with them, I think it's my turn now" Butter Hero, who was right in front of the lavender Unicorn, turned to speak with her, taking off his helmet in the process "My name's Butter Hero, but you can just call me Butter. I'm the brawn of this team and I never fail to take down an enemy, which is why I wonder why my brother and his friend hold me back!" he called behind him, earning an eye roll from both of them.

"How long have you been a hunter?" she asked.

"Eh, about three years now" he answered with a smirk "I consider myself a master Monster Hunter, but they still say I have tons to learn. God, they can be so annoying sometimes..."

"Butter, while yes, some ponies may be next to impossible to get along with," began Twilight, remembering a day way back when "there's always something in their hearts you can enjoy and have in common with. In short, once you get to know them better and understand why they do what they do, you'll get along with them a lot better. I learned that a long time ago at a slumber party."

"Ew... Filly stuff..." Butter stuck his tongue out before sticking it back in "But I don't know what you're getting at. These guys will always be dumb and stupid to me, always slowing me down and stopping me from doing what I want..."

Twilight couldn't help but sigh from his response. Before she could relax again, she felt Pinkie Pie, who was behind her, have a spasm in her body. It was her Pinkie-sense, and the lavender Unicorn knew that whenever this happened, something terrible would go down very shortly.

"Uh oh..." the pink mare said "That was my super-duper danger shake! Something's about to happen, Twilight!"

"Oh no..." she sighed.

"There! I see the light at the end of the tunnel!" Dark shouted out "We're finally free!"

The female Unicorn was half expecting for there to be countless Changeling guards by the exit. But, to her surprise, there wasn't a single bug-pony to be seen as the Tetsucabra jumped out of the hole and landed on the ground. The green toad monster laid down and let the five off to view the sights of the lava-covered Badlands. There were mountains of lava and dead trees everywhere. Beside them was a river of the glowing red, orange and yellow goo, hot as the sun.

"...ahh... Will you just smell that air?" the ash grey Unicorn sniffed "So sooty and burned, just how I like it!" he then turned back to the Berserk Tetsucabra "As for you, thank you. May you have a safe jour-"

The stallion didn't even finish his sentence before the monster they ponies had previously rode on was crushed by the silent wings of a purple and black dragon. No one moved. No one breathed. They were in too much fear from the sight of the destructive creature in front of them. It was the Gore Magala, nemesis of Twilight Sparkle and destroyer of Ponyville. And the worst part was...

...it was looking right at them.

Author's Notes:

Chapter good much? One doesn't need a long chapter for it to be good.

So today, we learned that Butter Hero is self-centered by young and still shapable to be a great hunter, Rage Quit is a bit of a jerk but only does it because he doesn't want Butter to die and is agitated he can't see his pregnant wife yet, and Dark Thunder is a respectable stallion that gets the job done while also making fun of everything he sees.

I changed Dark Thunder's species to a Unicorn as per my friend's request, so don't be alarmed!

Comment down below to tell me what monsters you want to see in the story!

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, happy hunting!