The carriage pulled up outside the hotel, only for us to find that the area had been blocked off to the public, and not for a good reason. Outside the hotel there was several injured guards and it was bordered off by police tape. "Oh great, we haven't even got on the job and something's already gone wrong..."

We exited the carriage and a guard rushed up to meet Celestia. "What's going on here?"

"It's the Princess of Love your majesty, she's been kidnapped!"

Celestia gasped, Mothball groaned and I facepalmed. I sighed and turned to the guard. "Do you have any info to where she was taken?"

"Just a marking..." He held a photograph of a moon symbol with two blades down the middle. I looked to Mothball and he started fishing through the wanted posters. He landed on a page and inspected it, a frown formed on his face.

"Dark moon necromancer group, wanted for 10000 bits." Celestias face became filled with fear. "Not much is known about them, but their title speaks for itself..." This job just keeps getting better and better.

"Known location?"

"I can use a tracing spell to show their tracks, but it'll be difficult..." His horn glowed green and several green hoof-prints appeared on the ground. Celestia took notice and was about to send for more guards when I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't even think about it Tia, you saw how your guys performed on the train and here. Let us take care of it." I started following the tracks. "Besides, you hired us to protect Cadence, let us do our job." I flashed her a smile which I then hid with my scarf, Mothball followed, leaving Tia speechless.

Half an hour later we reached a dark ominous cave on the outskirts of the city. "A cave...it's always a fucking cave..."

"I know what you mean boss, is kinda stereotypical for a necromancer hideout."

"Finally we agree on something." I grabbed my sword and started walking towards the entrance. "There's likely going to be multiple flying resurrected in here, you handle them while I deal with the ground forces. Any live ponies are to be stunned or captured and as usual, kill only if necessary." Mothball saluted before floating above me and shape shifting into a Phoenix. "This is going to be good." I held my sword in my hand and Lancelot in my gauntlet. "Let's blow this shit..."

Meanwhile

Deep inside the cave, four hooded ponies were standing around a bound princess Cadence. "Y'know, I should say 'you'll never get away with this' but then I'd be no better than a damsel in distress." She smirked.

"What makes you so sure about that?"

"Yeah, you saw how we dealt with the royal guard."

Suddenly, a black rotten pony burst through the door. "Masters, we are under attack!"

"And why can't you take care of it?" The undead stallion shot over and whispered something into the necromancer ear that made him sweat. "What in the name of Tirek are they doing here?!" The ponies shot out of the room. For the next few minutes there was screaming, loud bangs and pleas of mercy. An undead stallion walked into the room and blocked the door.

He walked over to Cadence with a blade in his magic. "That's it, I don't care about the ransom, if I'm going down again, somepony's coming with me!" He raised the blade in the air, Cadence closed her eyes, preparing for her eminent demise, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see a look of shock on the ghouls face. He fell to the ground revealing several knives in his back, they then pulled out of his disintegrating body and returned to a bipedal creature in a black trench coat.

"I'm sorry but that mare is under our protection." A knife floated towards the ropes around her body and gently cut them off. Cadence dusted herself off and turned to the creature.

"Who are you?"

Grays POV

Oh damn am I still in the shadows? I stepped forward into the light. "Gray Karmen, leader of Lone Wolf Mercenary Services at your service." I gave a respectful bow.

"Oh, you're one of the mercenaries that my aunt hired."

"Yes ma'am. The friendliest mercenary you'll ever meet." I flashed her a smile which appeared to be contagious. She extended her hoof and I took it in my hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Gray, I am princess Cadence. Where is your friend?"

"Oh he's just tying up the necromancer gang and putting magic dampening rings on their horns. They were kinda over priced for their bounty though." I looked down to the pile of dust that was once a resurrected. "Seriously, are they ranked like that because the royal guard can't take em out, if so that's pathetic, no offence."

She nodded her head in understanding. "I get what you mean, the guard hasn't been given the best training or equipment, they just can't spare the funds."

"Yet they can dish out 10000 bits for these guys?"

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it. "I'll need to have a talk with my aunt."

I nodded and headed for the door. "Come on, let's not keep Mothball waiting."

Little did we know, there was a shadowy figure watching these events unfold.

"Hmm, these guys seem interesting..."

After one reeeaaaaalllllly awkward introduction with Mothball and Cadence, we were on our way down the now empty streets of Manehattan. I'm going to spare you on the details, since the level of cringe worthy moments were over 9000, mark that reference, off the list. Breaking the fourth wall aside, the two were now getting along just fine.

"So you just left the hive?"

"Pretty much, I wondered Equestria for awhile until I met Gray, he listened to my story and offered me a place to stay."

"Is that so? You weren't kidding by being the friendliest mercenary I'll ever meet." I turned and flashed her a smile, and ruffled Mothys mane.

"Someone had to take care of this guy, it's not like the nobility would have accepted him, heck, they still haven't accepted me." My smile disappeared for a second. "Wait a minute, why do I care? They're all snobs, well except for Fancy Pants and Blueblood, but still." This got a confused look from Cadence.

"Blueblood is nice?"

"Oh, right, you still don't know, Blueblood only acts like a total douche, think of it like a mask he wears, when he's in public like at social events he wears the mask and acts snobbish, but when he's among family and close friends, he takes off the mask and is a fun loving guy when ya get to know him." She showed interest in how I was explaining Blueblood, he is one of best friends and I can understand why he would do such a thing, there isn't a lot of time for him and his close friends to hang out, so he has fake friends to fill that void, not the best method but he is limited, he regularly stops by The Wolf Den for a few beers or just to talk, he jets along with Clawback vey well for some reason...

We arrived at the hotel where Celestia burst out of the door just as soon as we turned the corner. "Why is it that you always show up at the most convenient time?" As usual, my question went unanswered as she hugged Cadence.

"I'm ok auntie, really." She tried to pull away from Tias death grip but ultimately failed. We waited until Celestia was done mothering Cadence for abou ten minutes. "Auntie, shouldn't you thank Gray and Mothball?" Celestia froze and dropped Cadence, she recomposed herself and turned to us.

"Thank you, you saved my beloved niece, and for that I am grateful."

"Just doing what you payed us to do."

"And you do is rather well it would appear."

"Yes, but that is because we add a little bit of flare where ever we go, sometimes literally." This got a chuckle from her. I turned to Mothball and noticed he looked a little down. "If you don't mind princesses, I'm going to take Mothy here out for a drink, he looks like he needs it."

Celestia raised an eyebrow. "What about the job?"

"If there is anything I know about these situations it's that nothing else will happen to Candy here for at least another day., but if anything does go wrong..." I tossed Cadence a crystal. "...just add a little bit of magic to this and say you need help, we'll be right there."

"On alright, just don't come back a drunken mess."

"Yes moooooomm." She giggled as we made our way down the street. "Now let's see if we can find a bar around here."

Author's Notes:

Hey there, thanks for being so patient with this. I know it's a bit short but that's because it's a taste of what's coming up next.