Author's Notes:

Hey, look at that. A mid-week chapter post, but this one is special. *commencing evil laughter*

Editor and Proofreader => Regreme <=

In the muggy, eastern outskirts in the lands of Equestria, the unclaimed marshes that border the Celestial Sea are home to a myriad of wild and unfamiliar creatures. Yet, there was one creature, a pony, that had chosen to make this dangerous territory his home. This particular unicorn has dwelled within these marshes not out of some deep seated sense of adventure or wanderlust. No, this land was simply the only option for an exile such as himself.

Yet, why was he condemned to this ordeal when not even a few years prior, he was revered as one Equestria’s grand mages? In his mind, he did nothing wrong, and he certainly did not deserve this. It was all due to a closed minded fool of a princess and her preconceived notions of right and wrong. He was on the verge of a breakthrough in his research that would have turned the world on its head. Then, it was all taken away. His job, his status, his home, his family, all of it, ‘stolen’ away from him. Now, he was forced to live like some common farmer, just to get by. However, it seemed that this curse was about to finally turn into a blessing in disguise when one day, the extraordinary happened.

This unicorn stallion, with patches of matted pearly white fur and a unkempt mane of reddish-orange, trudged through the safer parts of the marshes. He had just finished gathering what little greens he could manage to grow in this terrain with a hoof woven basket in his pale-yellow, magical grasp when all of a sudden, the magic field around him turbulently shifted.

This shift was unlike anything he had ever felt before and broke his grip on the dinner basket into the mucky waters beneath him. The ambient field began to turn into a raging maelstrom, further putting the usually calm unicorn into a state of unease. All around him, he could hear the wildlife flee away from the area, as if they could feel the looming, incoming danger. Then, at the height of the phenomenon, the air shifted again. Right in front of him, luminous flakes of unknown origin swirled and converged on a single point in the middle of the air. As he watched in terrifying awe, more and more of these flakes appeared, and to his surprise, they started to form an object suspended in midair. The unicorn looked closer, and the oval shaped object took on the appearance of a mirror. The reflection was murky at best, and any shape it reflected looked heavily distorted. The unkempt unicorn wondered why such a random object would appear in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps a spell by one of the archmages that went wrong, or possibly a rogue elemental force was at work. Though as the unicorn was about to examine the strange object closer with his magic, a trio of banshee-like wails started to emit from the milky surface of the mirror.

The unicorn tripped backwards over his own hooves as the wailing grew louder. The surface of the mirror shook violently, and with a flash of light so bright that it blinded him for a minute, the sound of shattering glass and three yelps of pain from entities that hit the muddy earth filled the air. Once the blinding spots faded from the unicorn’s vision, he was introduced to the end of a tube attached to a strange contraption in the grip of an even stranger creature.

“Owens, what the hell is this thing?” the creature holding the contraption toward the unicorn’s head exclaimed.

Another one of the creatures, that took a bit longer to regain its footing in the marshy terrain, looked to the unicorn and nearly fell back down into the muck in surprise. The unicorn noticed that both, no, all three of these looked fairly similar to one another. He couldn’t tell if they were even alive or some form of animated golem, as nothing besides all the armored plating was visible to him from these creatures.

“What the fuck?!” the second creature shouted while also leveling a similar tube like contraption on the unicorn, “It’s some kind of monster!”

The third creature was still trying to find its bearings but panickedly shouted, “I don’t care, just fucking shoot it!”

The creatures’ lack of footing on the marsh made their tube like contraptions swing wildly in the unicorn’s direction. Flashes of light and terrifyingly loud bangs emitted from the contraptions. The unicorn felt the sting of some invisible projectile in his right foreleg, which he quickly associated with the now identified weapons in the creatures’ grips. Given the advantage in knowing the lay of the land, the pearly white unicorn lept back to escape after his first attempt to wrench the creature’s contraptions away from them with his magic failed. He didn’t expect these creatures to have magical resistance, so his only option left was to run, his focus too scattered to cast a proper teleportation spell without possible repercussions.

One of the creature’s saw the unicorn turn to run away and lept through the air off a column of jagged rock and pale-yellowish light that spawned from its hindlegs. Too concerned with getting away as fast as possible, the unicorn missed this and was thoroughly surprised when that creature splashed down right in front of him. The unicorn yelped as muddy water splashed up and clouded his vision and coated the front half of his already grimy fur and mane. The unknown creature took the advantage over the blinded unicorn and struck him upside the head with the backend of its weapon.

The disoriented unicorn fell to the ground, sputtering and choking on the muddy water that splashed into his mouth. Half blind, concussed, and with nowhere else to run, the unicorn did the only thing left he could do.

“Please, wait! Don’t hurt me!” He coughed out while holding up one of his forelegs in defense of another strike.

The first creature gasped, “Holy shit! It talks?!”

“Hold fire!” the third creature called out, “I want it alive for information.”

“Hey, Owens!” D.U.P. Knight, Edward Palmer called out to a man that just returned from his trek into the marshes for more supplies, “Get your ass over here, or Marshall’s eating your plate again!”

The D.U.P. Pawn named Christopher Owens rushed forward, tightly gripping the satchel and rifle at his side, as not to drop either of them during his sprint. Palmer and another man sat waiting for him in front of a lit campfire on a couple of carved benches in one of the few elevated areas of the marsh. This spot also sported a quaint little hut in the background, fashioned from whatever material laid avaliable. A small bastion of safety in the marshlands they now resided.

As he came up on the two other men that had had the misfortune of joining him on this wild experience to another world, he quickly snatched up the plate in the dark skinned man’s hand that he knew was his food as the perpetrator tried to take a bite out of the freshly cooked meal.

“Ah, lighten up, Owens. I was only kidding,” the dark skinned man cackled, also known as a D.U.P. Pawn by the name of Tobias Marshall.

Owens withheld the urge to kick the man and shielded his plate from any of the would be thieves while shucking the rifle and satchel off his shoulder, “Bullshit, you ate my plate yesterday because I was late by five minutes.”

Marshall chuckled again and taunted, “Then maybe you shouldn’t have pissed about in the swamp on your perimeter check.”

“I thought I saw one of those cragodiles that the doctor told us about on my way back, and since we only have one working radio, I couldn’t call it in and took a detour around the area!” Owens growled as he stabbed his fork into the mush that was his meal and stuffed his face.

Marshall shook his head and faced toward their superior, “That reminds me, where is the doc anyways, Palmer?”

“Come now, Mr. Marshall. Even mythical creatures need to eat as well.”

From the hut that the three D.U.P. agents had set up their impromptu campsite around, stepped out a unicorn stallion with a dirty off-white coat of fur and reddish-orange, unkempt mane and tail from the hut’s doorway, carrying a plate of food of his own. The unicorn strode up beside the circle of D.U.P. agents with a less noticeable limp in his step from a few days ago.

The bullet wound in his right foreleg was healing fairly well, but it seemed that the weapons that the humans used caused a repelling reaction to any rapid healing spell he tried to apply to the wound after their first encounter. So, he was left to heal the old fashion way, with minor healing spells to ease the process in between. The unicorn stallion took his usual seat next to Palmer and promptly began to dig into his meal of roasted veggies.

“Nice of you to join us, doc,” Palmer said, taking a few precious sips from his dwindling flask of whiskey he kept on him, “Got any news for us?”

The doctor swallowed the bite he was chewing on and set his plate down next to him on the hoof carved benches he made. “Unfortunately, I have not been able to glean any new developments on your trans-dimensional displacement. It’s likely that I am looking at this in the wrong perspective anyways. However, I’ve been much more curious as to your unique abilities as conduits.”

The last part was more of a whisper, so the disappointed agents did not catch it. In the meantime, the unicorn eyed each of the agents and then their empty plates of food. Without asking, he quickly lifted them up with his magic and sent them floating along into the hut where they were placed in a bin for later.

Palmer smiled at the unicorn’s actions, “Thanks, doc. I could of had Owens clean those up though. Also, thanks for the food. Beats the hell out of MRE’s.”

“Wish there was something other than nuts and berries. God, I could kill for a cheeseburger,” Marshall mumbled under his breath.

Although the meals they received weren’t just ‘nuts and berries’, the other D.U.P. agents shared a similar sentiment in their minds about missing a certain lean protein from their diet. At least they were able to substitute it with a bog fish or two, but the flavor left much to be desired.

The unicorn waved the D.U.P. agent off, “It is not a bother, Mr. Palmer. It certainly helps to practice such exotic recipes in the meantime.”

Palmer was about to reassure the unicorn that, as their host, that they should at least do more to earn their keep… though that train of thought was derailed as another thought entered his mind. He couldn’t feel his fingers or toes all of a sudden. This certainly surprised him, but a more appropriate feeling he lapsed into was panic. He was about to voice his concerns when Marshall next to him fell out of his seat from his bench with a groan. Next to him, Owens looked on in fear and was too stunned to do more than just stand and watch.

“Wha…” Palmer croaked out as his body fell numbly to ground from his seat.

He tried to fight it, but it felt like every effort he made only made the invisible force choking his body grow stronger. Over him fell a shadow, and through bleary eyes, he could see the smiling face of the unicorn that had served their food.

“Ah, so it seems that the formula does work on humans after all,” the unicorn chuckled to himself, “Don’t worry, it’s not lethal, but merely a highly effective paralyzing agent derived from the swamp bloom commonly referred to as ‘shadow’s whisper’. I should know, I’ve already ran tests on samples of your blood to make sure it only does just that.”

Palmer tried to speak, but everything he said came out at a weak gargle. His entire body was paralyzed, just like the unicorn said. He could still hear and think clearly, but those skills were useless in a situation like this. Whatever the doctor unicorn had planned for them, he hoped that he would regain his motor skills to kick his ass all the way to next Thursday for even thinking about it.

“St-step away from them!” the voice of Owens shakily pointed his rifle in the unicorn’s direction over top of his fallen comrades. This gave Palmer and Marshall the spark of hope they needed and waited for their partner to put an end to the crazed unicorn’s unknown plans.

“Mr. Owens,” the unicorn astoundedly called out, apparently surprised to see him still standing, “You shouldn’t be resistant to ‘shadow’s whisper’. Ah, I see now. You returned from your patrol late again, and the agent just hasn’t taken effect yet. Give it a few more minutes and you should feel its effects soon.”

“Shut up!” Owens shouted, waving his gun around threateningly, “Whatever you did to the others, reverse it now, or I swear to god I will blow your fucking brains out!”

‘No, Owens,’ Palmer screamed in his mind, ‘Just shoot the bastard! Protocol be damned!’

The unicorn nervously sidestepped around Palmer’s unmoving body, while Owens kept a bead on the diminutive horse with his rifle.

As the unicorn slowly moved around the camp circle, he spoke, “Come now, Mr. Owens. Surely you can understand the need for these measures. How else am I to acquire the knowledge I need?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Owens shot back.

“Progress, Mr. Owens! There is no progress without sacrifice. Can’t you see what I am trying to achieve here?” the unicorn sighed between his explanation, seeing confused looks he was getting, “No, I would expect you wouldn’t with such a limited perspective of the world. Now please, put the gun down, and this will go much more smoothly for everyone.”

A rifle crack echoed in the marsh. The unicorn fell from his foreleg that had been shot. Multiple expletives issued from his mouth at the searing pain and oozing blood from the wound. The rifle in Owens’ grasp shook as gunsmoke rose from the barrel.

Something was wrong for Owens. His shot should have sent the round through the unicorn’s windpipe, but his grip suddenly loosened at the last second. His fingers were starting to lose feeling, and his body felt like it was being weighed down with lead. He fought through the sensation and focused on keeping the gun in his hands steady, though even that was slowly becoming more akin to lifting a car with his bare hands. His attention grew to be so focused on himself that he didn’t even notice the unicorn igniting his horn in a burst of magic. The unicorn’s magical aura wrapped around the closest thing to his prone form, which happened to be Palmer’s rifle lying against his bench.

*Bang*

Owens’ lifeless body slumped to the ground. Blood and bits of gray matter gushed out from the bullet hole just above Owens’ left eye and out the back of his skull.

“Damn it, what a waste of a perfectly good specimen,” The unicorn spat out, “Hmm, I guess his body will at least be useful for an autopsy. That still leaves me with one less specimen to work with though.”

Uneven hoofsteps marched back around to inspect the two living DUP agents. The hope that flickered in each of them died out, with the only hope of salvation replaced with fear and anxiety. As the unicorn finished his look over of the paralyzed Palmer, he smirked. The DUP agent would have shivered from the cold look he gave him if he could move.

“At least my other specimens are still viable for testing. I will say that I am sorry, Mr. Palmer, but as I’ve said before, progress demands sacrifice. Conduits, Bio-terrorists, or whatever you want to call yourselves. I will unlock the secrets of your kind and regain the recognition I so rightfully deserve,” the unicorn looked off into the distance, a certain giddiness creeping into him as he thought, “In fact, I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. These ‘genetic anomalies’ or ‘conduit genes’ you’ve told me about sound almost exactly like what my old research was about, before everything I had was taken away from me. Yes, perhaps you are the breakthrough I was missing all this time on discovering that latent energy in my previous specimens I once sought. I must begin immediately, and then I will show that fool of an alicorn that she was wrong for ever scorning me and rejecting my thesis!”

The unicorn eyed the terror-stricken humans with a hungry grin, “Not to worry, Mr. Palmer. You and your men’s contributions won’t be forgotten. However your sacrifices will only be a footnote in comparison to what history will record in the name of the Grand Mage, Visionary Dusk!”