Author's Notes:

Bold - Character Narrating (Either Perspective or Narrator)
Italics - Character's Thoughts
Brackets - Author's Comments
Color - Character Who's Narrating or Thinking: Mathree
"Important" Soldier (No Color)
Starswirl the Bearded
Luna
Captain Coin Flip
Vallan

Within the Everfree Forest, Castle Gardens; earlier in the morning before Joseph and Rubert planned their escape.

Sometime in the morning, the two sisters enjoyed their breakfast outside with their two new friends – Tim Vlion and Mathree. The giant of the man and the short boy sat with the sisters, eating some bread and tea. Tim lay the tiny teacup on the palm of his hand, sipping it gently as to not break the ceramic; Mathree glared at the castle’s staff, especially the soldiers who occasionally stare and whisper back.

Military figures will always be military figures; bunch of kiss-asses.

“Is something the matter Sir Mathree?” asked Luna, nibbling on a loaf of bread.

“Naw no prob here… Also; quit calling me sir, Mathree is just fine,” said Mathree, annoyed.

Luna’s ears folded down from Mathree’s tone, but he sighed and patted the young alicorn on the head, trying to avoid her horn. “Ayyyy don’t take it so seriously, thar no reason to be so serious about titles and the like. From personal experience, it bettar to be yourself than some fancy spants of the like; just no hard feelings, aight?”

Luna frowned, but gave a small smile and nodded back. “Kay.”

“Ahhh that’s the spirit,” said Mathree. “By the way, why’re we eating out, I like a good bite but outside?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being out in the sun, and enjoying a quaint picnic with friends,” said Celestia, smiling.

Mathree folded his arms and huffed back, Tim placed his teacup down and grunted back at Mathree. Mathree’s face contorted with a mix emotion between confusion and disgruntlement. “What!? Don’t tell me you like this!”

Tim shrugged and made short noises before Mathree waved his hand back at Tim. “Okay okay you got a point, I suppose there nothin wrong trying to be nice to us… though I wish we could do something… ‘entertaining’.”

That was when Luna rose up and her ears perked up, she had the cutest look as she gleamed with youthful energy. “OH! We could try playing in the underground tunnels; they’re a mess of maze-like tunnels, we can play a game of tag or hide-n-seek!”

“Wha? That’s… not bad actually, better than sitting here doing nothing; well time to go and check these catacombs out.”

“Yeah!” Luna rose up but before she could go, was stopped by Celestia who gave a worried look.

“Starswirl said not to go down there, mentioning that the caves haven’t been properly searched for any… creatures.” Celestia then felt a hand on her and turned to find Tim; with a simple thumbs up he grunted in a promise to keep them safe.

Mathree then grinned, patting Tim on the back – or one of his legs – agreeing with Tim’s statement. “Now don’t worry, this big guy is like a living statue, nothing goes past him so don’t worry yah little eads.”

Celestia was skeptic but from seeing Tim’s invulnerable body and Mathree’s sharp wit, they were both capable of handling any situation. “Alright, but I blame you if something happens.”

The four cleaned up their picnic and went back inside the castle, but somepony was watching them, the same guard who was humiliated by Tim Vlion. That giant is going to pay… horribly.

Inside the castle, Starswirl’s room; Starswirl busily worked on finding out more about where Tim and Mathree came from.

Starswirl scratched his head in frustration; ever since the two came to the castle in the Everfree – they call themselves humans – Starswirl has been researching and collecting his notes together to see if there was a possibility that Tim, Mathree, and his allies either came from a faraway land… or something else. However due to lack of research on the subject, and that many of the world is unknown – both their own land and beyond – Equestria was very ignorant of their own surroundings.

What exactly could they be, and where did they come from… They had strange faint magic around them but nothing I’ve know or heard of before. But what got me most curious… was that Tim fellow; out of all the sightings from Canterlot, the military camp, and Chancellor Puddinghead’s camp, their companions have strange abilities… Tim however is different.

Looking through his notes, was written mentioning of his odd build and of a strange heat source emanating from him.

“Its as if he’s a living volcano… but my greatest question is the fact I sense nothing from him – no magical energy or… anything. His companion, Mathree I can sense something, a small wisp of magic… but he holds nothing of sort, and at first I thought his situation was similar to the minotaurs and griffins, but they too have some sort of form of energy, he alone… is a true conundrum,” said Starswirl, mumbling to himself.

Starswirl’s mumbling was loud enough that one of the maids heard him; stepping inside to see what the noise was about, the first thing she saw was something else entirely. Now while Starswirl is the greatest magician their time… he wasn’t a good organizer.

“SIR STARSWIRL! WHAT IS THIS MESS YOU HAVE HERE!?”

Starswirl shook from his concentration and looked up with speed that would make any pegasus shocked. Starswirl gulped loudly, having noticed who has entered his room. “Miss Absolute! Wha-What are you doing here?”

Absolute Ready; head-maid of the castle, who’s in charge of all work staff in the castle, and is also known for her strict attitude, and need to keep everything nice and tidy… this involves having to remind Starswirl to have his room cleaned, or she would spew rant after rant about having everything organized and clean.

“Well if you must know, I heard somepony talking in here, only to find you here working… Did you get some sleep, you have to be tip-top shape – what if we got guests and we weren’t ready for them?!” said Absolute, ranting.

Starswirl heard nothing but “blah blah blah” and so forth, but that was when the ranting ended and he heard something of importance. “Oh by the way… Miss Smart Cookie sent a message meant for you about something, I haven’t ready the scroll, but it seemed urgent considering it was to be sent to you when possible.”

“A message, what is it about?”

Absolute used her magic and pulled out a scroll and gave to Starwirl; reading the scroll, scanning through it with rapid-speed, the scroll mentioned something about an attack happening at the camp – nopony was hurt – but it appears the purpose of the attack was to cover an escape by two individuals known; Joseph and Rubert Crane. The brothers were last seen escaping south in a strange mechanical vehicle of sort, similar to a wagon but much larger.

Mechanical vehicle? South; nothing is there but desert and wastelands… unless…

“Unless they don’t know that… Miss Absolute, I need you to prepare a small escort to Canterlot. Apparently, something has happened and the tribe leaders are in a panic, so until I return you’re in charge till then. Also tell Captain Coin to double the guard until further notice from any messages from myself.”

“Of course… And please clean your room before you leave, or I have to drag you back here from Canterlot.”

Starswirl gave a weak laugh, as a bead of sweat dripped from his forehead. “Ah heheheheeee...”

Beneath the castle, Castle Catacombs; Luna, Celestia, Tim and Mathree explore the caves and tunnels.

The Catacombs were a less complicated version of the cave system at Canterlot, but what it lacked in size, it had in complexity. The caves were retrofitted with false walls, numerous traps, and secret tunnels… well, that was to be planned in the future, right now they were full of stalagmites, puddles of murky water, and tiny night-dwelling critters sleeping in the cave.

“Wow, so this is the Catacombs, eh,” said Mathree.

The group were a few meters from the stairs that led to the Catacombs, meaning that portion was done already. A couple of meters in however was partially complete or still held its natural look, but had some equipment still set up. The workers are postponed, having busy with other projects outside the castle; extra help will arrive with the remaining ponies from the three tribes.

“Since nopony is working here, we’re allowed to be here, but we can’t go any deeper. Some of the workers mentioned hearing weird noises deeper in,” said Luna.

“We shouldn’t be here you guys, let’s go back,” said Celestia, looking back. Celestia turned to Tim for some support, but the giant man disappeared, having going ahead of the group; Tim turned and waved them back.

“Well Tim says its safe, so there’s no reason to be picky about things. Let’s get this game going!”

Luna jumped in joy as she trotted ahead to play their game of hide-and-seek; Celestia gave up her attempts of convincing them to leave, and joined them. The four decided that Tim would be it – that and he couldn’t shout “not it” – while the others went to hide. After counting to a hundred… or Tim’s way of doing it by making one hundred grunts, he began to search.

Tim walked through the caves, the drips of water coming from stalagmites echoed on and on. A quiet scuffle was heard, behind him; turning around he saw a pile of crates, and while there didn’t seem to be anything remarkable, Tim saw the slight tinge of a tri-colored mane, poking from the edge of the pile – quiet snickering could be heard, if listened carefully.

Celestia tried her best to stay quiet, but turning to see if Tim left, he was gone… except he wasn’t. Going back to look at the other corner, she saw face to face with Tim; Celestia was spooked but Tim placed a finger on her muzzle, and spoke a single word.

“Bo,” said Tim.

Celestia pouted, as she booped Tim back with a hoof. “For someone your size, you can be pretty quiet. Come on, let’s find my sister and your comrade.”

Tim stood to his full height, and moved with Celestia; elsewhere, Mathree hid the last place anyone would find him… the roof of the cave. Mathree held on to his butcher knife that was stuck to the roof – which he threw up and climbed up to hang onto – below him was Luna, who hid behind some natural rock formations.

I’m surprise she hadn’t spotted me yet… Though to be honest, I don’t want her to find me, whether she’s it or not. Mathree saw something in the corner of his eye, and thought it was Tim… but was something he hasn’t seen in his life before.

Luna was snickering wildly, and kept on gasping with held laughter; Tim and Celestia had passed by her and went deeper into the cave, and considering there were several passageways, it would take them awhile for them to find her. She slammed her hoof against the stone wall as she inhaled more air to breath, and afterwords she slumped down and relaxed.

“This is going to be really funny when they come back… Maybe I should scare them when they do.”

Luna then heard someone coming back, raising back on all hooves, she slowly went to the corner, and at the last second, she popped out to scare who was on the other side. “BOO!”

There were a lot of different dangers in Equestria, especially in the Everfree – manticores, cragcodiles, hydras, timberwolves, chimeras… and cockatrice. Standing right before Luna was a cockatrice… a really big one… that was glaring at her coldly… well the cold part would because her lower half of her body was feeling numb. Luna wanted to know why her back legs weren’t functioning, why she couldn’t look away, and why she was unable to scream. She was told of these creatures that they were to be feared more than any of the other creatures in the Everfree, she still didn’t know why… but she knows now.

Someone… help me……..

Her body started to freeze, and slowly her mind… until something came down upon the cockatrice; the blood-thirst from it’s eyes was intense that the cockatrice almost lost its focus… that wouldn’t matter though.

Luna fell unconscious, but when she woke up a few minutes later, she felt something warm splattered over her… and a strange smell. Opening her eyes, standing over her was Mathree – he was frowning and had something streaked across his face – he looked terrible; blood was dripping on his face, and held on one of his hands was a knife that didn’t looked like it was used to cut vegetables.

“You need to be careful you know; I also thought you said these caves were safe?”

Luna rose up with wobbly hooves, gaining some assistance from Mathree. “I didn’t… say that… I just said, that we can play here but… needed to be careful.” Luna noticed something behind Mathree, but before she could take a peek, her sight turned to darkness. “...Huh?”

Mathree had covered her eyes with a piece of his clothing, ripping it and making a makeshift blindfold. “Ieeeeehhhh wouldn’t look if I wey you… Yeesh, that stank es worse than leftover pizzas, the next time we play hide-n-seek, remind me of this.”

“What’s behind you… and why am I sticky?” asked Luna, naive.

Mathree turned to stare at the answer to Luna’s question; when Mathree saw the cockatrice and saw what it was doing to Luna, he came upon it without mercy, having slicing it to pieces from above. It spewed a ton of blood, some covering Luna, and himself… that of course couldn’t beat the smell. Footsteps and hoofsteps were heard, signaling the arrival of Celestia and Tim, the two arrived and spotted the carcase, and seeing Luna and Mathree near said carcass.

“WHAT HAPPENED!?” shouted Celestia, rushing toward the two.

Tim followed behind and when he neared the carcase, he carried it a distance from them to… “clean” the mess. Celestia tried her best to clean the blood on her sister’s coat, which only caused more smearing on herself and Luna. Mathree stood by watching with an amused grin; he then coughed and pointed out Celestia’s mistake.

“I’m no expert on how to clean blood… well I kinda of, but that’s not the point. Rubbing it like it’s some mud ain’t going remove it; we should head up and tell them what we found.” Mathree turned around only to find something smoking and burning; Tim came back with some smoke and bits of ember from his palms – the smell of charred cockatrice carcass was lingering in the air. “Really? You had to be extra careful and roasted the bloody chicken monster? I swear, I turn around and you do something without telling me.”

“Boho ho bo.”

“What you mean there could be more? How is burning the thing going to help?!”

“Bo bo ho.”

“They might think it was a dragon that killed their compadrie… huh… that actually might work. Alrighty than, if that’ll make the scaly chickens flee with terror, I don’t know what will… let’s get out of this damp cave, getting my shoes wet as it is.”

Sometime after the group went back above ground; Everfree Castle, Bathing Room.

Celestia helped clean up Luna after their short game of hide-and-seek, while Mathree simply cleaned himself up with a wet towel… Tim on the other hand simply gazed outside on one of the balconies. The alicorn sisters busied themselves cleaning in the castle’s bathing room; since most of the staff and guard busy cleaning themselves in the evening, and in turns – females first, males secondly. Of course anypony can take a bath any time of the day, mostly early in the morning or late at night.

“TIIIAAAHHH! Not so rough,” said Luna, her mane covered in soap. Celestia scrubbed roughly against Luna’s scalp as she tried to remove the stench of dried blood and dirt from her sister.

“Not after what just happened down there; I swear, the next time I listen to you, I’m putting a tracking glyph on you so you don’t do something this crazy again. I told you that it would be dangerous but nooooohhhh, you were bored and decided to go to the one place we were told not to go to!” Celestia kept on scrubbing Luna’s mane harder and harder, so much so that Luna squeaked from having her mane – and her head – being dragged back.

“Siiiis, stahp, I think you’re pulling some of my mane off!”

Celestia stopped her scrubbing and sighed, as she gave Luna a tight but warmth hug. “Sorry… just… please don’t do something like that again.”

Luna gave a warm smile and snuggled closer to her sister. “I promise...”

Outside of the bathing room, Mathree listened in and after leaving the two siblings to have their privacy, he wanders around before spotting Tim leaning against a balcony. Joining him, the two silently gaze outside toward the afternoon sky; neither speak, but this is how most of their conversations end up happening.

“So… what you think of those two? Apparently their suppose to be some powerful beings… well in the future of course, right now their just some kiddies. Makes me wonder; what would it be like to live a life of royalty… I left that life behind for riches and action instead… One of these days, I’ll be gone, you’ll be gone, we’ll all be gone… so why...”

Mathree turned to face Tim, with a solemn look in his eyes, before frowning. “Why is it that we have such lives, but given no purpose… Don’t you find it meaningless?”

Tim gave no response but grunted and gave a nod of his head. Mathree shrugged Tim’s response off, and continued staring at the sky.

“Yeeeeaaaah… No reason to be so questiony-questiony aboot things… Never was the type to be smart arse. Better go do something to keep ourselves busy; I think they have somewhere to train for the soldiers… Wanna spar?”

Tim swiveled his head in such a manner, you could imagine the creaking from his neck. “Bo… ho...”

The two left and made their way to the sparring grounds… underneath the balcony in the garden, a certain guard was listening in to their conversation – well Mathree’s random ranting, but same thing. The guard grinned as he prepared his plan to come to fruition, taking his leave and heading to the same place the two are heading to.

Everfree Castle, Sparring Grounds; Captain Coin Flip trained some of the soldiers, as they sparred one another or trained with some dummies.

“You, raise your sword higher, and remember to hold it with your mouth, not your teeth! Remember to keep shields up and your head lowered if you don’t want an arrow between your eyes! AND FOR FAUST’S SACK, CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THAT PRIVATE TO QUIT FOOLING AROUND; THAT ISN’T HOW YOU USE A BOW!”

Captain Coin was screaming his lungs out at the soldiers training… for anything; the sparring grounds were stationed in the front of the castle, but a camo-cloth wall was surrounding the grounds to hide their position, and wards were placed to silence any noise they make, meaning their location is completely silent to anypony trying to find them.

We’re getting less and less recruits each passing day… but considering only a considered few were chosen for this mission, we can’t willy-nilly choose random ponies. Still… training these recruits is becoming a hassle, I wasn’t made to train anypony but give orders.

Captain Coin grunted before spotting two interesting figures approach the grounds; Tim walked stoically while a grinning Mathree strode beside him. Mathree was able to clean his clothes – even though he was covered in cockatrice blood – and is armed with his trusty cleaver, while Tim begins to crack his massive knuckles. Coin approaches the two on why they’re here… and why they seem to be getting ready for a fight.

“Sir Mathree, and Sir Tim… May I help you with something?” asked Coin.

“Ehy nothing for you to worry bout, just wanted to fight my buddy here; we usually tussle with one another when bored. It could also give these soldiers here how back home, we fight… wanna ask if that ayright with yah.”

Coin was about to deny this request, but paused; having the two fight would change things a little… and give something the soldiers to be entertained about. Ever since the two have arrived to the castle, Coin has been suspicious of them… but maybe finding out how they fight might give Coin a clue about who they are. Its better than trying to train these colts.

“Sure; you two can spar over there, and I’ll set up some barriers to see how big of an area you can fight in,” said Coin, turning around. “PRIVATE! BRING SOME BARRIERS, OUR GUESTS ARE GOING TO SHOW US HOW THEY FIGHT!”

Some of those training heard what was going on, and stopped their activities to watch the fight. Some of the soldiers started to talk amongst each other and spoke about the rumors they heard about the two – Tim’s brute strength, and Mathree’s skill with his weapon – but having the two fight would bring up moral and make the day, much more interesting.

Tim and Mathree prepared themselves, as each one of them went to a separate corner of the makeshift ring. Tim unarmed, and Mathree armed with his signature cleaver knife, and both of them were bloodthirsty their own way. Both fighters stared at one another when one soldier who would be overseeing the fight and make sure nobody were to get hurt… if only he knew what was to come.

These ponies are going to be surprised once they find out how we fight; time to show these ponies a real fight.

The soldier – who was a pegasus mare, and same rank as Coin – raised her voice to announce the fight. “Alright soldiers – stallions and mares – on this corner we have the tall, strong, and burly; Sir Tim Vlion! On this corner, we have the ecstatic, wily, and sneaky; Sir Maxwell Arvion III! Fighters, here are the rules; rule one, no hits to any vital points. Rule two, the only way to be eliminated is either knockout, ring-out, or forfeiting. Rule three, no weapons are allowed – both handheld or ones to improve one’s attacks, this includes magic of any-”

“Now hold on sister!” Mathree walked up to the mare, and was stopped mid-speech to listen to him. “This is our fight, so what we do we’ll do it our wey! Besides… What’s the fun in having rules, when you’re just going brek them.”

Mathree gave the mare a devilish smile which caused her to be a little red in the face before coughing away her embarrassment. “I am deeply sorry Sir Mathree, but will you allow the rule of no vital parts being targeted to be allowed… please?”

Mathree stared at the mare for awhile before turning to return to his corner. “K; now let’s get this fight… ON!”

The mare nodded and move from the ring to join the other soldiers. Making sure both fighters are ready – Tim standing tall, and Mathree lowering his form to almost a crouch – she raised her left forehoof. “...AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHNNNDDD FIGHT!”

In a rush of air, Mathree vanished from his corner and when Tim was about to move forward, Mathree appear right in front of him, and smashed his cleaver into his forehead. Everypony stared with eyes wide what Mathree did… when Tim raised his fist and nearly landed it on Mathree; Mathree skidded back and grinned in return.

“That was close, elmost gote me, mate.”

“SIR MATHREE! I SAID NO HITS TO ANY VITAL POINTS!”

“True… except this bugga got no vital points at all; his body is hard as steel, beside his fine. Right budd-”

Right before Mathree could finish, Tim was upon him as one of his massive fists was smashed just where Mathree was. Mathree dodged attack after attack, vaulting over Tim’s large arm, and sending his cleaver down upon his neck, only for the giant of a man to grab Mathree by his arm and fling him to the air. Everypony was leaning against the barriers of the ring, as the intensity of the match was increasing each passing second.

With each punch Tim swung, Mathree would return it with a chop and swing of his cleaver; it was a dance of bloodshed… except no blood was shed. Each time Mathree gotten a hit on Tim, it caused a spark to come off, but that’s all, and there were signs of bruising or dents of some kind, but no blood. Mathree on the hand while was a bit scuffed, held his own pretty well… but that was about to change.

Mathree loosened his poise, and rushed forward with speed to rival the quickest messengers. Jumping up and over Tim – using one of his swings from his arm – Mathree pulled out a second cleaver and spun himself to create a whirlwind of blade chops.

“MURDER DANCE!” Mathree continued and continued to chop and slash his cleavers against Tim, that the big man was forced to raised his muscled forearms over him as sparks flew everywhere. Mathree was cackling maniacally as he kept his onslaught going until he finished with one final move.

“Time to finish this; Butcher…”

At that same time, Tim backed away and started to pull his fist back as if it were a spring; both fighters were about to unleash their signature moves – Tim’s being known to shatter the greatest of walls with a fiery punch, called “Volcanic Crater” - and clash in the middle.

“...Cross!” Mathree sent both of his cleavers down in a cross-like fashion, causing a silvery light to come forth his weapons.

Both attacks caused a shock-wave to spread across the ring, as a blast of wind knocked back those watching and the surrounding weapon racks and tents. A cloud of dust appeared upon the two fighters, and as it slowly dissipated, a small crater was in the center of the ring with clusters of dirt and rock everywhere… except for Tim or Mathree.

Everypony became confused and worried something happened to the two fighters, when they looked up to see the two continuing to lung attack after attack in mid-air; Mathree was in the air by spinning his cleavers so quickly that it made him fly, Tim on the other hand was held in the air by streams of steam that was blasted to the ground from his feet.

The two were continuing to brawl, not noticing the mayhem they caused below them… the fight also got the attention of both the alicorn sisters, and Starswirl. The three came outside after hearing a loud thunderclap of a noise from outside, and when spotting a large crowd of soldiers staring up, they too look up.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF FAUST IS GOING ON!?” screamed Absolute, coming outside. When she saw the mess out front, she nearly fainted as she fell onto her haunches, and placed both her fore-hooves on her head. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LAWN!”

Mathree spotted Luna and saw she was clean and had a towel wrapped around her mane, stopping mid-battle as he floated with one cleaver awkwardly. “Ey Luna, good to see yer fine lassy!”

“What are you two doing!?” shouted Luna, gawking at the sight before her.

“Oh me and Tim just brawling as usual, nothing weird here.”

“WEIRD!? WEIRD! YOU’RE FLOATING IN MID-AIR WITH YOUR WEAPON; HOW IS THAT NOT WEIRD!?”

Mathree shrugged, as he tried to avoid another attack by Tim, as he sent a fireball shaped like his fist. The attack went by him and went overhead the soldiers, until it dissipated into a small explosion. Mathree looked up at the explosion and back at Tim with a mixed reaction.

“TIM! The ell man, were you trying to blow me up!”

“Boho… ho ho...”

“Ohhh ohh ohhh you wanna play it lik that, uhhhh. Well so be it, time to take off the kiddy gloves!”

With that, Mathree held both his cleavers close together until bashing them together; the strange act caused both weapons to fuse and combine into a massive blade with two handles for both hands. The weapon was given a strange shape, as it wasn’t made to slice, but smash and demolish the bones in one’s body. Wielding his new weapon, Mathree sent the weapon falling upon Tim with a loud warcry.

“IT’S CHOPPING TAAAAAAIIIIIIHHHHMMMMM!” The weapon created a strange sound as it whizzed by the air; the sound was reminiscent of a bottle being slowly opened, as the pressure inside was released, until it created a loud pop that created an echo that spread out from the source.

An ever brightening light formed between Mathree’s weapon making contact with Tim’s arm; the light dimmed enough for everypony to stare at the one figure standing. It was Tim and his body was smoking from top to bottom, with no sign of Mathree anywhere.

“Where’s Sir Mathree?” asked Luna, scanning the area. It was at that moment, a sword fell blade first right near her, where she glanced up. Holding on to the rim of a nearby window, was Mathree; nopony could see it but Mathree’s attack caused him to be propelled upward and land face first to a window, where he tried his best to hang onto said window.

Maaaaybe I shouldn’t had tried my new weapon updrade jeust yet… Should of listened to olde Ingy.

“Anybody might elping me?”

Luna sighed, and made her way inside the castle; the rest of the crowd shouted and wooed about the fight, shouting out Tim’s name in victory. Starswirl, Celestia, and Coin went close to Tim to see he was alright, until some steam came out of his nostrils and ears. The muscled man shook off the dust and ash off like water, and stretched his limbs with the sounds of muscles popping.

“BOOOOOOO! HOOOOOO!”

Tim looked down at the three equines below him, and tilted his head in confusion; Celestia tapped Tim’s arm to get his attention as he turned to look at her. “Tim… youuu… alright?” asked Celestia, worried.

“Boho ho bo… bo… bo...”

“Uhhhhh… what?”

Tim made a noise that could be him sighing, but made some gestures with his hands – one gesture was him moving his hands together in a circular motion as if he were stirring something in a pot, while another gesture was of him chopping something – Celestia took a moment to understand the gestures and understood.

“You wanna cook? Well… it’s almost lunch time soon; Starswirl, is the kitchen’s food supplies stocked?”

Starswirl stared at the destruction before him before shaking his head to focus his attention to the one who caused said destruction. “W-wea-well… We haven’t received anything new, but we do have our own garden… You could possibly find something there to cook up… I’ll tell the chefs you’ll be in the room again…” Starswirl trotted away in a daze, a bit shocked by the sheer destruction that happened just a few moments ago.

Coin whistled at the duo’s fight, realizing that they’re no joke and could be the most powerful fighters his encountered before. “Haven’t seen a good sparring since… well, when Commander Hurricane sparred against High Commander Meteor Shatter. You and that friend of yours got some interesting fighting techniques… especially you; every time he sent his weapon on you, it simply left a spark but no blood… You using some sort of enchantment to protect you or something?”

Tim made a shake of his head, and motioned to look at Celestia as he pointed his fat thumb toward the castle. Celestia nodded her head and turned to look at Coin and bowed toward him. “Well, I hope your soldiers were entertained by our guests little… ‘demonstration of skill’ but it appears we have lunch to prepare. Have a good afternoon, Captain Coin.”

“You too kid...” said Coin, watching the strange pair of alicorn and human walking away. As he watched those two leave, one of his trainees approached him with a gaped mouth.

“Uhhhh… Cap… Yeah think any of us got a chance against him? I mean… I know their not a threat and all but some of the guys have heard rumors that his allies caused trouble with the other leaders… Do you think we might need to-”

Captain Coin raised a hoof to silence the soldier, before turning to him; Coin gave the spooked soldier a reassuring smile. “Whether they become our enemy or not… A know a fellow warrior when I see one… and those two are definitely won’t backstab any of us… Besides, we are under Starswirl, not the United Pony Tribes, meaning their quarrels aren’t our business unless Starswirl deems it so… For now, you got nothing to fear.”

The soldier gave a relaxed sigh… until he was glared by Coin in which the Captain started screaming at him. “NOW GET BACK OUT THERE AND GIVE ME FIVE LAPS AND FIFTY HOOF-UPS! PRONTO!” At an instant, the soldier went double-time and turned as he began running for his life; Coin turned to the other soldiers and shouted at them too. “THAT INCLUDES THE REST OF YAH LOUSY COLTS; GET MOVING, NOW!”

With that, everypony started continuing their usual training and drills… as if nothing happened, ignoring the crater the size of a carriage, just some distance from them.

Everfree Castle, Castle Kitchens; Celestia and Tim headed to the kitchens to cook up a meal for lunch.

Once entering inside, some of the chefs begin preparing for lunch when they notice Celestia and Tim entering inside. The head chef approached them after knowing Tim having cooked the delicious pizzas he made yesterday.

“Ah, Sir Vlion, it is good to see you! Are you here to cook another delicious meal for us, we’d love to learn about your… culinary skills.”

Tim nodded toward the head chef, and walked toward some ingredients; Tim moved like lightening as he started to prepare something edible to eat for everypony and his companion. Grabbing some pots, firewood, and a wooden spoon, Tim prepared to cook today’s lunch.

“Is there anything you may need for this dish you’re making?”

Tim pulled something out of his pocket – it was a recently written list – and handed it to the head chef. After reading it, the chef understood it and gave to one of his assistants. “Find anything in this list in the gardens and storage for Sir Vlion, swiftly. Also get others to help you get the tons of firewood too… it appears we shall be eating a feast sometime soon. As for the others; assist Sir Vlion with all your ability, but do not get in his way!”

With that, all the remaining chefs bowed and got to work; Celestia waited outside in the cafeteria to prepare the plating for everypony. Celestia placed down plate and utensil until she heard somepony coughing behind her, turning around it was the head maid, Absolute Ready.

“Miss Celestia… I see you are doing something that the maids should be handling… again.”

“I thought I could help while Tim is cooking… I do not see why I can’t do something as mundane as this.”

Absolute sighed and placed both her hooves on the young alicorn’s front hooves, lowering them down. “Because you and your sister are unique… Sometime in the future – maybe not soon, or later, but in the future – you two will be given a grand responsibility… and you must be ready to lead this nation of ours, and act like a leader. Doing work that should be done by the maids or other servants isn’t something you should do.”

Celestia frowned finding the need to act like royalty, useless. “But why; Sir Vlion isn’t being stopped when he cooks, so why is nopony stopping him? And why are Luna and I being prepared for something that nopony can explain to us with reason?”

Absolute glanced away but continued her explanation, as best she could to Celestia. “Sir Vlion is a guest and while we treat guests as best we can… He is… ‘interesting’ to say the least; he can cook and not only that but is from a foreign land. Our chefs are intrigued by his style of cooking and wish to learn from him… but as for you and Luna… That is something best asked by Starswirl...” Absolute looked up and entering the cafeteria after speaking with the head chef earlier. “Speak of that stallion, here he comes.”

Celestia looked up and rushed up to Starswirl while Absolute continued off where Celestia was. Starswirl was still dazed by the brawl that happened earlier until his vision was consumed by a confused Celestia.

“STARSWIRL! I have a question for you!”

“Uh-wha- Celestia! Don’t raise your voice; indoor-voice… Now, what is it that you want to know?”

Starswirl expected something simple or something the young alicorn in her age would ask… what he got was having to explain where Celestia and Luna came from… sort of. “Why am I and Luna alicorns, and why must we rule this nation?!”

Oh… oh dear… Well, today is going to be interesting.

Everfree Castle, somewhere in the upper floors; after helping Mathree out of his predicament, Luna led Mathree somewhere.

“Oy, where you taking me? I know you helped get me inside from the window… but seriously I’m fine; I don’t need no healing of the like.”

Luna took a turn while pulling Mathree by the arm – her leg was wrapped around one of his arms – until they approached two doors at the end of the hallway. The door to the left had a symbol of the sun on it and was made of white wood and painted gold, the door on the right however had a moon symbol, was made of a dark oak with silver painted on it.

Mathree stared at the moon symbol door until he glanced at Luna who simply pushed the door with a good push. The door opened to reveal an interesting sight; the room itself had items and furniture relating to midnight or the moon… with one slight difference…

“Well shite… that’s ah wot a staer charts…” said Mathree, entering the room.

Luna’s room was littered with star charts, books about the sky and stars, and varying types of telescopes. The room itself was a customized observatory, having everything from the equipment required to stargaze, research and notes, and more… well, the kind of stuff that Luna her age can muster getting.

Luna rubbed the back of her neck as she began to clean up her mess. “Opps… I suppose I should of cleaned up before I invited you inside. I thought after the whole cockatrice incident, and little fight with Tim we could wait here until lunch was ready...”

Mathree examined the various items in the room until he came across something interesting; it was a sculpture of some kind of a star… the odd part was it had twelve points. The first six points came from a bigger star while the other six were from a smaller version of the star but inverted. It wasn’t painted it but the strange sculpture gave off a strange aura.

“What’s with this weird star? Looks like somebody smushed a bunch of them together and glued another two together.”

Luna approached and sighed remembering making this sculpture but never remembering why. “I made that from a dream… I can’t remember the details, but I think the front star is a color similar to purple while the one in the back is a white-ish color. Other than than, the rest of the dream is a bit… foggy… I stopped when I couldn’t remember anymore details however.”

“Huh… Welp it looks weird what it does… … …I like it,” said Mathree, walking away.

Looking through more stuff, Mathree steps outside onto Luna’s window; outside he sees the Everfree Forest from above, a mountain with a castle, and much of the outside landscape – hills, plains, more mountains, forests, valleys, and plateaus.

“Wow… Nice view you got here. What’s that over there?”

Luna joins Mathree and sees what he’s seeing, spotting the castle in the distance. “That’s Canterlot Castle, it’s mostly where all the unicorns reside and their leader; Princess Platinum lives. Toward the west of the castle and us is Commander Hurricane is, its also where a majority of our military force is… and I think Chancellor Puddinghead was planning to set up a settlement some distance toward the east. Almost anything you see from here is going to be the future-United Equine Lands!”

Mathree tilted his head and looked at Luna with confusion. “United… Equine… Lands? That’s a mouthful… why not Equestria or something?”

“Well I’m sorry you don’t like my idea of a name for our future home… but yeah, everypony has been going with Equestria instead.”

“You suck at making names.”

“No! You suck!”

“Aaaaannnd there goes the context; suck all the way.”

“Suck what?” asked Luna, not understanding Mathree’s meaning. “What you mean by-”

“And this is the point of the conversation where it’s best you don’t ask anymore questions. How about we forget what we were saying, and you say what and I say exactly.”

“What?”

“Exactly.”

Luna shook her head not having the focus to pay attention on what was said earlier; looking outside the window, Luna sighs sadly before sitting down on a clear space. Mathree turns and joins her, sitting on a nearby chair, pulling it closer toward her.

“Hey, what’s wrong, you were just fine just now… Was it me making fun of your dream name for this place?” said Mathree, leaning closer to Luna.

Luna pushed Mathree away before looking out the window from her spot. “Its not that… Sometimes I wonder what’s it like out there. My sister and I have been in this castle since we were fillies… I just wanna see what the outside world is like… To explore, and discover new things. The only time I know things is when messengers send scrolls to Starswirl, but I wanna see them with my own eyes...”

Mathree leaned back as the chair tilted slightly, until he sat back down. “Well… can’t blame you; you’re some sort of important figure and they don’t wan ta loose trak of yeh n your sis… other than that, the outside world… can be dangerous.”

“I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!?”

“Sur you can, and I’m pretty sure you planned into a pigeon’s bathroom by that chicken-lizard thing.”

Luna had nothing retort back, giving up her argument; Mathree scratched his head, and reached toward Luna until a knock from the door stopped them both. The door opened revealing Celestia with Starswirl beside her.

“Luna! Lunch is ready… Oh, there you are Mathree, Tim’s been wondering what happened to you.”

“Well tell that big lug I’ll be down…” said Mathree, facing back toward Luna. “Look… I’m not good when it comes to cheering others… but sometimes you gatta give up on some dreams… and make sacrifices toward other things… To put it simply; to make a dream come fruition, you gotta give up something in return...”

Mathree stood up and left the room, leaving Luna alone until she left to join eating too. Celestia walked beside her sister, curious about what they were talking about in Luna’s room. Starswirl on the other hoof, noticed something else that neither alicorn saw – Mathree seemed to drop something from one of his pockets, picking it up with his magic, Starswirl looked at the strange item.

The object was a crystal the size of an eyeball, and gave off a silvery glow, but what was strange was that once Starswirl picked it up with his magic, it gave an almost instantaneous boost to his abilities and magic. Dropping it into a satchel, Starswirl carefully putting it away for later research.

What kind of world do those two come from?

After eating lunch, many of the workers went to their usual schedules; Celestia and Luna returned to their lessons, while Tim and Mathree decided to stay occupied in their rooms. Once dinner came, the two guests decided to take an early nap, while everypony else ate. It was that night, when Mathree was staring out his own window at the night sky… that it was time to say their farewells.

Everfree Castle, Mathree/Tim’s Room; that night, when it became the darkest night of the year.

Mathree stared at the distant night sky, the glimmer of the stars being the only light that dark night. After hearing news of what has happened to his companions, Mathree has made a decision; to escape the castle, and regroup with his old teammates with Tim. Standing up from his bed, Mathree turns to face the door that leads to one of the castle’s hallways.

Tim rises from his bed, already knowing what Mathree has planned. “Boho… boho ho ho bohoo,” said Tim.

“Yeah… I know that we’re never going to come back here… ever… If you wanna leave something behind like a note or sumthin… Do it quickly.” Mathree steps out of the room before closing it behind him; Tim rises from his bed and reaches for a parchment of paper and an ink pen.

Outside the room, Mathree walks through the castle halls in a calm but quiet stroll, his steps echoing in the silent night. That was when a figure appeared from the darkness; standing in Mathree’s path was the soldier that Tim had humiliated yesterday. The soldier held his sword with his magic, standing with a cocky look in his eyes.

“Where you think you’re going?” asked the soldier.

“Not yah business… now es it...”

“Well, whether it is my business or not doesn’t matter… You see, I only joined this little project of that Starswirl guy was because the pay was good, and it only required for me to just guard a punch of fillies… even if their a bunch of freaks. Though, I heard the rumors of your posse causing a ruckus beyond this creepy forest… and I got ‘friends’ on the outside who would pay a lot for you bunch of mutants. So how about you just not struggle and come with us… oh and as for your friend, while getting the two of you would make the bits rain… I don’t think we need him alive.”

At the mention of “we” several more soldiers appear from the darkness – the mare from before who was with him and several other soldiers who given bad treatment to Celestia and Luna in the past. The soldiers held various weapons from maces, spears, hatchets, and crossbows. They were armed to the teeth, and every single one of them seethed of greed for money, and blood.

Mathree stood there unmoving… but sighed; the cold air from an opened window caused his breath to become visible. “You know… I wouldn’t judge why you do what you do… but...” said Mathree, his tone not like his usual broken-language. “I have three things to say to you and the chumps with you.”

“One; I really don’t like bullies… I loathe them. You try to act high n mighty cuss you got weapons? Cuss you got numbers? Cuss you act tough? Boy… you have no idea what you just done when you pointed your weapon at me, and think you’re going to win.” Mathree begins unclasping the buttons on his jacket, one at a time.

“Two; I have no idea if you watched what happened this afternoon… but Tim and I literally caused a crater… with our own bodies. You think you can just come up to me and start spouting all the bad shite you done? I KILL PEOPLE FOR A LIVING! Compare to you, its more like wiping shit from somebody’s arse! Next time, tell me if you slaughtered a whole town of mobsters. While bleeding. With a broken arm, n leg. While deaf… then we’re even.” After unclasping the final button, the sound of metal could be heard swinging inside Mathree’s coat. Some of the soldier’s allies slowly start to backtrack, leaving the soldier the only one standing alone.

“Three! Back home, Tim and I are kind of known by two nicknames given by our compadres. Tim’s called the unmovable object, while me… they call me the unstoppable force!” Mathree starts to reach into his jacket with both hands, slowly.

The soldier smirks, becoming more cocky than before, even daring to step forward. “So? What, you called that cause his big and heavy, while you are small but quick!”

Mathree grins sadistically, something metallic hitting against another metallic object. “Nah boy… his called that cus whenever he wants to do something, he don’t stop till it.. is done… I on the other hand,” said Mathree. “When I start cutting… I DON’T STOP TILL I’M SWIMMING IN BLOOD!”

Opening his jacket’s flaps, he reveals what’s hidden underneath; inside is an array of cutting knives ranging from big massive ones meant to cut the leg of large beasts, to tiny but sharp ones used to cut the tiniest of incisions. Mathree pulls out a chomper knife with teeth the size of an eye; in the other hand is three smaller knives that gleam under the moon’s light. Mathree begins salivating off his loose tongue that dangles out his mouth, with other details showing – his eyes shrink until only the white of his eyes remain, a snarl of a beast is the only response coming from Mathree, while his teeth now revealed are sharp and pointed with zero imperfections on them.

The soldiers begin to panic and shake, slowly backpedaling away as they possibly can. Mathree speaks once more but in deliberate slowness. “Boyyyyy… you fuuucked up… Thar no livvvviinngg sooouuulll heeerreee… Juuuussstt yooouuuu… annnnddd Iiiiiiiieehehehhehh ahhah ahhaaaaaa...”

“Whut the fuuuaaaahhhhhaaaakk!” The soldier stumbles down, tripping on his own hooves, leaving him staring toward Mathree. With one final push from his legs, Mathree sprints forward and jumps upward with unnatural speed.

“EEEEEAAEAHHHHTTTTSSSS! CHOMPPENNN TAAAAIIIMMMEEE!”

With one final scream from the soldier, the halls are stained with the blood of the cowardly, leaving only their screams to echo.

Everfree Castle, Luna’s Room; Luna was still awake at the time, due to having a nocturnal schedule.

Luna stargazes outside through one of her telescopes, writing down the stars’ formations tonight. It was at that very moment – and the fact she’s the only one awake and has her window open – she heard screams from across the castle.

That sounds like it’s coming from… Mathree and Tim’s room…

At that moment, Luna teleports outside her room and continues to teleport until she’s unable to, which she sprints to the source of the screams. Stumbling on a loose part of the carpet, Luna hears the screams getting louder; nearing the source, Luna slows down to take a glance around the corner of a hallway. At the same time she’s about to look, one of the soldiers’ start running from the hallway Luna was about to look to… until three knives sink into his flesh – one to his flank, another to his neck, leaving the final one embedded in his head – causing him to collapse to the floor.

Internally Luna wants to scream to the top of her lungs, externally, she clasps her muzzle tightly, tears streaming down her eyes. More screams could be heard but getting weaker by the second; a silhouette starts to come out of the hallway, it being one of the soldiers with a large cleaver is left inside their body, smashing through the armor and flesh.

The soldier turns to look at Luna, struggling to say something as blood pools in his mouth. “Haaalalppeeppe, meeaeaeaeehh...” The soldier falls, becoming a body as blood pools from the wound like a fountain.

Luna slowly begins to freak out, unable to move, unable to think, unable to breath. Many thoughts begin flooding through her about why this was happened, and who could cause it to happen. A shadowy figure steps out and past the body, reaching toward the cleaver causing sickly sound to come out from the force used to pull the large cleaver out.

The figure notices where the body was looking and turns to see… only to find Luna – terrified, naive, young, Luna – crying and having trouble breathing. The figure steps forward which the moon’s light reveal the figure to be Mathree, who was stained in blood, with little being his.

With this revelation revealed, Luna does two things that came rushing into her mind out of instinct and fear. Scream and run – well an attempt to run, instead crawling while tripping on her hooves.

Mathree instantly drops his weapons immediately, reaching toward Luna, having to pounce on top of her. “LUNA LUNA! CALM DOWN! CALM-DOWN!” shouted Mathree, trying to get a grip on the poor young mare.

“Plleaeasseeee! Doo dododontt attat haheehhururttt mehaeheha hhaehhee! EHEHHAEE AAAAAHAHHAhHAHEH! TIATIAT HAITATATAIIAIIA AHHAHEEh HHEELEELAEPAPEPEAP!”

Mathree is able to hold Luna by the torso and carries her away from the bloodbath, to an empty alcove. Once there, he grips Luna tightly by her head, still panicking and screaming, before reaching for something in his jacket. Fearing it to be a weapon, Luna is ready to fire a pure blast of magic, until stopped by a hankey, being used to clean her tears and snot.

Mathree starts making shushing noises, and smoothing Luna’s mane in a calm and slow repeat, daring not to stop at all. Making sure Luna was looking at the ground and nowhere else – especially the bloodbath nearby that just happened – Mathree, keeps calming Luna, until her sobbing stops and her breathing has slow down.

After a short while, the two are alone in a darkened alcove, where the only thing heard is Luna’s deep breathing and Mathree’s slow breaths. The first to speak was Mathree, speaking in a tone like one would speak to a child.

“Now… I’m not sure what you saw… and I won’t lie to you but… It is best, that what you saw is something you may never understand. Maybe not now, and maybe not soon… but some things, some… others’ morals make conflict with another’s. These ponies… they did because they were greedy… everyone can be greedy, but doesn’t mean they are; they looked out for themselves, not for others, and they wanted to hurt others whether it was wrong. What I did… what you saw… Is something I continue – and will – to do so, because I myself can… am… greedy. Greedy that, I want to protect those that matter, protect what is mine and mine alone, greedy that… I should be the only greedy one alive.”

Mathree’s words came like a river, but like a river, it was too much for her; every word stung, harder and deeper than any wound would cause. Luna wanted to block it all out, she didn’t want to listen… but she had to listen. Not because she would sooner learn or not, but rather… she wanted to know; Mathree had taught her few things through the times they be together, and those experiences… they were all worth it. She was taught that friends can come from the unlikeliest of ponies… or backgrounds, that not everybody is “innocent”, everyone can die, dreams don’t come true through belief but action, and… everyone makes mistakes.

“I’m not sorry what I done… Never am, never will be; death isn’t something to cry about, get mad over, heck it’s not even something to argue about. To be honest… I think those who keep complaining that death shouldn’t happen are morons! I mean, everyone LITERALLY walks over something that was once alive… and they don’t give a flying fuck! I don’t mean graveyards or some unmarked grave… I’m talking about the literal ground… DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEA, THE NUMBER OF LIVING THINGS THAT DIE ON THE GROUND; ITS CLOSE TO THE NUMBER OF TIMES TO BLOODY COUNT TO INFINITY!” screamed Mathree, with as much vigor he can to get his point across. “...Forever… Forever, that’s how many times… I may not be sorry… but I am regretful; you shouldn’t have met me… Maybe… maybe after this, after everything that’s happen since day one on waking up here… We won’t be friends after this, so… so this is goodbye kid… Stay safe, and stay brave.”

Mathree was readying to stand up but was stopped; looking down, Luna’s horn was aglow, as she clutched tightly with her magical power on Mathree’s sleeve… which was weak from his perspective.

“I… I… I don’t care what you done… just… why? You could of spared them, you could of found another way… so why did you have to kill them?” asked Luna, her tears beginning to dry.

Mathree could of said anything, and it still wouldn’t of been an honest answer... so instead… he didn’t give an honest answer… he gave his own answer.

“Because… its in my nature to kill… Once you have the taste for blood, you can’t go back, but just go forward.”

At the same time, a blast of fire crashed down the hallway that Mathree came from; the inferno consumed the massacred bodies, and stepping from the inferno was Tim. Hanging from his shoulder was the female guard he met yesterday, dropping her unmoving – but still breathing – body beside him, leaving her leaning against the wall, facing away from the fire and its extreme heat. Tim while covered in embers, didn’t seem bothered by the fire and snuffed one flame out on his mustache.

Tim stared down at Mathree, moving his neck to the direction ahead; with one short bow of his head, Mathree looked back at Luna. “Well… seems time for me to leave kid… I don’t like saying byes… thought them to be too stupid to be honest, especially if you’ll say to someone you’ll likely see again...” With that, Mathree stood up and left with Tim, grabbing his weapons before leaving around the final turn of the hallway that led to the underground tunnels.

Luna watched as long she could… until she couldn’t stay awake from all the adrenaline slowing down. The last thing she saw, was her sister Celestia, being the first to check the fire that occurred after Tim and Mathree left.

Everfree Forest; some distance from the castle, beyond the perimeter and guard patrols.

Tim and Mathree managed to slip through a majority of the guard patrols, but luckily they were distracted, due to the fact that a large blazing fire could be spotted where the castle was, and if the fire wasn’t noticeable, the large source of light in the middle of the dark was a big indicator that something was happening. Another good thing was most of the wildlife was distracted by the fire too, making their escape that much easier… well, it wasn’t much of an escape, more of a secretive leave.

Once reaching outside the forest to an empty stretch of land; in the distance, a river, mountain with a castle on the side, and hills could be seen as far as the eye could see. The only source of light was some moonlight slipping through the various clouds moving by – they were outside the forest.

“Huh… we’re out… we’re out...” said Mathree, taking in a deep breather. “Well… what do we do now?”

Tim looked around and after staring at one particular direction, started to move forward. “Boho.”

“That way? Why?”

“Bo ho bo hoho.”

“Their that way huh… You remembered where everyone crashed didn’t you?”

A single nod was all that was needed to confirm Mathree’s suspicions; right before the crash, Tim watched where everyone crashed, and with his perfect memory, he was able to guess where they could be. Mathree slapped his kneecap and laughed out an insanely loud laugh before patting Tim on the leg. “You crazy son of a gun… Then let’s get going!”

It was after that small little trek through more forest and shite…

“Is where we managed to find you lousy piece of shits!” said Mathree, biting on his piece of fish.

After reuniting with the others at Vallan’s small camp, Mathree retold his perspective after the crash – from the timberwolves, to Tim making pizza, their small duel, the cockatrice incident… everything – to his companions… and their guest.

Sharp slowly raised her hoof like a filly wanting to ask a question about something they didn’t understand. “But… Why would those guards attack you? I heard rumors of some hidden project by Starswirl and certain individuals were picked to be trusted… Why would those same individuals attack one of Starswirl’s… well… ‘guests’?”

It was here where A.I. answered Sharp’s question with an explanation on the surrounding lands near Equestria.

“You mentioned to me that there are other nations besides Equestria… If this is the case, then most likely that your so called ‘Greatest Mage Ever’ has spies infiltrating his facility. Not only do they know about these… alicorn sisters, but about us and possibly more. Tim, were their any survivors left after Mathree’s skirmish?”

Tim thought of this and scratched his chin before remembering save one of them – a simply pegasus mare. Mathree translated some of Tim’s grunts and retold them to the others. “Tim saed that thar was one small little bugga… Aaaeeehhhh mare… with wings.”

Those around the campfire gave their own reactions – A.I’s was in deep thought about the situation, Swuen swore to herself, the Twins either didn’t care or were busy eating, Sharp was sweating worriedly, while Vallan stared at the camp’s fire – until Mathree ended the silence.

“WHY DID UO LET HER LIVE TIM!? THAT BITCH SHOULDN’T EVIN BE ALIVE!”

Tim on his part simply stood up and gave an accusatory grunt about a certain blue mare.

“Wha… I… You… Fucking clever… bastard...” said Mathree, quieting down. “...bugga...”

Vallan stood up – after throwing his fish into the fire – and turned around to face away from the others. After awhile, Vallan turned around again and stared at the sky as if someone would come down toward them. “These other nations won’t bother this land.”

Everyone was silent, with Sharp wanting to ask why but silenced by a rude A.I. as he shoved his hand onto her snout.

“If they got spies… then they know about us already, and if they know us… then they know what we’re capable of doing. Instead of invading a land with tons of unexplored land and too many risks… they’ll let the ponies do all the work for them, and slowly just as the Equestrians map this land… their enemies will gain said intel. This still won’t mean they will attack… because of us; we’re unpredictable, and since it’s shown we’re not with the Equestrians, they’ll let us be handled by the Equestrians, and while all of their resources are used up on us… The other nations will attack Equestria in one swift move…”

It was at that moment a majority of the group were smiling in their own unique way, leaving Sharp the last one being confused. After not being stopped by A.I, Sharp finally asked her question.

“And what exactly will happen stop the other nations from not attacking us?”

Vallan smiled – his teeth sharp and maddening, his eyes wide and crazed, his features showed not sign of rationality or sanity – and that same smile… was the same smile he used to kill half a quarter of forces in a certain military base.

“Why… we’ll simply give them a proper welcome… One they’ll never, ever,” said Vallan, sliding his gun out, and cocking it.

Forget.