Two days later – Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner; 9:00am

Princess Celestia’s visit to Ponyville has finally come – since it was delayed eight or so months ago – as certain ponies went to see her highness, this including the Elements of Harmony… however during was one particular guest of honor that didn’t show up, or rather was currently in his home.

Zen after coming back from Outpost Sigma, had been reviewing the agreements made at Appleloosa and other settlements. So far he managed to get all his work done and compiled together, though there were some very strange requests, and by strange they were all very… self-centered was the best description to give them.

Who needs several wagons worth of wine for a small get together? Zen denied the request before sighing internally; after becoming the Royal Adviser, Zen had become responsible of various things like requests, diplomatic treaties, trade, and land ownership – stuff that required a lot of paperwork. Celestia and Luna were responsible of day and night activities, and while they too heard the pleas of their subjects, Zen handled the more… complicated and lengthy stuff, while the sisters handled matters on a more personal matter from those who see them in court, they also handled their own military and the missions they are sent on like monster hunts, criminals, and the like, but of course these are pretty minor things.

Zen was in the middle of looking through more requests when he received a perimeter alarm, and checking who it was, it was one of Mayor Mare’s attendees. Exiting his personal room, Zen headed down the steps and opened the door to the pony. “How may I help you?” asked Zen.

“The mayor like to see you, about something, she also requested for the princess too,” said the pony attendee.

Zen understood and followed the attendee; the two made their way to town hall, headed up the steps and arrived toward the doors of the Mayor’s office with two Royal Guards standing by the doors. The guards stood vigilant, and immediately recognized Zen.

“Royal Adviser Zen; the mayor and her highness, Princess Celestia are inside and awaiting you!” Both stallions saluted and opened the doors for him, the attendee bowing and leaving to go back to her work. After entering, the doors closed with an audible click; inside was Celestia sitting on the most luxurious and biggest seat they had in the building, for Zen there was a seat but he stayed standing instead. Mayor Mare sat on her seat, with some quills, ink pots, pile of papers and other things that the mayor did on the daily basis, a name stand was also visible with her name and title… which was odd as it only said Mayor Mare.

Was her name really “Mayor” Mare, how ironic that must be.

Celestia turned to face Zen with a small smile, though he didn’t return any kind of look or response, but he did give a small glance with the one eye that was seeing her before facing the mayor. “Thank you for both coming here Princess Celestia, Royal Adviser Zen; I called you both because there’s… something I must discuss with you both. For awhile, I been receiving letters from friends south at Dodge Junction, specifically those who live near the Badlands. Strange lights and figures have been spotted there, but most warily was some disappearances; they appear to happen from the dirt paths to Dodge City to Rambling Rock Ridge, at first we thought ponies may have been chased off and got lost due to wildlife, but there seem to be strange prints on the ground from something that doesn’t fit any description of the nearby wildlife, and a green substance. I don’t have this green substance… just photos, but if it isn’t too much but would you please investigate these strange occurrences, and see if these vanished ponies are fine.”

Zen contemplated this, as it wasn’t the first time he heard these kind of news. It appears something is happening near the Badlands then. It was Celestia to speak first as she placed her teacup down and stood up from her seat.

“I will do what I can with the best of my ability; the Royal Guard, as well as the Lunar Guard will scour the area for clues to their whereabouts.”

Choosing that moment, Zen moved forward to get both mares attention. “You mentioned the incidents have been happening between the dirt road to Dodge City to Rambling Rock Ridge, and that there been strange lights and figures near the mountains that surround the Badlands. This all seems to convenient; do you know the latest disappearance that has happened?”

“Y-yes, um… near Rambling Rock Ridge, by one of the caves there,” said Mayor Mare.

Zen was ready to leave but was shortly followed by Celestia who bowed in thanks and promises to find these ponies. After the two walked out the town hall followed by her two guards, the two moved side-by-side together.

“Zen, do you have an idea who may be responsible for these disappearances?” asked Celestia.

“Not quite, I may find something else if I personally examine the area of the disappearances, but I’ve been given some various clues from different sources. Back at Appleloosa, rumors were that strange lights and figures were seen at the mountain border around the Badlands; this may also relate to what caused the parasprites to leave down south. With this knowledge I think we should split to cover more ground – I’ll check near the dirt path to Rambling Rock Ridge, while you see if the residents at Dodge City know anything.”

Celestia listened carefully, but at the same time she had her own thoughts preoccupied. Who could be behind this – this isn’t something Discord would do, he’d rather be all flashy about it, maybe Tirek… no, he’s down below in Tartarus, that and news of his return would have been heard sooner.

“Do you think it may be someone from either of our pasts?”

“I doubt it, and if it were we’d had a clue who it could be by now. All we can hope is that we’ll find out sooner than later.” Zen left without another word, but face Celestia one last time. “And… it is nice seeing you, again.”

Celestia watched Zen leave before sighing as she shook her head, smiling to herself. “Why must he be so difficult when it comes to being himself,” said Celestia.

East of Ponyville, Rambling Rock Ridge; 10:15am

Zen returned to his compound and got back on his motorcycle – which was dubbed a Viper Mk II – and arrived at Rambling Rock Ridge. The last time he came here, he had to rescue Rarity from the diamond dogs… what he did not know is that the diamond dogs were his nephews, and that Rarity was alright. He did came here a week ago to check on Rover and the others, and they been doing well, however Zen has been unable to find somewhere else for them to reside at so for now they been minding their own business here.

Checking the area, Zen approached the burrow that led to the caverns the pack resided in; over the several visits he came here for, Zen managed to do a detailed scan of the underground tunnels, caves, and caverns, making a spiderweb of a map whenever Zen entered a certain depth. If there were areas that Zen knew nothing about, it had to be the lands down south, the undiscovered world beyond the Frozen North, and finally the underground world of cave systems.

After walking down the somewhat pitch dark tunnels, using his mini-map, memory, and night-vision, Zen managed to enter a cavern that was lit by lamps and luminescent yellow crystals – courtesy of Zen for both sources of light – with the diamond dogs currently, mining, examining the gems, or eating. There were some new additional things, like the in-built hot bath, a miniature train tracks to move supplies throughout the caves, and reach other diamond dog packs’ homes, and finally there was even a smithy.

The first to notice Zen was Spot – he still wore his signature vest, but looked cleaner and happier – who clamored to meet him. “Zen! Its good to see you, what brings you to our caves?” asked Spot.

“I need you to get Fido and Rover here… there’s some questions I need to ask them?”

After several minutes and questions asked…

“Hmmmmm… We do not know anything about kidnapped ponies, we stopped doing so months ago with whinny unicorn, urrrr, Miss Rarity I mean,” said Rover, smiling sheepishly. “Other packs wouldn’t do same idea like us either – honor code and like – that and most nearby packs live too far for any ponies to be kidnapped or live by.”

“I see… and these strange lights and green goo, have you heard about these things?”

“Nope, nothing out of the ordinary down he-” Before Spot could finish, Fido raised his paw to stop his brother.

“Actually… I saw something… strange the other day...” Zen listened closely, as well as the others to Fido; the big dog was somewhat of a softy, and while he can be a meat-head, he was smarter than the dogs that followed them, still there were still some things about Fido you least expect. “Saw strange pony-shaped thing over by the tunnels that we cleared of all gems, mostly used to gather ore or stone. Went there to get some stone to trade to another pack… but strange pony was nearby talking to another strange pony. Before I could get a better look, both vanished… most likely went deeper into the caves.”

“Why did you not tell us this earlier!?” shouted Rover.

“Thought it was nothing, just curious ponies...”

“Now don’t scold your brother Rover, this could be important clues, but for now I want nobody – dog or pony – to be near those caves, so if you see anyone approaching shoo them away, but try to do it in a friendly and reasonable manner.”

The three brothers understood, directing their dogs to guard the area around the abandoned caves, and let nobody go near them. Time to see what’s been going on here now.

As Zen went to go check out these caves, Zen thought back to a similar situation from his past, involving the disappearance of several ponies in Canterlot, and of a dark secret deep in the city.

499 years ago – Canterlot, Sweet Roll’s Bakery; Aug 18, 500AN 8:00am

Its been ten days since the Battle of Canterlot, and Celestia has responded perfectly – due to who was responsible with attacking Canterlot, Celestia has instead sent messages to Minos’s king by carrier pigeon. She could use an enchanted orb which she sent a copy of one to the king, but she hasn’t received any responses from him… meaning something has happened on his end. Reports have come from the scouts that went to Trottingham, that not only was Trottingham taken but Tall Tale and several other outposts around Western Equestria has been taken by this Minos army.

It would take several months of preparation and planning to retaliate and take back those settlements; so far, Canterlot has managed to reinforce themselves, but problems still arisearound Eastern Equestria as usual, leaving much of Canterlot still undefended.

Zen has been given his own area to live in at the Western Wing at Canterlot Castle – the wing was originally used for storage – and so far Zen has completed partial construction of it by himself; right now Jiule was keeping track of the wing’s renovations, by using some robotic drones Zen built for her to use.

To pass the time, he was currently at Sweet Roll’s bakery with, Emerald – who was currently on break - Steel Forge, and Organize Mess – who was also on break – while Sweet was at the back making more of her signature donuts.

Currently Zen was playing a game of chess with Mess, the two were at 9-0 with Zen in the lead – and looking to be winning this match – when audible groan came from Emerald. “Booooored! Ten days, ten days of absolutely doing nothing but guard duty, and patrols!” said Emerald. “Ever since the minotaurs retreated back to Trottingham, we haven’t heard any sign of them in weeks!”

“Now now Emerald, let’s not ask for trouble to start coming for us, and also… HOW ARE YOU KEEP ON BEATING ME, I MEAN TEN WINS IN A ROW!?” said Mess.

“Checkmate; and to your question, I’m simply seeing which moves your most likely to use and counter them back… that and I pretty much scanned you – from your personal information to what capabilities you can do.”

Mess left his mouth open with shock, while everyone else chuckled at Zen’s comment, when suddenly the doors of the bakery opened up with a very panicked guard, a guard they were familiar with.

“Quartermaster Mess, sir!” shouted Spell.

“What is is Private Spell Craft?” asked Mess, his head flat on the table.

“There’s something you might want to see, sir.” The private approached Mess, hoofing him a sheaf of papers, and as Mess look through them, his eyes slowly began to widen but before he could respond, Zen took the papers from Mess and read them himself.

The papers spoke about several individuals going missing, while most are ponies, a few are minotaurs, griffons, and zebras. The disappearances have been happening a few month before Zen’s arrival, but after the battle in Canterlot, individuals have been vanishing left and right for the last ten days, the numbers skyrocketing and catching the attention of the Royal Guard now.

“How come investigations of these disappearances haven’t been given better attention in the past?” asked Zen, a tinge of anger in his voice.

“Well before, the only disappearances have occurred to nobodies, or those who were planning to leave the city, so many assumed they either went off or something. There was one disappearance that the guard has been trying to take seriously; a noblemare’s daughter vanished a few days before your arrival, and the guard have been trying to find clues of her disappearance but have come up empty.”

Zen started tapping the side of his helm with a single claw in thought – disappearances that span all the way from mid-Spring, only to grow suddenly after the attack on Canterlot. Something’s happening… and I smell something foul in this city.

“You, Spell correct? I want you to send these papers to Princess Celestia, and have her ask General Deluxe to double-check the areas that these individuals were last seen at. After that, I want you or somepony else to give me locations of the individuals last sightings where I currently reside.” The private glanced at Mess for confirmation, and he nodded, so without further questioning, the private saluted and went off with papers. Zen turned to face his comrades – his eyes had a certain fury to them, one that promised suffering to the one responsible behind all of this. “As for us, we’re going to hunt down those responsible.”

“Now now Zen, I know you are the Royal Assassin, but stuff like this should be handled by the Royal Guard-”

“I won't take that excuse, besides… the second I read those files I knew I smelt something foul was amiss; besides, I can finally use my authority for something worthwhile.”

Mess was ready to retort but gave in; soon Zen with Emerald and Mess – Steel Forge decided to stay behind with Sweet Roll – went out to investigate these reports. If it were anyone else, it be impossible to find anything at all, not for Zen as for the last two weeks he been in Canterlot, he had scanned the geographical area of Canterlot – both the city and Crystal Caves.

Right now, Zen was heading to the noblemare who’s daughter was missing; she was currently living at the at the center of Canterlot near the castle as most nobles lived, while everyone else lived down south at the market area, but of course not everyone lives there as most of the smiths and weapon and armor store owners live east, and west where the airships dock were and also called the “Guild & Trade” area, because of the guilds that were there and where most of the traders and merchants were at, leaving the north area to remain.

The north… was the shadiest of all areas, as while it was know to be the entertainment area, it had some pretty bad folks in the area. Not bad in the sense like criminals – especially not in Canterlot – but more like those you don’t want to get yourself involve with. These range from swindlers, notorious mercenaries, and the occasional pickpocket… but rumors had it there were some really bad folks around that area.

However, ever since the attack by the minotaurs, a lot of crime went the down-low… but that doesn’t mean its completely gone. Zen right now was standing at the door of the noblemare’s home – her name was Goldshine, and her husband passed away a long time ago, leaving her to take care of her daughter, Jewel.

The door opened and Goldshine looked through the crack of the door before opening it fully. “Oh, you must be Princess Celestia’s right-hoof… sorry, but what are you?” asked Goldshine.

“I’d like to know myself, but I’ve come to help search for your daughter. It help greatly if you knew where her last whereabouts were at.”

Goldshine did a weak smile at that, and let the three come inside; after some tea, Goldshine told them that Jewel was studying on the day she disappeared when her friends came by. From what she could remember, they invited her to go to party at the northern part of Canterlot, as to where she wasn’t sure of. “Maybe one of her friends, Opera Stage might know, she lives just a few doors down the street.”

“Thank you, and I promise I’ll find her before the day ends, that I swear.”

“Please dear, don’t hurt yourself trying, with this whole minotaur issue there are more pressing matters, but if you do find her, I’ll use all my capabilities as a noble to help any time.”

Once done, the three left Goldshine’s home and headed to where Opera Stage lived; the mare lived by herself with a few of Jewel’s other friends, Jewel was actually the youngest in the group of friends as she was only seventeen, while the others were around their early twenties. After arriving at the door, Zen knocked on it and once the door opened, it closed immediately when a shocked pony – not Opera – saw Zen and slammed the door right at him.

“Well, that was rude,” said Emerald, bluntly.

Voices could be heard at the other side – one panicking while the other angry – as the door was opened again by a pony with pearl white fur and light blue mane and tail. “Sorry about my friend, she was just spooked by you Sir Zen; my name is Opera Stage, my rude friend here is Grand Act,” said Opera. “How may I help you?”

“Its obvious why we’re here Miss Opera,” said Mess, stepping forward. “You were last with your friend Jewel who was one of the many missing for the last few months. Do you know where this party you went to was at?”

At this Grand Act started to sweat, as her eyes shifted left to right in a quick fashion, trying her best to not look at the ponies at the door, but Zen soon caught her sudden change of attitude. Approaching the scared mare, Zen stood above her, his shadow covering her small form before the mare covered her head with both forelegs and spoke out what’s been bothering her.

“Jewel was taken, we arrived at the party but just as we were about to go inside, she was lured in my this stallion! Soon we found ourselves in this shady alley and were surrounded by armed ponies – not just ponies but a few other creatures like griffons – and took Jewel, but when they found out we were nobility, they threatened to only take Jewel if we didn’t say anything! I’m sorry Opera, I can’t lie especially to HIM; he’s called the Royal Assassin, ASSASSIN, I’m not going to deal with that!”

After that Grand ran upstairs to either cry in fear or regret for abandoning her friend; Opera looked back at the three before sighing in defeat. “She’s correct… We weren’t sure what to do, and we thought telling the guard but those guys told us some of the guard are in the whole kidnapping thing… I’m sorry if we didn’t do the right thing… are we in trouble?”

“Trouble, depends, but for now you’ll be in house arrest for a week, and community service for two weeks, so for now stay here until we find your friend, that goes for your friend and anypony else you invited to this party and know about Jewel’s kidnapping. Before we leave, tell me, who was this stallion who lured Jewel away?”

“He’s some slimy good-for-nothing that hangs around the northern area of Canterlot by the name of Gambled Luck. I haven’t seen him there nowadays, but the last time I saw him was two days ago over by some warehouses at the western area of Canterlot.”

Zen nodded in thanks, but as he left, Mess decided to part from Zen to report this to Celestia and call for backup just in case. Both Emerald and Zen headed to the western part of Canterlot – before re-equipping themselves – and standing before the warehouse that Opera saw Gambled at.

The warehouse was sketchy for sure as it looked rusted, some windows looked smashed, and what screamed of suspicion was how this part of the area was deserted. While western part of Canterlot wasn’t the busiest, due to what happened earlier, a lot of guilds around adventurers to mercenaries have been getting busy by either merchants or Celestia herself to support the future battle against those responsible for the attack.

“Why the heck isn’t anyone here, I expect some of the merchants selling their wares before booking it further east to the settlements there?” asked Emerald. “Getting anything on those scanners of yours?”

“Nothing… but, you’re right, there’s something off about this particular warehouse… There’s something I want to do – Jiule, do a detailed scan for this particular warehouse, and scan for any anomalies you find,” said Zen.

After several seconds later, Jiule’s scan came and what Zen found… proven his suspicion right, as the warehouse as well as several other warehouses in the area had hidden tunnels underneath which led to a dug out open cavern on the mountain’s slope, only visible from up close, blending perfectly with the mountain.

“Emerald… there are several of these warehouses with hidden tunnels that lead to a pony-made cavern, that’s blending with the side of the mountain. I’m not sure how long this cavern has been here, but that’s where we’ll find those who went missing.”

Emerald nodded in understanding, unsheathing her sword with her horn; Zen approached the warehouse doors knowing the building was empty, but could be rigged with traps. Opening the small door to the warehouse, Zen entered inside first and after taking a few steps further he stopped and saw a tripwire. The wire connected to some sort of alarm system, most likely to warn those in the hidden tunnels of intruders. Zen pointed to the wire, stepping over it with Emerald following behind carefully.

Searching the warehouse, Zen removed the top from a crate and inside was a hidden shaft with a ladder that was wide enough for a four-legged creature to fit through. While Zen was bigger, he did manage to get through by using his Void Warp and appearing at the bottom of the ladder while Emerald slid down.

At the hidden tunnel, Zen saw it was dimly lit and served as a sort of passageway that led straight to the cavern. Following the tunnel, they heard commotion ahead and once exiting the tunnel and appearing behind some crates, they were on a platform above a long lane that was most likely used to park two airships in. Down below them – with the help of Zen’s zoomed sight and mini-map – around seventy dots were in the cavern, most of the dots now listed as red.

The dots listed red were a mix of ponies and griffons, some of the ponies being Royal Guard; in cages and were marked as all blue – those in the cages were ponies, griffons, minotaurs, zebras – but what was most interesting was one cage full of diamond dogs. They got all half of the missing here, and a whole pack of diamond dogs; forty-five of them are targets, but there are most likely more within the tunnels and other warehouses, so my estimate is that there are at least nearly a hundred of them.

Scanning through the sea of red, four particular dots interested Zen; one red target was the pony that Opera mentioned, Gambled Luck, who was speaking to a griffon who was armed to the teeth. A quick scan and he got the name, Borta Ironclaw, who was half-owl and buff. The two other red dots were interesting to Zen too – one was examining those in the cages with a predatory look, as he wore nobility clothing; a scan later, and the name, Prime Choice came up, and he was a very shrewd noble known to cause trouble within the noble rank with his distasteful eccentricities. The last red dot was of a pony who wore a sea captain’s hat, and wielded a cutlass as he ordered various ponies who looked like pirates move stuff around; scanning him, the name Captain Salt Wound came up.

Master Zen, it appears these four individuals hold some sort of importance to these kidnappings, since they may hold vital information about this, I’ve marked them purple as hostile VIPs – recommend we keep them alive for future interrogations.

“Alright; Jiule equip my new enhancements – activate Arsenal Mode,” said Zen, in dark tone.

Of course – activating Arsenal Mode and music – which song would you like to pick?

“Song forty-two.” At those words Zen’s armor made a quiet hum that caught Emerald attention but before she could figure out what Zen was mumbling about, he burst forth and was standing before the swarm of ponies and griffons. Doing another scan of all the targets, Zen listed off who he was up against – ten earth ponies, seven pegasi, twelve unicorns, sixteen griffons.

“Who the heck is this guy!?” shouted Gambling.

“That’s the freak who’s been given the title of Royal Assassin; Salt, get this airship out now!” shouted Prime. “All of you, get him!”

Immediately, ponies and griffons started to swarm out of the other tunnels that Zen and Emerald spotted earlier, making the number from forty-five to ninety. Twenty earth ponies, fifteen unicorns, fifteen pegasi, and forty griffons, but if you include the four hostile VIPs, then the number of enemies are ninety-four against two.

“Make that ninety-four against three, you’re here too Jiule.” A pop later and Emerald was beside him no, unsheathing her sword.

“So much for the art of surprise. What you want me to do?” asked Emerald.

“Handle any stragglers or any that try to run away; whether they’re wearing Royal Guard armor or not, defend yourself to your best, I’ll handle the majority, and try to avoid getting killed.”

“Ha! You think you have any chance against all of us!” shouted somepony amongst the crowd. Everyone started to laugh and jeer at them, but they would soon regret that, soon the song Zen chose began to play, Zen planted both feet firmly to the ground, widening his stance and aiming both wrists toward the crowd of beings. With a loud whir, two wrist blasters came out aimed directly at them as they slowly began to glow a bright blue overtime.

“Emerald, cover your ears.” Emerald didn’t understand but listened to Zen as she covered both ears, and just as the crowd were about to charge… a flurry of bright blue beams came spewing out like a dragon’s fire, covering those gutsy enough to charge or weren’t far enough to be turned into swiss cheese in seconds.

Without hesitating, Zen charged forward as two objects came out of where Zen’s calves were located; grasping for both objects, Zen pulled out two sawed-off shotguns that were powered by the same energy that powers Zen’s suit, making the ammunition limitless as long they were charged. Each shotgun could fire up to eight shots for every sixty shots per charge before being overheated, requiring the guns to be cooled down for a few seconds. Rushing head on, Zen held one shotgun barrel first toward one unlucky griffon, blasting him – and anyone behind him into a fine red mist as viscera covered any unlucky blokes behind the once living griffon.

It was utter chaos after that, many tried to fight back, while some found themselves cowering; the griffons though kept strong and swiftly fought back, however nothing seemed to faze Zen as he moved with such ease and quickness, he was practically a blur. With two more blast, two more found themselves among the dead.

Four of the unicorns are Royal Guard, I’m marking them as orange for later capture, but if they attempt any hostile actions, don’t hesitate to take them down. With that, four blips on his mini-map changed from red to orange; deciding to take action, Zen charged the fifteen unicorns who stood back, blasting them all before leaving the remaining four. Aiming his wrist guns, Zen mentally changed the ammunition type and firing type to stun and single shot. So with precise shots, each of the four unicorns were knocked out by a powerful blast of electricity that coarse through them.

“How many are still left standing?”

Considering your first attack, you took down fourteen with your shotguns – there are now currently seventy of them left, since Emerald took down three of them – but we must hurry or they may escape with the airship.

Zen nodded mentally but before he could continue, one of the purple dots was charging right for him, swiftly Zen raised his right forearm, blocking an incoming axe from hitting him. The screeching of metal hitting metal echoed as Zen pushed back the weapon to face the owl-griffon who glared back with his two piercing, beady eyes.

“So your the Royal Assassin fella I’ve heard rumors about, still can’t believe Celestia, the suppose peace-keeping goddess of ponies hired an assassin, publicly might I add. Have you heard what they’re calling her now – mad, a leader who’s gone over the edge, that she’s gone so far to hire a killer to clean up the gunk in her city. The fact you are here, and not her precious Royal Guards just means that she doesn’t want anyone to know what’s been going on in her fair city!” The owl-griffon began to laugh hoarsely, before pointing his double-edged axe downward. “But where are my manners – name’s Borta Ironclaw, leader of the Ironclaw Griffons, a ruthless mercenary group known for our ferocious tactics, and merciless killings – and once I lob off that head of yours, I’m going to wave it around your fair princess, before I chop off hers! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!”

No response came from Zen, none; he wasn’t mad, he was furious, he wasn’t even a tinge disgusted, he felt nothing… And what he said next, you could just feel the shivering emptiness that was Zen’s soul. Putting both shotguns away into his calf slots, the armored being stood solid as a statue when he vanished, at first Borta thought he ran off or something when he felt the wind to his left shift. Wind? Wind inside a… cavern.

“She doesn’t know I’m here so right now, you’re in my territory.” A piercing pain was felt on Borta’s left cheek until he felt the warm, metallic taste of blood in his mouth. Standing with his arm clenched and aimed for his mid-section, Zen fired away his clawed gauntlet, sending the griffon spiraling to the stone wall. Before he could get back up, he was gripped by the neck and pushed back to the wall with a powerful push, it cracked the stone. “Which is why what I plan to do to you isn’t out of any form of wrath or hatred to what your doing; I can’t feel a thing, so I won’t regret if I kill you here… but its not for me to decide whether you die or not, so that’s why I’ll do this.”

Borta’s eyes widened, until with Zen’s other free claw, he gripped something… and pulled. Screams came from Borta as everyone stopped to listen and watch what was happening to the griffon mercenary leader, as droplets of blood, tarnished feathers fell from his ripped wing that was held in Zen’s claw before dropping it without a care. “Killing is inefficient, but keeping you alive and unconscious, isn’t; the bleeding will make you feel weak but won’t kill you so for now stay here.”

Zen dropped the now unconscious Borta, blood dripping off his visor’s surface from tearing the wing off.Turning to face the remaining targets with a cold distant glare, as Zen’s pupils vanished, leaving an empty look. “Now then… three more to go.” Pulling out his katana, Zen split the weapons to their duel-wield form, charging forward with intent on killing.

Emerald tried her best to keep any stragglers from leaving or sneaking up behind her, but she couldn’t stop watching the spectacle – it was mesmerizing to see so many bodies being flung left and right without a care, the way he fought without pausing or seeing his opponent – as seeing Zen fight was like seeing a ballerina dance. “By Harmony… What the buck...” said Emerald, dazed.

With slash and slice, Jiule began counting down the number of targets remaining with each passing second. Sixty-eight. Sixty-four. Fifty-five. Forty-two. Twenty-two. Fourteen. Nine. Seven. Five… Four; there are four targets remaining out of the five unconscious and eighty-one confirmed kills.

“Jiule, pause music.”

Pausing music. The music stopped and Zen was currently standing before one of the griffons – the griffon in question was young, he was possibly the group’s runt – shaking, with one axe that shook in his grip. The shaking was too much and the griffon dropped his weapon but wouldn’t to pick back up, as his gaze was stuck looking at Zen’s empty eyes. Do you plan to kill him?

Zen looked at the griffon, before his pupils returned and he walked past him, reverting his two weapons to his large katana and placing back on the metallic clamp on his back. “No; he has no criminal record and the mercenaries only use him to gather information and supplies. He will be charged for being involve, but his sentence will be lighter for certain.”

Zen approached the cowering Prime and Gambling as they hugged one another in fear, a puddle of questionable liquid below them. “You two are hereby under arrest for the following crimes – kidnapping, slavery, illegally transporting goods, assault, and abusing your authority as the nobility and law enforcement. How do you plea?” asked Zen, emptily.

“G-g-guilty,” said Prime and Gambling.

Before Zen could do anything he saw in the corner of his the airship leaving; as the airship left the cavern and was flying toward the distance, you could of seen the captain yelling obscenities toward Zen. Emerald approached Zen, but he looked down at her, handing her some rope he had on him.

“Tie up these two, the two griffons, and the four ex-Royal Guards… I’ll be right back.” Zen vanished, leaving Emerald with some rope, two pissed scared stallions, and a cavern covered in bodies, and two caged civilians. With a quick glance, Emerald grinned evilly; whirring back a hoof, she aimed it at the two despicable stallions.

“Nighty nighty,” said Emerald, throwing her hoof punch.

On the airship, Captain Salt Wound – rather just Salt Wound considering his whole crew got slaughtered – managed to escape during the ensuing chaos without a problem. He was still pissed his crew got taken out but he’d come back and avenge them. “That bastard is going to burn in Tartarus for this!” said Salt, making sure the airship stayed in its current coarse.

When Salt was about to focus back to facing forward, he saw a silhouette ahead of him; the silhouette looked familiar but after taking his spyglass and looking, he slowly began to sweat in panic. Zen floated there in the air, with both shotguns in his hands before putting one in front the other, creating a weapon with two handles – one on the back and another on the middle – with the two barrels making one long barrel. Soon the weapon began to glow red, the glow growing brighter each second until it reached its peak.

“Well… buck me-” The gauss cannon tore through the airship like paper, leaving a massive scorching hole through the middle. The airship began to slowly burn and fall to the mountain side; the intense heat and blast knocked Salt head first into the wooden floor of the airship, knocking him unconscious. Zen soon appeared on the airship, picked up Salt and warped back to the cavern, there he found Emerald and several Royal Guards – among them was Mess and Warcry – cleaning up the mess and freeing those in the cages.

Once everyone saw Zen return with Salt Wound, he dropped the unconscious pirate to the ground, before walking toward the kidnapped civilians. Among them was Jewel, Goldshine’s daughter, who looked relieved but somewhat shaken by the ordeal. Kneeling down, Zen looked at her and the others who vanished if they knew who else was involve with these kidnappings and where they plan to take them.

“I’m sorry if I ask this from you so suddenly, but do you know where you all were going to be sent before myself and Private Emerald arrived?” asked Zen.

The young mare stayed silent for awhile, but spoke with as much certainty she could do. “They were planning to sell us as slaves or whatever sick use they can think of. There were more of us, but they were sent off a week ago, I don’t know where but they were getting ready to leave and take everything with them to wherever they took the others… Please, will you be able to find them, I hope where they are they’re safe,” said Jewel, solemnly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll look for them,” said Emerald. That brought some relief to the mare, before she was guided out of the cavern. Soon the guard piled the bodies, and dragged the arrested to the surface, this left Zen, Emerald, Mess, Warcry, and a pocket of Royal Guard in the cavern. A unicorn medic brought some white blankets to cover the decease, while another medic check the wounds of both Emerald and the surviving criminals.

Zen stood staring at the clouds, his thoughts unknown to those around him. Soon Mess and Emerald approached him while Warcry ordered the Royal Guard to find clues and clean-up this mess. “So… what now? Whoever was responsible, will know of this,” said Mess.

“Not quite; this cavern is big enough for two airships, only one escaped which I was forced to destroy, but the other is still here. If we handle the release of this information correctly, those responsible might have a difficult time knowing if we know who’s responsible or not, for now I have some ideas of how we can use this place. If we dig out a tunnel toward Canterlot Castle to here, we have an easy access of getting some supplies, and an easier way of getting to the western area of Canterlot from the castle than going through the crowded streets.”

“Smart move; I’ll have some construction ponies and planners renovate this area to allow the Royal Guard and any other personal to move here easily… still… it makes me sick that one of our own was involved.”

“Nopony experienced, those four guards are small-fry, probably bought out by Prime Choice. Either way, we did what we can, so for now-”

“Excuse me, but pardon...” The trio turned to see a female diamond dog and her pack, look up to Zen with big eyes. “Sorry to interrupt but… we like to thank you for saving us; my name is Suzy, I am the pack leader of the Gem Digger pack. I am forever in your debt for what you done, and if you need help with getting gems, ores, or anything from underground or even speak to another pack leader, I’ll assist as best I can.” Suzy bowed, followed by the rest of her pack; both Emerald and Mess jaws unhinged at what Zen just accomplished, and the spoils that he gained in return.

Master Zen, I believe this is what one calls this situation a, “lucky dog”, am I correct?

“Close Jiule… close,” said Zen.

Present time – Rambling Rock Ridge; 1:00pm

The memory was when Zen first met Suzy, and how he uncovered a dark conspiracy that would lead to even darker secrets. It was another part of his life that he’d wondered about, sure it had some kind of an effect on others… but not him. Every choice he made from now hasn’t much effected him and the ones that did seem to be the ones he can’t remember.

Just something to think about for another day I suppose. Zen approached the caves that he was told where Fido saw the strange ponies before, once there he looked around and found nothing… at first.

At a closer look, Zen found something odd, on the ceiling was green substance, and after taking a scan and some of it, the material was completely biological but the source was unknown. I’m not sure where this green material comes from, but scans say its made biologically – another creature made this… but what kind?

“We’ll figure that out, but I believe its best Celestia knows that something is taking ponies, for what reason we’ll find out later.” Zen left the area and headed back to Ponyville, with even more questions than answers he received.

Ponyville, Town Square; 2:00pm

After coming back, Zen told Celestia what he found out and her reaction at first was shock then confusion. “Green organic material? Hmmmm, I don’t know any creature I met that can do something like that, but if they are responsible with the disappearances of ponies, then I’ll put up a bounty of a creature like that,” said Celestia.

“Creatures.”

“Hmmmm?”

“Creatures, multiple; I believe there could be more, but I’m unsure, for now nopony should travel alone from now on.”

Celestia nodded in understanding and was readying to leave with her pet phoenix, Philomina; Zen waved the two goodbye when he saw the girl approach him. “Hey Zen? Where the heck were you this whole time?” asked Rainbow.

Zen walked off heading back to his compound, while also answering Rainbow’s question. “Just recollecting centuries of memories,” said Zen, ambiguously. As he left, he started to hum a song that was also from his past… from which past… he was unsure of.

Author's Notes:

Flashback time! No rest for the one who guards from the shadows, hmmm; strange green goo and strange "ponies"? Hmmmm...

Well, on the next chapter: Today was the Grand Galloping Gala... well, the morning of the day of the gala which takes place during the night. The girls are getting ready to go... but try to convince Zen to come with them. Without no other choice, Zen tells them the story about why he never goes to the gala - and the day he lost a part of him that very same day.

Thoughts: Zen
Celestia
Borta Ironclaw