The Zawaqil brigands cry out as, with a simple flick of his forehoof, Radahn forces all six of them into the ground up to their necks like quicksand via his gravity magic—their scimitars and head coverings having been stripped and planted into the desert terrain nearby.

“There we are,” the red-maned titan of a stallion states. “Now stay put and enjoy the lovely grains of the desert, gentlecolts. I’ll be right back.”

“Bastard!”

“Freak!”

“Just wait until we get out of this!”

“Ahahahaha!” Radahn boisterously threw his head back. “I must say, I commend your fighting spirit—impressive! That said, I do not doubt that you lot have done unspeakable acts of violence against the innocent. So you will likely be dying today.”

“Fuck you!!”

“Charming.” The large purple stallion chuckles and turns to face his campsite, where Hangaku sits comfortably on a log set down near the rescued quartet of camels, who look upon him in awe as he treads across the warm sands to meet them.

“Good afternoon, camels,” he greets while coming to a stop, “Forgive me if that sounds offensive in any way. Truth be told, I've never actually met a camel before, let alone those of such incredible sapience. I know that I sound like a broken record, but the beast folk of these lands are truly a marvel.”

The camels share a mildly confused look with one another. “Uhm…what…?” Shirley questioned.

“He’s, uh, new around here,” Hangaku answered, causing the camels to nod and ‘Oh’ in understanding.

“Th-those powers you possess…” Herbert began in wonder. “How and where did you learn them? How can you even use them?”

“Yeah,” the older, female, single-humped camel said—their younger, fellow single-humped member standing alongside them. “I thought earth ponies couldn’t use magic? At least, not to the same degree as unicorns.”

The large earth pony grinned, “Hah! Let’s just say that during one of my astronomical observations, I thought, ‘If the starry canvas of the universe is so big, why won’t it fight me?’” He abruptly strikes a pose and raises a triumphant forehoof, “And so I challenged the stars and won! Ahahahahah!”

Of course, that wasn’t entirely the truth. But it wasn’t a total lie, either.

“Th-that’s, um, great. Ehehe…” The younger single-humped camel said and laughed nervously as they all began to think that the stallion might’ve spent too much time in the desert heat.

“That…doesn’t actually answer my question,” Herbert whispered to his wife.

‘Is this guy for real…?’ Hangaku internally said in disbelief. ‘I thought the whole Conquerer of the Stars alias was just him being a jerk, but now I think he’s just a moron… Hmm. Gonna have to get more info out of him later. For now, though…’

With a flap of her wings, the pegasus springs off the log and flips through the air and over Radahn before landing behind him in a flawless show of acrobatics.

“Quite the dexterous one, aren’t we?” Radahn commended after a joyful chuckle, turning back to face her. “I’m curious; what was that trick you pulled earlier?”

“It’s called ninjutsu,” the pegasus answered with a wink. “Kawarimi no Jutsu, to be precise. Pretty neat, huh? By the way, I hope there are no hard feelings for the whole screaming at you sitch. That was my ‘emotional clone,’ so to speak, although she wasn’t entirely wrong, either.”

The large stallion’s confused expression spoke volumes, garnering a giggle from Hangaku. “There’s a lot to explain about ninjutsu, but I’d like to get down to business first. Then again, depending on what I’d tell you, I’d probably have to kill you. So there’s that, too.”

Radahn slowly raises a forehoof, “...Uh-”

“Right then!” The pegasus giddily interjects, turning away and skipping off pleasantly toward the sand-bound brigands.

“Huh. Interesting,” Radahn mused as he observed her departure. “Well, it’s official. I said it once, and I’ll say it again… I like her!”

“Konnichiwa!” Hangaku greets the brigands in her native tongue warmly and with closed eyes. “It’s nice to meet you all! Well, again, that is.”

“I can’t believe any of this is happening!” Galib roars out while he and the other members of Zawaqil struggle to get out of the ground, to no avail. “How did you even escape in the first place?! And where the fuck is Aamil?!”

“My, such language,” Hangaku responds. “Wait, was Aamil the one cracking the whip on the carriage?” The pegasus questions while playfully tapping a red-tipped feather on her chin. She then jolted in joy, “Oh! He’s dead! Isn’t that exciting?!”

“Impossible!”

“How?!”

“Eh. What can I say?” Hangaku shrugged playfully. “He got a little choked up.”

‘Nnng! Once our backup arrives, I swear upon every deity in this world that I will personally gut you!’ Galib threatened internally.

“Anyway,” Hangaku began, Radahn pulling up alongside her as his larger frame cast a shadow over the pegasus, offering some respite from the sun. “So, here’s the thing: I’m from the mercenary guild Magius Syndicate, and I’m gonna need you all to answer some questions for me-”

“Screw that!”

“Why don’t you go get rutted by that freak of a pony!”

“Go back to Neighpon, nip!”

“We ain’ say’n nothin’!”

As the brigands continued to voice their defiance and insults, their leader, Galib, chuckled in amusement. “Hear that? You’re not getting anything out of us, so you might as well kill us all, you little cum bucket.” He finished with a condescending grin. “Oh, that’s right. You won’t get your precious information if you do, eh? Life’s just full of hard choices, ain’t it?”

The other brigands laughed in agreement with their leader, who joined them moments after grinningly staring at Hangaku. All while the pegasus scanned them all with an unreadable expression.

“How do you wish to handle this?” Radahn asked. She doesn’t respond and continues to shuffle her gaze between each member of Zawaqil—analyzing them thoroughly.

Hangaku finally breaks her silence and hums satisfyingly, “Right—time for a pop quiz!” She lifts her left wing and plucks off an artificial white feather from the appendage’s humerus section before raising it up high in presentation.

“Anyone know what this is?” She asked, earning dismissive grunts and vocals from the brigands but an interested and studying look from Radahn.

From what the large stallion could see, it looked as if the pegasus had hidden compartments attached along her wing’s humerus, allowing her to store away small items. He could only assume that her other wing possessed a similar utility.

The feather she currently held up high was similar in concept to a writing quill, but rather than it being such a tool, a small purple vial was present where the calamus—typically the portion that’s dipped into an inkwell—would’ve been.

“Fascinating,” Radahn compliments, chuckling. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

“Says the gravity-defying earth pony,” Hangaku shoots back playfully.

“Hah! Point taken!”

Meanwhile, Galib’s eyes are narrowed as he tries to determine what is inside the vial. There was undoubtedly something familiar about it…but he just couldn’t put a hoof on it.

“Care to take a guess?” Hangaku injects as she notices the leader becoming distraught, shaking the vial in her grasp and disturbing the lavender liquid within.

“What does it matter?!” Galib barked. “It won’t change anything!”

“Actually, it will.” She steps closer and taps the feathered vial against his forehead. “So, tell me something… Have you ever heard of Wukong Divulgance?”

The effect of those words was immediate as Galib’s eyes shot wide open in horrific realization. “N-no…”

“B-boss?!” One of the nearby brigands closest to him cried out. “What is that…?!”

“Wukong… H-how did you… That’s not…”

“I’m from Neighpon, remember?” Hangaku teasingly questioned as she sat down alongside the sand-bound, stunned saddle arabian.

“Neighpon neighbors Qina,” she continued, slapping the back of his head, “you nōtarin. That means ‘dumbass’ in Neighponese, by the way.” The pegasus rises up and takes a few steps away toward Radahn before spinning to face the captive brigands.

“It’s inevitable that various goods and wares would be traded between the two nations, both legally and illegally. You guys should know all about that second one! After all, we’ve been tracking your organization for quite some time. We know that Zawaqil is just a branch of a much larger collective that thrives in the black market.”

“What?!” Another member of the brigand band bellows from the pegasus’ right. “How did you get this information?!”

“Classified,” Hangaku answered, locking eyes with him. “Just think about it, though. Did you guys really think you just happened to come by me in such a weakened state? Did you think it was that easy to capture me?”

“You… You wanted us to bring you in!” One of the brigands voiced as all of them, save for Galib, were simply floored by the trap they had been ensnared into. It dawned on them that, even without the large earth pony’s involvement, the neighponese pegasus in front of them would have escaped.

They planned to take her back to their main base of operations… And considering how she escaped from her former confinement, she would’ve done so there and exposed the location of the hideout they’ve tried tirelessly to keep under wraps.

“You bitch!”

“Fuck!”

“Damn it all!”

Hangaku winked as she took their frustrated insults. “Love you too, boys. Mwah~!” She blows them a kiss.

As this goes on, Radahn couldn’t help but grin joyously throughout the entire affair. Hangaku was proving to be an invaluable ally with every passing moment, and if there was any chance of him finding a way out of Saddle Arabia and back to the Lands Between, she would be his best lead.

“Of course, this giant fellow,” Hangaku said after looking back to Radahn, “Is kind of an interesting variable to my plan. Still, all things considered,” she tears her eyes away from the large equine and rests her sights on the brigands with a prominent smile.

“As they say in Equus: you guys are bucked.”

Galib tried to hide it, but deep concern and urgency began to take hold of him as he realized the gravity of the situation.

‘Fuuuuck. Why did this freak of a pony have to show up?’ He internally scorned while glaring at the towering equine. ‘Damn it… DAMN IT!’

In truth, the brigand band leader wasn’t at all surprised by the pegasus’s loyalty to the mercenary guild and, furthermore, to Selene. Naturally, his merry band was clueless of this fact—one has to play it close to the vest, after all.

Thanks to his connections with Sendak, Galib originally planned to turn the tables on the pegasus once they returned to their hideout. He would mold her into the perfect bargaining chip should Selene and Magius Syndicate ever come knocking.

He wasn’t entirely sure why Sendak was so obsessed with the alicorn, but that was the centaur’s problem. So long as she was removed from the equation, he couldn’t give two shits.

But all semblance of careful planning came crashing down as he didn't expect that freak to have the power to defy gravity—fucking gravity! Nor did he ever think that pegasus would have such a potent potion.

If he were to drink that concoction… Their entire operation would…

His thoughts are abruptly disrupted as the pegasus approaches him with that damned vial and the large pain in the ass in tow.

‘Where are they?!’ He internally shouts, desperation plastered on his face as the neighponese and her giant companion draw closer and closer, their sand-treading steps stirring his sweat glands with a resounding [Clompf] on approach.

‘Help me, damn it!’

[Clompf, clompf…]

‘Where the fuck are the Scourge?!’

[Clompf, clompf, clompf…]

The duo’s shadows loomed over him as he looked up to meet their eyes with his own panicked orbs, his fellow brigands looking on in nervous silence. The pegasus rests on her haunches and, with her free forelimb, twists the feathered cap off the vial.

‘Sendak! You’d better not be trying to screw me, you bastard!’

“You’ve been buried in the sand for nearly fifteen minutes.” Hangaku grabs onto his mane and harshly yanks his head back. “You must be thirsty.”

Galib tries to resist, thrashing his head around and keeping his mouth sealed via tightly closed lips, doing everything he could to prevent even a single drop of that potion from entering his mouth.

“Hey, Radahn?”

“Yes?”

“Could you use that magic of yours to-”

“My pleasure,” the earth pony gently interjects, flicking a forehoof covered in his purple prowess upward, which grasps onto Galib’s head completely.

Only the brigand’s eyes could move as they darted about in their sockets, showing their owner’s futile efforts to resist Radahn’s grasp. His mouth is easily pried open, “Thanks, big guy,” the pegasus looming over him said, earning a nod from the freak-pone as she prepared to-

The sandy terrain suddenly began to shake violently, growing stronger with every passing second and causing Hangaku to fall onto her side. It happened so fast that the pegasus didn’t even have time to right herself with her wings.

Hangaku drops the vial in the process, but it’s fortunately caught in the air and held upright by the nearby large pony’s quick thinking and magic.

“Is this an earthquake?” The red-maned titan questioned. He shoots his gaze back to his campsite, the trees and watering hole of the oasis dancing from the earthly commotion, to check on the camels, who were all safe despite trying to stop themselves from falling over.

As Hangaku lifts herself up from the sand, she locks eyes with Galib along the way, who is now grinning triumphantly.

“Yes, finally!” The brigand leader celebrated, and even his cohorts seemed to share his relief. “They’re finally here!”

“Who?!” Hangaku roars back. “Who did you-?!”

A haunting screech accompanied by a clicking sound made itself known from beneath the sands around the oasis, followed by another…and another...and another…

The neighponese pegasus’s eyes shot wide open in ominous realization. “Sweet, Selene…”

Radahn notices a commotion out in the desert sea. “Be careful!” He warned, taking on a combative stance. “Something’s out there!”

Following his declaration, and by his count, seven mounds had emerged as he looked out to the sea of sand. "Scratch that!" He corrected himself. "Multiple 'somethings' are out there!"

Each mound started to move just beyond the oasis’ territory at admirable speeds, heading straight towards them. As the mounds reached a certain yet closer distance, they suddenly went flat as if the creatures that made them dived deeper into the hot sands.

Radahn turns his gaze in every direction to try and locate the burrowing entities. “Radahn!” Hangaku cries out from nearby, garnering his attention. “It's the Scourge! Get the camels to safet-!”

The camels scream out as suddenly as the sand that’s thrown up around them, followed by the emergence of a large insectoid resembling an antlion, whose mandibles and jaws close just as swiftly on the unfortunate mammalian desert-dwellers with a sickening crunch.

A wide-eyed Radahn and Hangaku practically watched the ravenous scenario unfold in slow motion. As the antlion-like entity lowered itself back into the ground, something had been thrown into the air, landing in front of them.

Shirley’s dismembered head.

Next Chapter: Chapter 13~ Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 58 Minutes