For the four hundred and fifty fourth time that day, Gordito glanced up at the sky. Eight hours ago he had found the pale green clouds above the Radical Forest to be a pretty cool sight, but the magic had long since worn off. Now, he only looked up because he was extremely bored. It didn't help that it had been more than twenty four hours since he had shot something with his guns. Worst. Adventure. Ever.

Desperate to find something to take his mind of his boredom, Gordito glanced around. To his right was a shiny metal maglev track that ran parallel to the dirt path he walked upon. While many of the quest-goers had optimistically hoped that a Maglev might show up early on in their trek, the hope had since been abandoned by all. Resigned to their fate, hooves and feet methodically plodded on and on like zombies.

Walking alongside Gordito to his left was Yoshi. Gordito was severely tempted to hop atop his steed and take a break from the endless walking. However, Yoshi was already carrying many bags of adventuring related equipment, and Gordito didn't have the heart to increase the velociraptor's burden.

Directly in front of Gordito was Rainbow Dash. Out of everyone from Equestria, she alone had accepted a sword from R.J., which was currently strapped to her side. Whether she actually knew how to use a sword or whether she was just trying to compensate for her broken wing, Gordito wasn't sure.

Gordito scowled slightly at the sight of R.J. walking next to Rainbow Dash. Like her, R.J. also had a sword strapped to his side. Granted, he hadn't tried to kill anyone or destroy anything yet, but Gordito still preferred having him where he can be easily seen.

"I found the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie Pie sang out without warning from the front of the group.

"That's nice dear," Rarity said with a yawn. After a two second delay, her exhausted mind caught up with the significance of the statement. "Wait, what?"

Gordito looked straight ahead and slightly down. Lying in the middle of the dirt road were five golden necklaces, each one containing a different colored gemstone.

"Wow," said Rainbow Dash. "That was almost as easy as the first time we all found the Elements of Harmony."

"What you are talking about?" said Twilight. "It wasn't easy finding them the first time."

"Yeah it was," Rainbow Dash said. "The location was in the first book Pinkie looked in, and the Elements were right where the book said they would be. Easy."

"It was not easy!" Twilight said. "There was danger along the way!"

"Actually Twi," Applejack said, draping a foreleg over her friend's shoulders. "It was kind of easy."

"Am I the only who's noticed that there are six of you but only five necklace things?" asked Gordito.

"Not only that," Rarity said as she trotted up beside Pinkie Pie. "They don't resemble our cutie marks. They're just diamonds. Wait, scratch that. They all look like my cutie mark. Quite an improvement in my opinion."

"But why are there only five?" asked Twilight. "Where's the sixth?"

"Why are they just lying in the middle of the road?" R.J. asked, a little bit of panic creeping into his tone. "Where are my parents?"

"Let's search the nearby area and see who or what we can find," Dr. McNinja said. "Five groups of two. I'll go with R.J."

Inwardly Gordito smiled. Even with the unexpected curveball of finding the Elements, Dr. McNinja was the man with the plan. No one would be alone, and Dr. McNinja would be able to keep an eye on the possible Sparklelord.

"Wouldn't it make more sense pair up those who are combat ready with those who aren't?" said R.J. as he glanced at his sword.

"I suppose so," Dr. McNinja said, a look of annoyance crossing over his face ever so briefly. "New plan. Me, Rarity. Twilight, Applejack. R.J., Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash, Spike. Butterfly, Gordito."

Gordito glanced at Fluttershy, half-expecting her to correct Dr. McNinja for saying her name wrong. Fluttershy however, only looked at the ground.

"Grab your Element if you have one and spread out," Dr. McNinja continued. "And let's meet back where we found them in five minutes."

Reasonably sure that Fluttershy wouldn't take the initiative to pick a direction, Gordito motioned for her to follow once she had her Element. Twilight Sparkle's Element was not among the five. Everyone split up and ventured into the forest on both sides of the road and Maglev track. When Yoshi started to follow Gordito, Fluttershy promptly took the lead.

"Is there a reason you didn't speak up when Doc said your name wrong?" Gordito asked as he scanned the trees.

"No reason," Fluttershy replied. "But don't we have more important things to worry about?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess we do," Gordito said hesitantly.

Just as Gordito turned to start looking in a different direction, Yoshi growled. Fluttershy stiffened at the sound. Less than a split second later, something large and gray sprang from some nearby bushes towards her. Gordito didn't think. He acted. Quick as a whip, his hand snatched up his revolver and fired. With the sound of a bullet ricocheting off of steel, the furry gray mass landed in a heap before Fluttershy and didn't move. Gun still smoking, Gordito approached the monstrosity.

"Well it's about time," he said with a grin. "I was starting to think I would never get the chance to kill anything on this adventure."

"Wha- what is that?!" Fluttershy said fearfully, unable to take her eyes off the horror before her.

Gordito's grin shifted to a scowl as he knelt down to examine the body. The creature in question appeared to be a velociraptor, but with some differences. Long gray fur coated its entire body and instead of a raptor's head it had the head of a wolf. A bit of fur and skin from between the eyes had been blown off, revealing what appeared to be dented steel underneath. Adding further to the list of oddities was the fact that its claws, talons, and even its teeth also appeared to be made of steel. Gordito opened its mouth wider and tapped the barrel of his revolver against the hybrid's fangs. Sure enough, the action clanged with the sound of steel hitting steel.

"It's a steel boned wolf-raptor thing," he told Fluttershy.

Not caring to see if a creature with a steel skull could survive a head shot, Gordito opened its mouth wider and fired a bullet straight down its throat. Fluttershy flinched at the sound.

"Now it's a dead steel boned wolf-raptor thing," he added smugly.

"Do... you think there might be more?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, I know velociraptors like to hunt in packs," Gordito said thoughtfully. "And I'm pretty sure wolves do too. So I'm thinking yes."

Suddenly Gordito heard a thwack, closely followed by a unconscious wolf-raptor sailing through the air and smashing through a tree.

"You know, I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of punching dinosaurs, even when they're also wolves," Dr. McNinja said as he calmly strolled into view. "I better pace myself so it doesn't become an addiction."

Following closely behind Dr. McNinja was Rarity, Spike, Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash. Unlike Dr. McNinja, not a single one of them possessed the same air of calm.

"We need to get away from here," Twilight urged. "There could be more of those things nearby."

No sooner had the words come out of her mouth, Pinkie Pie zipped by screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Run!" yelled R.J. as he too shot by. "There's like thirty of them right behind us!"

Gordito glanced at Dr. McNinja.

"Are we really going to run again?" Gordito groaned.

"Living trumps honor," Dr. McNinja reminded his sidekick as he took off at a sprint.

Gordito followed suit as everyone ran after R.J. and Pinkie Pie. The sound of howling screeches caused the young gunslinger to glance over his shoulder. A large pack of snarling wolf-raptors were indeed in pursuit. Without slowing down, Gordito fired off a few body shots and dropped two of them. A ninja star from Dr. McNinja whirled through the air and imbedded itself in a wolf-raptor's head. Instead of dying however, the abomination simply kept up the chase.

"They have steel skulls," Gordito informed Dr. McNinja.

"Ah. That would explain why my knuckles are slightly red from punching that one earlier," Dr. McNinja said as he inspected the back of his hand.

"This way! I have an idea!" Twilight called out from the front as she veered towards a cave.

The wolf-raptors started to gain as the adventurers frantically made for the cave. Once they were all inside, Twilight spun around and caused her horn to glow. A brilliant pink light shot out, expanding into a force field that sealed off the entrance to the cave. Once the wolf-raptors caught up, they stopped in front of the magic blockade. For a moment not a word was spoken.

"A force field? Really?" one of the wolf-raptors complained. "That has got to be cheating."

As if inspired by the whiner, the rest of the wolf-raptors began calling out challenges and insults.

"Why don't you come out huh? You scared?"

"Perhaps we ought to systemically throw ourselves at different portions of this obstacle to find out of if it is truly impassible."

"Come at me bro!"

"You're a furry rhinoceros!"

"Yeah, a furry rhinoceros!"

"You can't stay in there forever!"

Ten pairs of eyes watched in quiet surprise as the wolf-raptors continued on with their petty insults.

"Well, guess we're staying here for a while," Rainbow Dash said as she trotted over to Yoshi and retrieved a sleeping bag from one of his saddle bags.

Gordito felt as if he hadn't slept for long before he was awakened by someone bumping his sleeping bag. Gordito squinted into the darkness, trying to see who had moved. R.J. was the perpetrator, slowing stepping across the others as he made for the entrance of the cave. Gordito frowned in puzzlement. R.J. wasn't supposed to take his shift watching the force field until after Gordito had. So why was he already up?

With silence that would have made Dr. McNinja proud, Gordito slipped from his sleeping bag and followed him to the cave entrance. Gordito was surprised to see that no wolf-raptors appeared to be waiting on the other side of the force field. Rainbow Dash, who was standing guard, turned at the sound of R.J's hoof steps.

"You're a bit early, Pinkie Pie," she whispered. "I literally just got here. I'll tell you when its your turn."

"It's me actually," R.J. whispered back. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Now?" Rainbow Dash said. "Why now?"

"It's not a question I wanted everyone else to hear," R.J said quietly. "I wanted to ask how well you knew Dr. McNinja and Gordito."

"Not that well," Rainbow Dash replied. "I only just met them yesterday. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking about your story," R.J. said, still speaking in a low tone. "About how you all came from another reality that's been attacked by that Batman guy. At what point did Dr. McNinja and Gordito get involved?"

"I'm not sure," Rainbow Dash said. "I'm slowly remembering more, but there's still a lot I don't remember because of my head injury. They just kind of... showed up. Twilight said that Princess Celestia trusted them, so I just went with it."

"But didn't that seem kind of suspicious to you?" R.J. said. "A guy who always wears a mask and refuses to give his first name because of a wizard or something shows up right after Batman?"

"I guess that does seem pretty suspicious," Rainbow Dash said. "Come to think of it, he's also the one that led us through the portal to your world. Almost like it was planned."

"And you all showed up not too long after my parents left to fight Discord," R.J. said. "All this good timing can't be a coincidence."

"So what should we do?" Rainbow Dash said softly as she glanced towards the back of the cave.

"Let's just keep this to ourselves for now," R.J said. "If we show that we're suspicious of him, it could go badly."

"Okay, so we just watch him carefully for now. Gordito too," Rainbow Dash said. "Oh, but R.J., there's something you should know. The unicorn that attacked Equestria isn't called Batman. He's called Sparklelord."

"Oh yeah, I remember thinking it was kind of weird when he interrupted Twilight's story. But why the name change?" R.J. asked.

"I don't know. He must have some reason from keeping that name from you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Rainbow Dash said.

"It's fine. Dr. McNinja is probably a master at manipulation. Tell you what, why don't you go get some rest and I'll do the rest of your shift?" R.J. said.

"Oh, you don't need to do that. I'll be fine," Rainbow Dash replied.

"No, your wing is still mending. You could probably use the extra rest," R.J. said. "I got it from here."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright, well, thanks," Rainbow Dash said as she turned to head back.

"No problem." R.J. grinned as she walked away.

Gordito held his breath as Rainbow Dash went past him. Mercifully, she did not notice him. R.J. turned back to the force field and gazed outside.

"Sparklelord," the rainbow maned unicorn whispered thoughtfully to himself. "Kind of has a nice ring to it."