“You really sure you want to do this? Even though it very well may be a trap?”

“Yeah, I think we can manage going by ourselves, we’ve been out in the field much longer than three months. We’ve been out in the field for three years before, coming back without any scratches! Besides, if anything, we’re going to bring this war to an end!” Andrew said confidently, pumping his arm in the air.

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.” Night Shade deadpanned.

“Really? I couldn’t tell.” Andrew retorted,

“Those traveling cloaks suit you guys rather well.” Celestia stated calmly, the whole crew started to get flustered at her remark.

“You went through the trouble for having it made for us, so why wouldn’t we wear it?” Helena asked, putting her hands on her hips confidently.

The traveling cloaks were gray in coloration, consisting of a very resistant fabric. The cloak had no sleeves as a cloak shouldn’t, and it covered their entire torso, going down to where their legs started. The cloak also contained a hood, a completely simple, yet useful for travelling in cold or wet weather. There was nothing about it out of the ordinary, its intended purpose was just to be another layer of clothing for the long trip ahead.

“Well, I guess we’re off,” Andrew announced as he started his walking.

“The town isn’t far from the border, so it shouldn’t take you more than a few days on foot. Oh wait, do you all have your passports?” Celestia asked, Andrew and his squad all started to dig through their pockets, pulling out a small passport, as well as managing to do it in unison.

“I bid thee farewell and a safe travel!” Luna waved happily at the group of travelers

“Don’t work yourselves too hard! We’ll be back soon!” Andrew called back to them, already well on his way towards the train station.

“Andrew! Three months isn’t soon!”

“Oh well! Anyways, where do we go from here?”

“Go to the train station! Tell them I sent you!” Andrew lifted his backpack over one shoulder, waving back to Night Shade and the others once more, he and his small band of friends headed towards the train station.

Night of the First Day

Helena sat around the fire, sipping a cup of tea she brewed just recently. Along with Nick, Jhon, and Andrew, they all started eating their small dinner rations. No one brought up any conversations during their time eating, until Jhon unsheathed his katana, and examined it closely.

“What are you doing, Jhon?” Andrew spoke up, taking a few gulps of water from his canteen.

“If my assumptions are correct, I think this sword may be enchanted.” Jhon looked down the edge of the blade, seeing the reflection of the light from the fire hit his eyes.

“Ah, but what type of enchantment?” Nick nudged Jhon’s arm, he reacted by grabbing Nick’s wrist, and putting it back into his own lap.

“I have yet to find out, but the time will come to show its true purpose.”

Andrew took out his own sword for examination, and as expected, the enchantment still held true to its original intent. The blade itself emitted a small glow, Andrew could even barely see the magical aura from the enchantment. He stabbed the ground firmly with his sword, making it suitable for a spot to lean on.

“I don’t know about you guys, but we have a lot of ground to cover. I’m gonna go to bed, see you guys in the morning.” Helena admitted, getting up from her seat. From there she went into her tent, zipping the entrance shut behind her.

After Helena left for bed, the remaining three stayed by the fire, telling stories from the past, making jokes about them, laughing at them, and remembering the olden days.

“Hey Andrew, what was your school life like?” Nick took a swig of water from his canteen, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his uniform.

“I guess you could say it was alright; I went to an American elementary school, and the same goes for middle school, but for high school... high school was different.” He shivered.

“Why? What happened?”

“Well, one thing is that my parents died during my second year. It hurt my grades and my social life quite a bit. I had to move under foster care for three years until I turned 18, where I inherited my parents’ money. I remember that those high school days were like Hell to me, until I went into boot camp however.”

“Hey, come on! There’s no need to be down! It’s all in the past!” Nick smiled at Andrew, now averting his gaze towards Jhon.

“Jhon, what was your life like?” As soon as Nick brought that up, Jhon tensed up for a moment.

“I was born in Japan, as cliche as this sounds I was trained at an early age in a dojo. Training in the martial arts I had no time for my family or school, so I did what anyone else would do; move to America. From there everything fell into place, and I met you guys.” Jhon swung his katana back and forth, cutting the air with every swing.

“Hey, what do you guys think it’ll be like when we finally meet Black Talon?” Andrew asked, leaning back with his palms digging into the dry earth.

“I dunno, if he’s all bark and no bite; we may be able to even take him into custody. From what I can tell, he’s arrogant, challenging us to a fight.”

“I’m right there with you Jhon, but what if something goes wrong?”

“Then I’m sure we’ll be able to pull out, we always get into things like this. It’s almost like a negotiation of sorts; we beat him he pays for what he’s done to this beautiful nation. Like that saying goes, ‘an eye for an eye.’” Andrew unstrapped his sword from his waist, holding it with his hand.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed, it’s already close to midnight.”

“Yeah, g’night everyone.” Andrew repeated the same actions as Helena did before, cuddling himself in the warm blanket, and placing his sword right next to him so he could find it when he woke up.

Afternoon of the Second Day

Helena looked to the sky, seeing that it was only a little past noon. They had already stopped by a small town for lunch, and left as soon as possible to not cause any panic to the rural villagers. She used her little time in the village to get supplies, though from what she gathered, it would last about a day or two if she rationed it.

“Hey Andrew, Night Shade said that that sword could never break, right?”

“Yeah, that’s what he said.” Andrew sighed.

“Can it cut through rock?”

“Hmm, let me see.” Andrew targeted a small boulder at the side of the road, and in one fluid, fast movement, the boulder was cut into tiny clean pieces. This happened so fast, that they didn’t even see Andrew get the sword out of its sheathe before it went back in.

“That’s badass right there.” Nick laughed, pointing towards the mutilated rock.

“Hey, since we’re almost there, how about we get some training in tonight?” Andrew suggested, putting his hands behind his head.

“Training as in how?”

“We have to cut through a portion of a forest to get to where we need to be, I reckon there’s gonna be some baddies in there.”

“What? You expect it to be like one of those dungeons in an RPG?”

“Maybe, Equestria’s one of those places to expect the unexpected, it could happen.”

Andrew put down his backpack to gather extra supplies for himself. He had very few bandages left, not to mention the scarcity of water left in his canteen. He checked the time on his tacpad; nighttime wouldn’t be here for another five hours.

“Helena, are you getting that feeling too?” Jhon looked around observantly, closing his eyes to further enhance his hearing.

“Yeah, we’re being followed.” Helena got into a defensive stance and readied her sidearm, Jhon immediately grabbed for his sword.

“Come out! We know you’re there!” Helena ordered.

As if expected, four ponies came out of the bushes, all dressed up in uniform and carrying a small array of weaponry. Helena aimed her P226 at the assumed leader of the group, and started to bark commands.

“Who are you? What do you want?” She asked, flicking off the safety of her gun.

“We’re members of a guild, known as the Dust Demons. A client wants you all to die.” The leader explained, drawing his curved dagger.

“Whatever they’re paying, we’ll pay double if you let us through.” Nick suggested, the leader started to contemplate over the offer.

“Fine, I want 100,000 bits, non-negotiable.” Andrew untied a small sack from his backpack, and threw it to the ground before the leader. The leader opened it and stashed it into his saddlebag.

“Listen to this very carefully; the next time we cross paths, it might not end up this peacefully.” The leader and the other three all of a sudden phased out of the area, leaving a small trail of smoke in their place.

Later that Night

As the four sat there, bewildered, they all wanted to make sure that nobody else was following them. As they continued down the beaten path, they managed to stop by a small stream.

“Alrighty then, now we know someone is after us. Do any of you guys know someone who might have a grudge against us?” Andrew asked, flinging his fishing pole into the water.

“Not that I know of, I don’t think the Dust Demons are Equestrian in origin either, maybe... the Griffin Kingdom?”

“Yeah, from what I could tell, the Griffin Kingdom looks like it came straight out of fantasyland. There’s always that chance that guilds do exist over there.” Helena claimed, the others nodded in agreement.

“Hey, I think I got something.” Andrew felt a strong yank from the rod he was holding, and as a response he pulled back on the stick with all his might.

Andrew couldn’t believe the fact that he was being dragged into the stream, so he planted his heels into the cold stones and held onto the fishing line as tightly as he could. Yet still he was being dragged into the stream, causing the others to worry.

“Hold on!” Nick grabbed onto Andrew, and started to pull.

Andrew forcefully tugged on the fishing rod with all of his strength, hauling a giant fish out of the water. He didn’t exactly know what type of fish it was, but it looked like it was longer than his height.

“Wow, I didn’t know fish could get that big.” Helena stared wide eyed at the giant fish, poking it with a stick she found lying on the ground.

“This isn’t Earth, Helena. Well, at least we have dinner.” Nick shrugged it off, plunging a knife through the fish’s skull, killing it instantly.

“I can make fish stew with the leftover herbs and spices we got from town.” Jhon pointed out.

“Well guys, we’ll be arriving in Nightingale tomorrow. What do you think we’ll find there?”

“The ghetto.” As soon as Nick blurted it out, everyone but Andrew started to laugh. No matter how much he wanted to, he had to keep a straight face for the sake of the situation at hand.

“Aw c’mon Nick! I’m trying to set up a dramatic moment here!” Andrew whined.

“We’ll find out when we get there.”

Author's Notes:

I've decided that I'm not going to be doing a sequel, I've been doing this for too long and I don't really have a need to keep going. I think I'm gonna go to Chapter 70 and stop there.