The portal that Devan walked through had dropped him in the middle of what seemed to him, and ever expanding forest that was never quite day, or was it night. Just a continuing expanse of wild looking flora that in some ways seemed familiar, while completely alien at the same time. The whole experience wasn't terrible to him however, it mostly reminded him of his survival training in distant, and obscure places he had been in while he was in the military. He had been here for two days now, and while he was more than able to keep himself hidden from the seen, and unseen creatures of the these woods, by the copious amounts of under brush, and canopies. The phrase often came to mind 'hindsight is twenty, twenty' as he realized that he should have probably have kept the GPS device that had all the information the drone had sent through the gate way. Though as he sat up in the branches of a tall tree, this, and many other thoughts would just make him shrug as he ate some kind of fruit that he had witnessed the local wild life eating as well.

   These were the things he had been paying the most attention to in these last few days, while some of the creatures that roamed freely through out this forest seemed like anything you would find of Earth. There were some that he witnessed that were absolutely out of someone's twisted imagination. Odd combinations of several different types of animals, some hideous, and terrible to behold, while others were simply to cute, and fuzzy to even be real. These were the ones he followed since his arrival, more often than not, smaller prey animals have the best survival instincts, and this held true as the small critters led him, in round about ways, to all kinds of water sources, and trees with edible fruits. However, of all the creatures he had seen in these woods, nothing he could imagine could describe the scene that was playing out before him, while he remained stealthed in his high perch.

   For a good two minutes, it seemed that three large, armoured, and from what he could tell, dog like creatures, had been chasing, and trying to corner an extremely small white unicorn that had huge green eyes, and a two toned mane and tail that was light purple on one side, while the other was a dull pink. For the most part he was unimpressed, while it was quite the experience to see an actual unicorn, he truly thought they would be a lot bigger, and a lot more majestic. What did impress him however, was what the tiny little four legged creature was holding in it's mouth, and trying to keep away from her pursuers. A gem, which to Devan looked to be a ruby of a size that would be worth simply millions where he came from. The tactics of the larger armoured monsters were fascinating to him as well, while on the ground, they seemed clumsy, and over weighted by the armour they wore. At random times during the chase, any one of them would dive to the ground, and with fantastic speeds, burrow it's way into the soil, only to pop up in front of their target seconds later. This caused the little unicorn to let out a muffled scream as it was completely unwilling to drop the massive gem it held in it's mouth.

   It was these little screams of shock, and cries of terror that started to get to Devan. While for all he knew, these dog creatures ate small unicorns like the one they were trying, poorly, to capture. He was also all about the thrill of the hunt, the rush of the kill, and all that, though the little horse's wails of lament, and the many out bursts of what he could only construe as laughter from the three larger animals. All this made it seem as they were doing nothing more than tormenting the little stubby legged unicorn, trying to scare it. This made him let out a sigh as he reached into one of his many coat pockets and pulled out a set of gloves. These were not normal hand protection however, each one had rows upon rows of heavy stitching that held in place a thick steel plate that covered the top of his hand, then a series of articulated plates that ran down the length of his index, and middle finger. After he had finished placing on his fighting gloves, Devan reached with one hand behind him, grasping  a piece of material that was attached to the collar of his coat, pulling it up so that it formed a hood over his head. He then reached into a special compartment on his coat, where he pulled out a featureless, black mask that only had two eye holes that were covered in a fine mesh. He placed the mask over his face as he let another sigh, a sound that started normal at first, but as he fastened the face covering garment to his head, the sigh became lower, raspy, and much more devious.

   "Go left stupid!" The larger of the three Diamond Dogs shouted at his companion as he popped out from the ground in front of Sweetie Belle, causing her to let out yet another muffled scream. The little filly performed a juke move, making the large canine creature think that she was going one direction, in which she changed directions just as he lunged, making him crash down on his face.

   "It's just a filly! Would you idiots catch her or something!" Another of the trio yelled out as he saw his partner face plant to the ground as the tiny, teary eyed pony darted past him, giving her a free, and straight shot towards an open clearing. The dog that just shouted saw this, and let out a long frustrated growl as he fell to all fours, and started pursuing the short legged pony once again. He did begin to think that his luck had changed for the better however, for just as she had ran past a series of trees, the little filly came to a sudden halt, and was looking at something that had to do with the tree she was standing by. His ultimate goal being to get the single gem from which she had been holding in her mouth this entire time, his thought train did not allow him to conceive what had made her stop.

   "Got you now!" Said the one that had noticed that she had stopped first. With a powerful leap, he threw himself into the air, his intentions of tackling the tiny pony, then wrestling the gem from her jaws. She was still looking not at him though, it was the tree she had her eyes glued to, and while he knew that he and his gang had frightened her to the upmost, the look on her face was a sheer shock, and terror. These thoughts left his mind quickly though as his eyes transfixed on the massive red jewel that would soon be his. However, the thought of having the gem left his head completely as a sensation of moderate amounts of pain was quickly introduced to his face as something from the tree reached out, and struck him directly in the jaw. This caused him to let out a yelp of pain, as his course was altered, and he fell to the ground in a roll.

   Sweetie Belle took this as a prime opportunity to flee once again, as one of her pursuers was down on the ground, another had stopped altogether, and the last had diverted his attention to as why his partner was now down on the ground holding his face. She took one final look at the tree to see if the faceless, black clad monster was still there. He had vanished, and she wasn't even sure if it was there to help her, or if it wanted the gem she had been protecting. It didn't matter to her though, all she knew was that she had a chance to finally put some distance between her, and this whole ordeal. That's when she heard the Diamond Dog closest to her let out a groan, and she quickly turned tail, and ran as fast as her little legs would carry her.

   "What happened?" One of the dogs asked as he ran up to his partner, helping him get to his feet.

   "Hey! She's getting away!" The other shouted as he started to once again start the chase at the fading filly. Only to be stopped by the one that got knocked down.

   "Let her be! This stupid tree just kicked me in the face, and I want to know why."

   "But the jewel!"

   "Get over here dummy!" The three Diamond Dogs had now converged on the offending trees location, and the one that got struck fixed his helmet so that it wasn't covering his eyes. "Hey you, tree! Why did you hit me in the face? You got a problem?" The trio all leaned in at the same time, all of them expecting to hear an answer from their new object of attention. No sound came however, until an odd sound that sounded like air being pushed through a very small cavern very quickly was heard. Then the one on the left jumped back as something hard, and fast pelted his chest plate, causing a large dent, and making a new sound as the projectile bounced off.

   "Large canine alien creatures." A voice came from the heavy leafed tree top, causing all three to dart their looks from the one's chest plate, up to where they heard the voice. "Clumsy, immobile above ground, bulletproof armour, and extremely stupid." These last few words were accompanied by a sudden laugh, that then fell silent just as fast as it had started.

   "Hey!" The center dog yelled while taking offense to the 'stupid' remark. "We're not stupid, we're Diamond Dogs! You're the stupid one, tree. Now why did you hit me, and stop us from getting the big gem?" After this, the one addressing the voice in the tree was now poking the tree itself, making sure that the large violent plant knew he was very serious.

   "Lean up here, and I will tell you." The voice said, all the while sounding as if it was trying very hard not to laugh. All three of the Diamond Dogs exchanged looks from one to the other. The one closest to the tree making a head motion implying that he wanted his buddy to do as the tree asked. This made the one being addressed shake his head quickly back and forth, while at the same time pointing to the one at his side. Who in turn, shook his head just as vigorously, while pointing back at the one closest to the tree. The main dog gave both of them a mean look, then turned back around to do as the tree asked, by leaning up just a tad towards the top. "Closer." The voice said, causing the Diamond Dog to lean up further. "Little closer." The voice said again with a musical taunt, making the main one lean up as far as he could without falling over, the other two becoming wide eyed, and holding their breath from the anticipation. "There, that's perfect."

   Devan swung down from his secluded branch where he had quickly climbed to after his initial attack. His legs stiff, and his arms using as much strength as they could. The swinging drop kick found it's target perfectly, placing the flat of his feet directly into the chin of the Diamond Dog that had leaned up. This caused the bipedal canine to immediately let out a great howl of pain as he was lifted into the air, the other two taking in great gasps of air as they saw their friend fly backwards, landing squarely on his back, making all the air in his chest get pushed out from the impact. The two that were standing away from the tree looked at one another, then back down to the one that just got kicked. Their gaze then turned to the creature that came out from the tree, who had just landed to the ground, and took up some kind of weird pose while looking at them with his masked face, and unmoving eyes.

   "What are you waiting for? Get it!" The one on the ground rasped out at his partners while finally being able to take in a long deep breath. This was all the motivation the pair needed as they let out a tooth filled growl at their target while both of them leaping forward. Devan was all to quick to step slightly to the side to avoid his attackers, their movements all to easy to read, and even easier to take advantage of. As the one past by him, Devan brought his knee up to his chest, creating a powerful chamber which he released as a thrusting kick into the Diamond Dog's side. The force of the kick caused the dog to let out an 'oof' noise as his trajectory was thrown off, and he smashed into his partner, making them both, roll to the ground.

   Devan once again made a simple pose, after his foot came back down to the ground. He was just about to launch another series of attacks at the two momentarily incapacitated foes, until he felt the slightest tremble under his feet. This was something he had been waiting for, as after watching the trio chase the little unicorn, he knew all two well that these creatures could, with extreme speed, enter, and exit the ground at will. Just before the dog that he had kicked earlier jumped up through the tunnel he had burrowed, Devan lept towards the tree he was standing on. He planted one foot onto the trunk, pushing himself up, and away at the same time. while his other leg came around himself, causing his body to turn around to face the ground. By this time the Diamond dog had completely revealed his upper body, reaching out with dirt encrusted claws to grasp at the nimble, and pain wielding creature. Devan however, was faster with his own attack, driving his metal covered fist directly into the half exposed dog's face, making his eyes cross, before shutting completely as he was forced back down into the tunnel he had just made.

   One of the others had recovered from the ground now at this point, lunging once again to try to get the masked figure in a tackle. Devan fell down to his hindquarters, then rolled backwards, kicking up some dirt as he extended his legs outward, one after the other. This action smashing the jumping Diamond Dog two times in the head, causing his head to snap backwards, while the rest of him still tried to move forward in a now uncontrolled slide forward. Devan now placed his fists to the ground as his roll placed him on his neck and shoulders. He pushed down hard as his legs came over his head, launching himself into the air just long enough to plant both his feet to the ground, allowing him to see the one canine he just struck, finishing his slide, while the other was now slowly pulling himself from the hole in the ground, and the last had been able to place himself directly in front of him.

   The one Diamond Dog that was left let out a mighty roar as he began assaulting the two legged creature with a series of powerful claw swipes. These attacks, should they have landed, would have been powerful enough to cleave brick from a well fortified wall. The black clothed menace was to quick however, simply avoiding the overly wide, and arching advances with simple side steps, ducks and weaves. Frustration began to fill the still attacking Dogs mind as he tried desperately to land at least one solid blow. He felt as if this thing from the tree was doing nothing more than toying with him, moving only to the slightest degree to let the sharp clawed rushes pass him by, only to stand there for a moment to see where the next one was coming from. This theory of being toyed with came to a sudden halt however, as the attacking Diamond Dog decided to change up his tactics, and add in a slow standing front kick to the mix. This caused the masked creature to bring his arms close to his chest, as he spun in a perfect three sixty to avoid the hulking leg, while at the same time moving in close to the large armoured body, where his metal plated fist shot forward in mid spin, catching right into the long jowl covered cheek bone. This placed the Diamond Dog back down to the ground with a hard thud, making him reach up and grab the area where he was just struck, while looking towards the thing that hit him, who was now pacing backwards while taking a defensive stance.

   The two other canines had now completely recovered, and one of them had rushed to his companion's side, helping him up from the ground, and onto his feet. Devan was expecting at least one of them to leap at him again, save for this time the trio all stood there side by side, each one letting out vicious sounding growls as they lowered their bodies towards the ground. It was then the largest of the three reached to his side, and unsheathed a small blade. The other two followed suite, taking their own blades from their scabbards, each one doing a small twirl, or passing the blades from one hand to the other. The one in the middle let out a commanding yell as he lunged forth, making the other two dive forward with him, each one holding their weapons in front of them, intent on skewing their assailant with full force. Devan stayed as still as a statue, watching the tri-pronged attack come closer, and closer, then just as the jagged blades were inches from him, he himself dived forward. With a skillful somersault, Devan rolled underneath the leaping Diamond Dogs, coming to rest on one knee, while spinning in place to face them once more, as the three finished their attacks, and turned about to ready themselves for another lunge.

   Just as the three canines were about to leap, Devan reached behind him to the two holsters that were hidden on the back of his belt. with lightning speed, two forty five caliber pistols with long silencers were drawn. He first squeezed the right trigger, then the left, then the right once more, causing the firearms to bark out three silent bullets. The first bullet caught the one on the right square between the eyes, causing him to drop his sword, and tumble to the ground. The second met the middle dog in almost the exact same place, making him fall forward in mid stride, crashing to the ground. The final bullet cleanly pierced the last of the three straight through the eye, causing a minor splash of blood to fire forth, before he to fell to the ground, joining his now deceased partners in a lifeless mass.

   All fell silent as Devan slowly came to his feet as he twirled the two pistols on his fingers, then slapped them back into their holsters. He let out a small sigh as he reached up and pulled the hood down from his head, them removing the mask, and placing it back into the interior pocket of his coat. "I win." He said as a smile came over his lips, now letting the whole scenario play back in his head, coming to the conclusion that besides a few missed steps, his performance was pretty much flawless. He looked down at the three corpses, taking notice that the middle one still had his eyes open, his face frozen in shock from feeling, if only momentarily, the sensation of being shot. Devan approached the canine creature, kneeled down, and gently brushed his fingers over the Diamond Dog's eyes, bringing them to a close. "Good times." He said as he rose back to his feet. He then looked in the direction to where the little unicorn had run off two, and started walking in kind.

*****

   Applejack stood in front of her barn, while Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all stood in a line in front of her. "Alright girls!" She pronounced as she started pacing from one side of the gathered ponies to the next. "Now Twilight is in the Crystal empire receiving special training from Princess Cadence. She left us in charge to make sure everything here goes off without a hitch." The hat wearing mare then got a solemn look on her muzzle as she lowered her head to the ground. "And the first thing we go and do is lose a filly."

   "Think you're exaggerating things AJ?" Rainbow asked as she flapped her wings to lift off the ground. "I mean, she's only been gone since like, this morning. She might just be doing filly stuff.

   "Filly, stuff?" Applejack replied, as she raised her eyebrow.

   "Yeah, you know. Stuff that fillies do!" Dash barked back with a voice that let Applejack know she was annoyed that her first explanation wasn't completely understood.

   "Oh I know!" Pinkie chimed in with a long bounce into the air. "Maybe she's playing hide and go seek, but forgot to tell anypony that she was doing it. I know when I was a filly I played hide and seek all the time. I was awesome at it! I'm going to go count to one hundred!" With that, Pinkie took off in a mad dash in a random direction.

   "Back here Pinkie!" Applejack shouted in the direction the energetic pink mare speeded off to. Pinkie arrived back in the same place she was standing before, only coming from the opposite direction she had left in.

   "Leave it to my sister to do such a thing while such important things are happening in Equestria." Rarity said while going through the survival pack she had put together before hand. A pack that mostly contained multiple change of clothes, a make up carry all, and a spare hat.

   "Well whether important things are happening or not. Cheerilee said that she didn't show up for school, and several Ponies saw her leaving town around the same time." This made a worried expression come to Applejack as she looked towards the borders of their town. "That means she is probably near the Clearings, and that means, she is close to Everfree."

   "Ev-everfree?" Fluttershy said in an almost unheard squeak, causing the other mares to look to were she was standing.

   "You got it!" Applejack said with a tone of determination. "And that means that we are going in there to get her! Cause I will be a basket of rotten apples before I let somepony get lost on my watch!" This caused the others, save Fluttershy, to all smile and nod in response to Applejack's words. Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash even let out loud cheers to add to their excitement.

   "Oh, well umm." Fluttershy began in an even lower voice than before, letting her head gravitate towards the ground, which caused her mane to fall in front of one of her eyes. "Maybe I should, you know, just stay here in town. So if Sweetie Belle comes back, I can let her know we were looking for her. You know, if that's okay?"

   "Sorry Sugar, but we are going to need all of us to cover as much ground as possible. So that means you are coming too." Applejack then spun around as she reached up and pulled her hat down more towards her face. "Now let's rustle us up a filly!" This caused all the mares, save Fluttershy again, to rear up on their back legs, and let out shouts as they all started running towards the edge of town. All except Fluttershy, who stood perfectly still, until Rainbow Dash had to spin around, come up behind the yellow mare, and start pushing her in the direction of the rest with her head.

   The five mares all had a stern look of resolution on their muzzles as they galloped into the untamed wilds. Each one bound to the idea that something terrible had happened to the little white unicorn, and they were willing, and ready to do anything to make sure the filly came home safe. All of these fired emotions came to a crashing halt however, for just as they were about to leave the confines of Ponyville, Sweetie Belle could be seen running up the dry dirt road. This caused all of the mares to come to a sliding halt, each giving the next an odd look of confusion.

   Rarity was the first to break from the pack, and begin to approach her little sister, her look not being one of worry, or concern, but one of anger. Sweetie Belle now came to a stop in front of Rarity, as the rest of the group gathered. She was completely out of breath, and tried to mumble something, though the still held gem stone in her mouth made it hard to understand. The filly took in a deep breath, then spit out the ruby with a 'pleh' noise to accompany it. "Didn't you hear me? I said; help, there's a monster in the forest!"

   "Aw man!" Rainbow Dash sighed out as she, and the rest came to where Rarity, and her sister were standing. "We didn't even get to go anywhere!"

   "I know right?" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced around the group. "We are like the best rescue team ever! We didn't even have to look, she came right to us!"

   Despite Dash's disappointment, and Pinkie's misunderstanding on how rescue operations worked, Applejack was more concerned with what Sweetie Belle had just said. "Now hold on there Sweetie. What do ya'll mean there's a monster in the forest?"

   Rarity just let out a scoff. "Of course there's a monster in there. It is the Everfree Forest you know? It is notorious for monsters. Monsters I might add, you shouldn't even know about little missy!" The elder of the sisters was now giving Sweetie Belle a bitter glare as she turned her head to the side, all the while Fluttershy was just nodding in agreement to Rarity's last statement.

   "I know there are monsters in Everfree." Sweetie groaned out. "But this one was completely different! It wore like a bunch of black clothes, it had this dark, and mysterious hood over it's head." The little mare then looked from side to side, then leaned in closer to the adults as she whispered in a shaky voice. "And it didn't have a face!"

   "N-no face?" Fluttershy whimpered, as she, and the other girls started to imagine the creature that Sweetie Belle had described. "That sounds just terrible."

   "Come on!" Dash said as she crossed her front legs over her chest. "If it didn't have a face. How is it supposed to eat, or talk?"  

   "Well, I don't know about that." The filly started. "All I know is it was super scary! Though, it wasn't as scary as the Diamond Dogs that were chasing me." All eyes zipped straight to Sweetie Belle as she finished her sentence, she her self knowing that she shouldn't have said that as her front hooves came up to her mouth in a failed effort to take the words back.

   "Diamond Dogs?" All five of the girls shouted as they now all took notice of the object Sweetie had brought back, and spat out of her mouth.

   "Oh Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried out in an overly dramatic voice. "Please tell me that you weren't taking gems from those, those vicious hounds!"

   "No, of course not." Sweetie said, defending herself. "I was just going to practice your gem finding spell that you taught me a bit before school. You know, so I could have something for show and tell. Then all of the sudden, three of them popped up, and demanded I give them this ruby I had just found. I ran all over the place with them trying to get me! Then, just about when I thought they were going to. This faceless monster was hiding behind a tree, and he was like, pow!" Sweetie Belle now jumped up into the air and did a flying kick at an invisible enemy. "He booted one right in the head with his big black feet! I kinda took that as my queue to leave."

   "Oh my, how violent." Fluttershy commented as she envisioned the terror inducing monster that Sweetie was describing.

   "Sounds totally awesome if you ask me." Dash spoke up. Also creating the scene in her own mind. "Somepony needs to put those mutts in their place if you ask me."

   "Regardless." Rarity interjected by flipping her hair back. "The fact of the matter is. You shouldn't have been in such a dangerous place to begin with. Now you go home, I will deal with you later!" This caused Sweetie Belle to pucker her lips in a deep frown, trying in some way to get some sympathy from any of her peers that would offer it. None was given however, and she kicked at the ground as she bent over to retrieve the jewel. "I will take that." Rarity said as the gem was covered in a magic aura, then lifted through the air to be placed in Rarity's saddle bag. Sweetie Belle was about to give a long protest, Rarity was quick to shoot her sister another scornful glance that was quick to silence the filly as she started to head back to town with a dejected look.

   "What do you think AJ?" Dash asked as she watched the forlorn little mare drag her hooves back towards Ponyville.

   "Probably just Zecora wearing a cloak or something, and Sweetie Belle let her imagination get the best of her." Applejack responded as she gave the distant forest a long look of consideration. "We should probably head on over to her hut, and thank her for saving Sweetie Belle."

   "What if it wasn't Zecora?" Pinkie said as she slid in front of Applejack. "What if there is a big faceless monster, with big black feet that is doomed to wander the world in search of little Ponies that he can use their faces for it's own devious means!" This caused Fluttershy to let out a meep of horror and dive behind Rainbow Dash.

   "As unlikely as I think that is, Pinkie. Thanks by the way for scaring Fluttershy. If there was something like that just wandering around. Don't you think we would have heard about it by now? You know, with all the faceless Ponies and what not."

   Pinkie then made a 'pfft' noise. "Well no! Faceless Ponies can't talk silly!"

   "Anyway." Applejack said as she started heading in the direction of the forest. "We should probably go to Zecora's house and thank her for helping. Even if she didn't, I'm sure she would know something or another about what went on."

   "Agreed." Rarity confirmed while stepping in line next to Applejack. "Besides, I really must get her measurements if she is planning on coming to the Grand Galloping Gala this year. Showing up with such an exotic Pony as a Zebra wearing my fashions will make me the star of the ball."

   "I'm just hoping we get to fight a monster. I'll show it what for if it tries to take my face!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she made several jabbing motions at the air with her front hooves.

   Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stood there next to one another. Fluttershy was still shivering at the thought of having to confront the monstrosity that Dash was so compelled to meet. Pinkie looked at the frightened yellow mare from the corner of her eyes as a long grin came across her face. She then jumped and wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy's neck, causing her to try to scream from the sudden movements. "Come on Fluttershy! We will need your help if we are going to get all those Ponies their faces back! How else are they going to eat, or drink, or do anything?"

   The images that Pinkie had just forced into her head made Fluttershy completely freeze in terror. So much so that Pinkie had to start dragging her towards the rest of the group that by now had a long head start. "No wait!" Fluttershy insisted, as she tried to no avail to pull away from the Earth Ponies superior strength. "Maybe I should just, umm, stay here. Yeah, I should stay here and make sure Sweetie Belle is okay. She's had such a rough day. She needs somepony to help her through this traumatic experience. I don't want to go!" She cried out, though both her suggestion and plea fell on deaf ears as she was continued to be dragged across the dirt covered road.

*****

   Through the trees Devan jumped, and hurdled. The canopy even near the edges of this seemingly never ending wood was as vast, and lush as anything he had ever been in on Earth, and it was easy to say that he had not had this much fun practicing his clandestine skills in a very long time. After the fight with the alien dog creatures, he had decided to track the fleeing Unicorn that they were after. She was easy to track, even from a distance, and it was only until the end of her journey did he decided to stop, and not directly enter the town that she had ran to. His hesitance paid off however, as almost as soon as the little horned horse went into the small town, five more, larger versions came out of it.

   Often times as he tracked the five odd coloured creatures did he chuckle ever so lightly to himself. He thought it was rather funny that it was he, and not some team of college bred scientific teams that was the first to observe true alien life on this level, and they were truly alien. While they appeared as nothing more than small horses, ranging anywhere from four, to four and a half feet tall, that's where the similarities ended. The orange one wore a hat, much akin to cowboy hats of Earth, each of them seemed to have found a way to style their manes in various fashions, he even took note on how all of them practiced some kind of body art by the looks of the markings on their sides. What was really fascinating to him though, was how they were talking. While many of the words they were using were odd, and off from what he could understand, most of the language he could comprehend perfectly. He wondered if it was their native tongue, or maybe the return device he held in his pocket had some extra features that he was not told about. Which wouldn't surprise him considering that apparently, Floor Thirteen had a habit of stealing their ideas from fictional sources.

   For a good fifteen minutes Devan stayed in the abundant tree tops, following his new targets as they traversed deeper into the woods. All of them acted as if they didn't have a care in the world as they spoke, and laughed with each other. All save but one, there was a long haired yellow one that he could only determine to be a pegasus that was constantly on it's guard, always shifting it's head in random directions, taking notice of the slightest movement, or sound that happened to be out of place. It was this one that was keeping him on his toes, as he had to make sure when he was about to transition from one tree to the next, that the yellow creature did not suddenly whip it's large soft eyes to catch him in the act.

   Another few minutes past, and deeper still the group traveled into the darker parts of the forest. The trees were so thick now at this point that they were able to choke out the sunlight, and the branches began to intertwine to the point where Devan was able to make normal steps at a time to keep on top of his surveillance subjects, then something odd happened that took Devan off guard. As he was passing from one tree to the next, only for a moment did he lose sight of the group as he shifted from one side of the trunk to the next. However, with in that small second, the overly energetic pink one had completely vanished. His eyes darted from side to side, he looked at the ground to try and find her tracks, and where they had parted from the group, but nothing could be seen. As far as Devan could tell, the bouncing little creature had just stopped being there, and the rest of the group seemed to care less, only making a passing note that she had gone missing.

   "What'cha doing?" Pinkie asked the strange tree dwelling creature that had been following them this whole time, as she poked her head out from the mass of leaves that was right above him.

   "Jesus!" Devan shouted as everything he knew about stealth movements, and tactics had gone right out the window as this pink coloured equine, who had no visible means of climbing trees, was able to not only get up higher than he was, but also completely take him by surprise. More than that though, Devan had tried to jump back, and misplaced his foot in his shock, and began to fall towards the ground. In a last desperate attempt to not descend a good fifteen feet to the ground in an uncontrolled fall. Devan reached out and grasped at what ever his hands could claim as a means to stop his plummet. The objects he was able to grab a hold of, much to her dismay was Pinkie Pie's mane and ears. This offered absolutely no support as Devan continued to fall, now dragging Pinkie down with him, making them both shout out in a panic.

   Devan hit the ground flat on his back, causing all the air of his lungs to quickly vacate his chest in a long wheeze. To make matters worse, the little creature he had accidently grabbed was only a good half second behind him, and used him to break it's fall, smashing it's chest to his, while at the same time, driving their heads together, that brought Devan to a rather fast state of unconsciousness.

   The rest of the girls were quick to make it over to where Pinkie, and her new discovery had fallen to the ground, each one now taking pause to look at the new, and strange creature their friend had discovered. "Geez Pinkie! You alright?" Rainbow Dash said as she came closer to the scene than the rest.

   "Yeah, I'm okay. Just fell out of a tree, again." Pinkie responded in a moan as she rolled off Devan's chest, and onto all fours.

   "What the hay is that thing?" Applejack said as she was now taking notice of what had fallen out of the tree with Pinkie. "Don't look like no critter I've ever seen, that's for sure." She, and now the rest of the group had now encircled Devan, who let out a pain induced moan as he started to regain his wits.

   "Bl-bl-black cl-clothes." Fluttershy whispered as she started to remember the thing that Sweetie Belle had described to them back in town, causing her to dart behind Rarity, only peaking out with one widened eye. The rest of the mares all gasped in unison as they too began to take in the details of the stirring creature that lay on the forest floor.

   While the rest of the group started to recoil away, letting their imaginations get the better of them, Rainbow Dash gained a more thoughtful, and fearless look on her muzzle. "Hey, wait a minute. If this is supposed to be the thing that Sweetie told us about. How come it has a face?"

   "Oh yeah!" Pinkie exclaimed. "It isn't supposed to have one. Well I have an idea, all of you go back to Ponyville and get Sweetie Belle. I am going to stay here and cover it's face with dirt. So that way we can see if it really is the monster she said it was."

   "Not sure that would help matters none there Pinkie." Applejack sighed out while placing her hoof up to her face, and shaking her head. "Besides, now that I get a better look at it." She continued while stepping closer to the felled object of their discussion. "It looks to be like some kind of, I don't know, monkey. Just a monkey wearing clothes."

   "He's a hu-human." Fluttershy's voice creeked out from behind Rarity's posterior, causing all of them to give her an odd look.

   "What ever do you mean Fluttershy? How do you know what, he is, you said?" Rarity asked while moving away from Fluttershy to join the others that were now looking to her for an answer.

   "There's another one in Canterlot." Fluttershy informed, while letting her curiosity grow, now that the 'faceless monster' theory was slowly being pushed from her head. "I saw him one time when I was visiting there a few months ago. I had to pick up some special medicine."

   This caused Dash to clap her hooves together. "Oh yeah, duh! I remember that now. That tall odd looking guy that hung around all the Dark Ponies." This caused a collective, and elongated 'oh' to come from the other three Ponies.

   "Well." Applejack started. "What should we do with him? Not like we can just leave him here in Everfree, all kinds of bad things will happen to him." While she was saying this, Devan let out another long moan, as his arms started to reach up slowly and rub his chest.

   "I hope he's okay. That was a very bad fall." Fluttershy said as a new sense of bravery, and the need to care for an injured creature came over her, and she walked over to where Devan was laying, looking over him, the tip of her muzzle now just inches away from the tip of his nose.

   A brush of something soft and warm came into contact with Devan's face as he slowly started to return to the waking world. It was only as he started to open his eyes, did he see what the sensation was. One of the horse creatures was now standing right over him, it's long light pink mane had fallen down, and was gently caressing his face. What met his vision as his eyes came into focus, were two deep pools of sea green eyes, that gave a long blink, all the while being greeted by a friendly smile. "Oh, hello." Devan said in a low voice that did it's best to hide the pain that was coursing through his body at that moment. He was even able to return the smile he was being given. He didn't know why, but for just a moment, he felt very content where he was, and temporarily forgot that he had just fallen out of a tree.

   "Umm, hello to you." Fluttershy said as she continued to smile down at this new creatures face. "You had an accident. Are you okay?" When she said the word 'accident' Devan's eyes went wide, as the past minute came rushing back into his head. This caused him, in one swift motion to sit straight up, almost knocking heads with Fluttershy, who in turn leaped back from the sudden movements.

   "You!" Devan shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at Pinkie Pie, while his other hand reached up to try to contain the throbbing in his head.

   "Me?" Pinkie said, pointing at herself with her hoof.

   "Yes you. What are you, stupid? You just don't sneak up on people like that!" He now was able to muster enough strength to lift himself to his feet, causing all the Ponies, except for Pinkie to take a few steps backwards.

   "Sneak up on you?" Pinkie bellowed out, while getting a cross look on her face. "You were the one sneaking around in the trees!"

   "I wasn't sneaking. I was spying, and there's a difference!" Despite having a massive headache, a throbbing pain in his lower back from landing directly on his guns, and a mild sense of distortion. Devan suddenly found it odd that one of the first things he was doing in a completely new world, was having an argument with one of the locals about who was sneaking up on who.

   "It doesn't matter!" Applejack barked out, causing Pinkie to recoil back a bit, Devan however, just looked at the orange hat wearing mare while letting out a sigh, then placing a smile on his face.

   "Okay, we got off on the wrong foot." He said while lifting his hand to his chest. "Devan Crey, of the Human race."

   This caused Applejack to somewhat lower her defensive demeanour as this newcomer decided to show some manners. So she in turn pointed to each one of her companions, giving him their names, stopping at herself. Devan looked at each one as their names were called out, though he gave a small bow, and a quaint smile when he was introduced to Fluttershy. "Now." Applejack started after all the formal introductions were taken care of. "You wouldn't happen to be the same fellow that helped out a little filly earlier by chasing away some of them Diamond Dogs were you?"  

   This made Devan remember back to when he had decided to intervene in the chase scene he had witnessed. He wasn't quite sure how these, Ponies as they called themselves, handled social situations when dealing with hostile enemies. So for the time being he decided to simply leave out some minor details about the encounter. He also decided to take into account that even they were completely alien, they were women, and he was extremely good looking, or so he had been told, and decided that perhaps a little white knight charm could properly influence them to being more cooperative towards his over all goal here on this world. "Why yes, yes that was me. Saw the poor little thing being chased around, and scared by those large brutish creatures. So I took it upon myself to simply make sure she got away." He then let out a friendly laugh that was laced in silver tones. "Though I think the little thing was more frightened by me."

   This caused the group to all get smiles, and let out chuckles as they all started to relax. Devan increased his smile as well, as he could easily tell that these creatures were going to be easy to blend into if they were so willing to take a stranger completely at his word. "Well alright then." Applejack stated as she turned around, motioning back towards the way they had come from. "Let's get on back to Ponyville. You look like you done run a race in the mud, and I bet Sweetie Belle will want to thank you personally for helping her out." All the Ponies just nodded at one another, then fell in line with Applejack as they all started to walk from the scene.

   Devan took the time to approach Pinkie Pie, and extend his hand out towards her as he gave her a dashing smile. "Truce?" He said, while even giving her a small wink.

   "Hmm." Pinkie mumbled as she lifted a hoof to her chin, and looked up, and away, as if she were in some deep train of thought. "Okay!" She shouted loudly as she took his hand into her hoof just where it met the bend in her ankle, shaking it so vigorously that Devan's entire arm started to bounce around. "Just as long as you promise not to take my face off." Devan couldn't help but let out a solid laugh at the off the wall, and random statement.

   "Well I promise, I won't take your face." He laughed out as he was finally able to free his hand from the still shaking mare. Pinkie after hearing this gave him a long close eyed grin, then bounced off to join her friends. Devan paused for a few moments, watching as the multi-coloured troop walked slowly away. Just for a second he wondered if this was the proper thing to do, getting involved with the resident aliens of this world so quickly. He could just have easily dispatched the lot of them, and went about normal reconnaissance and information gathering in other ways. As soon as he thought that, for some very odd reason, he felt bad, and he didn't know why. This was par for the course for him, work your way into the group, become trusted enough to gather intel, deal with the assigned target. His thoughts though were halted as he noticed Fluttershy had stopped walking, she was looking back at him with a soft smile. She then made an ever so subtle motion with her head for him to follow. All Devan did was return the smile and nod, then took a series of quick steps to join the herd of Ponies, as they already had started talking and laughing as they had before they had even met him.

   Back in Ponyville, all eyes were on the newcomer as he and the five mares came walking back into town. Devan couldn't help but put a little extra strut in his step as he was now the absolute center of attention. He found it rather funny how he would every now and again give a simple wave, that would invoke a large myriad of reactions, ranging from a wave back, to a friendly smile, all the way to looks of shock, and even fear. One thing he took immediate notice of, was the sheer lack of males in the town. By simply surveying the gathering crowds, he could easily deduce that the female to male ratio was close, if not over ten to one, something he was sure that the stallions of this world were rather happy about. He found it rather easy to distinguish the sexes of these Ponies, unlike the horses of his world. The mares all had much softer features, their eyes were bigger, round in most cases, with oval shapes added into the mix. While the stallions were stocky, more angular in their design, and their eyes generally didn't cover the bright spectrum the females did.

   On his trip here, he was informed all about Pony society, all be it rather abridged. Several times, the one called Applejack would apologize for not being as informative, and skipped details. She told him that there was a sixth to their group normally, but she had recently gone under a massive change, and had to be taught on the finer points of becoming something called an Alicorn. Which he found out was their Goddesses that actually lived here on the same world as they did, and possessed powers so grand, that he started to feel that maybe Director Cook's paranoia was very much warranted. The thought of Earth being taken over by a group of hostile pastel coloured ponies, and their Gods did make him chuckle to himself however, because if something were to ever occur, he was sure Shannon would have something to do with it.

   A quick walking tour was given to the Human, he was shown all the local points of interest. The local bakery, the tree library, a store that just sold couches and pen quills, even the school that was filled with an exuberant amount of even more tiny Ponies, like the one he had saved earlier. The final stop of their journey was a placed called Carousel Boutique, a place where the one called Rarity used her time to create clothes of all different kinds of fashions. A point that he thought was strange, due to the fact of Applejack wearing a hat, he hadn't seen so much a strip of clothing on any of the residents.

   "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity sang out as she and the rest entered the large room of her home, slash business. "We're home, and we have somepony you might like to meet." With that, Devan could hear some ruckus from upstairs, then the sound of hoof beats moving in a fast pace down the stair well.

   "Oh boy!" A high cracking voice began from above them as it sounded like someone had thrown a wooden block down the stairs. "Is it one of the Wonderbolts? Cause Scootaloo said they were awesome, and." As soon as Sweetie Belle saw who was standing there along with her sister, and her friends, her jaw dropped open, while her eyes went as wide as they possibly could, then she let out a high pitch shrill, while darting back up the stairs.

   "Yep, that's generally the effect I have on children." Devan said while using one of his pinkie fingers to rub the inside of his ear from the drum piercing scream the filly let out.

   "She's fine." Rarity encouraged as she made an embarrassed backwards walk towards the bottom step. "She's always like that around strangers."

   Rainbow Dash let out a loud single laugh when she heard this. "No she isn't! She's one of the friendliest fillies around."

   "Thank you Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said while giving her pegasus friend a mean look, then turning her gaze back up the stairs. "You come down here this instant!" She commanded while stomping a hoof to the ground.

   "This really isn't all that necessary." Devan said while crossing his arms, and trying not to laugh.

   "Oh but it is!" Rarity argued, then immediately whisper shouting another command to her sister, who in Devan's mind, was probably standing at the top step, simply shaking her head back and forth in defiance. "One must be thanked properly when they show true acts of bravery, and valor." Her horn started to glow, and a loud protesting yell could be heard. In just a few seconds, the scared filly could now be seen being brought down the stairs, though she was hovering in the air, and still trying to flee the seen by running in place. "Especially when dealing with those filthy gem thieves. After this event, I am starting to believe they have it out for my family." The entire time Rarity was speaking, Sweetie Belle was being guided through the air, who by now had given up her escape attempts, and was just sitting on her haunches, with her front legs crossed over her chest, and a very distant, and angry look on her face. The small mare was then placed in front of Devan, who was still trying not to openly laugh at the comical situation. "Now, thank him Sweetie Belle." Rarity said, all the while keeping her horn's glow active, just in case her sister tried to make a break for it.

   Sweetie Belle mumbled something in a disgruntled tone as she looked down and away from Devan. "I'm sorry Sugar, what was that again?" Applejack said with a whimsical tone, as her own smile started to stretch across her muzzle. Once again Sweetie repeated the unknowable statement, this time a little louder, but just as garbled.

   Devan decided to make it easy on the child as he knelt down on one knee, trying to bring himself more to her level, which was almost impossible considering the Unicorn was only about two feet tall. "Tell you what kid. How about you hand over that ruby you were packing around this morning, and we'll call it square."

   "What? No way!" The pink and purple maned filly shouted in a now very understandable, cracking voice. She was about to go into the whole explanation on how it was for school, though as she was about to start talking, the gem in question levitated across the room, and down to where Devan could grab it. This caused Sweetie to jerk her head almost one eighty to give her sister an appalling glare. "Rarity!" She cried out, making her bottom lip jut out.

   "It's only fair Sweetie Belle." Rarity said as she tossed her mane back, and then walked over to the rest of her friends. "You can use one of my other, less expensive gems to take to school, which you should be heading off to, now."

   Devan for a moment let everything kind of phase out as he held the incredibly large gem stone in his hand. It was at least ten times bigger than he had imagined, and a hundred times heavier than he had expected. His mind was full of visions of all the things he could do with it when he got back to Earth. The sheer amount of chaos he could cause in just the bidding wars alone would be enough to entertain him for months on end. Being able to pit some of the most devious jewel traders, and collectors against one another with deadly results made an ear to ear grin take over his face that he could not stop. He even took a second to look around the room at the others to see if they were as happy with his acquisition as he was. Most just smiled when he caught eye contact, Pinkie was laughing at the two sisters now caught in a deadlock argument. Then he saw something that made the smile on his face vanish in an instant.

   There in the back of the crowd, amongst the shouting, was Fluttershy. She was wearing a very forlorn frown on her small little muzzle, and her massive light green eyes were filled with a glossy look of what he could only perceive as disappointment. He had no idea why, but that one single silent gaze, made his heart feel like it weighed a thousand tons, he felt a sudden surge of regret flow through him as if he had done the worst possible thing in the world, and all of the sudden, the priceless jewel he grasped in his hands, just didn't seem to sparkle as much as it did when he first held it. "Tell you what kid. " Devan said as a long sigh left his mouth, causing Sweetie, and Rarity to stop yelling at one another. "You go ahead and keep it." With that, he placed the ruby on the ground at the little mare's hooves.

   "Seriously, you mean it?" Sweetie Belle sang out as her eyes brightened to the point where he could swear he saw stars in them.

   "Yeah sure." Devan answered back, still not one hundred percent sure why he was giving his retirement fund to an insignificant alien child. "I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway. Just a red piece of glass as far as I know." He lied as he forced out a small laugh, and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

   "Oh thank you mister!" Sweetie Belle shouted in glee as she lept from where she was standing, giving Devan a full blown embrace. This caused Devan's body to go completely stiff as he was almost knocked over by the small mare's deep hug. he had never hugged a child before, so getting emotionally attacked by a small horse like child was almost to much for him to take, and he was about to do all he could do to push Sweetie away from him. She was the first to break away though, making him let out a sigh of relief as the anxiety started to subside. "I am going to take this to school right now! Then I am going to give it to Spike when he gets back, so he can eat it!" Sweetie Belle then leaned down and took the ruby in her mouth, and quickly rushed out the door towards her school yard.

   "So who can do what?" Devan asked, though his question fell on ears that could not hear him, as Sweetie was already well out of his range. All the others were now laughing towards each other, and to themselves as they watched Rarity's sister vanish with a skip in her step. All except Fluttershy who was still looking at Devan, though her former look had completely changed to a light filled smile, that made impossible for Devan to not return.

   "Well that was mighty kind of you there Devan." Applejack said as she turned back  to face him. "Now, since you'll be shacking up here for a while. We need to find you a place to sleep for a time."

   "I would love to offer you a place here Devan." Rarity began as she stepped to the middle of the room making a gesture with her hoof to prove her next point. "Having such a gallant person as you staying here would make me feel so much at ease, but there's only two rooms, one for me, the other is for Sweetie. Plus having a male here would cause so much scandal!"

    "H-he can stay with me." Fluttershy said. Although it was in such a low whisper, that not a single member of the discussion heard what she said.

   "Well he can't stay in Cloudsdale." Dash added. "I mean, unless you Humans can walk on clouds. Can you walk on clouds? Cause if you can, my place is totally awesome!"  Devan didn't say anything to absurd question he was just asked. He only let out a chuckle, while shaking his head.

   "Umm, I said, he can stay with me." Fluttershy repeated, with a voice that was still much to low to be heard.

   Pinkie was now bouncing in random circles around the room. "I don't think the Cakes would like it very much if I brought a guy home to stay. It just didn't go so well last time."

   "Well shoot." Applejack said as she scratched her head with her hoof. "He can't stay in the library. Twilight would pop her top if she came home to find some strange creature there. You know what? Why don't you just come on over to Sweet apple Acres. There's plenty of room in the barn."

   At that moment, a panic came over Fluttershy, and she filled the room with a loud scream. "He can stay with me!" This caused all eyes in the now quiet room to come to rest on the yellow pegasus. Who now felt a full body blush raging over her, and she even felt her mouth almost go dry. "I mean, if you want to." Fluttershy was now looking directly at the ground, slowly dragging one hoof back and forth on the carpet. That's when all turned their gaze to Devan as if it had been choreographed.

   Devan looked to each of the Ponies, who were all just sitting there blinking, waiting for his response. He then looked to Fluttershy, who still had her face turned towards the ground, yet her mane had fallen completely to one side of her face, covering one eye, while the other looked up at him with a sad glint. Devan just could not understand what he felt when he saw that look on Fluttershy's face, he hated it. Though it wasn't a hate that was directed towards her for making the look at him, it was a kind of malice that swelled in him that something made her make that look, and he wanted to make it leave. "Well how can I say no to that?" After hearing him say this, Fluttershy still continued to look at the ground below her, though a small smile came over her while she did it.

   "Well alright then! Sounds like we have a plan." Applejack said. "Tell you what partner, why don't you head on over with Fluttershy, and get cleaned up."

   "Oh yeah!"  Pinkie interrupted as she moved seamlessly from where she was standing, to where Devan was. "Cause we are going to have ourselves a party. So hurry up!"

   Devan just placed his hands up in surrender, while a light laugh came from his mouth. In all honesty he was very tired, as much fun as it was to bound through an alien landscape, and even get into a vigorous, if not very challenging fight. The whole ordeal left him feeling drained, now that he was in a well surrounded, and friendly social center. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it. "Was all he said as he started to move towards the door, stopping only for a second to offer Fluttershy the opportunity to leave first. With that, the yellow mare just smiled, and then trotted out of the door, with her new room mate in tow behind her.

*****

   She sat there in a silent pose, the only thing moving in the still night was the occasional twitch of her tail. None of the passing carts, and carriages having a clue what was watching them from the dark outcropping of trees, in the other wise flat plain land. Though if they were to look at the right moment, a second after a cloud had moved out of the way of the Moon's light, they would have seen just the smallest glimmer of her one red eye.

   For the last few days she had tracked him now, following the well hidden tracks that anypony else would have missed, or mistaken for the trail of an animal, she knew it was him though. Not just from the path he laid out before her, but from the trail of poor souls that were unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with him. Those poor Griffons whose bodies she had found laying out in the open for all to see. She didn't know why he had killed them, and quite frankly she didn't care either. For all she knew he struck them down because they said something about Luna that only he would construe as an insult, maybe they sensed the same foul aura about him as she did, and tried to do something about it, or maybe he just wanted to kill something. Whatever the case was, it had to be stopped.

   She knew he was here, she knew he had made his way to the Minotaur lands. Her one red eye illuminated the steps he had taken, and she could see them leading into a vast settlement that was full of civilians, children and women. It made her shudder to think what he was planning to do when he got into that place, if she was only faster she might have been able to stop him. With any luck however, he would bite off more than he could chew inside those fortified walls, and the Minotaurs would tear him apart like he had done to so many of his victims. This made her smile in the shadows, the thought of some kind of ironic justice being served to that blood thirsty killer without her having to directly get involved made her feel a small warmth.

   She shook it off though, she had to remain vigilant. She could not let such thoughts distract her from what she was here to do. No, he would enter that unknowing colony of large horned creatures, he would do what he went there to do, and those poor dumb bovines will have never even known he was there until it was to late. Then he would slip out, confident in the knowledge that through his blood letting did he in some way increase his Goddess's power over the world. This made her grind her teeth at the sheer ignorance that permeated that man's mind. About how he thought that anything he did was relevant to what Princess Luna could do if she so wanted to. She then thought of Luna, and how in such a short time she had lost respect for her. She herself may be an Abyssal Pony, cast out by the ancient rulers of this world all to long ago, but at least she did not fall to the foolish notion that a monster like Shannon could ever truly love somepony, or even begin to comprehend what the word love even meant.

   Chaosia found her self getting worked up at the thoughts racing through her mind. She had to take in several deep breaths to calm herself. She let in new thoughts of how everything would go back to normal once he was gone. Sure Luna would grieve him for a time, her sister would be crushed, and act as if there was nothing left in this world for her, but in time, things would be fine. So she was going to let Shannon do what he came here to do, she was going to let him have one more fling of murderous intentions on these unknowing, and hapless brutes. Then she was going to follow him, she would lie in wait for him to hide away in some horrendous crack in the Earth, and then, for her sister, for her Moon Light Goddess, for all of those that dwelled in Equestria it self, she was going to kill him.

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Love and Shadows

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