//------------------------------//
// Chapter Sixteen: The Pursuit 
// Story: The Titans' Orb 
// by Mister Horncastle 
//------------------------------//





“Good morning!” Rarity sang up to us from the ground below.

Slowly opening my eyes and sniffing emphatically, I looked around and remembered that I was up in the tree; blinking and giving my head a shake, I looked around and spotted Rainbow Dash close by, still fast asleep.

“Come on, sleepy heads! Time to get up!” Rarity called again.

“Okay, I’m awake! Be right there!” I called back drowsily.

“Mmn, just five more minutes, Don…” Dash moaned in her sleep.

Raising an eyebrow, I smirked to myself upon sensing an opportunity. My better half was inclined to rouse the pegasus in the kindest, gentlest, most delicate way possible. Alas, much to her misfortune, I did not listen to my better half. Scooting closer to her, I sucked in a deep breath of air, preparing to imitate a popular YouTuber by the name of Daz Black. Grinning with devious intent, I brought my face close to hers and let off a shrill, high-pitched, flamboyant screech.

“TIME FOR A TEA PARTY!”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open and she screamed in shock. Scrambling away from me and flailing around in confusion, the pegasus fell from the branch and plummeted to the ground below. She then caught herself in mid-air and flew back up to me with a face like thunder. I meanwhile, was laughing half to death, howling and hooting to myself.

“You dickhead!” she yelled, giving me a firm shove.

I was pushed right to the edge of the branch, where the rope thankfully prevented me from going over. Pulling myself back to the middle of the branch, I faced Rainbow and grinned.

“Good morning starshine!” I cackled, “The Earth says hello!”

Landing on the branch, she scowled at me, with every intent to give me another push.

“You are such a dick, dude. And you ruined a perfectly good dream!”

“Yeah, it sounded like it.” I teased, “You talk in your sleep.”

With her eyes widening, Rainbow Dash shook her head and proclaimed that she didn’t.

“Oh you don’t, do you?” I replied with a smirk.

Leaning back, I closed my eyes and pulled a face of ecstasy, and let off salacious moans, gyrating my hips as I did so.

“Ooaahh… Just five more minutes, Don!”

Blushing like a beetroot, Rainbow tried to shove me again, to which I seized her wrists and locked eyes with her, grinning wickedly at her.

“So, who’s Don?”

“Ugh, get off!”

Shaking free of my grasp, Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and grumpily muttered something about an old ex-boyfriend. She then blew a raspberry at me and leapt from the branch, soaring down to the ground for breakfast. Still snickering to myself over how flustered I had made her, I untied the rope and slithered along the branch until I reached the trunk, where I carefully lowered myself down using the ivy. Upon reaching a safe enough height, I chose to jump down, and in an attempt to look cool, I performed the infamous ‘superhero landing’, only to learn that Deadpool was very much telling the truth.

“Holy shit-snacks that is hard on the knees…” I whispered quietly to myself.

Masking the immense pain I now felt, I hopped to my feet and wished everyone a good morning.

“Sleep well?” Applejack inquired, rummaging into her saddlebag.

Looking up at the tree once more, I confirmed that I had slept like a log, or at least, on one. This brought forth a few laughs from the girls, followed by Applejack retrieving a Granny Smith apple from her store and tossing it to me. Catching it, I took a large bite and closed my eyes, revelling in my first ever apple from Equestria, from Sweet Apple Acres no less! It was so crisp, with just the right level of sourness; there was a good reason why Applejack’s farm was one of the most successful in the country, her produce was nothing short of perfection.

“Now this is damn good.” I munched.

“Why, thank you kindly!”

After consuming as much of the fruit as possible, I tossed away the core and helped the group in quickly packing away the camp; there was only so much of the day that we had. Much to our dismay, there was a big urban patch coming up, one that was far too large for us to go around, not without adding another few days to our trip. The plan was to get there by nightfall, so that we had a chance of sneaking through, and then making camp on the other side.

“Alright team, double time!” I announced merrily, “Let’s get our arses in gear, and move out!”

“You’re not in charge here, you don’t give the orders.” Twilight pointed out.

Breaking into a mischievous grin, I pointed at Twilight’s face and sounded off loudly.

“Alright team, Twilight says double time! Let’s get our arses in gear, and move out!”

“Ugh!” Twilight grunted loudly, trotting off ahead.

Now tittering amongst ourselves, the rest of us followed her, taking on the new day with an air of gusto and merriment about us.


For a good five to six hours, we made our way through the lush greenery, making light conversation along the way. Observing the ponies’ behaviour as we went, I couldn’t help but find myself amused at how all six of them occasionally used their tails to whip at insects whenever they tried to land on them. Their ears did the same, flapping violently at any bug that dared to fly too close. Quietly huffing to myself in joviality, I pressed on, totally enthralled by my companions and their fun little quirks.

After stopping momentarily for a late lunch, which consisted of cucumber sandwiches and apple juice, we made our way again. We had only been walking for about five minutes, when Twilight stopped and turned to face me.

“It’s been a while since you checked the map. Are we still going the right way, killer?”

Like an ice-cold dagger to the gut, I felt all the warmth rapidly drain from me, completely taken aback by the unexpected comment. I hadn’t thought about the incident for a while now, with my intent to bury it being completely effective, until now. My mind once again became flooded with images of the incident and I let off a shiver. Blinking rapidly, I reached for my phone and checked the map, still in shock from how out of the blue the remark had been.

“Yeah, we’re… on track…” I murmured distantly, pocketing the device.

Without uttering a word, Twilight turned around and kept moving. I knew she had done this intentionally to upset me, and I tried not to let her get under my skin. I reminded myself that the unicorn was still suffering terribly from her blueout; she was likely trying to share in her suffering, selfish as that was.

Still, try as I might, I couldn’t let it go. Her callous remark had completely thrown me, and as we resumed travelling, I found myself getting more and more caught up in the memory. Flashes kept entering my vivid mind, displaying the man’s lifeless body, the blood-splattered concrete block, and the horrifying moment when I realised that I had killed him. Over and over again I saw it, and as we walked, my breaths grew shorter and sharper, with my hands beginning to tremble. My vision began to blur, and my stomach tightened as the nausea returned to me, and this time, I didn’t think that I would be able to ward it off.

“I uh… I have to take a wizz.” I lied, “You guys keep going, I’ll catch up.”

Before I could even hear their replies, I had scarpered off into the bushes, now hyperventilating. As soon as I was out of earshot, I keeled over and parted with my lunch. I was sick twice, before staggering away from the mess and collapsing to the ground. Bursting into tears, I clamped my eyes shut, desperately begging for the images in my mind to stop.

“Go away! Go away!” I whimpered, “Please… I’m sorry!”

For a good while, I remained this way, apologising and pleading profusely, both to the man himself, and to the very world around me. Eventually, I was able to slow down my breathing and gradually piece my mind back together. Finally picking myself up off the ground, I stumbled over to a nearby tree and leaned against it for support.

“Okay…” I panted, trembling pathetically, “Okay, get a grip… Come on, pull yourself together lad, you’re better than this…”

Shaking my head, I forced myself to confront the wretched taunting thoughts that danced around within my skull. I couldn’t let this become a long-term problem; not for me, and not for the girls. I needed to deal with this here and now, and make sure that it didn’t come between me and my sworn duty. Wiping the sweat from my brow and the bile from my lips, I ran things back and then steadily walked myself through each step of what had really happened that day.

“He went for them.” I spoke aloud, “He clenched his fists, shouted something in Portuguese, and went to attack them. That man was going to hurt my friends, and I stopped him.”

Talking it out with myself like this, I pointed out how my purpose was to protect the girls now, with my own life if need be. This was what the Princess had selected me for, to keep these ponies safe. Accident or not, right or wrong, honourable, or inglorious, none of that mattered. The black and white of the situation was that I had done my duty, and if I could rewind time, knowing the outcome would be exactly the same, I would do it again without hesitation.

I was a good person, or at least, I hoped that I was, but for as long as I was the defender of these girls, being the good guy wasn’t something I would always have the luxury of. I had to be something more than that, and it slowly dawned on me that Twilight was right; I wasn’t just a friend to these girls, I was a weapon.

And then, as if a magic spell was altering my mind, I was met with a rush of new emotions. I felt a fresh wave of coolness run through my body. The feeling of horror and dread slowly dissipated, and in their place, came a calmness, a feeling of quietude and understanding. At last, the nausea and tremoring subsided, and I pushed myself away from the tree, now strong enough to carry my own self. Inhaling deeply through my nose, I tilted my head back and shut my eyes, before releasing all my perturbation and guilt in one mighty breath.

“Okay.” I said firmly, nodding.

Holding on firmly to my backpack straps, I brushed myself down and then took off in search of the girls, now feeling infinitely stronger in my resolve.


“There he is!” Rarity called out upon seeing me.

Rushing over, Fluttershy latched on to me, now relieved beyond measure.

“I thought we had lost you!” she sighed, followed by Pinkie asking where I had gone.

“Yeah, that was some wizz!” said Rainbow with a laugh.

Clearing my throat, I awkwardly professed that I had simply ended up needing more than just a wee. This brought forth a disgusted ‘eww’ from Pinkie Pie, which in turn evoked laughs from Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, you asked.” I shrugged, chuckling.

From the way I had said it, Rarity didn’t seem all too convinced, and nor did Fluttershy. As the pegasus pulled away from me, she noticed how bloodshot my eyes were, and how pale my face was. Almost immediately, she caught on that I had been lying, and she squinted her eyes at me with a frown.

“What happened?” she whispered, her face clouded with worry.

“Tell you later.” I replied through gritted teeth, making sure that nopony else overheard.

Fluttershy gave me a reluctant nod and dropped it for now, allowing us to push onward. We eventually came across a much drier patch of forest, and it was less humid too; something Twilight was beyond thankful for. This meant for sure that we were getting close to the urban area I had spotted on the map, and just in time too, for the sun was already beginning to descend into the horizon. A good ten minutes later, and we soon enough found ourselves at the outskirts of a large favela, and it seemed that there weren’t any overly safe places to cross.

“What a foul place to live.” Rarity groaned.

The place was indeed, utterly revolting. Litter blew all around the street and the whole place smelled of garbage. Graffiti was sprayed all over the walls, and the only thing that looked like it was contributing to society was a shady-looking motorbike dealer on the corner of the road. Wrinkling my nose at the stench emanating towards us, I turned to the others and suggested that we let it get a little darker. After that, we could speed through the place as quickly as possible, sticking to alleyways and dimly lit streets. Without much of an alternative, everyone agreed.

Once dusk had truly set in, we returned to the roadside and began to sneak across. We had only taken a few steps when somewhere close by, a mass of loud engines could be heard.

“Get back! Get back!” I hissed to the girls.

Diving back off the road and anxiously peering around, we soon spotted the origin of the noise; three black vans, accompanied by a handful of motorcycles. They sped around the corner and stopped right beside the bike dealer. The vans were painted on the sides and on the bonnets with some sort of gang symbol. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that these people were bad news.

“What are those things?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing to the bikes.

“Sshh!” I hushed, whipping around to face her.

The back doors to each van opened and men emerged from them, which prompted the bikers to dismount. Every one of them brandished the guns they were armed with, and a couple of them fired off rounds into the air, which brought forth screams of panic from the few people that remained on the street. Within seconds, everyone who wasn’t with the gang had run away into their homes. Doors by the dozens could be heard slamming shut, and the already-woebegone street became completely desolate. We all watched intently as the blatantly obvious leader of the gang made his presence known. He was a lanky caramel-skinned individual, wearing camo trousers, and two bandoliers which formed an X across his otherwise bare torso. His chest, riddled with scars, bore the tattoo of a great black skull. His arms too, were coated from shoulders to wrists with tattoos of a tribal design. Whoever this guy was, he meant business.

“Jeez, that guy looks tough.” Rainbow Dash murmured.

Ignoring her, I watched as the man clapped his hands together and then pointed at the bike dealer’s shop. In response, two of his men walked ahead with some bolt cutters and started breaking through the chains that secured the bikes out on display. The owner of the shop stormed out and started shouting at the culprits, and then turned to their boss and waved his arms around in protest. Without a shred of warning or hesitation, the leader pulled a pistol from the holster on his leg and shot the owner in the knee. He fell to the ground, screaming in agony, before making a futile attempt to crawl away. After letting the poor man crawl for quite some distance, the leader fired off another round, directly into the back of his head.

“Holy shi-”

I interrupted Rainbow Dash by whipping around to face her.

“Keep it down, unless you want to end up like him!”

Nodding with wide eyes, the pegasus realised just how much danger we were in. I turned back around and looked out across the street, which was when I realised that for as dire as the situation was, it also presented an opportunity.

“Everyone’s hiding in their homes.” I started, “We’re not getting a better chance to sneak through this place, I say we move.”

“Move now? Are you crazy?” Applejack gasped quietly.

Ignoring her, I asked Rarity if any of her illusion magic could be of any use to us, perhaps something that could help distract the gang.

“Oh um, well I-I can perform a few parlour tricks.” she stammered, “I can project sounds, I can produce a mirage of myself, and uh, I can conjure lights, smoke, shadows, that sort of thing.”

Taking no time at all to form a plan, I instructed Rarity to bewilder the gunmen with a series of loud crashing and banging sounds, along with enveloping them in the thickest smoke she could possibly summon. Gulping loudly, Rarity got straight to it. She took a deep breath and her horn lit up, and from beneath the vans and bikes came a dark haze. It billowed up and up, until it completely swallowed everyone. Then from within, came all sorts of sudden sounds, such as pottery and glass being shattered, and the raucous clattering of pots and pans. The magical trickery worked a treat, and the men were sent into a blind panic. They began to shout out in bewilderment, followed by opening fire. Bullets were sent out in all directions, with one or two coming our way and smacking the pavement close by.

“Well, that was effective.” I murmured.

Emerging from our hiding place, I beckoned for the girls to follow me to a nearby alleyway, and at that exact moment, one of the men emerged from Rarity’s haze and spotted us. He froze in his tracks and stared at the ponies, wide-eyed and unable to comprehend exactly what he was seeing. Noticing the gun in his hands, I clenched my fists and prepared to rush at him, but before any hostile action could be made on either of our parts, a stray bullet came whizzing from the smoke and caught him in the back of the neck. He dropped to the ground and writhed around momentarily, before ceasing to move.

“Is he, um…?” Fluttershy began to whimper.

“Oh my gosh…” Applejack breathed, quickly moving to obscure Pinkie’s vision.

Thinking impulsively, I rushed forward to the body and took his gun, along with the spare magazine in his front pocket. The weapon was a Heckler & Koch UMP, a lightweight submachine gun of military grade. This was some undeniably decent kit, and certainly not the kind of weapon one would find in the hands of some small-time gangbanger. This begged the question, who the hell were these people?

“What is wrong with you? Put that thing down!” Twilight hissed furiously at me.

“Trust me, we want this.” I replied sternly.

Before she could answer back, Rarity’s audible decoys stopped sounding off, and more of the men started to emerge from the smoke, confused out of their minds and shouting at one another. A few of them looked our way, but I was sure for the most part that we had been able to slip into the alley before they had seen us. We all made our way along the narrow passageway until we reached the other side, where we stopped for a second to catch our breath.

“Jeez, that was insane…” Rainbow Dash puffed.

“Who were those people?” asked Rarity, her eyes wide with terror, “Why did they just… roll up and attack that poor shopkeeper like that? Why would they do that?”

Shaking my head, I pointed out the symbols I had seen on their vans, along with the above-average gear. I speculated that these men belonged to something infinitely worse than a gang; they belonged to a cartel.

“What’s that?” asked Twilight.

“Organised crime.” I replied, “Large-scale groups that specialise in black-market trading, and as you’ve just seen, excessive brutality. They dominate places like this, and rule over the people that live there. Put it this way, we are in a very dangerous place right now.”

“You’re telling me?” Rainbow Dash blurted out, “They just showed up, and in just a few minutes, two people have freaking died!”

“Well, let’s get some bloody distance from them.” I grumbled.

My heart was thrashing within my chest, but with Pinkie and Fluttershy struggling to keep it together, I had to remain calm and collected. With how severe this situation had suddenly become, Twilight allowed me to step up and be in charge, much too frightened to argue the toss. Taking point, I guided the ponies through the rest of the alleyway and across the empty street beyond it. Slowly but surely, we progressed through the favela, until we at last came upon an alley with a dead end.

“Where to now?” Rarity asked.

I looked around, and spotted an ajar wooden door, which led into someone’s home.

“Through there.”

“There could be humans in there!” Twilight pointed out.

“We don’t have a bloody choice!” I snapped back, “It’s either through there and into the street beyond, or we go back on ourselves and say hi to the cartel.”

Gulping, Twilight quickly weighed our options and gave me the go-ahead, as did the others. With a tight grip on the gun, I pushed my way into the building, where I was met by a middle-aged man reading a book to his daughter, and close by was a woman, who was presumably his wife. She screamed upon seeing me and the man jumped to his feet, quickly standing between me and his child, immediately prepared to give his life for her.

“Por favor! Por favor, não nos machuque!” he cried out, putting his hands up.

To their left was a narrow staircase, and it was here that I would direct them to. That way, the ponies could run through and make it into the next street via the front door.

“Get upstairs! Now!” I bellowed, gesturing to their staircase with my gun.

Despite not knowing a word of English, my body language was as clear as anything. Without a moment’s pause, the man scooped up his child and ran to the stairs. The woman meanwhile, dropped to her knees and put her hands together, loudly sobbing to me in Portuguese.

“Up the stairs! Go up! Go!”

Thankfully, she got the message and clambered up the stairs to join her husband. I heard a door slam, telling me that they wouldn’t be coming back down. Inhaling deeply, I was now shaking like a leaf, fuelled with more adrenaline than had ever been in my system at one time.

“It’s safe, get in here now!” I called to the girls.

Rainbow Dash entered first, followed by the others. They all gathered around me, where Rarity mumbled anxiously to me.

“You sound… quite horrendous, when you shout.”

Taking a deep breath in, I sighed and shook my head.

“I’m sorry, but right now, I’m trying to get you through this place alive.” I told her, “With that cartel close by, I can’t exactly afford to be passive and gentle.”

“We get it, you’re letting your true colours show. Where to now?” Twilight spat.

Ignoring the jab, I cracked the front door open and looked out.

“Goddammit.” I muttered through my teeth.

Though it was mainly sparse, the street wasn’t completely abandoned. There were a handful of denizens roaming about the place. On the other side was another alleyway, and far beyond that, above all the buildings, was the shady outline of the jungle; we were almost there.

“How do we get across?” Rainbow Dash quizzed, rubbing at the back of her neck.

Sniffing loudly, I racked my brains. It took a few moments, but eventually an idea popped into my head.

“When I shout for you lot to go, I want you all to sprint across and into the alley as fast as you can.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Twilight.

Holding my gun closer to my face to properly inspect it, I located the fire-mode dial and switched it to fully automatic. Clenching my jaw, I looked at the lilac unicorn with a sense of absolute authority.

“Clear the street…”

Opening the door fully, I took a few paces into the road, and then I performed the most daring thing I had ever done in all my life, surpassing even the Tower heist back at Gatwick Airport…

“EVERYBODY MOVE!” I boomed, raising the UMP in the air and pulling the trigger.

All hell broke loose. People started screaming and running around frantically as the submachine gun fired off into the air. The continuous recoil almost took the weapon out of my hands. Tightening my grip, I continued firing until the magazine ran out, which by then everyone had fled, and those still in eyeshot certainly weren’t looking back.

“Go! Go! Go!” I hollered.

The girls emerged from the building and sprinted across the road, not hesitating for a second. I then speedily walked after them, while fiddling around with the gun until I found the button that ejected the magazine.

“Now that’s what I call crowd control!” I whooped loudly, finally reaching the others.

“Dude, that was… insane!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

“Hell yeah it was.” I continued to chuckle, sliding the additional mag into the gun.

After pulling the charging handle by the barrel to complete the reload, I twisted the fire-mode dial back to the two-round burst setting, as I wished to conserve my remaining bullets, just in case I needed them. And need them I would, for as quietude returned to the street I had just terrorised, there came the rumbling of engines. Curiosity got the better of me, and upon sticking my head back out from the alley, I was horrified to see the three vans from earlier, along with the bikes that accompanied them. The vehicles all came to a halt, which was when it dawned on me that the bikers were staring in my direction. Narrowing my eyes to look at them more closely, I came to the harrowing realisation that they had spotted me, and were taking aim.

“Guys…” I spoke, gulping, “Run.”

I turned away just as the gunfire began, followed by the sound of bullets smacking into the bricks behind me. My heart skipped a beat as the notion hit me that I had just been shot at. Everyone burst into a sprint, and we hurtled down the alleyway like seven frightened cats, skittering all over the place and kicking up rubbish as we went. Behind us came raucous shouts as the men gave chase, prompting us to run even faster. We took a left and entered an even thinner alley, where we were spotted by a random woman on the side of the street. She screamed with bewilderment as we all zoomed past her, though we were far too prioritised to be concerned with her. From behind us came more gunfire, which abruptly silenced the woman’s screaming.

“Oh fuck! Oh fuck!” I panted as I ran, realising that these people were well and truly after us.

Another right turn came up, and as everyone skidded around it, I stopped and spun around to take a few shots at our pursuers. I wasn’t intending to hit anyone, but if they knew that someone was returning fire, then it might slow them down enough for us to gain some distance from them.

Not that I had ever fired a real gun, but I was a damn good shot with an air rifle, for my brother and I used to shoot one together when he wasn’t antagonising me. Though this was quite the step up from that, the principle was still there, and after a few pulls of the trigger, I was rewarded with the sound of an agonised cry from one of our assailants.

“Holy shit, I think I got one!” I gasped to myself.

With the men slowed down, and one out of commission, I turned around and continued to sprint after the girls. The adrenaline coursing through my veins was more than enough to help me catch up, and I reached them just as they were skidding to a halt at a dead end, and this time, there were no ajar doors.

“No… No! NO!” Twilight shrieked loudly, “What do we do!?”

Frantically looking around, I spotted a manhole a little further back. I zipped over to it and was able to remove the cover, where I was immediately met with the nauseating smell of sewage.

“Down there, now!” I shouted.

With no time, nor options, the ponies started clambering down into the hole. As they went, I grabbed a nearby metal bin and turned it over, using it for cover. I had just propped up my gun as our chasers revealed themselves, emerging from a corner further down the way. Closing one eye and lining up my shots, I now had every intention to hit my targets. Pulling the trigger, I sent burst after burst down-range, and after a few misses, I was able to catch someone, hitting him square in the chest and bringing him to the ground.

The enemy returned fire, and bullets smacked into the bricks all around us, with one of them hitting the very bin I was resting against. Jumping out of my damn skin, I nearly broke rank, but I forced myself to stay put and continue to desperately repel our attackers. I fired another two bursts, to which I was able to land hits on another gunman. Keeling sideways, he continued to shoot his gun in the wrong direction, accidentally killing one of his own.

Looking behind me at the manhole, I saw that Twilight was the last pony to climb down, and after firing off three more bursts, I rushed to the hole and jumped in. My feet landed on the unicorn’s shoulders and we both fell down, hitting the damp stone below.

“What did you do that for!?” she barked at me.

“Much like you, I’d rather not fucking die!” I snapped back at her.

From up above, shadows danced over the manhole entrance, indicating that these bastards had no intention of giving up the chase. Gritting my teeth, I ordered everyone to keep running, and we came across a barred metal gate, with a large pipeline beyond it.

“I think we’re going into a sewer network.” I told them, kicking the gate open.

“Explains the smell.” Rainbow Dash grunted with her nose upturned.

“My point is that sewers are vast, we might be able to lose them in here!” I continued, “Keep moving, and for the love of Celestia, don’t stop!”

Slamming the gate behind us, we charged on with me at the rear, and with my gun almost empty, I feared that I wouldn’t be able to hold them off if they caught up to us. After a good minute or two, it seemed like we were getting away. That was when the deafening gunshots came echoing down the pipes, followed by a few bullets ricocheting close by.

“Oh you guys just don’t give up, do you!?” I shouted gruffly.

Sprinting at my absolute maximum, I caught up with Applejack, which was when a bullet whizzed past me and went into the mare’s tail, striking the red band that bound the end of it. The band split open and her tail billowed out, followed by the farm pony letting out a terrified wail.

{Too fucking close!} I thought with my heart pounding like never before.

More gunfire ensued, and suddenly, a searing pain went through my outer left thigh. I yelped loudly and lost my footing, tripping over and clattering loudly to the damp stone floor. I attempted to use the momentum to get back up to my feet, but to no avail, the leg gave out and I came tumbling to a standstill, gasping and growling in agony.

“Callum, no!” Applejack screamed, skidding to a halt and turning around.

“Don't you dare stop for me Applejack! Run damn it, RUN!” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.

She nodded and galloped after her friends, while I rolled over and clutched my gun to my chest. I couldn’t protect them any more, all I could do was buy them time. With a deep breath, I took aim at my attackers once more, and as the first man came into sight, I didn’t hesitate to put two rounds into him. He fell from the walkway and splashed into the muck, followed by more men entering my line of sight. I knew in my heart that I couldn’t take them all; even if I was a quick shot and a flawless marksman, I simply didn’t have the bullets. Still, that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to take as many of them as I could. If I was going to die today, then I was going to give the ponies as much help as I could before I went.

I was able to bring down five, when the gun clicked loudly. That was it, I was out of ammo, and I was out of time. With no means to defend myself, I tried to crawl away, only for a bullet to fly into my left arm. Even with all the adrenaline, the pain was absolutely excruciating. Crying out loudly, I threw my rifle aside and looked up at the men as they charged towards me, but to my confusion and horror, they ignored me completely and sped past, choosing to pursue the ponies instead. I rolled over and reached out to them, groaning in agony, desperate to stop them somehow.

“No…” I wept.

I had failed. We hadn’t even found one piece of this stupid Orb, and I had already failed as their guide and protector. Why had Princess Celestia chosen me, only for this to happen? Had I really just doomed them, or would they escape? Perhaps I had bought them enough time, and they would find a way out of the sewers and into the jungle? I prayed that would be the case. Feeling as though my life was coming to a close, I held on to the hope that I had allowed them to get away, and that they would find another guide, and succeed in their mission.

And with that, I could face my death with pride.

A hand grabbed my arm, and I was forcefully rolled over. I then recognised the black skull tattoo, and realised that I was now face to face with the leader of these men. He squatted over me and stared into my eyes, analysing me. Refusing to show weakness in my final moment, I clenched my jaw and looked him in the eye.

“If you wish to hear me beg, you will be disappointed.”

Upon hearing these words, a dark, sickly smile emerged upon his face.

“You got some heart, kid.” he hummed in some sort of Hispanic accent.

Still smiling, he withdrew the pistol from his holster. Then, grabbing me by the throat, he smacked me in the side of the head with it. I let out a deep grunt as my head jolted to one side, and everything became something of a blur. Not knowing what was happening now, I was fully unprepared for the second blow, as the man whipped me with his pistol for a second time. Knocked into a state of near unconsciousness, I could no longer see, and all the surrounding sounds became muffled. The last thought that came to me, was quite simply one of remorse, and I hoped that somehow, the ponies would be able to hear it.

{I’m sorry girls, I tried…}


The gun struck my head for a third time, and I was gone.