The Badlands: Outskirts Daring Do and the Draconic Doom (StaticPinks, SuperSaiyanMeg, & Guest Starring Bellosh101)

[Bellosh]

*EXCERPT FROM ROUGH-DRAFT MANUSCRIPT*

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“.....I told you we should have never trusted flashy buffons to keep our existence a secret!”

“It matters not. We now know who they are. It won’t take long for our scouts to.....”

The bound Daring Do perked up as her captors walked out of hearing range. There were other ponies heading towards the cult’s hideout? Whoever they were, Daring needed to think of an escape plan for herself, fast. Otherwise, more ponies will fall into the same trap as the adventurer did. If a band of dragons could outfox the most skilled explorer of all time (or so our heroine liked to think of herself as), imagine what they could do to a pair of newbies!

Daring Do already tried squirming her limbs out of the wall shackles previously, but each time never proved any good. This meant she needed to think out of the box; just because the pegasus was stuck in the shackles didn’t mean the shackles didn’t have to be stuck on the wall. One neat thing about ancient walls was how surprisingly weak they were. If Daring could use her weight to force the right pieces of weathered stone brick off the wall, she’d be a free mare again.....

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*SNIFF* *SNIFF* *SNIFF* It was easy for the young dragon to pick up the smell of pony. A wingless adolescent drake, backed up by a team of four pony mercenaries hailing from the organization known as WRAITH, were given the task of apprehending two bothersome meddlers interfering in cult affairs. They operated with ruthless efficiency, for as the first rays of dawn crept over the land, the hunters already identified the cave at the forest edge where their prey slept. All five foes laid prone in the thick grass outside the cave entrance, waiting for the right moment to pounce on the two ponies.....

[StaticPinks]

Fable watched on in silence as Snowstorm nodded in affirmation to the writer's request and proceeded to the far side of the cave to prepare for the night. Fable smiled as he walked over to where he had put Winston down for bed and proceeded to make his own resting spot. A few moments rustling through his saddlebags and setting up some blankets on the hard stone floor, and Fable had someplace he could sleep reasonably well for the night. Lying down in his makeshift bed next to his faithful pet, Fable looked up to see how Snowstorm was fairing. He could only see her form through her covers, and the bespectacled pony could only assume she was fast asleep. Smiling to himself at what he managed to do today, Fable took off his glasses and closed his eyes, embracing the world of dreams awaiting him. Before he finally lost consciousness, he called out to Snowstorm with nothing more than a whisper.

"Good night, Snow. I'm glad you came with me..."

And then he was out, letting his exhaustion take a hold of him, readying himself for the eventful day ahead of them that was most likely going to come.

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Fable was awoken by a faint sound coming from outside the cave. He blinked blearily from his interrupted rest, rubbing his eyes with a hoof. He heard the sound again, this time a tiny bit louder, coming from the side of the entrance. It was... hoofsteps? Fable frowned to himself as he got up, glancing it Snowstorm and Winston, apparently still asleep, their forms rising and falling slowly in their slumber. Fable whipped his head around back to the entrance of temporary home, hearing grass rustling unlike what you might hear if it was made by wind. The sound was... heavier, more controlled than what he would normally hear.

Turning back to Snowstorm, he contemplated whether it was a big deal or not, if it was something to worry about or simply his half awake mind playing tricks on him. Fable made like he was about to wake her up many times, but he didn't want her to worry. Instead, he thought up something else that could solve his problem. Fable sneaked his way towards his trusty pet, still snoring away, careful not to make too much noise in case his fears were true. After all, after the whole incident on the train, Fable didn't want to take any chances.

Gently tapping his mouse, Winston stubbornly woke up for his owner, an annoyed scowl on his whiskered face. Fable leaned in towards Winston's ear, whispering very softly with a tone of urgency to detail the potential trouble.

...Winston, I fear there may be unwanted visitors outside our cave on our right. I'm not entirely sure, but I need you to silently scout the perimeter. I'm not taking any chances since what happened yesterday..."

Understanding his instructions and the reason for doing so, Winston got up and stretched his tiny mouse feet before scampering over to the edge of the entrance with as little noise as he could muster. Fable simply stood where he was and hoped that the saying "as quiet as a mouse" wasn't just that.

Winston began his scouting job by making sure he stayed close to the wall to minimize noise, all the while tapping into his wild side by acting as natural as he could, sniffing various corners of the wall, scratching the ground, basically trying his best to seem like just another field mouse. He kept up his guise until he was well outside the mouth of the cave. Taking a slow turn, he moved away from the entrance until he was met with an invariably large rock. He ambled over to the side facing away from the cave before he dropped his act long enough to peer around the corner.

The mouse nearly squeaked out in surprise as he caught the nearly invisible forms of five characters, almost camouflaged by the thick grass that surrounded them. Winston could only make out glimpses of the five, and didn't know who they could be. Almost shakily, the mouse made a move to grab some grass in his mouth, hoping to make the group believe he was simply carrying food back for his young. He traced back his same route from the cave, pulling the same guise but with a little more urgency this time. It took Winston nearly half the time of the first journey before reaching the safety of the cave. He quickly spit out the grass and scampered back to his owner, waving his tiny paws around and pointing to the mouth of the cave several times.

Fable's fears had been realized, thanks to his pet. Now, he was wide awake and there was a probably hostile group waiting for two bumbling adventurers, and Fable needed to think of a way around this, but not without some help.

Fable sneaked back over to Snowstorm's bed, and shook her gently to prevent her from freaking out, in order to get her help on this troubling predicament. He then whispered in her ear, not wishing to alert the group that he was awake.

"Snow, I just learned that there are some undesirable thugs outside to greet us, my thanks to Winston. I don't think they know we are aware of their presence, but we need a plan to sneak around them or lure them someplace else. Any suggestions, my dear?"

[SuperSaiyanMeg]

Snow was awoken by a few gentle shakes and sat up rubbing her eyes. She looked around the cave quickly getting her bearings and turned to the pegasus who woke her.

"Fable...what..."

"Snow, I just learned that there are some undesirable thugs outside to greet us, my thanks to Winston. I don't think they know we are aware of their presence, but we need a plan to sneak around them or lure them someplace else. Any suggestions, my dear?"

She blinked and stared at him for a few seconds before snapping out of her daze. She looked towards the mouth of the cave and saw a few shadows approaching. She had to think fast. Snow looked around the cave. There wasn't much to work with but she had a plan. She leaned over to Fable and whispered in his ear.

"Get a few rocks and put them under the blankets...make it look believable. Leave some food behind as well, We'll then make a loud noise and some sort of movement to draw them in. Once they've entered the cave, if the plan works, we'll hide in the shadows behind the big rocks near the entrance.When they're distracted, we'll fly out of the cave and loose them in the woods"

It wasn't great but it was the only plan she could come up with at such short notice. She thought to her self, if they fall for this trap then we should have at least a minute or so to get out, we'll have to be quick.

They must've tracked their sent, but with what? These questions had to be answered later. She and Fable needed to escape.

[Bellosh]

A little while after the stakeout began, a little mouse scurried from the cave. By all appearances, it was just that; a simple mouse. So at first, the hunters paid it little mind. Yet as the critter scouted further, the young drake smelled something off, literally. For an animal known to live in the wild, that mouse unnaturally reeked of a pony’s scent. Not just any scent, but the one they’ve been tracking for miles and miles.

The dragon licked his lips; “They’re sssssstrirrrrring. Now, to sssssssmoke them out.” The four WRAITH ponies, wearing what would could only be described as a steampunk ninja outfit complete with a gasmask, nodded before one of them took out a gas bomb. Pulling the pin on the canister, the pony quickly threw the device into the cave’s mouth. A couple seconds later, the bomb would detonate, spewing a suffocating but non-lethal cloud of gas further inside the subterranean hideout.