Exploring, Free of Charge

[tunnelnexus]

The gray mare with the sunglasses and bulging saddlebags trotted through the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, on her way to the deeper parts of the woods. She'd heard about an unmapped, unexplored cave somewhere near the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters from someone in Ponyville; Nexus decided to be the first to delve into it. Who knew what might lie in there? Treasure? Monsters? Both?

At the thought of monsters, Tunnel couldn't suppress a shudder. She'd fought a few beasts before, but that did not at all mean that she was qualified to go alone into an uncharted cave, especially one in the Everfree. What if she didn't even make it to the cave in the first place?

The spelunker sighed; everything had seemed okay back in Ponyville, when she wasn't actually in any danger. Maybe she should have accepted some help. Nexus' pride kept her from even thinking about going back to ask, even though she knew it was foolish to keep going.

She kept going. She smiled wryly as she imagined herself finding another pony out here that would go exploring with her. Yeah, right. That would really happen.

[Red Charge]

A massive boom from the nearby trees diverted Tunnel's attention immediately. The very ground began to shake around her, as the sounds of struggle grew near. Before she knew it, a massive, char black pony, if it could even be called that, leaped out of the brush. Its landing was so heavy on the ground that it quaked around him. After it, two armored pegasi, which she could recognize as members of the elite Stars unit, darted out, flying over it like buzzards before swooping in to strike, they were both deflected by the massive pony's heavy metal shoes, however they were experienced enough to turn the deflection around, rolling in mid air and countering the momentum with a blitz, striking the pony, who growled angrily at them as it stumbled back.

The pony snorted loudly, its ash grey mane dotted at the end by a cobalt color, the steam coming out of its nostrils shared that color, it was misty, and dark, metallic blue in color. But that was all Tunnel could see before the two pegasi charged again, now smoke in their wake, attempting to blind the pony, but failing to realize how fast it was. It swatted them both to the ground easily, snorting again and now noticing the newcomer.

Its face was harsh and heavy, but it now wore a very unsettling grin, as it began pounding the ground, getting ready to charge at the innocent pony. Iron shoe dragging the ground, creating a small mound behind it. Tunnel could see the cutie mark on its flank, though she could not make it out, as it was just a glowing outline in the same cobalt color of the pony's hair, eyes and the wisps of smoke emanating from it.

The Iron Shoes never needed introduction, but he always gave it, in exactly the same manner.

"Live or die, win or lose, best beware, my iron shoes."

[tunnelnexus]

Tunnel was sure that if she had pants on, they would be soiled (dramatic effect, and all). Of all the things she could have encountered in the forest, she had to meet Iron Shoes. She hadn't even been sure Iron Shoes was real until she'd seen him- it- whatever!

Now she was backing up slowly, afraid of making any sudden moves.

Maybe I can outrun it... maybe. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm totally bucked. I wonder if a distraction would do any good. Never hurts to try... and maybe I can buy those Stars some time. At least then I won't die pointlessly.

Tunnel felt her back hooves scrape against a tree. She growled and let out as bright a burst of light as she could muster, then began running off through the Everfree.

[Red Charge]

As Tunnel Nexus darted away in the opposite direction to the massive creature, she spotted yet another winged warrior from the Stars, this one female. Before she could even veer away from the oncoming collision she was swept back behind the mare, now standing protectively as a buffer between her and the Iron Shoes.

Every muscle in the winged mare's body tensed, as what appeared to be a surge of electricity passed through her, and she charged forwards, delivering swipe after swipe of lightning charged strikes at the Iron Shoes, who avoided some, and was hardly fazed by others. The massive stallion retaliated by smashing his shoed hoof against the ground, sending the mare staggering back, or so he hoped, as the quick mare quickly regained her balance and charged forwards, delivering a straight punch at his chest. As her hoof collided, another boom was heard. The massive cobalt hued creature was thrown back, rolling back on his hooves nearly as soon as he fell and dragging on his hooves from the momentum, stopping quite a distance away from the armored mare, who was now not buffering between him and Nexus, but located to the Unicorn's left.

Without giving any of them pause, the Iron Shoes reared back and smashed the ground, sending the ground snaking upwards towards the female Star in a tremendous shockwave. As she took off over it he was already in the air, about to land a devastating blow against her. But another boom signified a hit against him, and he was thrown to the side, where another boom signified another hit. The two male pegasi have recovered, and attacking from both sides, they swung him off of the battlefield. Clearly very talented in utilizing their wind element in battle.

The Iron Shoes, clearly outmatched against this well organized and well trained group, clapped his shoes together forcefully. This simple action created unbelievable results, a practical explosion of force sent all four ponies off of their feet and into the opposite shrubs. It was beyond terrifying, that the Iron Shoes had not even attempted to use his full strength in the fight against the Stars. Should he have kept fighting, he might have even done as much as killed them all. But the Iron Shoes was never known to be predictable, and perhaps he preferred smaller scale battles, to the chaos of a full group melee.

[tunnelnexus]

Tunnel just watched the battle unfolding before her in shock. The Stars were skilled enough to take on Iron Shoes? Sweet Celestia, she would love to be able to do that, even if it meant working with other ponies.

On a deeper level, though, she admired the level of teamwork that the Stars exhibited. She'd been a lonely mare since her fillyhood, what with all brothers (who weren't exactly nice to her). Joining a team like that would be so nice, to finally have some acceptance.

She was brought back down to earth by a series of rapid BOOMs, the Stars beating up on Iron Shoes. She started to cheer for the armored ponies, even though there weren't any between herself and the beast.

"Woohoo! Yeah, beat those Iron Shoes! You go, Stars!"

She started jumping up and down wildly as the warrior ponies knocked Iron Shoes to his side, but was knocked backwards out of the air by a veritable wave of force. She landed with a relatively soft crash in a couple of bushes, some of the branches nicking her fur. It hurt a good deal, but she'd been injured often enough to know that these were only minor injuries at the worst.

Nexus looked up from the bushes to see Iron Shoes retreating, and she wisely chose to hold back a snide taunt or obnoxious cheer. She fixed her sunglasses, which had been knocked loose by the blast, and looked around for the Stars, hoping they hadn't left already. Seeing them in the bushes, the spelunker shook herself off and trotted over to them.

"Thanks a bunch for saving me, you guys. I guess I owe you big time," Nexus said with a wry, sheepish smile.

[Red Charge]

A sudden boom caught the female Pegasus' reply before it left her mouth, and suddenly the shadow now encompassing the entire clearing diverted their attention to the sky. In the sky, a massive chunk of the ground, about the size of a house or two was heading straight towards them. Should this have been directed at Ponyville, it would cause immense damage to both pony and property, but to Tunnel and the Star's misfortune, it was aimed at them.

And from that moment, the fight was over as far as the Iron Shoes was concerned, by the time the massive chunk of land crashed, the ponies would either be too weak (if not dead) or too scared to continue the fight. He let out one last triumphant snort, before proceeding on his way.

[tunnelnexus]

Tunnel's pupils shrank to pinpricks as the house-sized boulder/earth clump thing hurtled towards her and the Stars. She instinctively ducked back into the nearest bush for what little cover it would provide, then- impact?

Not the impact Tunnel was expecting. She looked up and gasped when she saw not one, but two of the armored ponies carrying her swiftly out of the way of the clump. With a slight blush she realized that both of them were the male ponies.

It occurred to Nexus that this was one of those cliche, corny romance fantasies come true; being rescued by and carried in the hooves of a stallion in armor. She half-smiled, half-grimaced. The exploration was shot to Hay, but maybe something good might come out of it after all...

[Red Charge]

"Drop her here." The female said, landing beyond the rising mushroom cloud of dust. That area of the forest was obviously crushed beneath the clump of earth the Iron Shoes hurled at them. She was a beautifully cold mare in appearance. Her face, if possible was harsher than that of the Iron Shoes, her steely grey eyes sized Tunnel up, her mouth curved at a downwards angle in dismay. Tunnel could also notice a unique bracelet with gems that seemed to cackle with electricity inside them on her forward wrist.

"If you hadn't been here, we'd have captured the Iron Shoes. What do you have to say for yourself? What are you even doing here? Don't you know the Everfree is off limits nowadays? Did you have to stumble upon our particular patch of earth?" The mare snorted, her straight, brown mane puffing around her. "Land ponies, always have to be everywhere they shouldn't."

[tunnelnexus]

Nexus was lowered to the ground, landing with a soft thump on the earth. She shook off any dust that might have settled on her, barely listening to the icy gray mare tell her off. "What do you have to say, yadda yadda, off limits, blah, I'm a racist pegasus, blah." She'd heard it all before. Somewhere.

Straightening her sunglasses again, Tunnel turned to face the armored mare in question. "My name is Nexus," said the spelunker with obvious false sweetness. "I really appreciate you saving me-" she interrupted herself, wrapping her forehooves around the two stallions. "Er, I'm sorry, I really appreciate these two gentlecolts saving me from that giant boulder."

Tunnel smirked, then released the two stallions. It occurred to her that she might not want to piss these ponies off, being the STARS and all, but her pride was screeching in protest. The gray spelunker decided to moderate her speech for a slightly less angry reply, even if the anger was justified (in her eyes).

"Those were some pretty nice moves out there. I, uh... I really do appreciate the save, though," muttered Nexus.

[Red Charge]

Something flashed in the white mare's eyes, and her hoof cackled with electricity as she pondered whether or not to send the unicorn back to her home conscious or not. Eventually she thumped her hoof against the ground and turned away from the cheeky mare.

"I am Valkyrie Razorwing, and if I ever personally see you in these woods again, expect the same treatment you'd receive from the Iron Shoes, I have no quarters for those who break the law."

"Whisperwind, Horizon, escort this land pony out of the forest, I must report this failure to the Princess." Valkyrie said, gracefully leaping into the air and streaking away, leaving a trail of lightning in her wake.

[tunnelnexus]

Nexus smirked as she saw Valkyrie stomp and fly off in a huff. A small victory for her; that pony was annoying as hay. Her rational mind wept over the fact that she'd gotten on the bad side of such a pony, but... you couldn't win 'em all, right?

Tunnel began trotting slowly with the two stallions, Whisperwind and Horizon.

"Is she always like this?" asked Tunnel, both humorously and amicably. Being with the two ponies who'd saved her made her feel a lot more comfortable and relaxed than normal. "No, don't answer that one. Anyway, thanks a bunch for saving me from the Iron Shoes... I hope you guys don't get into too much hot water for it.

Although, if you don't mind me asking, why exactly were you trying to catch the Iron Shoes in the first place? I don't know what use you could get from him- it- whatever."

[Red Charge]

"Failure," Whisper Wind said bluntly, "It wouldn't have been a botch up if Percheron was here." He grumbled, sending a very unpleasant glare at the distant Valkyrie, as he began to move. It was obvious neither of the ponies had much affection for this leader, whoever it was.

"Percheron would have ripped that guy apart." Horizon agreed, then hearing Tunnel's question he turned to her, "Princess wants him captured. Problem is she wants him alive, and trying to tame that rodeo isn't as easy as one, two, three..."

Whisper Wind took to the air, observing the damage behind them, his face a mixture of dread and respect, "Completely totaled," He landed, the meaning of his name was revealed as Tunnel noticed that she couldn't hear a single flap of his wings since he took off, nor his hooves when he touched down.

"Look at that, broke my chest piece." Horizon complained, displaying a shattered breast plate and a very nasty bruise. The other sported a large tear on his back, lined with burn marks from the friction of the Iron Shoes' strike.

"Don't worry about Valkyrie, she's all talk. I know Dusk was pretty laid back, but to have her take over is a terrible decision. Mind you, we worked twice as hard under Percheron, but she's just... cold." It was easy to spot the difference between the two, though of similar statures, Whisper Wind's coat was dark indigo, while Horizon's was pale sky fading into brighter aqua, with white dapples spread around haphazardly. She couldn't see their manes under their helmets.

"What were you doing out here to begin with? Been hearing horror stories about Everfree lately, didn't think anyone would want to come by here without at least a military escort." Horizon eventually asked Tunnel, giving her a nudge with his snout to gain her attention.

[tunnelnexus]

"Yeah, I can see why it wouldn't be that easy to catch him..." said Nexus as she looked back at the destruction. Nexus saw Horizon's damaged armor, then looked back at her own relatively unharmed self, feeling rather sheepish. "I hope you guys are okay," said the gray mare.

Nexus heard Whisper talking about that annoying Valkyrie mare, apparently their boss. "Ouch, sorry to hear that she's in charge. How bad is it? Does she make you train every day? Or did you guys already do that?" asked Tunnel conversationally. She found that the two stallions made for an easygoing, friendly atmosphere.

Then Horizon asked her about what she was doing out in the Everfree, accompanied by a tap from his snout. Nexus thought she felt her cheeks warm a bit at the contact; it had been so long since she'd willingly touched a pony (or let one touch her, for that matter), let alone a stallion. It felt strange, but at the same time oddly exhilarating. She almost wanted him to do it again, just out of curiosity.

"Oh, me? Uh, well, I was just going exploring," said Nexus with a hint of a stutter in her voice. She saw no reason to lie, especially to the Stars. "I love to go exploring and caving, and I just happened to hear about an unexplored cave near the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. I didn't bring an escort because I didn't think I'd need one, but... I guess that wasn't the case," joked the mare.

[Red Charge]

"Training every day?" Whisper Wind burst out laughing at the question along with Horzion, "We had between two and three training sessions a day with Percheron. Not so much with Dusk, but with her we're training at least twice a day again." He responded, "Percheron ran us up and down, but at least he cared, we knew he had our backs."

In response to Tunnel's mention of the caves near the old royal palace, Horizon asked.
"Is that where the...?" Horizon turned to Whisper, who nodded.

"Yeah, what're you thinking? That's like, the Necropolis territory, you want to end up a zombie in chains or something?" The dark coated Stallion asked, "Gotta admit," He poked her with a hoof, "You got some guts."

"So besides trying to dig up the Reaper's army, what else do you like to..." Horizon stopped to listen suddenly, ears perked, same was with Whisperwind. Something went by near them, but it passed, and they continued. "Do?" horizon completed the question as though nothing had transpired.

[tunnelnexus]

Tunnel had to resist the urge to let her jaw run slack. These ponies were dedicated. She couldn't help but admire it; she liked that a lot in ponies, dedication. Who wouldn't?

Anyway, they teased her about venturing into the Necropolis territory... wait, what?! Nexus was pretty sure that she would've remembered something like that. Maybe she should've read up on the area before coming out here... She really should've thought through this more. Like, a LOT more. It occurred to her just how likely it was that she would have died without the Stars' help, and the gray mare coughed to cover up the small sob that burst out of her lungs. When was she finally going to get her act together?

Whisper poked her with a hoof, and the accompanying bubbly feeling banished the thoughts of self-deprication. She twitched involuntarily, feeling almost ticklish.

Deciding to take advantage of the opportunity, she boasted in an obviously obnoxious, joking tone "Of course I've got guts! I'm Tunnel Nexus! I-" Nexus stopped for a moment, her eyes widening. She hadn't told anyone her full name in how many years? She was slipping up pretty badly... but she didn't really feel like she'd made a mistake. "Well, I do like to party, especially when they're crazy. I remember this one time- well, I won't bore you guys with the details, actually. Um... you know, that's a lot of what I do. I explore, party, and sometimes pick up the odd job, when I don't have enough bits," said Tunnel casually. "Do you guys do anything for fun? Or are you all business, all the time?"