Sitting in front of the simple red doghouse that actually reminded me a lot of Snoopy’s from the old comics, I had a perfect view of the surrounding orchards and the road leading to the house. Sitting in the calm twilight as the sun creeped closer to the distant horizon lulled me off to an easy sleep. The sounds of the orchard mixing with the soft noises of Luna and Applejack talking up in Scootaloo’s room providing more than an adequate lullabye.
“Squeak, squeak, squeak.”
Shifting to my side I ignored the noise, probably just some squeaky window or door somewhere.
“Squeak, squeak.........Squee squee squee squee squee squee.”
“The fuck is that?” I said, leaning up and opening my eyes, looking for the very annoying noise as it approached me.
Looking at the distant hill I saw an orange streak chasing a green and red streak down the hill. As the first two dots disappeared somewhere at the bottom of the hill, I saw a white and yellow dot standing at the top of the hill. As the first two dots, one of which I could tell was a cart with a bush on top, and the other Scootaloo, appeared on the second hill, still in a close race. The other two, who I could only assume to be Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, started chasing the cart also, but were at a huge disadvantage already.
Getting up and running down the road to hopefully help them catch the cart before it crashed, a sudden thought froze my blood. Where was Fortune?
Sprinting down the road with much more speed than I thought possible I crested the small hill in front of me to see the cart rapidly approaching me. On top of the bush on the cart, holding on for dear life was Fortune, frozen in fear, tears streaming behind her leaving a glittering mist.
Positioning myself just on the side of the road, readied myself, crouching low, and holding my hands out in front of me, flexing my fingers slowly as the cart sped closer and closer. A part of my brain told me that I could hear Scootaloo yelling something, but I didn’t process any of it, all of my attention focusing on that one split second. As the cart got to be about 10 feet from me, time seeming to slow to a crawl, I sprang into action, I snatched Fortune off of the cart as it sped by, leaving me spinning around a few times like a top due to her momentum.
Looking back down the road, I saw the cart swerve as it hit a rock in the road, careening into the ditch that ran alongside the it, before launching itself into the orchard where it disappeared from sight. After a few tense moments, the sound of a mighty crunch echoed out across the surrounding area. I assumed that some unfortunate tree had ‘jumped’ into the path of the runaway cart.The sound was sure to startle Fluttershy clear across town.
Looking down at Fortune, I saw she still held the cart’s little black metal handle. Her grip, made stronger by magic, had wrapped the metal around her hooves as if it were a string. I could feel her heartbeat in her chest, faster than any machine gun I had ever seen. I felt a warm, liquid spreading across my chest and down my lap, hoisting her up, I looked hard for the bleeding spot, only to see that she had merely pissed herself. Thank god for small miracles.
Scootaloo, who was panting in front of me, dripping in sweat, looked no less scared. She looked at me with a facial expression I couldn’t understand, something in her eyes scared me further.
Taking my jacket off and wrapping Fortune up in it, I rocked her softly, humming an old tune my mother used to hum to me and my sister when we frightened ourselves when we were little, I slowly calmed her down a little. Her eyes closed a little from the wide stare into oblivion, and her horn stopped gripping the handle so hard, which merely fell to pieces on to the ground. She started shivering after that and crying, a silent cry that I had seen far too often on the battlefield as soldiers experienced hell for the first time.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom came zipping over the hilltop and nearly tackled me, both of them crying and speaking gibberish loudly. Kneeling down I gathered the three crusaders under my free arm and carried all of the frightened fillies towards the house. Everyone was gathered on the porch, looking hard for the cause of the rackett, and when they saw me they all rushed forward, except Granny Smith, who had a hard time getting down the stairs, and each helped me comfort the fillies.
The three construction ponies took Fortune and gathered her into a big family hug, a sea of blue coveralls with a tan core, as they comforted her, whispering into her ears and stroking her mane. Applejack, Big Mac, and Granny Smith, when she arrived, had scooped up Apple Bloom, who had at that point started crying so hard she was hiccuping, and Sweetie Belle, who was strangely silent, was just staring at the orchard as if there were monsters in there.
I had held onto Scootaloo and Luna had came over to try her hardest to comfort her, with a few mental suggestions that were more gestures than they were coherent words, she started stroking her mane and rubbing her wings, which had shot out rigidly sometime during the race. She was looking down at the ground refusing to meet my gaze and whispering something frantically, over and over again, like a chant.
Leaning down, my eyes shot wide open as I heard what she was saying.
“They’re sending me back. They’re sending me back. They’re sendi- ” She stopped as I bopped her on the nose lightly. Her head shot up in surprise and she stared straight into my face with eyes that would forever haunt me, her tears running freely down her face.
“I sorry, I promise I’ll do better, just don’t se—”
“Stop!” I commanded, loudly, the other grown-up ponies glancing at me before returning to the fillies they were desperately trying to calm down. Softer, I continued, “I would never even think about sending you back, for anything! I don’t ever want you thinking that ever again. I would give both my legs and arm just to keep you here, safe and happy, never forget that, cause I know I won’t.”
“Pinkie promise?”
“Always.” I said, holding out my hand with the pinkie extended.
She looked at it blankly for a moment, before taking her left wing and flexing it around her body, extending one of her feathers towards my finger. Moving my hand closer I wrapped it around her feather, while headbutting her lightly, big smile on my face as I saw the horror in her eyes drain away, leaving only sheer joy.
“Tis time for the hot chocolate, no?” Luna whispered into my ear.
I merely nodded as I herded the other groups towards the house.
“And something a little stronger too, I think I tore something.”
Sitting around the table, which was buried under a labyrinth of cookie plates and glasses full of milk. Fortune was still surrounded by her brothers, but was dripping wet and wrapped in a large pink fluffy towel. The other Crusaders sat interspersed amongst the adults, only barely touching the cookies. The room was utterly silent except for the sound of a heavy rain that had moved in while Fortune had been in the bath.
Luna, who had surprised us all by baking so many cookies so quickly, was in the other room, starting a fire in the fireplace to chase the sudden chill from the home. I had initially volunteered to do so, but she had insisted I had to stay to comfort Scootaloo if she grew fearful of her future again.
“So.” I began, the sudden break of silence startling everypony, “just to knock any further fears out of the air, no one is in trouble, I’m just glad everyone is safe and in here enjoying such wonderful cookies.” And to emphasize my statement, I grabbed one of the large cookies off of Scootaloo’s plate and bit into it, but it’s taste didn’t really register in my mind.
“But I almost died!” Fortune squeaked out, her voice being far too many octaves to be normal. Her brothers almost instantly scooping her up into the upteenth hug in the last hour.
“But ya didn’t, an’ that’s what matters. If we’d all live in the what-if’s of life, we’d get nowhere.” Applejack said softly, hugging Apple Bloom with one of her forehooves.
“I just don’t get what went wrong!” Scootaloo exclaimed, breaking into sobs again, “We’ve taken the cart down that road so many times, and we’ve never seen it go that fast, even when we were trying to get our racing cutie marks! It was all my fault, I let the cart run me over instead of stopping it.”
Grabbing Scootaloo, I pulled her closer, off of her own chair and onto my lap, where I held her like a baby, with all four of her hooves in the air and her wings poking out between my elbow and chest. After I wiped her tears away with my thumb, I bopped her on the nose the the cookie I had stolen, she gratefully took it between her forehooves and started munching on it quietly.
“It was almost like as if Applejack and Big Mac both bucked it with all their force at the same time.” Apple Bloom said quietly.
“Changelings.” Sweetie Belle responded shakely.
“Nope, can’t be.” Big Mac said resolutely.
Looking at Sweetie Belle, who meet my gaze unflinchingly, I asked, “Are you one hundred percent sure?”
She nodded her head, “The last time I felt sticky magic like that was at the Canterlot wedding.”
Thinking for a moment, I slowly nodded my head. Standing up, I reached for a plate of cookies, only to be halted as my arm twinged in pain. Luna had tried to heal the wound, but all she had succeeded in doing so far was to keep the swelling down. Tilting my torso at the waist, I scooped up the plate and walked into the living room, where I sat Scootaloo down on the couch, and handed her the plate. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom walked into the room with Applejack and Big Mac. The two other Crusaders set of either side of Scootaloo and shared cookies off of her plate.
Noticing the definite chill in the room, despite the decent sized fire Luna had going, I grabbed a blanket and wrapped the three of them in it. Fortune, who was carried in by her brothers, simply relented to being cuddled by the three of them. Her usual, loud and boisterous attitude subdued. The brothers were surely very worried, but they didn’t show it infront of her at all, comforting her anyway possible.
Leaning down, I whispered to the girls, “I’ll be right back, I just gotta go do some things, don’t ya worry about a thing, and is there anything you want me to tell Rarity, Sweetie Belle?”
“I want her here.” she said quietly.
Nodding slowly, I crossed the room and grabbed Luna and Applejack, leading them upstairs to Applejack’s room. Once in her room, I quietly closed the door and crouched down to my pile of gear.
“Luna, I want you to send a message to Sasha. I want the guards out in the town, in groups no smaller than squads, making regular patrols helping anypony they can with this heavy storm and I also want them to report any activity that is even remotely suspicious. Can you also message your sister and warn her there may have been a changeling sighting here in Ponyville, but keep it quiet, last thing we need is a panic.”
Luna’s horn glowed for a moment before she nodded.
“Applejack.”
“Yeah, sugarcube?”
“I want you to keep everyone in this house, I want no one entering or leaving while I am gone. I’ll send Rarity under the escort of a couple of guards later.”
"What will you be doing?” asked Applejack while I threw on my bullet-proof vest. “What I do best. Recon.” I said, standing up, rifle in hand, all my gear attached to the vest in its confusing but instantly, comfortably, familiar way.
“Is that thine war gear?” asked Luna.
“Yeah, remember, no one but me, Rarity and the guards who come with her, no one else.” I warned as I left the room.
“Stay safe!” Applejack called after me.
Turning around, I held out my arms while still walking backwards, “What’s the worse that could happen?”
Standing outside of Rarity’s boutique was absolutely miserable. The three guard ponies behind me blended into the darkness with their dark coat and armor, but I could tell that the cold and wet felt just as miserable to them as it was to me.
Pounding on her door again, I could hear her sigh loudly before calling out, “I heard you the first time, and as I said, I’m coming!”
A light flickered on in the room on the other side of the door, shining a promising warmth on me and the guards. Only to leave us wanting as Rarity didn’t open the door, she didn’t even go as far to peek out the window to see who it was.
With a sigh, I put on the best feminine voice I had and called out, “Oh no, my dress is just positively getting ruined, how will I ever find my true love wearing a ruined dress made by Rarity?”
The door, on cue of course, slammed open, revealing a panicking Rarity, who was looking for her lovesick damsel, but when she saw me her eyes narrowed.
“That was a dirty trick, Mr. Cass. You had me worried about somepony who doesn’t exist!”
“Sorry Rarity,” I stopped, realizing I was still speaking with the damsel voice, I coughed a few times to clear it out, “Sorry Rarity, but we need to talk.”
Her eyes shot open, her mouth making little chewing like motions as she searched for words for a moment before finally saying, “It’s the Crusaders, isn’t it?”
“Yes, may we come in out of this rain before we become sick?”
Rarity nodded weakly as she collapsed on her rump. Stepping into the house, I looked around the immaculate house, and then down at my boots, which were soaked with mud. Staying on the stepping mat right in front of the door, I quickly unlaced my boots and stepped out of them, leaving them by the door as I lead Rarity by the hoof into the kitchen.
“What did they do now? Go chasing another one of Fluttershy’s chickens into the Everfree Forest?” she asked after I helped her into a chair.
“Nope, when they were pushing a cart back to the farm, they lost control of it. Fortune was riding on top, and if I hadn’t been there to scoop her up when I did....” I ended my sentence there, unsure how to say anymore.
“But they are all safe, right?” she pressed on.
“Shaken, but yeah, all good. Sweetie Belle actually asked for you to come down to the farm tonight.” I said as I leaned against the counter, careful to not knock anything off of the counter with my rifle.
Rarity looked out the window at the lightning streaked sky, and shuddered, probably worrying about her mane or tail.
“I hope Fluttershy is okay, she’s always been afraid of lightning and thunder.” Or not, “But give me just a moment, I’ll be ready as soon as I can.”
Before she left the room I stopped her, “Rarity, Sweetie Belle also thinks there might have been a changeling involved.”
Rarity damn near rammed her head into the door as she stopped and whipped around, sputtering.
Holding up my hands, I continued, “I know, I know, but I’m willing to believe her. Something about how she said it makes it certain to me that she’s telling the truth. I want you to go with those guard ponies that came with me and go straight to Applejack’s house, Sweetie Belle needs you and that’s the only important thing. Me and the other guards are patrolling and searching the area, so it’s going to be a quiet night, I guarantee it.”
Rarity was frozen for a moment, before running out of the room, surprising the guard as she rushed out of the door, only to be yanked short by her tail, firmly held in my grasp.
“Easy now, showing up there not like yourself will probably freak out your sis more than anything else. Take your time, she’s perfectly safe and will be just as safe when you get there.”
Rarity struggled for a moment longer before blushing and walking back into her showroom.
“Thank you, Mr. Cass, I lost myself there for a moment, I’ll prepare quickly and then head straight there!” she vowed as she ran to grab some rain clothes for herself. Walking back to my boots, I slipped them back on and re-tied them.
Looking back as I stepped out of the house, I could only laugh as she sat there, surrounded by hundreds of umbrellas, debating which ones went better with her boots.
Damn that pony has no sense of moderation.
Jogging back into the small campsite I was pleased to see other than the few ponies who were guarding the site, it was completely empty, the other guards out searching. Reaching the command tent, I threw open the flap and stepped into the warmth the small stove in the corner provided.
Sasha, who was sitting in a uncomfortable looking field chair, laughed as I held my hands over the stove, starting a stream of sizzling as the water dripped off of me onto the hot metal.
“Don’t you vish you had fur now? HA!”
“Rather be cold than smell like a wet old salty dog.”
“Vho are you calling old? I be in my prime, barely a year past a thousand and forty!” he bragged.
“What?” I said, shooting up and turning to look at the smiling guard as he simply twirled his hammer around a hoof by the leather string attached to the handle.
“Nothing, anyways, the guards are out, and I had the unicorns cast waterproofing spells on their fellow guards.”
“Really? Waterproofing spells, wish someone told me about those before I got soaked.”
“Funnier this way, and vhen they see you embracing the suck, it vill motivate them.”
“So in other words, you wanted to laugh at your senior officer.”
With a evil grin, he hit the pole next to him, causing the whole tent to shift slightly, opening a gap around the exhaust pipe for the stove in the heavy canvas right above my head, dumping more cold water all over me.
While he was laughing as I strangled him, a younger looking guard nervously pushed his way into the tent and cleared his throat quietly. Me, being too distracted by the sheer fun of wrestling the cup of steaming hot coffee away from Sasha, didn’t notice him until Sasha broke my grip suddenly, sending the cup flying.
“Sir, I appreciate the offer, but I like a lump of sugar with my coffee.” the guard said flatly.
“Oh, my apologies, what did you come in here to say?” I asked, giving Sasha one last thump to the back of the head.
“We have gotten preliminary reports from all squads out on patrol, all clear, except for the two patrols that went out towards the Everfree and the one squad that went into the Apple’s orchard.”
“Any reason they wouldn’t answer?”
“Death or capture.” he said unblinking.
“Let’s not think like that, I’ll go see if I can find them, and thank you. Sasha here, since he spilt his coffee on you, will take your post, enjoy the tent for a while.” I said as I left the tent, chuckling, as Sasha shook his hoof at me.
Stopping right outside the tent, I saw it had stopped raining, but the thunder and lightning had picked up pace, lighting the sky with an eerie glow that lasted far too long.
“Even the weather agrees, something is wrong.” I said to no one in particular.
Arriving at the edge of the orchard, I saw where the guards had entered it. The small section of fence had the boards removed to allow easy access into the orchards. Walking through the gap, I followed the line of hoof-marks in front of me, every now and then I would see a broken branch or apple they had accidentally knocked into. Holding my rifle steadily ready, I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched.
Up ahead in a clearing I saw a mighty apple tree with a heap at the bottom of it. I rushed to it, fearing the worst as I knelt next to it, grabbing the rough fabric and turning the object over, revealing an oozing broken mass.
Thank god, it was only the supply cart that the Crusaders had been pushing earlier. The fancy chocolates had been smashed into the candles and the picnic basket had disintegrated. Looking up, I saw the metal cart, embedded in the tree a good couple of inches. Looking closer, I noticed a pair of hoof-prints dented into the back of the thick metal of the cart.
“Sweetie Belle was right, the cart was pushed, hard to to cause that kinda denting.” I commented, fingering the metal.
Crouching back down, I looked for more tracks from my guards, but only found that they too, had found the cart and had set up a defensive circle around it. I could see the tracks leading up to where they stood and I could see the deeper indentations from where they had stood in those spots for what had to be a couple of minutes, but after that, it seem like they had simply disappeared.
With a sigh, I keyed the radio on my chest rig to talk to Sasha, who had the other radio, but stopped with my mouth open. Something was wrong, it was too silent. Even the thunder seemed muted, as if something was muffling the noise.
Releasing the radio, I crept quietly into the shadows of the trees, kneeling down and making myself near invisible in the darkness as a group of black pony things crept down from trees on the opposite side of the orchard, completely silent.
Raising my rifle, I thumbed the safety selector from safe to fire, the mechanism making no noise. With a smile, I figured it out, they were using some sort of area muffle spell, which not only affected them, but me. Either that or I had finally lost the last of my hearing.
“Halt where you are and identify yourselves now!” I yelled out, forcing myself to be louder to overcome their spell.
The other things collapsed onto the ground in heaps of blackness that melted and scooted away from the clearing. As one of them shot by the tree I was behind, I reached out and hit it hard with my rifle, halting it on the spot as it transformed back into a pony like thing. Waiting a few minutes to see if his buddies would come back, I dragged the thing into the clearing and tied it to the tree using the rope that used to hold the supplies on the cart.
After it was securely tied to the tree, I tapped it’s face slightly, causing it to stir in pain.
“So, who and what are you.”
The creature, looking blearily at me, took a few moments before his eyes rapidly focused on me and it hissed at me like a cat. Grabbing a candle from the wreckage I shoved it into it’s mouth, and held it there until it stopped struggling.
“I don’t speak cat, so how about we have a civil conversation and I won’t force you to eat this candle.”
The thing nodded slowly, so I took the candle out of it’s mouth, but kept it ready if I needed to re-insert it.
“So, who are you and have you seen my guards?” I asked again.
“I am Sleeps-With-Trees, and yes I have, your pathetic little guards are making a good snack for our queen before the main course!” he yelled, spraying spit all over my face.
“Geez, say it don’t spray it. Do they even teach manners anymore?” I asked calmly as I wiped my face off.
“Be calm while you can, Thing! For the Great Feeding is coming! The Time of Hunger will end, and our people will be whole again! And soon, my comrades will come to free me from this useless restraint and will add you to the appetizer that’s being given to the queen!” He yelled fanatically, more spit flying everywhere.
Shoving the candle back into his mouth, I stood back up, looking around the clearing again.
“This is a waste of time!” I thought to myself bitterly.
“Cass!” Luna’s voice shot out of the dark, startling me, until I realized it was our mental link.
“Cass!” she cried again.
“Yes Luna, everything okay at the house?”
“Yes, Rarity and Applejack are telling stories to both the young Crusaders and the construction ponies, but that is not the issue we wish to be made known.”
I paused, trying to wrap my mind around the contorted sentence. “What?”
“Look to the Everfree, correct us if we be wrong, but lightning should not strike like that!”
Looking to where she indicated, I saw she was right, the lightning seemed like it was repeatedly striking the same spot over and over again. Now I had my lead.
“Thanks Luna.” I thought as I turned back to my prisoner, only to discover it gone.
Rushing over, I saw the ropes were still tied. Wondering how it got out, I nearly smacked myself in the forehead. I had just watched it turn into a puddle earlier, and ropes can’t hold puddles.
Cursing myself for my idiocy, I turned to the Everfree and took off at a jog, determined to find my soldiers before they were turned into Kentucky freakin’ fried pony strips!
The divide between the Everfree and the orchards was painfully obvious, if you ignored the tall sturdy fence that had warning signs every twenty feet or so, just the difference between the tamed orchard and the wide woods erased any doubt in the mind.
The lightning that was still striking in almost a rhythmic pattern came from deeper into the forest, silhouetting the trees in a brilliant blue-white light that lingered for far too long. Checking my rifle again, I slipped through a small gap in the fence, careful to be as silent as possible, not that it really mattered, the sound of thunder like a constant roar.
A few steps into the forest I could smell an acidic, metallic scent, heavy on my nostrils and feeling like sandpaper down my throat. The heat blasting out of the spot felt like a bad sunburn on all of my exposed skin. Each gust of what should have been cooling night air just bringing a stronger stench and more heat. Looking at the thermometer taped to my rifle stock I was surprised to see the temperature had stayed the same, if not gotten colder.
“What the hell is goin’ on here?” I muttered, instantly regretting it as it felt as if someone had given me a thousand papercuts in the mouth.
Fearing the worst, I stopped and put on my old ballistic glasses. The trusty old things had always been the lucky charm when it came to saving my eyes, hopefully whatever it was here couldn’t go through the lenses.
Walking forwards, I nearly stepped on the black metal armor lying on the ground. Instantly crouching I scanned ahead, looking for any threat. Sitting there the thunder suddenly stopped, and the world was thrown into a instant inky blackness that seemed to swallow everything.
Slowly, my hand creeps up to the NVG’s mounted on my helmet, folding them slowly down in front of my eyes, wincing as they clicked into position. Using the same hand, I grasped blindly at the small power knob, flipping it on, revealing the world in a staticy green with another small click.
Looking around , I got used to the lack of depth perception again, while also ensuring something had been stalking me in the shadows.
Standing back up, I noticed the heat was still present, despite the fact that the lightning had stopped. Checking my rifle again, I mentally shrugged it off as some weird science or magic bull-shit that was way above my ability to care. Taking a few steps, I nearly trip over another set of armor, and looking ahead, I saw many others scattered about.
“The fuckin’ hell?” I mutter, stepping around the outside of the clearing, avoiding the piles of armor just incase they were boobie trapped.
“Another sheep following the flock, but this one is different.” echoed an musical voice through the trees, cause me to dive behind a tree, rifle ready and searching.
“Show yourself!” I yelled.
“But what fun is that? I would much rather talk to you civilly than be tied up by such a ‘big macho man’ like yourself.” she said with a chuckle.
Moving quickly but stealthy I moved from shadow to shadow, before I stopped and faded into the deeper shadows of a large tree, making myself invisible to the naked eye.
“Oh, looks like we scared him away.” that damned female voice complained from far away.
“Oops, here he is.” she whispered into my ear.
Dropping my rifle to my side, I wiped my knife from it’s sheath on my hip and slashed out at the voice. My knife struck deeply at where I slashed and got stuck for a moment before I yanked it out, looking at the deep gash I had just gouged into the tree.
“Oh, a mighty tree killer! Maybe those guards were right when they said we had right to fear you.” she said mockingly, her voice coming from everywhere at once.
“Where are they?” I demanded, putting away my knife and swinging my rifle up in one smooth stroke.
“Oh, they are safe, but we are wondering, what do you love so much? You are like an exotic buffet to us. The perfect mixture of sadness mixed with pure joy. Cadance was just all love, no sadness, no disappointment, like a cake. You, you on the other hand. Oh.” That last moan sounded almost like she was enjoying eating my ‘happy’ a bit too much.
“We shall enjoy devouring your love until you are but a husk!” she continued, ignoring my discomfort, or rather, seeming to enjoy it.
“Who I love is my own damn business! You have no right to be prying, or much less, devouring my love, whatever the hell that means!” I yelled angrily.
“Oh, yes, that anger, go on, have another mood swing! I’m tasting things here in the purest of forms, these ponies here are just too, flat for my tastes, they always taste the same, now you, you’re just a cornucopia of tastes.”
Pausing, I held my breath and let it out slowly, clearing my mind of all thoughts, of all emotions, of all taste.
“Awww, now you taste bland, worse than those ponies.” came that voice, sounding disappointed.
“He who controls the flow of his emotions, controls himself, he who controls himself, controls others.” I said in a monotone as I resumed a ready position with my rifle.
“Oh, there it is, that’s the taste I wanted, it’s my favorite! The taste of triumph! Want to know why it’s my favorite?” she asked, suddenly sounding far away.
Turning slowly, I didn’t see the large black shape shoot out of the woods until too late. I screamed in pain as the horn pierced my left arm.
“Because failure always follows!” she laughed as the world flashed to white, leaving me falling into nothingness.