//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Gathering Intel (Part I) // Story: Ghosts from the Future // by Pix //------------------------------// Chapter 4 – Gathering Intel (Part I) Ponyville usually seemed a lot calmer when Twilight Sparkle was away. Spike dearly loved his adoptive sister, but he couldn’t deny that she had an eerie knack for attracting trouble. True, he had enjoyed their recent adventures, but he had also grown to appreciate the times when he would be left with the library all to himself and could do what he wanted, when he wanted. He was not doing what he wanted at the moment though. The first few times Spike had been left behind while Twilight and her friends went off on one of their adventures, he had been unable to relax the entire time, feeling equal parts disappointment at not being able to go with them, and worry that something would happen to Twilight. Those feelings had not completely gone, but Twilight was a lot more capable with magic now, never mind that she was an alicorn and a princess, and the peace of mind that knowledge gave Spike allowed him the opportunity to enjoy himself more at home. He was not enjoying himself at the moment though. What he was doing, was trying to keep track of three hyperactive young fillies as they zipped from bookshelf to bookshelf in the Golden Oak Library, pulling books out haphazardly and generally making a mess of the room he had so carefully cleaned just a few hours before. He should never have let them come inside in the first place. He had been quite happy, baking a very tempting new recipe he had found for sapphire pie, half-heartedly attempting to not eat any of the delicious gems before it came to filling the pastry, and then settling down to read some of his favourite comics once he had put the dish in the oven. He had finished one issue, retrieved a drink from the kitchen, checked on the pie, and had barely gotten comfortable again before hearing what was to be the harbinger of doom: a series rapid knocks on the door and the sound of chatting and laughing outside. Supposedly Twilight had forgotten to tell the crusaders that she would be away and that their regularly scheduled ‘Twilight Time’ would have to be cancelled. Spike found this explanation for the fillies’ appearance at the door more than a little suspicious, especially considering two of them had sisters who were also away, but after they had begged him to let them in, promising they knew where to find everything they needed and that they would be fine by themselves, he had relented and allowed them inside. Big mistake. Perhaps he should have known that they would not touch any of the special equipment Twilight usually prepared for them. Instead they seemed to be dead set on pulling every book in the library out of their shelves, but then giving them little more than cursory glances before throwing them aside. Spike was sure they must be looking for something specific, no doubt related to one of their crusades, but an explanation hadn’t been forthcoming when he had asked, and he wasn’t sure he even wanted to know. The only upside he could see to the situation was that unlike the last time he had found himself unexpectedly foalsitting these three disaster-magnets, at least he did not have a menagerie of pets to look after as well. Spike had been very insistent about that when Twilight and the others left, giving an excuse that he wanted peace and quiet to avoid being forced to tell Twilight the real reason, namely that, after all the drama the last time he had been given the responsibility, Spike didn’t trust himself with more than Owlowiscious to look after. (And really, Owlowiscious was perfectly capable of looking after himself.) Still, those six animals might be easier than these three fillies. Spike watched as Sweetie Belle climbed to the highest rung of the ladder, evidently intending to retrieve a book from the top shelf. The young unicorn attempted to withdraw it with her magic, failed, and instead tilted the ladder backwards far enough that with a squeal she toppled backwards into a pile of books, landing right next to an oblivious Apple Bloom who was completely engrossed in whatever book she was reading. Scootaloo, meanwhile, had a towering stack of tomes beside her, which would have impressed Spike had he not noticed that at some point she had given up on reading them. Instead the young orange pegasus was using the books to mark how high she was able to keep herself sustained with her wings. Spike made what was probably about to be his fifth failed attempt at restoring order. “Come on you three, you need to clear up this mess. What would Twilight say if she knew you were doing this instead of the stuff you were supposed to be doing?” “She’d say it was awesome just how much better I’ve got at this,” Scootaloo replied, hovering in the air once more. “I’m a whole book higher than last time!” “And she’d say it was great that I was still working on my magic!” Sweetie Belle added, pulling herself out of the pile of fallen books. “Did you see how close I was?” “I don’t think she’d be very impressed with how you you’re treating these books. Twilight loves books, she would never make a mess like this.” Meanwhile, in the corner of a quiet room far away in Canterlot, a forgotten and much neglected pile of books lay on the floor next to an empty desk and giant hourglass, slowly gathering dust. “Well Ah’m readin’ mine!” Apple Bloom said indignantly, finally looking up and waving the book she held in the air. “You can’t tell me Ah’m mistreatin’ them.” “But you are sitting on top of a pile of books though AB,” Scootaloo pointed out. “At least I stacked these up neatly.” She flailed a hoof at the tower of books next to her, clipping the edge of one of them and causing the entire stack to collapse. She looked guiltily at the new mess she had made. “Oops.” “Right!” shouted Spike, stamping his foot and attempting to sound intimidating. “You’re all going to clear this up right now!” “Aww, but Spiiike,” they began together. “I said now!” Spike repeated, stamping his foot again. “There’s no way you’re getting out of this!” Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, Spike noticed a billow of smoke erupt from under the door to the kitchen. “Aargh! My pie!” The baby dragon started running towards the kitchen, but then skidded to a halt. “No, wait, I don’t mind my food a little burnt.” He turned back around. “But I will not let you get away without cleaning up right now! There will be no other distractions, so-” But he couldn’t continue because, as though in response to his blatant tempting of fate, he was interrupted by another distraction as he felt heat rising in his chest. With a great belch of dragonfire a scroll materialised in front of him. Assuming it must be for him since Twilight was away, he unrolled it and started to read. Dear Spike, I have a huge favour to ask of you. Do you remember the time-travelling pony Applejack mentioned the other day? There’s going to be another one arriving near Ponyville sometime soon, and it would be really helpful if you could go and talk to them and find out as much as you can about the future. Unfortunately I think they’ll arrive a little way into the Everfree Forest. I would have asked Rainbow Dash to go, but I’ve already sent her off into the Badlands. Please be careful Spike. I suggest you go with Zecora, she’ll keep you safe. You should also go as soon as possible and leave the forest if it starts to get dark, whether or not you’ve been successful. And remember to be careful. And take Owlowiscious too, he has great eyesight, I’m sure make a good lookout for anything unsavoury. And let me know as soon as you get back. In fact give me regular updates so I know you’re okay. I’m being silly aren’t I? I’ve seen you fend off timberwolves before, you’re a dragon for goodness sake! Take care Spike. Twilight Spike sighed and rolled the letter up. He looked at the smoke still spilling out of the kitchen. He looked at the slowly sinking sun outside. He looked back at the scroll. He looked up at the fillies in front of him. He sighed again. “It looks like I won’t be here to make you clear this mess up after all. So much for my attempt to be responsible…” Three loud whoops echoed throughout Ponyville. --- It was a gorgeous evening. The air was just the right temperature, and the sky was beautiful, with the red light of the slowly setting sun illuminating the clouds that formed the city of Cloudsdale wonderfully. Many of the pegasi in the city were lounging on the roofs of their houses to admire the sunset, muttering words of appreciation to the Princess and sharing a few drinks after a hard day’s work. For Fluttershy, the abundance of ponies made her task all the more difficult. Just as she had been leaving Canterlot, Twilight had explained that because of the constantly shifting nature of the cloud city, it was almost impossible to pinpoint exactly where the pony she was supposed to find was going to appear, and that her best bet would be to just look around for any unusual ponies. She could see a lot of those. Fluttershy didn’t spend a lot of time looking at other ponies normally, a habit she had developed when much younger to try and avoid doing anything that might encourage strangers to talk to her. Now that she was looking however, they all seemed a little unusual. She had spotted ponies with manes in the most vibrant of colours and styles, seen clothes ranging from exquisite to insane, and heard the wildest array of accents imaginable. She had even witnessed a couple of ponies getting a little more… intimate… than she would have liked to see, causing her to let out an ‘eep’ and fly away as fast as she could, blushing furiously. But not once had she seen a pony covered in the tell-tale dark crystals that she was looking for. The butter pegasus started another half-hearted flight through the city, and began to worry about what she would say to the others if she returned having found nothing. It would be so embarrassing! There was no way any of the rest of her friends would have failed, they were all so proactive and confident. Maybe she should just go back to Ponyville, she wouldn’t be much help to the others anyway, and her animals would be missing her, and could comfort her. “No,” she muttered to herself. “Bad Fluttershy.” Ever since she had gained such great friends she had been working to stop those familiar thoughts from affecting her, but they were still there, and she sometimes had to remind herself that she was stronger than she thought, when her friends or Angel weren’t there to remind her themselves. She floated to a stop and landed on a cloud with her wings spread, letting the breeze flow through her feathers, calming her down. Maybe she should change her approach. She took a deep breath and flew high up into the air until almost all of Cloudsdale was in view. If she didn’t think too hard about just how high up she was, and how long a drop it would be, this would be the perfect position to look around to try and- Nope. Before she had even thought about it she was resting back on the cloud below, taking deep breaths to steady her heartbeat. She just had to think about how far the fall would be, didn’t she? “Hey, you!” Fluttershy let out a gasp, and spun around, head ducking behind her mane as another pegasus came into view. “Shutterfly, right?” “Oh, yes. I mean, no, I mean, I’m… Fluttershy.” “Ah dammit, that’s right. Anyway, you flew with Rainbow Dash for the relay at the Equestria Games, didn’t you?” “Oh, yes, I did.” Fluttershy examined the pale blue pegasus in front of her, looking over her wispy white mane and cutie mark of a horseshoe pressing against a yellow arc. “Um, Fleetfoot?” she hazarded, before looking around and noticing a few colts and fillies looking on in awe from the distance. “You… you’re a Wonderbolt.” Fleetfoot grinned widely. “You’ve got it.” She pulled a dramatic flight pose, probably not coincidentally timing it at exactly the moment there was a flash of a camera from behind her. Fluttershy winced away at the camera light, painful memories of her short stint as a model resurfacing. “So hey, I just wanted to say how awesome that race was. Your team really put up a good fight! A well-deserved silver medal!” Fluttershy couldn’t help but blush at the praise. “Oh, thanks, but it was mostly Rainbow Dash.” “She’s something special alright,” said Fleetfoot, nodding in agreement. “It seems like half the team are talking about her and her rainboom these days.” Her expression soured slightly. “Still can’t believe she can pull that off. It’s unbelievable. We’ve all tried it of course, but none of us have even come close. Misty says she almost had it once, but I’m not sure I believe her. That mare just doesn’t have the acceleration needed to-” Fleetfoot’s monologue was cut off by another flash from behind her, this one far brighter than a camera and coupled with a resounding bang and the squeals of foals fleeing the scene. She whirled around and crouched as though ready to spring, while Fluttershy stumbled backwards in shock. However when Fluttershy identified that the noise had heralded the sudden appearance of a dazed looking pegasus, his white body covered in unhealthy shadowy splotches and some very ominous looking black crystals coating his tale and part of his hind legs, she took a deep breath and pulled herself together, determination etched across her face. “What the?” started Fleetfoot, stepping backwards from the strange pegasus even as Fluttershy stepped forwards. “Um, hello,” Fluttershy began, looking down at the sinking form in front of her. “I’m Fluttershy, and I- oh goodness!” The reason for Fluttershy’s exclamation became immediately apparent as the prone pegasus slipped a little further into the cloud he was laying on, gave a short yelp, and plummeted right through it towards the ground far below. “Oh goodness oh goodness,” Fluttershy continued, determination forgotten as she stared in shock at the newly formed hole in front of her. Fleetfoot did not hesitate even for a moment however. Without a second thought she sprung up into the air and then launched herself down the hole like an eagle swooping after its prey. Fluttershy watched in amazement as the two silhouettes disappeared into the distance below, and then realised she should probably fly down to join them. Twilight had said that the ponies from the future had all lost most of their magic. That obviously extended to pegasi and their ability to walk to clouds. She would have to tell Fleetfoot that there was no point carrying the poor pony back up to Cloudsdale. It took her a few minutes before she pulled herself together, put thoughts of the distance of the drop out of her mind, and caught up with the now no longer plummeting ponies. They did not seem to be out of the woods just yet, however. “Celestia’s plot, you’re a heavy one. What do you eat?” The reply was nothing more than a rasping cough. “Can’t you use your wings? I’m not gonna do all the work myself you know.” “C… can’t fly.” “Damn.” Fleetfoot continued to hold the wheezing pegasus in her hooves and looked up at the sound of wings above her. “Oh, hey Fluttershy, nice of you to join us. Give me a hoof?” “Um, actually I think we should take him to the ground.” “Really?” “Yeah, I’ll look after him there.” “Oh, you know him?” Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Uh, yes.” “Okay then.” Evidently Fleetfoot didn’t do anything slowly, because no sooner had she stopped talking than she zipped towards the ground. Fluttershy blinked in surprise and then followed her at a more acceptable pace, landing beside the time-displaced pegasus as the Wonderbolt laid him on the grass. “You sure you can look after him?” “Yes.” “You want any help?” Fluttershy didn’t have to think too hard about this. Twilight had said that it was best if as few ponies as possible knew about the strange events that were happening to avoid any unnecessary worry. “No thanks, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.” Fleetfoot shrugged. “If you’re sure. Nice seeing you again.” She then blasted back up into the air without another word. --- Applejack blinked rapidly to try and discourage her drooping eyelids from closing completely. It was now the second time she had met a pony from the future, and the experiences could not have been any different. She tried to shift her expression into one of interest as she continued to listen to the slowly crystallising stallion in front of her. “…of course they accepted me right away. They’d probably never seen an earth pony with as much raw strength and tenacity as me. Did I tell you yet that I split the training dummy clean in half when I bucked it? Ha, that little dummy never saw it coming! It’s not surprising they were head over hooves to sign me up after that. I think I heard somepony say that no other volunteer was recruited as fast as I was.” “Is that so.” “Yeah! And it wasn’t long before they put me out on the front lines. It was always clear I would be one of the infantry. No support or scouting for me, thanks! Although I bet if they had made me a scout I’d have been the best scout ever. I’d never have to report anything back, because I’d take out any Shards I saw! Ha, that would have been a laugh. But nah, infantry was always the place for me. I think my unit was the most successful, mostly down to my leadership I’m sure. Even if I was never an official leader, I pretty much carried the team.” “You don’t say.” “I do! I wish you’d been there to see it, I was unstoppable when I got in the zone. Took out five Shards with one buck once, did I say that yet? Pulled a muscle doing it too, but my finest moment regardless. Real shame nopony was there to witness it, but I’m sure they only said they didn’t believe me because they were jealous. Nothing wrong with that of course. I’d probably be jealous of me too.” “Would you really.” “Yeah, probably. Nopony was ever recruited as fast as I was, have I said that already? Of course the Vanhoover regiment was one of the toughest too, it being so close to the action, which only makes it more impressive. I doubt the regiment in this backwater place did much.” “Hey! Watch your mouth, you varmint. Appleloosa’s a fine settlement, and don’t you forget that none.” “Oh is that where we are? Actually I heard the Appleloosa regiment of the EDF was mostly made up of buffalo, can you imagine? I guess they did have a lot to do, what with those creeps from Dodge constantly making raids. I bet I could take a buffalo. Sure they’re big, I’ll give them that, but they can’t be as agile as the Viper, hyaah! Oh, that’s my name by the way, Blue Viper. I don’t know if I said that yet. You’d probably know me if you were from the future too, I’m well known what with all my success in battle. You’re Applejack of course, no need for any introductions there. I never did get why you didn’t join the EDF, why do you think you didn’t?” “Ah don’t know.” “No I suppose you wouldn’t yet. Oh well, the day will come. I guess everything’s really boring at the moment? Shame, everything got much more fun when the Shards started attacking. Did I tell you about that time I killed six Shards with one buck? Ha, those were the days! Not that I’ve run out of steam or anything. Why, I bet I could take out an army of shards myself if it showed up right now. I’d start by charging right up to them, and them give them that sneaky sidestep that seems to always confuse them, and then blam! Oh, that reminds me, I’ve got to tell you about the time…” --- Pinkie Pie hummed to herself as she casually bounced along one of the paths leading through the Crystal Empire. Her destination was away from all of the buildings and towards the base of one of the nearby Crystal Mountains, but she felt in no rush to get there. Although she knew that her Pinkie Sense had been acting up a little lately, including her least favourite combo striking a couple more times, both seemingly incorrectly, she was still convinced that she had no need for haste. Instead she looked around and smiled at all the crystal ponies she bounded past, waving madly at the ponies she recognised and just as madly at the ones she didn’t. As the pink mare progressed further out of the city and the frequency of the buildings around her dropped, she stared up with excitement at the approaching mountains. She was suddenly overcome with the desire to climb to the top of them, and so she stopped bouncing and zipped up the nearest peak, stopping at the top and stabbing a flag decorated with a sigil of her cutie mark into the highest point. “HEEELLLOOO EQUESTRIAAAAA!” After waiting for a few moments in case Equestria should reply, Pinkie zipped back down to the spot on the path she had previously been occupying and continued bouncing on her merry journey. Twilight had identified a point near the entrance to one of the tunnels through the mountains as the location where her target would arrive, and Pinkie could spy that tunnel from where she was, so if anypony did show up she would see them appear, even from this distance. Pinkie was very excited, partly with the idea that she might get to learn about the future, but also because there was a chance that it would be a pony she knew, and that would be fun! Pinkie suddenly screeched to a halt, embedding herself slightly into the ground as she did so. No, that would not be fun, because then she would see somepony that she knew suffering, and dying, and although it would be sad no matter who it was, it would be sadder if it was one of her friends. Pinkie felt her hair deflate slightly and continued her journey at a slower pace, walking along looking at the ground in front of her. But Twilight had said that when Trixie had died, she had been almost happy to go, as though she had accepted it and was relieved it was happening at last. That was kind of sad, because anypony who was thinking like that must have been through some sad times, but also kind of not sad, because at least the pony was leaving in good spirits. Pinkie resumed her bouncing. If she had anything to do with it, she would make sure that whoever she met, they had the biggest smile ever on their face for all the time she talked to them. Half an hour later Pinkie was sitting on a rock next to the entrance to the tunnel she had been heading for, staring at the spot on the ground where she expected her new friend to appear. She had been holding a fixed grin so that the first thing the pony saw when arriving back from the bleak future was something happy, but the corners of her smile were beginning to droop as the time ticked by with nothing happening. An echoing sound rung out from down the tunnel and the waiting earth pony turned to have another look into its dark depths. Sounds had been coming from inside for the last few minutes, but she still couldn’t see anything. Whatever it was though, it wasn’t the reason she was here, so that made it unimportant. She was on official time-traveller watching duty, and nothing would distract her! A few moments later she had just decided that she would allow herself this one distraction when there was a sudden blare of light and noise and the pony she had been waiting for was suddenly there, standing in front of her. In an instant Pinkie’s grin had reaffixed itself as she looked over the new arrival. This pony’s body was already completely crystal, although the fact that most of the back half of her body seemed to be made of a darker and more jagged material suggested that she was a crystal pony who had been infected by the same ailment as the others. It also wasn’t anypony Pinkie knew. “Hi!” Pinkie beamed. “I’m Pinkie Pie, the perpetually perky pink party pony! Who a-” A flare of red magic suddenly blasted from out of the tunnel and struck the pony in front of Pinkie square in the flank. A horrific shattering noise echoed around the valley as the entire infected back portion of the crystal pony disintegrated, and the mare’s eyes rolled up into the back of her head as the front half of her body fell lifelessly to the floor. “-re yooouurrghhh...” Pinkie swallowed a mouthful of bile and turned slowly to see a figure stepping out of the darkness of the tunnel. It looked suspiciously like a unicorn version of the beast they had fought in Zecora’s hut a few days prior, and Pinkie did not want to imagine what effect another blast of its magic would have on her. Pinkie narrowed her eyes at her foe, flexed her forelimbs menacingly, and turned and fled. --- There was nothing green for miles around. The parched earth was layered with a grimy dust that coated anything that stayed in the wasteland for too long. It being an uninhabited area, there were no pegasi around, and so it never rained. The name Badlands could not have been more apt. On any normal day there would be no need for further description, but this was not a normal day. A section of the desert was about to become host to more than its fair share of strange occurrences, and it would all begin with the blinding flash that abruptly burst from a spot on the ground. A few seconds of tranquillity followed, before a cough alerted the world to the presence of a white-bodied blue-maned unicorn in the dirt. He slowly pulled himself to his hooves and glanced about him warily. It did not take long to identify that there was nothing to see. With a dry chuckle the stallion slumped back to the ground. Of all the places in Equestria to end up… After a few moments to catch his breath, the unicorn got to his hooves once more. It would not do to give up now, he still had a duty to the ponies of Equestria, and he had never let hardship hold him back before. There was still a chance, albeit a small one, that a pony would pass by this way at some point. If he could just leave a message... Another glance reminded the unicorn that there was nothing around him that could be any use in creating a note. Seeing no other option, he lit his horn and focussed as much of his severely diminished magic into it as he could, in an attempt to scour a line into the earth in front of him. When a minutes struggle had barely formed a single letter, the stallion changed tactics. He had always had an impressive horn, perhaps it was fitting that he put it to this final use before he went. The pain was excruciating as he dragged his horn through the ground, but a part of him found it oddly comforting. He could feel that blasted Infection crawling up his legs, but the pain reminded him that he wasn’t dead yet. He could still make a difference. What was important was that he got as much information down as he could, anything that would help. And so he wrote, about the emergence of the Infection, about the attacks from the north, the surprise in the south, anything important he could remember. He listed dates, he mentioned key places, and he even inscribed a short farewell to the world. After he felt he could write no more, the white stallion collapsed to his haunches and breathed in the dusty air around him. He had lived a good life. Unfortunately for him, his peaceful exit from the world was interrupted by a skittering sound behind him. His body was mostly lost to him now, but he was just able to twist his face around to try and see what had made the noise. “I say, is somepony there?” There was a few moments of silence at his words before he heard the noise once more, from the other side this time. As he cracked his head back around he just had time to stare into a pair of glowing green eyes before his body could resist no longer and he fell into nothing. It was only ten minutes later that Rainbow Dash crashed down to the ground a few feet from the now deserted patch of earth. After spotting the pile of dark crystalline shards, she let out a whine of frustration and kicked one of the fragments as far as she could across the wasteland. “Aargh! Fastest pony in Equestria and I couldn’t get here in time!” She sunk to the ground and leant down towards the shimmering crystals. “I don’t know who you are, but for what it’s worth I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to die alone, I should have been faster.” She stamped a hoof. “And next time I will be faster. I swear it.” The pegasus looked up and saw an interesting sight on the earth in front of her that she hadn’t noticed before. There seemed to be a series of deep gouges in the earth, covering the occasional fine scratch. Anypony who had been watching for the last few minutes would be able to identify it for what it was, namely a scribbled message that had been hurriedly and thoroughly erased, but to Rainbow it was gibberish. She shrugged and gave the pile of fragments at her hooves one last look. “Rest in peace.” And with that, she rocketed herself back into the sky, rainbow trail fading into the distance. It was only when the trail had completely disappeared that the figure hiding out of sight in the distance started to move again. That had been a close one. It was fortunate that she had been looking up when the rainbow trail had first appeared, she would not have wanted to confront one of those meddling element bearers in the state she was in now, and it had given her just enough time to scour away what she had seen. She allowed herself a wide smirk. Out of nothing, the evening had turned out rather well. After spotting the unusual flash in the distance she had flitted over to discover firstly an unfamiliar type of pony, who hadn't lasted long in any case, but more importantly she had found a fascinating message. If it were true, and she did not doubt that it was since one of Celestia’s pawns had been sent to find it, then this information could be just the advantage she and her family needed. Even better, she did not even need to think of a plan, because she had already seen scored into the dirt exactly what she would do, and when, and that she was to be successful! The future could not have looked more perfect.