They knew what their mission was: survey and report, which they have been doing for the past five hours. Definitely one of the most boring task a member of the royal guard could ever think about.
Highwind looked at her colleague, groaning audibly. ‘I can’t believe she did that to me!’ she thought, glaring daggers at her counterpart. ‘To think she had volunteered for that!’
The other pony had a very singular appearance: unlike herself, Nightshade was a thestral, the wings on her sides were membranous. Several elongated digits maintained the tension of the appendage, the look of which bore significant resemblance to the shape of a bat’s, though she hated it when other ponies told her that.
Her coat was a dark grey hue whereas her mane and tail were a light mauve; the contrast accentuated by the dark blue color of her wings. The most surprising detail would be her slit eyes, which were a bright pink.
Those eyes were actually the main reason why she had been assigned on day shifts, as her eyes looked like two enormous pink orbs in pure darkness. At first her parents were crestfallen: a thestral that was assigned to day shift was humiliating, the tradition anchored in the family since several generations.
Fortunately, thanks to her brilliant reflexes and quick thinking, Highwind soon proved to be the most proficient recruit in the day guard.
“Can you remind me again why you decided to take this mission, and to include me in it? And, for Celestia’s sake, why did you choose a surveillance mission out of all of them!?” Highwind asked her traitorous partner, feeling her light blue feathers rustle from the anger.
Her friend merely ‘tsked’ at her outburst.
“Come on, Wind!” she said, flailing her legs in exasperation. “We are guards. We stay at the castle all the time! This time, we have an opportunity to leave the golden prison for five hours, and you just complain?” she pouted, her nose scrunching up in the process.
“But that’s what we are, Nightshade. We are guards! It’s our job to stay and keep everypony safe. Exploring and surveilling are recon teams’ jobs!”
“And what better way to ensure their safety than to go and explore what could have caused the magical disturbance in this bucking forest!” Nightshade replied, putting her left leg around Higwind’s neck, while slowly gesticulating with her right to the vast landscape in front of them.
“Look at this.”
“The forest?” Wind asked, unamused by Shade’s shenanigans.
“Can’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?!” Highwind pressed.
“Adventure….” Shade said mystically. Her friend sighed; she didn’t know how she managed to go that far with that erratic behavior of hers.
On the bright side they might end up killed by some monster and be spared the humiliation of explaining to their superiors why they suddenly traded guard duty for exploration missions.
“Okay, five more minutes and after that we’re done! Understood?” Her colleague happily nodded, satisfied with her partial victory. “I want to be back for dine-”
A bright flash of light interrupted her. Looking for the offending ray, she spotted a small clearing in which sat a small building. She turned to the ‘luckiest’ pony in the world who ‘eeeed’ in glee before diving straight for the newly acquired target. They arrived a few meters away from the cubic habitation, under the cover of the canopy. Eying the place anxiously, Highwind almost failed to notice her partner galloping towards the clearing.
Before her thestral counterpart could put both of them in danger, Highwind pulled Nightshade back by grasping her armor, making both of them fall back in the bushes circling the strange concrete house.
“What are you doing?!” Highwind whispered angrily to her companion, who just shrugged indifferently at her.
“It’s a house. Whatever inhabits it must at least have some common sense and be at least civilized.”
“What if he’s hostile?” Highwind added, her stress and annoyance subsiding to caution. Nightshade seemed to think for half a second, before smiling sheepishly.
“A...risk to take?” She said tentatively. Highwind facehoofed.
“How about seeing if whatever’s inside is threatening or not by approaching stealthily,” The pegasus emphasized the last part. Her friend nodded, and both of them begun to walk towards the cubic house.
They clung on the shadows, avoiding the small enlightened patches of grass, every movement carefully executed, silent hooves hitting the ground as the ponies progressed through the clearing.
‘That’s not good’, Wind thought, ‘there’s no hiding spot past this point. As soon as we enter the clearing, our cover will be blown.’ She turned to her still smiling colleague. The two shared a glance, and knew what they had to do. As soon as they stepped out of the forest, they ran as fast as they could towards the building, avoiding the windows.
In a fraction of seconds, they arrived at the massive door. The wooden surface was at least two times their size. Whatever lived inside must have been freakishly tall! Highwind looked pensively at the oddity. Why would an intelligent creature live in the middle of the Everfree forest, the most dangerous part of it all?
Turning to her friend, she saw her looking around fearfully, her eyes darting from point to point, a shadow falling over her features.
“Night?” she asked, “something wrong?” Nightshade turned her head towards a nearby bush, her pointed ears twitching at sounds only her’s could hear.
In addition to their incredible eyesight and night vision, the ears of the nightly ponies had a tuft of fur on the top, composed of extremely sensitive hair cells, similar to the stereocilia contained in a normal pony’s inner ear. Thanks to this extra fur, thestral had a hearing sense nearly three times better than a common equine.
While this ability was world widely recognised as the ‘thestralian stereo-amplification’, Highwind preferred to call it ‘the floof’. A term which Nightshade hated profusely.
This fluff was currently vibrating on Nightshade’s ears, causing her ears to perk up high, its owner’s muzzle scrunching up in concentration. Highwind couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight in front of her, the bat-pony looking more like a lost puppy at the moment. The glare her partner shot her was enough to sober the pony up.
“Something is coming,”Nightshade said, tensing up as her ears vibrated intensely. She briefly looked at the rooftop, Highwind following her gaze. “Quick!” Both of them flew over the roof, using the small protrusion of cement as an improvised cover. They did it just in time as the rustling of bushes and other foliage could soon be clearly heard from the southern edge of the clearing.
The guards cautiously raised their heads to gauge the potential threat, frantically scanning the field below. At first, nothing seemed to stand out. The only things in the clearing beside themselves were the trees surrounding it.
Casting a look at her friend, Highwind noticed the thestral’s eyes were entirely focused on one point of the landscape below them. Following her gaze to a cluster of small trees, she saw the vegetation shift a bit as if moved by the wind.
They didn’t have to wait long. The movements of the plants around the area intensified, soon accompanied by guttural sounds. The growling was joined by others noises as more bushes were set in motion, glowing spots appearing underneath them.
Blood drained from their faces as the creatures emerged from their temporary hideouts, twisted horns and claws joining together to create the perfect abomination, the elk-like monsters gnarling at each other, foam dripping from their bloody jaws.
Both equines dropped behind the cement protrusion, holding their breaths as the wendigos slowly progressed towards their location, sniffing and snarling.
After a few terrifying minutes, the creatures retreated back into the forest, their howls fading in the distance. The ponies stayed unmoving even after the last growl subsided in the depth of the woods.
“What...the hay...was that?!” Nightshade panted, her breath still short. “They were....”
“Wendigo…” Highwind whispered, her widened eyes staring into space, her jaw quivering slightly.
“What? Windigos? They didn’t look like angry wind spirits to me,” her partner observed. To which the other pegasus shook her head.
“No. Wendigos. Horrible creatures twisted by the influence of the nightmare, turned into hungry wraiths.” Upon seeing the incredulous look on her friend’s face, she sighed.
“Second year of guard training, creatures of the second era?” she pressed. Nightshade looked pensive for a second before shrugging sheepishly at her. Highwind sighed.
“That’s why I didn’t want to go there. Do you at least remember how the Everfree is segmented?” she asked. Not waiting for Nightshade to try -and fail- to recollect knowledge she should know as a royal guard, she continued.
“There are three types of areas, recognised by their threat level. This level can be established through the danger of the environment, the flora-”
“Please!” the thestral implored, clutching her pointy ears with her hooves, “Cut to the chase! I haven’t skipped through these classes only to hear you now!” Highwind huffed in annoyance.
“Basically, we are near the most dangerous part of the everfree forest, near the old castle. Where the nightmare’s influence is the strongest.” She looked angrily at her oblivious colleague.
“Do you get now why I didn’t want to come here? This place is a giant deathtrap! No sane creature would come and live here with those things around!” Highwind said, then looked expectantly at Nightshade.
“.......Sorry?” she asked. Highwind sighed, knowing this would probably be the best she could hope to get from her partner.
“Hugh...No matter. We inspect the house, look for something, and go away as quickly as possible. Roger that?” Nightshade straightened her posture and gave a mock salute.
“Yes ma’am!”
The ponies flew down from their perch, and came back in front of the door they had previously been looking at. They stared at the wooden barrier that separated them from whoever lived inside.
Highwind thought about the kind of creature that would inhabit such a place. It would certainly be quite tall, considering the size of the door. The house itself indicated that the being living inside had at least basic knowledge about comfort. Hopefully, it would be intelligent enough to welcome them. Then again, what kind of intelligent creature could tolerate living around monsters in such a dangerous area? Even if it was intelligent, nothing proved it wouldn’t attack them on sight, or try to eat them.
Highwind shook her head. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that they were at a lethal disadvantage. None of them knew the internal layout of the house, or even how many the creatures were. For all they knew, there was a whole nest of them that could have seen them earlier and were waiting inside to ambush them.
A ray of light reflected on one of the house’s windows attracted her attention on the steadily lowering sun. Night would soon come, and with it, the predators. If the forest was dangerous to venture into during daytime, staying there by night was downright suicidal. The best they could do right now was to report their findings back to Canterlot and maybe go with a much bigger squad.
Highwind was about to convey those thoughts to her friend when the sound of detonations broke the silence of the forest. She looked at her partner, who nodded, and both of them flew above the thick canopy, scanning the treetops for anything out of the ordinary.
Soon enough, smoke rose roughly two kilometers from their location. Highwind grunted in frustration. It came from deeper in the forest. It couldn't have come from a less dangerous zone, no! It had to be from the most dangerous part of the forest, total uncharted territory.
She looked at her now giddy thestral friend, who was now positively vibrating in the air. She looked at Highwind, her puppy eyes pleading for the possibly deadly treat.
Highwind shrugged. They were already going to lose their job, so why not put even more oil on the fire? She nodded to her partner.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!” Nightshade screamed, before rocketing towards her goal. Highwind looked at the flying dot disappearing in the horizon at incredible speeds.
“That thestral’s gonna be the death of me.”
Upon arriving where the smoke originated from earlier, the ponies found an abandoned settlement where only small embers remained of the previous, and most likely big fire, considering the size of the burns on the ground.
The stench of burnt flesh and hair was filling the air, making both guards jump back from the sudden change in the air. Nightshade looked closer to the ashes, noticing several alien objects lying inside.
To their horror, small bones and decrepit carcasses could be found in it, their origins unknown due to the advanced state of calcination of the remains.
“Wha...What could have done that?” Highwind whispered to her partner. Upon receiving no proper answer, she turned towards her unresponsive friend, which was in the process of releasing the contents of her morning meal on the ground next to her.
“Sight too gruesome for you to handle?” Highwind teased her still greenish comrade.
“No... it’s...urgh...the smell...can we please get out of here? I’m positively dying right now.” she said with yet another dry heave. Highwind nodded. She was about to take off when a hoof raise from her partner stopped her.
“Look” Nightshade pointed at the ground. “Imprints.” Indeed, large markings on the ground indicated a creature, bipedal from the distance between the steps, was standing around the area.
“They seem to be going away from here, and heading towards the north,” Highwind remarked. The imprints were strange. They had grid-like markings inside them, as if the beast walked with special hoof shoes. Could this creature be the same one that inhabits the house they saw earlier? If it was, then the question of the creature’s diet was answered.
She didn’t like that. If this creature was the same that lived in the house they saw, it meant it was sapient, and carnivorous. Even more, if the beast headed further north, it would at some point come upon one of the limitrophe villages.
“We need to follow the prints.” Highwind decided, her partner grimly nodding. They galloped into the forest, dearly hoping that whatever monstrosity the nightmare had created this time wasn't going on rampage on some unsuspecting pony.
“Aaaaaaand….done!” I said as I put the last poison joke in my chest pocket, having now a total of six flowers of doom at my disposal. I was lucky enough to have found another bush of them a few minutes after leaving the ‘village’ and was now ready to resume my journey to the next pony settlement.
The forest seemed to become less dense as I walked. Hopefully, the trees would continue on being sparser, which would mean I was getting close to exiting the damn forest.
I drank a bit of water from my now half empty bottle. I Still had another full one, so I had no worries on that peculiar ressource at least. Food, however, would become a problem if I wasn’t able to clear the remaining distance today.
Weirdly, I hadn’t encountered any monsters since escaping from the zombies earlier. Maybe they didn’t venture past a certain point, and I unknowingly walked past it. I certainly hoped so.
As he walked on, he failed to see two pony-shaped shadows following him, going from bushes to bushes to stay out of sight.
“Have you seen that!” Nightshade asked her feathered partner excitedly, pointing at the bipedal oddity which was currently trying to uproot a feral carrot from the ground, only to fall on his rear when only the leaves came off.
“Yes,” Highwind whispered back, “what should we do about it? Do you have any idea concerning the approach we should adopt towards this creature?” She looked expectantly at her colleague, only to find her staring intensely at the monster.
“No. But it’s cute,” Nightshade said, chuckling as the thing tried to peel the leaves off of its face, only managing to messing them up in its hair, grumbling loudly as it did so. Highwind exhaled irritatedly.
“We are facing an unknown creature that might represent a major threat to ponykind, and the only thing you’re capable of is to make a remark on its general appearance?”
“Um...Yes?”
“You were not supposed to answer that question!” the pegasus screamed, her forelegs raised in exasperation, to which her partner only stuck her tongue. Highwind sighed. Why did her superior assign this thestral to her? No matter, they had a mission, and she was going to make sure they would accomplish it. Talking about that…
“Don’t you find it weird that we can’t hear the monster anymore?” Nightshade asked, looking around, anxiety building as the creature appeared nowhere in their line of sight.
“Where did he g-” Highwind started, only to be interrupted by the cold contact of sharp metal against her neck. Slowly looking up the triangular shape, she saw the bolt was in fact part of a much bigger contraption, the device itself being held by the gigantic bipedal ape they had caught sight of earlier.
“If I were you” the being said,-much to the ponies’ surprise- “I would be extremely wary of my next move.”
I had the strange feeling someone, or something was watching me. The fact that I wasn't that far from the undead village wasn’t reassuring. Every once in awhile, I would hear some shuffling behind me. Then, alarmed, I would look back, only to find stillness and utter silence.
I didn’t like that. I already had a close encounter with one of the local predators, and certainly wasn’t eager to tempt fate once again. This time, I would not have a house to save me from the American Indian abomination.
I walked a bit faster, and suddenly stopped, ears ready to pick up any extra ordinary sounds coming from behind. Upon hearing nothing, I decided this was probably nothing, and began walking again further north.
After five more minutes of walking, I discovered a small patch of what seemed to be carrot plants, judging from the leaves. I crouched near them and tried to uproot them. Emphasis on ‘tried’. The first one came loose quite easily, revealing a small pale carrot, much too small to make a decent vitamin source. I put it in my bag anyway. Better that than nothing. The second one however, snapped around the base of the plant, causing me to tumble backwards, some of the leaves and a mouthful of dirt ending up on my face in the process.
Grumbling as I removed the offending vegetal scraps off of me, I heard a strange sound coming from behind. It wasn’t the shuffling noise I heard earlier. This one sounded like...hushed voices? I stood still, trying to locate the origin of the sounds, moving slowly as to not alert whatever followed me from my intentions.
As I progressed, the voices and their location became clearer. I could now distinctly hear to persons talking in the bush not three meters away from me. I squinted my eyes at the suspicious plant, to see two equines crouching under it. These one seemed at least to wear some kind of armor, reminding me of the one the royal guards wore in the show.
I shook my head. This forest already proved to be tricky. This time, I would be the one making the first move! I loaded my crossbow, the sound alerting the ponies. Too late though: The bolt was already pointed at the nearest equine’s throat, ready to be fired.
“If I were you” I began threateningly, “I would be extremely wary of my next move.” I addressed the ponies, as I made a small motion with my weapon towards the open. The midget horses caught on the hint, slowly stepping out of the bush. The first one - the one my bolt was currently aiming at - seemed to be a blue pegasus. Male, if the muscular frame was anything to go by. The second one was a color tweaked thestral, a female this time.
“Okay, first things first. Who are you?” I asked the ponies, alternatively pointing the crossbow at each of them. For an instant, no one dared to answer. The silence was interrupted by the low growl the blue stallion emitted.
“We are royal guard, the elite of Equestria’s force, and servant of the crown!” The pony announced proudly, in a very disturbing girly tone. “We are the ones who deal with the creatures that threatens the safety of Equestria,” he announced, looking pointedly at me while he did so.
I was about to give them a piece of my mind concerning the poorly disguised threat when I saw the bat pony looking at me strangely. Seeing my attention directed at her comrade, the blue pegasus turned too.
What are you do- She asked, only to have her friend stuff a hoof in her muzzle, effectively stopping her.
“Shhh. Stay perfectly still,” upon seeing her colleague incredulous and slightly angry gaze, she continued, “It’s a zoidberg! His vision is based on movement. If we don’t move, it can’t see us.”
“A what?” both me and the blue pegasus asked.
“A zoidberg! I read it in a book. They are bipedal creatures that hunt ponies and live in cubical white houses!” she explained while gesticulating towards me despite her previous indications.
“You know I can-”
“Where did you read that? One of those sci-fi magazines?” her partner asked her knowingly, to which her friend didn’t answer. Instead, she looked around and, seeing a suitable branch, picked it up with her muzzle before waving it in front of me.
“Umh...I’m not...It’s not…” I was at a complete loss of word when in front of that level of naïvety, and/or stupidity. Was she really a guard? If that was true, then no wonder the main six always fend for themselves. These ponies were clueless!
“It doesn't work,” I told the determined bat pony, whose ears suddenly perked when she saw me addressing directly at her.
“R-really?”
“Yep.”
“Not even a tiny little bit?” she asked hopeful, a cute pout on her face. I shook my head, causing the pointy ears to drop as she faced the ground. Aww, it was sad to see her that way-wait a minute!
“Hey, i’m the one asking questions here!” I exclaimed, brandishing my crossbow once more towards the group.
“Okay, okay!” The blue stallion said, definitely not wanting to have a bolt going through his skull. “What do you want to know?” he asked, ears low.
I thought about several question, however, one seemed to stand out more than the others.
“Where are we right now?” I asked the group.
“W-well, right here and now, you are in the middle of the Everfree forest. It is one of the most dangerous places of Equestria, if you have not already seen by yourself.” the bat pony said, unknowingly answering another question of mine.
“So, you’re royal guards huh?” I asked, looking at them curiously, eying the less than convincing armor. If the unprofessional behavior was anything to go by, this was the definite proof that guards were not formed for battle: the main part of the armor covered the back and half of the belly region of the ponies. The other part was a helmet, which again was only covering the back of the head, leaving the whole facial region open for any blow that would no doubt prove deadly if aimed correctly. The whole armor didn’t seem very thick either way, maybe less than half a centimeter.
“Yep, that right!” the same greyish pony answered proudly, showing off her less than impressive armor.
“What are two guards doing outside of Canterlot then?” I asked, feeling my eyebrows rise as I realised the situation. “Shouldn’t you be guarding, like guards are supposed to?” I heard the blue pegasus sigh. When I turned and looked at him quizzically, he just shook her head.
“That’s what I’ve been saying to her from the very beginning!” he looked angrily at her partner, who just giggled at his expense. “This thestral here,” he started-giving me more information on the nature of the ‘bat ponies’-“Wanted to live an adventure,” he said, every word heavily dripping with sarcasm.
I couldn’t believe how easily these ponies were giving information. In a few minutes, I had learned about the guards, how they worked, the different types of barracks at canterlot and the varying settlements around the Everfree. I couldn’t even fathom how these ponies had not been taken advantage of yet.
Trust is not something I could give so easily, even more after the events of Sunny Town, but these two guards had a very different comportement than the ones who inhabited the place. They were also representing my only chance at finding a way out of this forest.
I sighed. This was something I was doing a lot lately. I looked at the two quadrupeds in front of me. It’s not like I had many options. I lowered the weapon, and crouched to be at their level.
“Listen. I’m sorry I doubted you,” I paused “...and that I aimed my crossbow at you too. It’s just... I made a few very unpleasant encounters in the forest, and this just seemed too good to be true.” I extended a hand a bowed my hand slightly.
“I know you don’t trust me one bit. I am the one to blame for that.” I looked around. “If you came here, you probably know a way out of here, right?” Both nodded. “ I want to get out of this bloody forest. If I do it on my own, it’ll probably take days for me to figure it out, and probably get eaten by some monsters on the way.”
“Could you please help me out of here?” I asked the group of equines. I let the question hang as the guards looked at each other, casting unsure gazes my way from time to time. They finally settled on a common ground as they nodded again, coming on my sides, effectively flaking me. The blue pony spoke first.
“As guards, it is our duty to help creatures in need when our knowledge and capacity allow it,”
“However, you pointed a weapon at two members of the royal guard and out loud threatened to harm us willingingly,” they started trotting, albeit slowly so I could match their pace. “We will lead you to the nearest village, Ponyville.” I was about to voice my thanks when the same blue pony stopped me.
“However! You will be judged for the facts we just told you. Of course, due to the attenuating circumstances you talked about earlier, it will probably result in one or two days in custody, so don’t fret too much over it,” he said sympathetically.
“Thank you, sir. I appreciate what you’re doing for me,” I said to the blue stallion, who, for some reason, seemed flustered by my comment.
“H-hey! I’m a mare, you jerk!” he—I guess she—suddenly screamed at me. Surprised, I looked closely. Indeed, even though the pony was quite muscular and stallion-like in appearance, small details like the slender frame her thestral companion shared seemed to indicate that the being in front of me was not a ‘he’ but a ‘she’.
The other guard appeared to find the mistake hilarious, as she soon fell over with her body shaking from laughter. Seeing her companion turning a deeper shade of pink and the anger quite noticeable now on her features, I quickly proceeded to apologise to the offended ‘mare.’
After a few huffs from the blue mare, and a good couple of chuckles from her partner, we started heading north west.
…..I forgot to call my parents.