CSR Brush Pony

by shysage

Chapter 8, Going In

Fluttershy again, sorry... I hope that is ok.

Surrounded by 40 or more huge Black Panthers, Brush Ponies Princess Arianna, Prince Ma-gane, along with Summer, Shysage and I, we slept out in the field, right there, just like that.

The next morning, when us Equestria ponies woke up, the Brush Ponies and Panthers were already awake and alert. Princess Arianna said quietly "Lady Grace said... Cougars know we... here. Know we... coming. Say we... food."

Summer answered quietly. "We won't die. They will." Then she hugged Princess Arianna. "Friend" Summer said quietly, and they cried together briefly.

And I also noticed that the Panthers around us, there were more. Well, we still had no clue how many Cougars we would face. I think the Brush Ponies had some inkling though.

And I guess, something else needed to be taken care of before we started. I was pretty sure it was Lady Grace that left the circle, and walked maybe 50 feet farther to the West, then stopped, and turned to face us. None of the other panthers moved. But I did feel...

Lady Grace clearly called another Panther out from the circle with a mewing voice, and that Panther slowly walked out to Lady Grace, then turned around and sat. Lady Grace said something to Princess Arianna, then Lady Grace returned to the circle. I could tell that Princess Arianna simply didn't know how to explain what she had heard. But I guess...

Summer got up quickly, and looked at the other Panther, now standing by herself some 50 feet away. The lone Panther put her head slightly up, eyes closed, and cried... Summer walked slowly out, then ran quickly... Panther and Pony were hugging, crying...

Princess Arianna said quietly to me "That Rosa... Dream... Rose... be... Rosa's... foal..." That made me cry, too... On our trip to future Equestia, Summer befriended Rose, a fighter of a Panther... Summer and that Panther fought together, side by side... While Summer was the Phantom Alicorn, Rose seemed to instantly know what Summer wanted, needed, and did that... Rose ultimately gave her life fighting Phantasma with Summer, fighting for Equestria. I know Rose's death really hurt Summer. But now, Summer and Rose's mom were crying together, hugging together... A while later, Summer walked back to the circle, and up to us; me, Shysage... Rosa followed her. Summer expected that. That was just the way it would be. She and Shysage fussed over Rosa briefly, then Summer said quietly to Princess Arianna "Ready to go..."

With a large group of Panthers around us, we made our way West again, towards the Brush Pony tribe. We walked straight now; there was really no need for detours or stealth. No Cougar would dare try anything dumb. Over the course of the day, I somehow ended up with a Panther friend too. Princess Arianna told me it was Rosa's sister; her name was 'Morning' if I heard right. That made our trip even more enjoyable. And it must have looked strange, three ponies walking with two Panthers in between us. Those Panthers were bigger than us!

On the way, Lady Grace mewed something to Princess Arianna, and she tried to explain to us. It came slowly out like this. "Panthers... little help... so many Cougars..." Well, ok then. This meant that the Panthers were just protecting us until we could rescue the Brush Ponies. I realized too that, should we fail, our Panther friends would probably all die too.

I mentioned that to Summer. She smiled, then said resolutely "We are not going to fail..." then "Isn't that right precious Rosa?" Rosa mewed back in agreement, and I really felt that Summer wished she was a people so she could use her hands to stroke, to itch Rosa's head. Rosa didn't seem to mind anyway.

We walked most of that day, to the West, towards the Brush Pony tribe. We walked at a fairly brisk pace. This was complicated by the fact it seemed like we were walking up a slow but continual hill. I couldn't see any huge mointain off in the distance. It didn't make much difference. We were following. We were guests here. Hopefully, we wouldn't be food.

That evening was like our last one; we slept under the stars surrounded by many Panthers. I realized that a few of them stayed awake, and were probably keeping watch. I also heard a new sound occasionally, out in the meadow, in the grass, the brush far away from us. Princess Arianna said quietly "Cougars... gathering..." We managed to sleep though.

The next morning, I think we all felt some urgency, and we started our walk early, as the Sun had just barely cleared the small trees off in the East. After walking for maybe 20 minutes, Lady Grace mewed quietly to Princess Arianna, and she explained. "Many Cougars following now..." She didn't really need to say anything more. We would bring the Brush Ponies out, or we would all be food.

And I guess we were already very close. After maybe two hours of walking, we started down some form of ramp, I think. It was maybe 100 feet wide, but a long down-hill stretch. Cliffs rose higher and higher on either side of the ramp as we continued walking, down the ramp. It was easy to see that the cliffs were cluttered with Cougars. They were making a strange noise. Lady Grace mewed to Princess Arianna, and she explained. "Cougars all laugh, say 'Food... Food... Food...' " Well their sound even sounded mean... it felt mean...

We kept walking. We were most of the way to the bottom of the ramp when Shysage gasped. He said quietly to Summer "This place... It is a natural depression surrounded by cliffs. I think we just came down the only entrance... If the Brush Ponies are in here, they are trapped... The Cougars are just farming them for food, killing Brush Ponies when they are hungry..."

Well, I'm not sure how... Ma-gane said quietly, but clearly grimly "Yess..."

Still, Shysage turned around and looked. "We will need to bring the Brush-- " He stopped right there. "Summer, the entire ramp that we just came down... It is full of Cougars..."

My sis turned to look, then answered quietly "Fighting them on that ramp will be a lot easier..." I guessed we would see. This really didn't look good even to me. And the Panthers were right; their number was a mere handful compared to the thousands of Cougars, on the ramp, lining the cliffs nearby... Their laughter was loud, and now echoed down the ramp...

As the ramp continued down at a slower angle, the cliff along the sides faced away, to the right, to the left. We were in what Shysage called the natural depression. Shysage was watching the Cougars. "Summer, they all stopped at the base of the ramp. I think they will wait for us to try to pass through."

Princess Arianna said quietly "Coun... Counsel time now..." Princess Arianna and Prince Ma-gane were leading us down to the center, which was the lowest spot. That made sense. It was likely that Princess Arianna would call together all the Brush Ponies, and gather them for our departure. I hoped this might be over soon. Even with Summer here, the odds seemed rather high.

Maybe a third of the way to the center, Lady Grace mewed something, and the Panthers all moved aside and let us pass. Then they just formed a big group behind us, and stood still, probably standing their ground if they needed to. Our Panther friends would go no further. Rosa and her sister did not come with us either. The Panthers had risked, were risking their lives to get us to the Brush Ponies safely. That task was complete. Now, they were depending on us to rescue them as well.

We were friends of the Brush Ponies. We were the Panther's friends too. We would... Summer would rescue everypony, or we would all die trying.

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