In Duty's Name

by Cloudhammer

05 - Journey into the Everfree

Chapter 5 – Journey into the Everfree

As the early morning sun shone down on the group of ponies, zebra and dragon leaving Canterlot, the sight would have almost seemed peaceful. Anypony within earshot, however, would have turned tail and galloped in the other direction at the magnitude of whining coming from the white-coated unicorn in the group.

“But why do we have to walk?! The road’s so rough; it’s going to chip a hoof. And this sun’s so bright it’ll make me sweat and ruin my mane. Surely we could have gotten a chariot to convey us back to Ponyville. Or those pegasi who brought us all this way in the first place…”

Finally, the purple unicorn traveling at the front of the group with a gold-armored pegasus turned her head and snapped irritably. “Rarity, all this complaining is driving me CRAZY!” Taking a deep breath, Twilight continued, “Look, it’s likely that Princess Celestia is keeping the chariot traffic to a minimum so that the roads can be kept clear for official use. And besides, it’s not that far a walk to Ponyville, at least we don’t have to go to Manehatten on our own four hooves.”

Cloudhammer spoke firmly without turning his head. “As for the other three pegasi who helped deliver you to Canterlot, their current and only mission is to act as Celestia’s bodyguards should she need to leave Canterlot in haste. There simply aren’t enough pegasi to act both as chauffeurs and safeguard Equestria.”

“Well, I suppose it could be worse, at least it isn’t raining…” Rarity’s whining subsided until she was only occasionally grumbling to herself about one thing or another.

Twilight sighed in relief at the re-established peace before her thoughts spun again to process all that she had seen from her brief encounter with the anti-magic field. When she had cast her sensing spell at it, she had of course seen the spell almost instantly degrade, but she had also felt some other, indescribable emotion grip her. It wasn’t quite fear, and she had felt some kind of connection to the field. The Ursa Minor incident in Ponyville? No, that wasn’t it, she had been scared, but once in the middle of casting her spells the fear had vanished. She shook her head, trying to pinpoint the memory before her eyes snapped open. It was the same feeling of near-familiarity that she’d later felt in her dream, when running up that ridge toward the glow.

Cloudhammer caught the sudden motion out of the corner of his eye, turning his head to look at Twilight with the usual stone-faced expression the Royal Guard was known for. “Something the matter Miss Sparkle?”

Twilight shook her head, “N-No, just trying to process all of this. I’ve never read anything about these anti-magic fields in either Canterlot’s library or Ponyville’s.” She hoped that he would take her word for it and leave it at that. Her hopes were shattered when his eyes narrowed.

“Miss Sparkle, you’re not the best liar. If you know anything or even merely suspect something, you need to share it with the rest of us, and more importantly tell Princess Celestia so that she’ll have all the available information at her disposal.”

Twilight’s ears flattened against her head and a slight blush rose to her cheeks in embarrassment. “Well, I had a strange dream last night. I was running across the land, passing familiar things from here in Equestria. But then the landscape changed, it was similar, but felt a bit off. Then I came to a ridge with a bright glow shining over the top. I started running up the ridge, knowing that if I could make it to the top, I’d see something important. I made it up, and was blinded by an intense light. Then I woke up. I was trying to recall what felt so weird about the anti-magic field when I cast my sensing spell at it, and realized that it had the same feel of near-familiarity as I ended up feeling in the dream.”

Cloudhammer pondered the meaning of this for a few moments, but couldn’t think of how the two were connected. “Well, I think that when we stop for the night, you need to send a letter to Celestia detailing as much as you can remember about the dream and the connection to the anti-magic field.”

Twilight nodded and turned her head forward. “Alright, let me just make a note of that.” A violet glow lit her horn as a piece of parchment and a quill levitated themselves out of her saddlebag and floated in front of her, the quill making short, efficient motions as it scratched out the beginning of a checklist.

Behind the pair, an orange farm pony and a rainbow-maned pegasus were starting to have a semi-heated argument. “Look Rainbow, this isn’t some kinda game! We gotta stay focused and keep our heads on tha job at hand!” Applejack stated firmly.

“I know, I know, but this Cloudhammer guy is such a buzzkill! What kind of pegasus wants to walk when the sky’s right there in front of their nose, practically begging them to take off?” Dash was really getting tired of the walking, and to prove her point spread her wings and pushed off the ground, quickly flying loops around the group as they continued to trot along the road.

“Tha’s not the point Rainbow, if’n we spend all our time flyin’ around showin’ off, when the time comes for us to put hoof to dirt, it ain’t gonna help if yer all tuckered out!” Truth be told, Applejack was just as bored as Rainbow, but a life spent working at Sweet Apple Acres had taught her that you can’t rush work, it’ll get done when it gets done.

Rainbow huffed and continued to soar above the group as they continued down the road. After what felt like forever to the cyan mare they were finally on the outskirts of Ponyville. Things looked normal from a distance, but as they approached it became clear that it was anything but. There were barely any ponies on the streets, and the few who were hurried for their destinations and kept their heads down. The atmosphere was tense, reminding everypony of the times they had hidden themselves from Zecora. The chattering that had been flying back and forth among the friends quieted to an uncomfortable silence as the gravity of the situation sank in.

The silence was broken by the sudden appearance of two gold-armored ponies, one a grey-coated unicorn, and hovering overhead a white pegasus who could have been a clone of Cloudhammer, and Pinkie Pie actually glanced back and forth to make sure that the captain was still beside them.

“Halt, state your reasons for traveling the roads during this time of crisis.” The pegasus barked. The group all seemed cowed by the authority in the pegasus’ voice, suddenly becoming preoccupied with the ground in front of their hooves.

Cloudhammer shook his head, took two steps forward, and bellowed in return, “SECOND LIEUTENANT SUMMER, WHEN YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER APPROACHES, YOU ARE TO SALUTE AND AWAIT ORDERS WITHOUT HESITATION. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?”

The pegasus fell out of the sky, landing flat on his stomach and scrambling to his hooves. “Sir! My apologies sir, I didn’t recognize you, and when Major Azure said…” He quickly stopped talking as Cloudhammer cut him off. The unicorn looked like he was fighting to decide whether to laugh at the pegasus’ discomfort or cringe in terror before the captain’s wrath.

“I’ll forgive the transgression for the moment. You can make it up by doing long distance flight exercises for the next week. Major Azure, I expect you to make sure he does so. Now, we’ll be leaving momentarily, have there been any appearances of the phenomenon?”

“Sir no sir, a couple false alarms, but that’s to be expected, I suppose sir.”

“Alright then, carry on Second Lieutenant,” Cloudhammer turned to the others. “Alright, we’ve dallied enough; I want to at least get partway into the Everfree Forest before night falls.” Without another word, he turned and began trotting through town towards the tree line in the distance.

The mares looked at each other for a few moments, unsure of what they ought to be doing. The silence was finally broken by Spike, who shrugged and started following the pegasus. “I dunno about you guys, but I’m not gonna stand around looking confused. I vote we keep following him.” With muttered agreement the mares and zebra all started trotting after Cloudhammer, passing the unicorn and pegasus who were still standing at attention.

Once the group had gotten out of sight, the unicorn turned to the pegasus. “I am so glad I’m not in your hooves right now.”

The pegasus snorted and turned to trot back to the town hall. “Please, you don’t know the half of it. I’ve never seen the Captain so happy. Guess finally getting to go out on deployment was what the old pony finally needed to put some spring in his wings.”

“If you say so…” The unicorn muttered as he trotted after his friend.

…

The trees at the edge of the Everfree Forest were relatively sparse, but as they made their way further in, the sun was quickly blocked out by the press of vegetation. The ponies instinctively moved closer together as the path narrowed and began to get steadily harder to follow. Cloudhammer frowned for a moment in thought, then stopped, holding up a hoof for everypony else to do the same.

“What’s wrong, Captain?” Twilight asked, not sure why the pegasus would call for a stop now.

“This formation’s not going to work; we need to change up the walking order. I’ll keep in front with you Miss Sparkle. Miss Applejack, if you’d take the back of the group, it would be appreciated. Miss Rarity and Miss Zecora will be on the left and right respectively. Miss Dash will fly overhead and keep an eye on the sun for nightfall. The rest will stay in the middle of the group. Any questions?” The way he phrased the question indicated that there better not be, and the ponies rearranged themselves into his ‘suggested’ formation, Applejack grumbling about being called Miss, and Rarity cringing at the thought of walking on the edge of the path where the likelihood of getting her hooves dirty was highest. Once things were organized to what he felt was the best he’d be able to get out of the group of untrained mares, Cloudhammer nodded and continued onward down the trail.

After walking for an indeterminate amount of time, the six mares still on the ground were beginning to show signs of exhaustion. Walking the streets of Ponyville were one thing, but having to pick one’s way through an untended forest’s undergrowth in dim lighting was another matter entirely. Spike was the first to burn out, finally climbing onto Twilight’s back and falling asleep. Twilight managed to keep going with the extra weight for a time, but soon began to trip over nearly everything in the path. After the seventh stumble, she felt a tap on her flank and turned to see Fluttershy, who inclined her head toward Spike. With a smile of gratitude, Twilight gently levitated Spike into the air and settled him comfortably onto the pegasus. Turning, she saw that Cloudhammer had moved ahead of the group, where a break in the treeline was visible. Excited at the prospect of seeing open sky again, the group hurried forward and found themselves standing on the edge of a tall cliff overlooking yet more forest below. The view was truly breathtaking, but the mares were more interested in slumping to the ground to take a break. Rainbow Dash even swooped in and joined the others, her wing muscles burning after flying for so long.

Cloudhammer looked over his shoulder at the rest of the group and sighed before turning his gaze back to examine the forest for any sign of a path. “We’ll rest here for a little while, but don’t get too comfortable, I want us to be down there by nightfall.” He pointed with a hoof at something out of sight.

Groaning at having to get up again so soon, Twilight walked up to the edge and looked down. There was a small trail cut into the hillside, which would allow a group of ponies to travel in single file down. Looking up to where Cloudhammer was pointing, she could see a small clearing that broke the tree cover, with a small creek winding along beside it. She looked up to check the position of the sun and saw that it was still high enough that they should be able to get down there, even at their admittedly slower pace. “Well, at least we’ll have someplace nice to set up camp. I remembered to bring my book on outdoor survival, so that should help at least.” She quailed a bit as Cloudhammer slowly looked her way, an expression somewhere between dismissal and disbelief on his face.

“Don’t worry Miss Sparkle, I’ve more than enough experience to handle things.” Cloudhammer finally said before turning to look out over the expanse in front of them.

“Umm… that’s another thing. You can just call me Twilight, I don’t much stand for formality. None of us do… well, except for Rarity.” She tried to add a laugh to the end, but it seemed forced even to her.

“It’s not a matter of formality Miss Sparkle, just habit.” The pegasus turned and faced the group. “Alright! Break’s over, let’s get a move on.” He waited until the others had pushed themselves back to their hooves with a series of groans and complaints. “Now, no complaining, we’ve only hiked for most of the day, and that’s without a full kit on your backs!” With that he turned and began to make his way down the cliff path.

Rarity walked up to stand beside Twilight, casting a glare towards Cloudhammer. “I’m beginning to suspect the good captain chose this path on purpose.”

Twilight stifled a giggle at the comment. “Well, I’m sure he has his reasons. Now come on, we don’t want to be hiking through the forest at night, let’s find that clearing.” She inwardly agreed with Rarity, she was certain there was another path that would have taken them to the same clearing without needing to go down the cliffside as well. She shrugged and started to pick her way down the path, the rest of the group wearily following her.

As Applejack began to start down, her ears suddenly flicked up on their own, causing the farm pony to stop and look around at the treeline behind her. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see what was causing the feeling of being watched, but couldn’t see anything. Finally, she snorted derisively and started down the path.

As she disappeared down the cliff path, the forest gradually began to quiet itself to a more normal volume of activity. About twenty feet back into the treeline, what to a casual observer would appear to be a mass of leaves and shadow stirred, eyelids sliding open to reveal gleaming yellowed orbs. Their owner paced warily out of the treeline, it’s two nearby kin joining it. They dug irritably at the ground at the path’s opening, and dearly wanted to follow the ponies down it, but it was just too narrow. With a muted snarl, they whirled about and vanished back into the woods, heading for the alternate path they knew would reunite them with their quarry.

…

The sun’s dying rays peeked through the trees and shone down into the clearing, giving the weary ponies enough light to set up camp with, spreading their respective blankets on the ground. Fortunately the weather was warm enough they didn’t need to get extra blankets, and once they finished with their beds, the mares busied themselves with making dinner while Cloudhammer paced the edge of the clearing. Finding a fallen log that lay half within the clearing, he jumped onto it and sat down.

“Um, Captain Cloudhammer?” The voice was so quiet Cloudhammer almost didn’t hear it, and upon turning, he saw it was Fluttershy, holding a small bowl with some vegetables and an apple in it. “I just wanted to give you some of the food… that is, if that’s all right with you… um…” The mare ducked behind her mane as Cloudhammer leaped off the log, landing with a thud right in front of her. Shivering a bit with her nervousness, she felt the bowl get lifted out of her hooves, and then a hoof gently placed on her shoulder. Peeking out from behind her mane, she saw Cloudhammer giving what could generously be called a lightening of the perpetual stern look he had.

“Thank you Miss Fluttershy, though you should worry more about yourself. Things aren’t going to get any easier, so you need to toughen up for your friends’ sake.” Cloudhammer then turned and climbed back on the log, taking a few bites from the bowl of food. Fluttershy smiled and trotted back over to her friends. Once he was sure she was gone, Cloudhammer’s expression returned to its usual scowl. “What in Equestria was that for? Are you going soft on me?” he muttered to himself as he continued to eat the simple salad.

Once everypony had eaten, Cloudhammer got off the log again and trotted over to them. “Alright, now that we’ve eaten, it’s time for the watch roster,” Seeing eight blank looks returning his, he sighed and shook his head. “We need somepony on watch all night. Now, we’re going to divide it into threes. I’ll take first watch since I don’t expect any of you to be able to stay up, then…” He was interrupted by a blur of motion as Rainbow Dash surged to her hooves, wings flaring a bit in challenge.

“Now just hold on a second! Where do you get off assuming that just because we’re tired, doesn’t mean one of us couldn’t do it? You know what, I’ll take first watch and prove it to ya.”

Twilight hissed, “Rainbow!” but it was already too late as the cyan pegasus trotted angrily over to the log and jumped onto it.

Cloudhammer eyed her for a moment, then seemed to make a decision. “Alright then Miss Dash, you take first watch. Wake me once the moon is a third of the way into the sky. Miss Applejack, do you think you can handle third watch?”

“Only if ya’ll don’t call me ‘Miss’ again.” She said with a snort.

Cloudhammer smiled. “Excellent, then I shall wake you when my shift ends Miss Applejack.” With that he turned and trotted to his own spot, stomping the grass down a bit before settling down on it, closing his eyes and giving his wings a few flaps to settle them for the night.

“Ah swear, he calls me ‘Miss’ one more time, I don’t care who he is, I’m gonna throw down with him.” Applejack muttered as the rest of the group settled down on their own blankets. As everypony drifted off to sleep, Rainbow sat on the log, watching the last ray of sunlight slip below the horizon and the silvered disk of the moon start its ascent.

…

Cloudhammer’s eyes flicked back and forth behind his eyelids as his sleep was once again invaded by an all too familiar dream. The same accursed replay of the fight he’d had with his son before the colt left for Cloudsdale. As usual, the dream had his perspective floating overhead as he watched himself and his son facing off in their living room in Canterlot, with his wife frantically trying to calm the situation down.

“So you’ll just spit on a thousand years of family tradition?!?” Cloudhammer shouted, anger and incredulity etched on his face.

“Look Dad, it’s my life, and you don’t have the right to tell me how I should live it!” Star Dancer shot back hotly. “I respect the Guard for what they do for Equestria, but that’s not the life I want! I enjoy working with the weather, I love being so high in the sky that the air burns with the cold and I feel like I can just reach out a hoof and touch the stars!”

“Look son, if you don’t want to serve life in the Guard like I have, I’m willing to accept that, but at least give it the 4 year minimum, I promise you that…” He was cut off by Star Dancer’s enraged shout, the fury in his son’s eyes something terrifying even to Cloudhammer.

“JUST FORGET IT, DAD! IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ME AT ALL THEN WE’RE THROUGH! I’M GOING TO CLOUDSDALE AND YOU CAN JUST CARRY ON CLINGING TO THE PAST INSTEAD OF LOOKING AROUND YOU RIGHT NOW!” With that, Star Dancer yanked open the door, denting the wall from the impact.

“FINE! IF THE FAMILY HONOR MEANS SO LITTLE TO YOU THEN JUST GO! I’D RATHER HAVE NO SON AT ALL THAN A COWARD!” Cloudhammer bellowed as the door slammed shut, followed by the sound of wingbeats fading into the distance. Morning Sun gaped at the now closed door before turning, eyes brimming with tears before she slumped to the floor. His anger forgotten for the moment, he managed to get his wife onto his back and carried her into their bedroom, laying her down gently before tugging the sheet over her. He then trotted out to the living room and lay down on the couch, already knowing that the next morning's argument was not going to be a pleasant one.

Cloudhammer suddenly jolted awake, breathing hard as he remembered where he was. Quickly looking around, he realized two things. First, that the moon was almost at the middle of the sky, and second, that Rainbow Dash was passed out asleep on the log. Cursing angrily at the pegasus’ lack of discipline, he began to trot towards her to give her the thrashing of a lifetime when he suddenly froze, his ears swiveling as he began to feel a nameless dread creeping over him. Looking around once more to try to pick out the source of the feeling, he quietly crept into the darkness surrounding the clearing, soon fading from sight entirely.

…

Applejack was dreaming too, though hers were much more pleasant, concerning a particular stallion in Ponyville she was attracted to. She was trotting through the apple trees towards a hill where she could see him standing there, silhouetted by the sun. She began to hurry her pace when a howl echoed through the trees. Slowing down in uncertainty, she had started to shrug it off when another howl tore through the trees, sounding much closer. She started violently, cracking her head against Pinkie Pie’s, as the pink earth pony had somehow rolled over until her head was near Applejack’s, drooling and muttering something about Mount Cupcake. The blow shook Applejack out of her dream immediately, but failed to even budge Pinkie. Looking around while rubbing sleep from her eyes, she noticed two things. First, Rainbow Dash was passed out asleep on the log. Second, that Cloudhammer was gone.

She started to try to wake Twilight before a third howl, accompanied by a chorus of grunts and snarls, exploded from right at the edge of the clearing as two shapes crashed out of the trees. Applejack stared blankly at the sight, her eyes not believing it right away. One of the shapes was Cloudhammer, breathing hard and kicking violently at the other form that was trying to tear his throat out. The other shape was a low-slung, canid-like creature whose body shone with a blue, starry glow. Applejack had seen only one other creature with that same glow, and that was the Ursa Minor that had attacked Ponyville a long time ago. She realized then, from her time spent first in school, and then more recently, when Twilight had lectured them on the different types of constellation beasts that lived in the Everfree Forest, that this must be a Lupus Minor, a fierce, wolf-like predator that hunted in packs and enjoyed the taste of ponies. The part about packs rang for a moment in her head and almost on cue, a second Lupus Minor leaped from the trees and joined the brawl with the first.

Applejack began to charge in, determined not to let some mongrel wolves kill him, when there was a hard crack and the first Lupus Minor flew out of the melee and into a tree, smashing its head against a branch. The beast fell to the ground and lay there unmoving, a thin trickle of blood running out of its nose. The farm pony stopped cold at this, before a sudden quiet drew her attention back to the fight. Cloudhammer had managed to buck the other one off of him, but had apparently expended most of his energy on the first. Applejack realized with another surge of fear that he hadn’t gotten through the fight unscathed. A gash bled profusely across his chest, and the straps holding his helmet onto his head were torn. One of his wings was folded tightly across his side, and streaks of blood could be seen turning the white feathers black. As the captain and the Lupus circled each other, each looking for a weakness in the other, Applejack realized that she’d only get in his way, and turned to gallop back to Twilight and start shaking her awake.

With a groan of protest, Twilight opened her eyes, peering blearily into her friend’s fear-filled eyes. That more than the shaking served to bring her to full wakefulness. “Applejack, what’s going on?” She was prevented from saying anything else by Applejack’s hoof pressed against her mouth. The farm pony nodded towards where Cloudhammer and the Lupus continued to circle each other. Twilight tried to shriek in terror, which only came out as a muffled squeak, but that was still loud enough. Cloudhammer’s attention twitched towards them for a split second, and the Lupus took advantage of it to lunge. As the captain went down under the beast, Twilight leaped to her hooves, heart in her throat as her mind played out what was sure to happen. A tearing of flesh, a spray of red and then the Lupus would come for her. Her nightmarish train of thought was broken by a sound completely out of place, yet sickeningly appropriate. A grim, deep throated laugh came from Cloudhammer’s mouth as he rolled forward into the wolf, slamming the curve of sharpened metal into its neck. The Lupus yelped sharply in pain, before it degraded into a bubbling gurgle as it sank to the ground, dragging the captain down with it. Tugging, Cloudhammer’s head came free, the helmet staying lodged where it had impacted.

Twilight and Applejack just stared, both ponies having never truly faced violence like this before. Twilight felt like she was going to be sick, but Applejack beat her to it, staggering a few feet away before retching. Cloudhammer turned, his head coated in a reddish color almost black under the moonlight, looking completely at odds with the usual stern-faced ponies Twilight was used to seeing. His eyes shone with a barely contained rage, and he was starting to shake, though from what Twilight couldn’t tell. He blinked furiously for a few seconds before he realized she was standing there staring at him, and trotted towards her. Twilight started to run towards him to make sure he was alright when time abruptly slowed down. Looking over his shoulder, she could see the third Lupus, in a full charge, starting to leap into the air to land square on Cloudhammer’s back. He saw her eyes widen, started to turn and leap to the side, but it came too late as the beast’s claws raked down, missing his wing by a hair but leaving four deep slashes across his right front leg which erupted in a spray of blood. Cloudhammer yelled in pain as he forced himself to finish the leap, while Twilight’s horn blazed with enough light to turn the night to day. Filled with both rage and a fear unlike anything she’d felt before, she hit the Lupus with a bolt of force that struck it square in the chest with a heavy thud, sending it arcing into the night sky to crash down amongst the trees almost a mile away. A few minutes later, a pained howl could be heard, but nothing came back toward the clearing. Standing there, legs trembling as the rush of power finally left her, Twilight almost fell, but felt the press of two warm bodies on either side of her. Looking, she saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash helping to hold her up. Smiling shakily at them, she suddenly gasped in a panic as she turned her gaze back to the captain, who was still miraculously on his hooves, though limping badly on his injured leg.

“Are you alright, Miss Sparkle, Miss Applejack? I’m fine, will just need to walk this off for a few days.” Cloudhammer tried to laugh, but instead spit blood. Looking up, he could see Twilight and the others all saying something, but the sounds didn’t make sense to him. They seemed to swirl around his brain and chased him down into the darkness as he collapsed.

Comments

[Cloudhammer]

Sorry for the double publish, realized that for some reason my space formatting was gone, so wanted to fix that first haha. This chapter's still undergoing some revision, but i think it's pretty much done. Many thanks go to Buckshot for his help with proofreading despite working on Far From the Tree (totally recommend reading it btw)

[Rust]

This chapter... It's so SHINY!
Good work, mate!

[Nathan Traveler]

Nice job dude. There's nothing like ending on a slight cliff-hanger.

[Mänic]

excellent, excellent, make sure to keep up that watch at night and keep a look out because you're being tracked

[Mathias]

Great chapter! I really like cloudhammer he can take on anything!

[Rainbow Sparkle]

Well, this was a good chapter. Quite enjoyable, I especially found Cloudhammers dream illuminating. I sense a berating for Rainbow Dash coming in the future, although I'm not going to put all the blame on Rainbow Dash. Her friends know her well enough, they should have butted in and said that she'd be asleep within five minutes.

Which reminds me, I think the reason Rainbow Dash sleeps all the time is because she has two problems. Her first problem is that she can't stand sitting still, she has to be moving and doing something, and combined with her impatience makes her desire to do anything as fast as possible. Which puts a lot of strain on her body, causing her to tire out quickly. The second problem is that she gets bored really easily. When there's nothing to do, she becomes restless, and if she can't find something to do she sleeps to make the time go by faster.

It easily explains how Rainbow Dash was found sleeping by Cloudhammer. The trip from Canterlot to their camp site took its toll on Rainbow Dash, and combined with the boredom that is standing watch it was inevitable that she'd fall asleep on the job.

However, one thing's for sure. The simple fact that if it weren't for Cloudhammer, herself and her friends could have been mauled and eaten will be more than enough to ensure that she doesn't fall asleep on the job again.

However, I have but one question, which I'm sure will be answered in the next chapter, but I'll ask anyways.

What happened to Zecora?

[damnaion]

dam i love it