Kozak walked along the dirt path, the moonlight beginning to shine through the forest canopy as it became less dense. Alongside him were nine ponies; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom. They all trotted and walked along in silence, the only audible noise being their steps and the ambiance from the forest around them.
The purple unicorn had suggested that Kozak come with them to their town, clearly due to her curiosity towards him. The three known as the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ were ecstatic about the idea, whereas the other five reluctantly agreed, making their way back to ‘Ponyville’.
The girls had decided to introduce themselves to Kozak a little while ago, and the silence surrounding them had lasted since then. Kozak was clearly not in the mood for talking, and each pony had noticed this.
“So...” Twilight spoke up, breaking the awkward silence “Care to tell us a bit about yourself?”
“No.” Kozak answered simply, hoping that would be the end of it. Although he had no such luck.
“Why not?” Twilight pushed, moving closer towards Kozak in a subtle attempt to make him feel as though he had to answer.
“Because I don’t feel like it.” Kozak said sternly, moving away from Twilight and returning the gap between them to it’s original distance, which seemed to discourage the purple unicorn for now. About another minute of complete silence passed before the most courageous of the group decided to speak up.
“So... um...” Fluttershy spoke up, surprising the rest of the group “Do you have any family?” she asked. Kozak stared at her for a second, his face going blank under his mask as he began reminiscing about his family. His eyes betrayed his true feelings for a brief moment, which, lucky for Kozak, went unseen under his sunglasses.
“Oh, okay...” Fluttershy spoke with comforting tone in her voice, as if she had somehow seen through his eyewear. Kozak took note of this, guessing she was one of the more perceptive ones in this group of ponies trotting beside him.
“What was that about?” Twilight asked Fluttershy.
“Oh, nothing.” she replied, turning to Kozak and giving him a wink which went unnoticed by the other eight ponies. Kozak breathed an inaudible sigh of relief, and decided that the somewhat timid yellow pegasus was worthy of his trust.
“Y’know, now that I get a good look at ya, I guess you look pretty cool.” Rainbow Dash said, clearly trying to smother the tone of excitement in her voice. Kozak gave no reply, which made the rainbow pegasus visibly frustrated.
“So, is that your skin or something?” she added, hoping to get a response.
“No.” Kozak replied coldly, hoping to deter her, unlike he had the purple unicorn.
“Really?” Rarity interjected “So you’re saying those are clothes?” her voice carried a fair bit of excitement with it “Oh, it looks so stylish! Everything matches! The ‘all black’ look definitely suits you!” She squealed, her fashionesque side taking hold of her.
“That’s very intriguing.” Twilight mused to no one in particular “Did you make them yourself?” she asked, her voice holding as much excitement as Rarity’s. Kozak had now grown tired of the ponies’ constant question asking, and increased his walking speed to get a fair bit ahead of the group, even though he had no idea where he was supposed to be going.
They’re more annoying than Thirty after he’s had too much to drink... Kozak thought, when he suddenly remembered his team. He wondered how they were fairing without him, and whether or not they were completely aware of his disappearance yet.
Kozak’s pace slowed as he looked at the ground dejectedly, bowing his head as he felt sadness for the first time in a long time. The others noticed this, all of them wondering what could have crossed his mind to make him like this.
The journey back to Ponyville felt longer than it actually was for everypony, including the being known as John from the Everfree Forest. They had been walking for thirty minutes, but it had felt like hours since nopony had dared to break the silence, in fear of what the six-foot creature might do. He, on the other hand, just didn’t feel like talking for some reason.
They had now reached the edge of the forest, and the rooftops of Ponyville were visible as a faint glow emanated from the town.
“Alright, everypony.” Twilight said somewhat hesitantly, stopping the rest of the group in their tracks “It’s night, which means that most ponies should be in their homes right about now. It should be easier to sneak John here” she motioned a hoof towards John “into the town.”
“So you’re just gonna let him into our town without a second thought?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, clearly frustrated and somewhat fearful of this decision. She moved in close towards Twilight and put a hoof to the side of her mouth, covering it from John’s view “What if he’s dangerous?!” she whispered.
“You know I can hear you, right?” John asked “Look, I’m not dangerous to anyone who isn’t dangerous to me.” The girls looked at each other with slightly worried looks, obviously not reassured by his words.
“Well, I guess that’ll have to do...” Twilight said, not sure if this was such a good idea anymore “So, where is John going to stay?” She looked around, hoping to get a response from one of her friends.
“He could stay at the farm!” Applebloom said, jumping in place “There’s plenty ah space in the barn!”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“That’s a great idea!” Sweetie Belle shouted.
“But-” Applejack tried to interrupt, but was cut off by a poke at her leg. She looked down to see Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all looking up at her with big, sad eyes.
“Please~?” they asked simultaneously, all quivering their lower lips in an attempt to look as cute as possible.
“Fine...” Applejack sighed.
“So it’s settled then;” Twilight said “John will stay at Applejack’s farm. I’ll come and visit to ask him some questions tomorrow morning, but until then, I think we should all get a good night's sleep.” Everypony nodded their head in agreement, but John just stood there, looking at the purple unicorn with his arms folded.
And so, the group said their goodnights and each pony went their separate ways. Applejack and Applebloom headed towards the farm, accompanied by their new guest, John Kozak. The older of the two sisters wondered how she was going to explain the six-foot tall behemoth to Big Macintosh and Granny Smith, whilst the younger of the two yawned loudly.
Kozak had walked along the dark and quiet town road for ten minutes, staying silent and watching the two ponies accompanying him. He brought his previously disregarded questions back from the corners of his mind. Why could these ponies talk? Why were they so cartoonish? And, more importantly, why were they so trusting? Kozak really had no idea, but he intended to get these questions answered in the morning by the pony known as Twilight.
He sighed and shook his head at how he was probably the unluckiest member of his team. He was always the one getting in bad situations, and was always the one who got shot at first. He began to reminisce about the various times he had been shot at first when he was brought back to reality, or what he assumed was reality, by the familiar country accent which had attacked him just a little while ago.
“Whelp, here we are.” She said, opening the fence gate in front of them “Y’all will be sleepin’ in that barn over there.” Applejack pointed towards a dark red barn a small distance away from them. Kozak looked to the right of it to see a large apple orchard, each tree teaming with many bright red apples. Kozak nodded at the orange pony. She seemed to accept this response and turned to look at Applebloom.
“Get ta bed, Applebloom.” Applejack said, pointing towards a small house to the left of the barn.
“But, Applejack-” Before Applebloom could say anymore, however, she was cut off by her own yawning, betraying how tired she actually was.
“No buts, little missy.” Applejack said sternly “Y’all are gonna get yerself inta bed an’ sleep before ya do any damage to that young little head a yours.” she pointed towards a small house to the left of the barn. And, with that, Applebloom walked off in that direction, dragging her hooves as she slowly cantered to what Kozak could only assume was her home.
Applejack walked off towards the barn, motioning for Kozak to follow. Once they reached it, she opened it up and walked inside, grabbing a cloth from a wooden railing and placing it over a pile of hay in the centre of the barn. She then turned to Kozak.
“This is where y’all will be sleepin’.” She motioned towards the crude bed made out of a large cloth and a pile of hay “If ya need anythin’, just come up ta the house an’ ask. But try an’ be discreet about it, ‘kay?” Kozak nodded “Alright. Good night, ah suppose.” Applejack tipped her hat slightly walked out of the barn, closing the door behind her and shrouding it’s interior in darkness.
Kozak looked down at the bed, thinking it wasn’t so bad compared to some of the other places he had slept before. Although, what he had planned to do tonight didn’t exactly involve sleeping.
After 15 minutes of walking, Twilight arrived at the Ponyville public library, which also served as a home for the purple unicorn. She slowly opened the front door, expecting Spike to be asleep and not wanting to wake him, and, sure enough, she could hear familiar snoring coming from the library’s bedroom on the second floor.
She slowly entered and crept up the stairs to find Spike sleeping on the floor, sucking his tail rather than on his bed. She figured that he was probably worried about her, since she had left abruptly and hadn’t told him where she was going, knowing only that it was an emergency. Of course, he would never admit that to her, but she knew it to be true.
And so, she picked him up with her magic and gently floated him over to his small bed at the foot of hers. She looked at the baby dragon, smiling at how cute he looked whilst sleeping. She looked at her bed for a moment before deciding not to go to sleep just yet. She trotted back downstairs, closing the bedroom door behind her, and went into the library portion of her home.
Twilight lit a candle and began scouring the bookshelves, looking for a particular book which might be of use to her. After an astoundingly quick search, she found the book she was looking for. She went over to the table in the middle of the room, carrying the book and candle over with her magic. She set them both down and took a seat.
“A Collection of Creatures from Around the World.” Twilight read “This should help me understand a bit more about John...” She began flicking through the book, looking for a passage on ‘Humans’ “H... H... H... Ah! Here we go! Okay; Hamster, no... Hedgehog, no... Hippopotamus, no... Hyena, no...” Twilight cocked her head in confusion “I don’t understand... there’s nothing in here about ‘Humans’!” She sighed in defeat.
She looked over to her personal desk in a vain attempt to figure out what was going on, when she noticed something peculiar laying on top of it. She levitated the object towards her to find that it was a scroll with the royal seal. Twilight stared at it for a few seconds before opening it quickly, wondering what it could be.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I am writing to inform you that I have felt some sort of disturbance in the magic field surrounding the Everfree Forest near Ponyville. There are frequent disruptions in that area due to the nature of the forest, however this one seemed to be greater and more powerful than any I have ever felt.
As such, I am visiting Ponyville tomorrow in order to find the source of said disruption, and expect you and the other holders of the Elements of Harmony to help me in achieving this goal.
I fear something of great magnitude is behind this, and it may be a threat to the people of Ponyville, if not all of Equestria.
Yours truly,
Princess Celestia.
Twilight stared at the letter for a few seconds, wondering what it could mean. She wondered if John was the one to cause the disruption, but then sighed and decided that she needed to get some sleep for tomorrow if she was going to help the princess figure this out.
And so, she blew out the candle and crept back upstairs, not noticing the crunching of leaves from outside her front window.
Kozak had snuck out of the barn after deciding to do a little reconnaissance in the town. He ran quietly to the front gate of the farm and hopped over the fence. He continued at a brisk pace towards the town, hoping to get a look at the parts he didn’t see whilst passing through.
As he neared the faint glow, he decided to activate his optical camouflage, becoming totally invisible. He couldn’t move very fast whilst his camo was up, though, otherwise it would stop working, so he crept through the town, looking for any notable buildings which could give him information.
He passed by many houses on the lonely street he walked down, all of them looking almost exactly the same, but each with small differences. As he got closer to what he guessed was the town centre, he found an odd looking house which seemed to be made up entirely of gingerbread. He assumed this was some sort of confectionary shop, and the look of it was simply a marketing ploy.
Kozak saw that most places had no light emanating from them, and thus made it impossible to see inside. He would have tried to break into the houses of interest, but he had no knowledge of lockpicking, and the only other way he knew how to get through a locked door would have woken up most of the town, so he kept moving through town.
Kozak eventually stumbled onto a large tree, which he had done a double take over. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary willow tree, but after closer inspection, he could make out windows and a door. He slowly approached the literal tree house when he was startled by a light that suddenly came out of the front windows.
He approached the left window even more slowly, cautious of what he might find, only to see none other than Twilight Sparkle reading a book inside. He felt at ease again as he took cover behind the wall under the window and peered over the windowsill. The purple unicorn seemed to be talking to herself, but Kozak couldn’t hear her as the window was shut and she was probably talking quietly out of respect for her neighbors.
Kozak watched as Twilight flipped through the pages of the book she was reading, obviously trying to find something specific. Kozak’s eyes widened in surprise as he noticed she wasn’t even touching the book, but rather, the pages were turning on their own. He noticed the entire book was enveloped by a purple-aura, as was the unicorn’s horn.
He stared for a couple of seconds in disbelief before mentally shaking himself and resolved to ask that question along with many of the others he had. He continued to watch as the book closed and Twilight stared at it with a look of frustration. She then turned to look at another table to the right of her; it was covered with papers and had an inkwell with a quill in it. Kozak assumed this to be her personal workspace.
He stared through the window as a rolled up parchment floated from the desk to the table in front of Twilight. His lack of knowledge on how she was able to perform such a feat began to pester him, but he shoved his many questions to the corners of his mind as he watched her open it quite quickly. It was obvious that the purple pony knew this scroll was somewhat important, but Kozak wanted to know why.
He saw Twilight’s eyes move as she read the paper she had unrolled. Her eyes grew noticeably wider as her pupils dilated, signifying that whatever she was reading had somewhat shocked her. She was as still as a statue for a few seconds after her eyes had stopped moving, clearly rattled by what she had just read. She shook her head slightly and the parchment rolled itself back up, much to the frustration of Kozak.
Twilight sat up from the chair she was in and blew out the candle that had been sitting on the desk she was using a few seconds ago. She cantered towards a set of stairs and began to ascend them when Kozak felt that now was the time to take his leave, being unable to enter the house without disturbing the entire town.
He began to creep back through the streets of Ponyville, trying to process what he had just seen. It had left him with many questions, most of which were about how the purple unicorn was able to make the objects levitate. But, he also wanted to know why she had been shocked by the letter she had read.
Under the circumstances of his current situation, it seemed more than likely that it was something to do with him, but the simple question of ‘What?’ was nagging at his mind. He decided that getting frustrated wouldn’t help answer the question, and that he should wait till tomorrow to get answers.
And so, Kozak made his way back to the farm, where he hopped over the fence and snuck back into the dark red barn, the moon fairly low in the sky. He placed his weapons and unneeded attachments to the side of the crudely-made bed, and lay down in an attempt to sleep.
He stared up at the roof of the barn for a few minutes, still wondering about his team. He wanted to let them know he was alive, but also know if they were okay. A ghost team wasn't of much use without an engineer, and Kozak knew this, but he also knew that his teammates were exceedingly tough and skilled, and they should be fine without him for a little while.
And so, for the first time in years, Kozak fell asleep without a second thought, unaware of what awaited him tomorrow.
Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long, I seem to have caught a case of procrastination. Anyway, it seems as though this story has gotten quite popular, I mean, wow! So many favourites! And the amount of comments telling me to hurry up really is encouraging! I really appreciate all your support, guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully you won’t have to wait more than 4 days for the next one.