The camera mare followed Rockwell and Octavia as they slowly trotted through the beaten path leading to Everfree Forest. Both ponies appeared to move a bit sloppy, probably due to their brief nap from the mansion before setting out for the landing site.
“Those have got to be the softest beds I’ve ever laid my back on.” Rockwell said as he stretched his body while walking. He gave a satisfied sigh every time his body made a cracking sound from his stretching. “I would’ve loved to stay there for a while but ten minutes will do for now.”
“So what are aliens doing here anyway?” Octavia asked, ignoring Rockwell’s previous comment.
“Exploring, mostly.” Rockwell replied while twisting his shoulders. They made a soft cracking sound in every twist he made. “They’re the new sailors of the space age, discovering new planets in their interstellar voyages. It just happened that our planet was one of the ones they discovered first.”
Octavia narrowed her eyes at the agent. “They’re not here to invade us, are they?”
Rockwell has now ceased his stretching and continued to trot properly. “Well contrary to popular belief, most aliens we encounter here are as diplomatic as they come. It’s either their societies are so advanced to they’re above from committing such primitive urges or they just don’t want to provoke our leader here who literally harnesses the power of this system’s sun. I’m guessing it’s the latter but the result’s still the same which way you go.”
“So what are they really doing here in Equestria?”
“As long as it doesn’t violate our non-interference policies, they’re allowed to quietly study us from afar. But it’s also at the cost of trading some of their knowledge to us. We don’t have much appeal to them in terms of technology so they’re more likely to study our biologies, anatomies, physiologies, and other science-y stuff like that instead. They did express an interest in our capability to do magic though. But Celestia is so protective of that stuff that the only info they’re getting out of is nothing but a single salt lick of the real thing.”
“Why?” Octavia tilted her head, unable to notice the small cottage that they just passed. “Don’t they have any?”
“Nope.” Rockwell replied quickly. “Which is the main reason on why they have such advanced technology. Unlike us, they don’t have magic to lean on to so they’ll have to resort to other means. Which is pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Some of the stuff that we confiscated from the more ‘rowdy’ ones are so useful that they have integrated themselves smoothly into society. Take your toaster for instance; never in my whole life would I think that slightly burnt bread would taste so good. But these guys did it, and now we have it.”
“So what alien race did you confiscate the toaster from?” Octavia’s voice sounded like it’s oozing with wonder and curiosity.
“That’s a secret.” was Rockwell’s reply, which left the mare looking annoyed and frustrated.
The group were now standing at the entrance of the forest. The camera focused its shot right on the thickness of the woods. Varying shapes of trees and shrubs filled the forest. Some appeared to form the shape of a spiral while some glowed softly in the dark. But the light from these plants was not enough light up this large and mysterious forest. There are certain parts of it due to the way the trees were positioned made them look like giant maws gaped wide, awaiting for the next victim to unwittingly enter into it.
The camera proceeded to center its shot to Rockwell and Octavia, with the latter giving the agent a worried look.
“Ah, Everfree Forest.” Rockwell declared after taking a deep breath. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here. Good to see nothing’s changed.”
“You’re not expecting us to go in without a plan now, are you?” Octavia’s tone matched the look on her face.
“Of course not. Don’t be silly.” Rockwell said reassuringly. “My methods may be brash but they’re not suicidal.” He pulled out his dragonflare as well as his pen and a blank scroll. He scribbled a few words on the scroll before rolling it and shoved it into the flare gun’s compartment.
“Because you see,” Rockwell glanced briefly at the now curious Octavia before he continued what he’s doing. “Every BoS field agent is issued with a map that allows them to navigate through dangerous Bureau zones safely. And that includes Everfree. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my map with me right now since I’m not expecting to go here in the first place, so I’m just going to message the agents stationed there to provide me a guide to through this maze of anomalies.”
Rockwell raised the gun upwards and pulled the trigger. Green fire flew off the barrel and swiftly flew into the forest’s skies. The camera tailed its movement until it no longer can be seen. Its show then went back to Rockwell who was looking at the flare as well.
“I think we should build a campfire while we wait.” Rockwell said as he turned around to face Octavia and the camera. “You know, just in case.”
“Good idea.” Octavia replied. “It is starting to feel a bit cold around here.”
The two ponies silently split up as they gathered some twigs and branches from the forest’s ground to use as wood for the campfire. Once they’ve found enough, they gathered around and joined them all together, while leaving some to use for later. Rockwell pulled out his lighter and picked up some dried grass from the ground. He lit them up and placed them at the center of the pile of twigs and branches. He blew on the smoking grass gently until a small fire raged forth to life. The agent stepped back after and joined the two mares as they sat quietly in front of the crackling fire.
It took a while before somepony said something, as they were all busy savouring the warmth of the campfire to themselves.
“So...” Octavia began.
Rockwell looked back at Octavia, breaking off from his trance. “So what?”
“What are your thoughts regarding our current situation?”
“Oh.” Rockwell replied, his tone indifferent. “I think some marshmallows would’ve been great right now.”
“Seriously?” Octavia seemed offended at Rockwell’s response. “After all we’ve been through tonight that’s the only thing you can think of?” She stood up in an attempt to add more effect to her words. “Marshmallows?”
“Wait,” Rockwell scratched his head in confusion. “What did we go through?”
“In one night, we got secret organizations, thrown in the middle of a race war between supernatural races, haunted by ghosts in a seemingly abandoned mansion, and became targets of an extraterrestrial practical joke.” Octavia’s voice sounded like it’s about to lose its composure any second now. “Doesn’t that overwhelm you? Even in the slightest?”
“Nah.” Rockwell shrugged. “For me that’s just Tuesday. But it must be one heck of a Tuesday for you, huh?” He grinned.
Octavia sat back down. A hoof rested on her forehead while slowly shaking it in disbelief.
“Apparently.” She said matter-of-factly.
“Stay with us a bit longer and you’ll definitely see more.” Rockwell quipped.
“Good grief how do you keep calm during all of this?” Octavia looked back at Rockwell with questioning eyes.
“I’m guessing you were just hit by it now, huh?” Rockwell said. His grin still remained. “This sudden realization, about how big the world really is? And the fact that you seem so small that you don’t think you really matter anymore?”
Octavia raised a hoof in an attempt to silence the agent. “Please, don’t make this worse for me. The way you speak about those things casually since the moment I’ve met you must have numbed me from really truly grasping it. But now that we’re here, sitting on this campfire silently has allowed me to do a bit of self-reflecting. And in doing so it just hit me. It’s like what you said. I do feel quite small right now. It’s like my status as a well known musician both here and Canterlot has faded away like writings on sand. How do you cope with this? Is there a way to get a semblance of my significance back?”
It took a while for Rockwell to respond to Octavia’s question. His formerly stoic face has now begun to slowly contort into one full of wrinkles. He looked like he’s desperately trying to hold in his laughter. And apparently that’s what he was doing.
“You should hear yourself, right now.” Rockwell’s face was now starting to turn red. A bit of a snicker here and there would escape his mouth. This annoyed the heck out of Octavia.
“Is there a way to get a semblance of my significance back?” Rockwell said while doing a bad impression of mare’s posh accent. “Oh boy...I’ve seen a lot of ponies breaking down from an existential crisis...but yours just took the cake! It’s so flowery, so robust, so bucking hilarious!”
That was the point where Rockwell let everything out. He laughed so much to the point that he’s now tearing up and pressing his sides. Octavia could only huff and look away, trying to hide her annoyed blush from the agent after he did an impression of her.
“Well?” Octavia replied, making her frustration evident. “Is there?”
“Of course not.” Without any transition at all, Rockwell’s violent laughing fit instantly switched back to his formerly stoic self. This took Octavia by surprise, perking her ears in the process. “You’ll just have to deal with the fact you’re nothing but a worthless piece of cow dung that won’t matter in the long run. But still,” He gave a small snort. “Pretty funny stuff though, what you did that is.”
Octavia pouted and crossed her forelegs. “At least my suffering can be used for the amusement of others.”
“Oh you’re a riot girl!” Rockwell gave Octavia a soft slap on the shoulder. “Remind me to poke fun at you later. Because laughter is the best medicine and all that jazz, and I still have some aches that I need walk off of so, yeah.”
“Well considering your nihilistic outlook on life, is that the reason why your methods are so carefree that they may as well be described as ‘childish?’” Octavia shot back while giving Rockwell a sharp look.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it as ‘childish.’” Rockwell replied defensively.
“So far as I can tell, it is.”
“To you, maybe.” Rockwell shrugged. “But on a regular workday, I’m as normal as the agent standing next to me. But there are also times when I meet someponies that I just can’t help but make fun of.”
“And I’m assuming I’m one of those ponies?” Octavia replied, sounding unimpressed.
“Oh you’re in the list alright.”
“I see.” Octavia said her tone now sarcastic. “But look, can’t you take this mission a tad seriously? At least for now? Vinyl’s livelihood and mine is at stake here.”
“At stake.” Rockwell giggled. “Because she’s a vampire. Good one.”
Octavia slammed a hoof on her face, probably regretting what she just said. The camera mare on the other hoof, let out a small laugh from her Rockwell’s observation. “Okay, okay, I’ll try.” Rockwell assured Octavia. He straightened himself up in an exaggerated manner. He hardened his stoic face even more, making his features look like a parody of himself. He then looked at Octavia. “This is my serious face, see?”
Octavia doesn’t look entirely convinced at the agent’s antics. But it did elicit another giggle from the camera mare. Rockwell took notice of it, as he was now staring beyond the camera, right at the mare holding it.
“You like it huh?” Rockwell said to the unseen mare. He then proceeded to stiffen up his face more, making the girl laugh harder. Octavia can only give the two a disapproving look as they continued fooling around the campfire.
After Rockwell was done making his ‘serious faces,’ the group turned silent once more. A moment passed without the group making any sound, save for the crackling fire and the occasional howling of wind. Probably to entertain himself, Rockwell pulled out his glasses and wore them as he continued to stare into the fire. The camera focused its shot on the agent’s glasses, thoroughly recording reflection of the dancing fire on lenses’ dark surfaces.
Octavia was about to toss another branch into the fire when Rockwell suddenly stood up. He placed his glasses back to his jacket while looking at the forest’s entrance.
“Alright.” Rockwell said as he looked back to the group. “I’ve waited long enough, I’m going in.”
“Wait, what about the directions?” Octavia reminded the agent.
“They’ll come eventually. Right now we’ll just have to depend on my memory. I think I still remember most of the way to the site.”
“You think?”
“You can depend on this guy right here.” Rockwell said as he tapped his right temple with a hoof. “Added with a little bit of instinct in the mix, this thing saved me once when I got stranded on an island. Well, there also happened to be a merchant’s supply stash lying around the beach but that doesn’t count.”
“But what did you even do to end up in an island in the first place anyway?”
“Funny story.” Rockwell turned around to face Octavia. He walked backwards to match her pace despite not seeing where he’s headed. “So here I was reasoning with this eldritch abomi-”
The group suddenly stopped moving when they heard a growling sound nearby. Rockwell turned around again to see the source of the noise. Just a couple steps from where they were appeared a large shadowy figure walking in all fours. With every step the creature took, the sound of the growling became louder as well.
As it got closer to Rockwell, the figure left the refuge of the forest’s shadows and headed into an open space where Luna’s moon can illuminate it properly. It revealed to be a timber wolf. And its hungry eyes were dead set on the group.
“You know what?” Rockwell said, his voice still calm. “I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“Yes, you should.” Octavia replied, her voice now trembling with fear. “I also think that we should start running now.”
“Yeah. Lets.” And with that Octavia ran as fast as she could. Although the camera stayed behind Rockwell who picked a rock from the ground and forcefully threw it at the timber wolf’s limb. The rock precisely landed at the wolf’s joint, forcing the creature to kneel down all of a sudden. Seeing that as a signal to flee, Rockwell ran off as well with the camera mare not far behind him.
It didn’t take long for Rockwell to catch up with Octavia. The musician was already panting heavily even though her running hasn’t even reached the minute mark. The agent on the other hand, despite having his legs looking like a blur due to how fast he’s moving, looked like he was just taking a casual afternoon stroll.
“Let’s all go back to the campfire.” Rockwell said calmly to the group. He sounded like he’s not even running at high speed right now. “We haven’t doused that yet, have we?”
“Apologies!” Octavia exclaimed. “That one was on me!”
“No, no, no. You’re fine. This is exactly how I wanted this to go down.”
All three ponies backtracked hard to where they came. And it only took them a couple of moments to reach the forest’s entrance. The same can be said with the timber wolf chasing them, which was aggressively grunting and panting while hunting them down the entire time.
“Miss melody, grab me a stick.” Rockwell said as they stepped hoof outside the forest. The campfire was still there burning softly and fortunately didn’t spread to engulf the nearby plants in an accidental fire.
“What?!” Octavia cried back in panicked confusion.
“A stick.” Rockwell said as he ceased his running, and turned to face the charging timber wolf. “A burning one, from the campfire.”
“Ohh!” Octavia cried again once the realization struck her. “On it!” She rushed straight to the campfire. But the camera stayed behind and focused its shot on Rockwell instead.
As the camera centered its shot on the agent, he stood on his hind legs and attempted to move his now free forelegs in a position where it would supposedly catch the fast moving wolf. As the beast leapt up to attack Rockwell, with its claws unsheathed to tear the agent into shreds, Rockwell quickly moved himself towards the wolf’s head, away from its sharp claws.
Rockwell now has the timber wolf’s head in the grasps of his hooves. With a tight hold around the neck, he turned the beast temporarily immobile, save for a few futile attempts at clawing at him.
But the timber wolf was having none of it. Like Rockwell, it too stood on its hind legs. Due to its strength and body size, lifting Rockwell up above seemed like an easy task for the wolf. It then attempted to strongly jerk its head backwards in hopes to get the agent to let go his grip on its neck.
But Rockwell already knew what’s going to happen once the beast made that move on him. So what he did next was that he went with the flow of the wolf’s jerking motion to carry him smoothly towards its back, making him mount it as a result. Once he got on the wolf’s backside he hugged its neck tightly to avoid being tossed by the now frantically hopping timber wolf.
While he dearly held on for his dear life, Rockwell also managed to pluck out some pieces of wood from the wolf’s nape, making a small hole as he continued doing so.
“How’s that fire stick coming along!?” Rockwell called to Octavia. His voice was now fluctuating in tone due to being rodeod hard by the wolf.
“Give me a moment!” Octavia screamed off camera. “Most of the firewood has burned to the point of it being hard to hold onto so I’m burning a new one!”
Rockwell turned to look at the camera specifically. Despite being tossed hard like a salad, his expression still remained calm and collected. “Yeah I don’t think I can hold this much longer.”
The wolf now realizing that its continued hopping to keep the agent off its back was too a futile attempt, finally ceased its moving. A sigh of relief can be heard from Rockwell once it did. But this brief moment of reprieve was swiftly switched back into a heart pumping moment when the wolf decided to lie down on the ground, and then roll over. If it cannot get the agent off of it, then it might just as well crush the agent with its weight. That’s what the wolf probably thought when proceeding to do such action.
But before he could get squashed by the giant pile of sticks in canine form, Rockwell decided to let go of the timber wolf and stepped back away from it as far as possible.
Once the agent got off its back, the timber wolf quickly got up and opted for another swift charge at the agent, not giving him the chance to stand on his hind legs this time. Rockwell, who was just seconds away from becoming a lace of flesh and blood, decided to throw his jacket at the wolf’s eye blinding it for a short amount of time so he can get away from it.
Annoyed by the black veil covering its vision, the wolf violently tore Rockwell’s jacket into shreds. All the items that he kept in there have been tossed around in all directions.
“Aww.” Rockwell said as he looked at what remained of his jacket. “I just got that fixed.”
The wolf charged at Rockwell once again, still the taking the opportunity of him not standing on his hind legs.
“Agent Rockwell! Catch!” Octavia’s voice can be heard off camera again.
Rockwell looked at the direction of where her voice came from, along with it was a long branch that was burning halfway through its body and was flying towards him. He caught the burning branch just in time before the wolf could get to him. In one swift motion, Rockwell shoved the burning end of the branch straight to the timber wolf’s right eye.
The wolf howled in excruciating pain. It immediately recoiled away from the agent. But Rockwell gave it no mercy and dashed towards the hurting beast and stabbed the burning branch into its other eye. Before the timber wolf could go into a frenzied state due to the pain it was experiencing, Rockwell hurried climbed on it and mounted it again.
Once he was properly seated on the wolf’s backside, Rockwell dipped the branch into the hole he made on the wolf’s nape a moment ago. He then blew on it gently until a raging fire burst forth inside the beast’s body. He then jumped down from the squirming timber wolf, leaving the burning branch still lodged inside its body.
The camera centered the shot on the suffering creature as it writhed, clawed, flailed, and howled in pain from being burned inside out. It took a couple of seconds before the timber wolf’s actions slowed down. And once it did, it let out a weak whimper, its last breath before accepting its fate as an eventual pile of cinder.
All the ponies who witnessed the wolf’s death stood silent as they watch the last of its embers die out. The camera panned towards Octavia, whose eyes were as wide as saucers. It switched to the agent who was standing perfectly still. His eyes still focused on the now ashen timber wolf.
“Third fight...this day.” He said as he lied down to the ground, and gave out a long groan once his back touched the dirt.
The camera switched back to recording Octavia again, who was now trying to look for the items that Rockwell’s jacket dropped after it was torn apart by the wolf. It didn’t take her long to find Rockwell’s stuff: his glasses, his glasses, his vanisher ward, his dragonflare, his lighter, his pen and folder, and some blank scrolls. One item in particular caught Octavia’s attention.
It was the agent’s wallet. It was spread open when it dropped to the ground. And when Octavia picked it up, its contents was revealed to her. There were two things that stood out in the agent’s wallet, and those were his BoS badge and a picture of a mare that looked resembled Octavia. The only thing different from them was that the mare in the picture had Rockwell’s colors: a black mane and a tan coat. While Octavia’s eyes still lingered on the picture, the camera mare can’t help but pan the shot from Octavia to the picture as if comparing them.
A bolt of green fire suddenly found its way to the flare gun, startling the two mares. The camera mare jumped out in surprise while Octavia was now juggling the agent’s items on her hooves.
“I take it the directions are here?” Rockwell said as he got up snappily from the ground. He dusted off his white shirt before trotting towards Octavia. “Ah, my effects! Thank you for picking them up. My jacket may be gone forever, but at least they’re still intact.”
As Rockwell got closer, he noticed that Octavia was holding his now open wallet. Whatever dumb smile he may be wearing before has now faded down to an awkward blank face. The camera slowly zoomed in on both their faces, capturing all the tension that might have built up from this rather awkward situation.
The two ponies didn’t say anything to each other. They just looked at them like they have caught themselves trying to put their hooves into the same cookie jar.
“Ca-Can I uh, ahem.” Rockwell started, trying to break the silence between them. “Can I have them back now? Please?” He flashed Octavia a very plastic smile.
“Oh!” Octavia said as she shook herself back to reality. “Sorry, you caught me in a daze. Here you go.” She then hoofed all Rockwell’s items back to him. Once he got all his effects back, Rockwell wasted no time in shoving the wallet into his back pocket as if it was the most secret place in Equis. Once he placed all of his items in their respective pockets, Rockwell turned around and started walking back to the forest.
“Now that we have the directions, I think we should start moving now.” He declared, attempting to change the topic.
“Well yes, yes of course!” Octavia said as she tailed the agent. “To the landing site, I believe.”
Rockwell scratched his head before responding. “Uh, yeah.”
The group now proceeded to head back into the Everfree forest. Their trot was slow and casual, as if nothing dangerous has ever happened to them a couple minutes ago.
“Um, Agent Rockwell?” Octavia asked. She looked back at the camera with a dumb smile on her face.
“Oh Celestia.” Rockwell mumbled. “What now?”
“If you don’t mind me asking, who was that mare in your wallet?”
The agent gave out a long sigh before answering.
“That’s a secret.”