Graveyard Shift
By TDR
Far beyond the moonlight
“Doot, doot, doot, doot.” Ginger hummed to herself hopping up the rocks without a seeming care in the world as the earth pony mare climbed the mountain.
“Must you be so chipper?” Stigma muttered.
“What?” Ginger paused looking back at the rest of the group.
Stigma wasn't far behind her, the Changeling, or whatever he called himself, was in the form of a black furred and red maned unicorn. He had been climbing as long as she had, and for a bit of the trek she had taken a position not far behind him, cause watching those muscled flanks work was was a joy into itself. He had quickly caught on and told her to take the lead. Granted she had taken the time to wiggle her rump in his face, so it was win win in her eyes.
A bit further back was Locasta. The centaur was not doing as well and was panting quite heavily as they climbed. Due to how odd her body was, she had to stop every so often and orient herself to try and keep her upper body lower to the ground on the steeper slopes. Their training had helped, but the book worm wasn't going to win any marathons at her pace.
Behind her was Lockheed, the stone griffon had no trouble with the climbing, but due to his body being stone, his speed was greatly reduced.
The furthest back was Millstone. The discordian wasn't weak by any means, but his odd body was giving him more trouble that Locasta's climbing and he was thus bringing up the rear.
“Ey.. where's Naunet an tha pest?” Ginger questioned.
“WOOOOOOHAAAAA!!!!” Mesa cried out as the naga came into view, zipping and curling along the rocks at a speed some of the best sprinters would have difficulty matching on flat terrain.
Mesa was of course on her back enjoying the ride.
Stigma simply gestured as the pair tore past them zipping up the mountain then around it every where.
“Fergit ah asked.” Ginger sighed.
“I am certainly glad this is not a stealth mission!” Lockheed growled.
[Much later]
Ginger sighed as they made their way back down the mountain, most of the group in silence.
Locasta because she was thinking, Millstone because a quiet sulk was his usual state, and every one else because of how ridiculous that whole event was.
Mesa of course was laughing his fool head off and Naunet was still blushing.
They had shown up to combat the creature and drive it off, but all it seemed to have taken was their medic to bat her eyelashes and the dragon was tripping over himself to help her.
Locasta had pointed out there was a theory about a link between naga and dragons, though while Naunet had no idea what that might be, the dragon was evidently old enough to remember what the connection had been and seemed quite pleased about Naunet being around and the news of there being other naga.
The dragon had collected his horde and then took off heading south towards the zebra lands after the talk.
Lockheed wondered if they were going to be sent there later to run him off again.
Locasta was pondering if the connection could be used to ease the tension between the dragons and everyone else.
Millstone was wondering why they had even bothered to come out here.
Stigma was wondering much the same as Millstone.
Mesa was wondering if this would ever stop being funny.
Naunet wondered if what the dragon suggested to her was even physically possible.
Ginger was wondering if she could still get drunk, because the bloody snake was getting more interest from the males than the fine specimen of equine flesh that she herself was.
“Oll right, we're making a pit stop a'fore we're heading back.” Ginger snapped suddenly turning a little and heading down the mountain side in a different direction.
“Where are you going? We have to report back..” Lockheed demanded.
“Tha princess got eyes and ken bloody well see tha smokes stopped and tha scaly bastards buggered off, no offense Nau. Ah got family round here ah ain't seen in far too long an ah'm gonna fix that.” Ginger snapped.
“I don't think we will be much appreciated going through the town.” Locasta offered. “ A lot of these smaller settlements are quite speciest.”
“We ain't gonna go through tha town, farms on tha other side of it....gotta couple of cousins that own a farm out there, Ah heard their daughter got hurt an ah'm gonna check onner.” Ginger offered. “Maybe snag a cask ah cider.”
“Well you have my attention.” Mesa chimed up at the mention of cider.
“Figures ah'd get agreement from you.” Ginger sighed.” Come on , it's time tah take a break for a bit. Prolly git a meal outta it and ah dunno bout you but gitting stuck inside a castle until we git tah go risk limb an life again dun sit well with me.”
Stigma considered, family love was rather filling.... he shrugged.” Alright, color me curious about what sort of family spawned some pony like you.”
“What about you yah grump?” Ginger asked.
“Whatever.” Millstone responded.
Locasta shrugged as Lockheed grumbled about the changing of plans and his time line.
“Come on now, yah won't regret it. Or maybe yah will. Heck ah ain't a bloody gypsy with a crystal ball.” Ginger snapped and led the way down the mountain.
[ Sweet Apple Acres]
Mesa sat at the edge of the group his ears flat to his head at all the chatter going on between Ginger and the two ponies identified as Pear Butter and Bright Mac.
“The accents..... by the stars. They are doing things to the modern word that physically hurt.”Mesa whined.
Millstone glanced down at the fox , though he took note of what was said, perhaps Locasta could use the information later to get back at the kitsune.
The arrival of the group had brought about a rather strong reaction. Evidently the Apple family had brought in some helpers to assist with the harvest.
One of them, a purple unicorn, had taken one look at the group and run away screaming.
A yellow pegasus had hidden behind a white unicorn who looked torn between trying to flee or stay where she was.
A pink earth pony had waved at them, seemed to consider something, waved again, then took off like a shot, also screaming.
The rainbow maned pegasus seemed ready to fight them, though she to have a interest in Lockheed.
The orange mare in the wheel chair and the two older ponies out there had immediately recognized Ginger as she walked up and then the butchering of the ponish language had begun.
The rest of the group stood around, rather out of place as Ginger and the other ponies chatted, though by the same token the remaining assistants were doing the same.
Millstone gave up and sat down to read a book he fished out of his cloak.
Lockheed looked the group over curiously.
There was the orange mare in the wheel chair, she clearly wasn't happy to be in it, though he could tell she had a number of wounds all over her body. That must be the younger cousin of Ginger with the way she blended right into the conversation with the older ponies. The way she fidgeted in the wheel chair however made him think she was close to getting out of it, or had just been put in it, and none of the wounds seemed that new so he expected the former particularly as her lower and upper limbs shifted and moved without any clear issue, so she obviously wasn't paralyzed.
The blue pegasus had a few scars as well, though she seemed better off than the earth pony. She also hadn't stopped glaring at the others, though when her attention shifted to him, the glare softened a bit, which was odd.
The white unicorn didn't seem injured at first, though her purple mane didn't perfectly hide the burn scar on her neck and cheek, the scarf didn't do that good of a job covering it either. Granted Lockheed was looking for something and any detail he could a casual look might not have noticed it. It was clear though the mare was doing her best to hide it, Vanity and all that it seemed. It wasn't his place to decide what the mare wanted to do.
He didn't get a good look at the purple one before she ran off screaming, aside from seeing she was a unicorn with an eye patch. Her reaction seemed to be to Naunet.
The pink earth pony he got a better look at, she also had some scarring on her legs and barrel but her fur hid most of it.
The yellow pegasus hiding behind the white unicorn was another curiosity. She was pretty he supposed for a pony, though a fair portion of her left wing was missing.
There had been something going on here and Lockheed was curious as to what, there was a niggling detail at the back of his mind and he just needed to clarify.
“GINGER.” Lockheed snapped, cutting off the horrid butchering of equish. “While I agreed to stop in, I didn't agree for you to leave the rest of us standing around staring at the wall while you chit chat.“
“ Oy gimmi a moment we're jus getting caught up.” Ginger snapped.
“And while you are doing that the rest of us are simply standing around trading looks with the other ponies here.” Lockheed stated.” The least you could do is follow proper protocol for this situation”
Ginger glared at him.
Lockheed stared back with no real expression on his face.
The two ponies with her looked confused.
The wheel chair bound pony looked annoyed.
“Now then. Are you going to introduce everyone or are we supposed to continue to pretend to be lawn decorations?” Lockheed questioned.
There was a lot of fear in this group. From the yellow mare in particular. There was anger from the blue one, but the others were full of fear.
Honestly Stigma wasn't surprised, even the two older ponies that had been introduced as Pear Butter and Bright Mac had a trace of fear in them, though it was much less than the others. Evidently the presence of Ginger calmed them down considerably.
The purple mare had felt like a blind panic, all of it directed at their naga before she ran off.
Probably scared of snakes or something.
The pink one..... she felt joy before she ran off. He had no idea what that was about, and that worried him.
“Roight.”Ginger sighed rolling her eyes as she glared at Lockheed. “This is mai cousin Bright Mac, his wife Pear Butter, their daughter Jacqueline.”Ginger pointed a hoof at each in turn. “No clue who that lot is over there hiding, aside from their friends of Jackie here.”
“Right, tha ones that ran off was Pinkie Pie and Twilight. Dunno what happened with Twi, but Pinkie's likely gonna throw yah a welcome tah Ponyville party.... that's sorta her thing, just roll with it.” Jacqueline explained from her wheel chair pointing a hoof at the others as she introduced them. “The girls remaining are Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy.”
“Okay this lots Lockheed, tha great interrupting stone chicken he is, Stigma's tha stallion next ta him, tha great big lass there is Locasta, she's a centaur.” Ginger pointed out as Locasta waved slightly. “Tha grump in tha cloak is Millstone, dun mind him he's an alright stallion, tha naga's Naunet , and tha fox thing is Mesa...... bloody buck, where's tha damn fox?”
Stigma took notice of the flares of emotions when Jacqueline listed off the names, particularly the one of the tasty variety, though like the others his attention immediately was focused on the search for Mesa. There was literally no telling what that damn creature would get up to if left to his own devices.
“Aww aren't you cute?”
“Yes, yes I am.”
The groups attention snapped over to the four tailed kitsune lying on his back allowing the yellow mare to run her hoof in his belly fur as she cooed over how adorable he was.
The entire team stared at the fox as if waiting for the other horse shoe to drop, though for the moment there didn't seem to be one coming. Mesa seemed quite content to be pampered and petted by the yellow mare.
Stigma blinked feeling the emotions coming off the one known as Fluttershy, the fear she had was gone entirely as her attention was focused on the fox.
Stigma glanced to Lockheed as a small surge of panic ran through the stone griffon.
“Something wrong?” Stigma muttered.
“I recognize the names. These are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” Lockheed muttered back as Ginger started up the conversation he interrupted again.”
“Got it, I'll let the others know to be careful. And I'll have Naunet watch Mesa closely.” Stigma offered.
“And this is why I wanted you as field team leader over Ginger.” Lockheed pointed out.
“And you know as well as I do why that won't happen.” Stigma responded, stepping back to talk to the others.