//------------------------------// // Information, Relocation, Instigation // Story: The wrong Equestria // by knownforit //------------------------------// The grating tinnitus is interspersed by the thwack of giant leaves being pushed aside and the clinking of pebbles launched by my shoes. A noise even more annoying than the never-ending EEEEEE is the sobbing and mumbling of Myles. He's stopped trying to escape at this point, thankfully he doesn't weigh very much since this new body of his is evidently a child. I just hope his brain wasn't changed too much, but based off the little he's said so far... I'm not hopeful. I hear Elliot say something, but it's distorted to become incomprehensible thanks to my hearing loss. "Speak up, I can't hear shit." I continue my slow surveillance of every direction. Elliot's tone is steady, calm. "I said, they weren't leading us 'down' the river, we were heading upstream, north-east. It might have been a Freudian slip and Ponyville is actually downstream, we were probably being led to either nowhere or a military base." I take a moment to digest the information, I didn't realize the guard leader made that mistake in his language. "But why is that important? Are we avoiding going upstream in case there's a military base?" Myles begins trying to twist out of my arms. His voice is a little too loud on the ears, but we're in the middle of a forest so I'm not too worried about volume. "No! Ponies don't have a m-military! Ponies are p-peaceful, we don't do war!" Rage bubbles up inside me, hope for Myles's return rapidly retreating at this development. Before he can keep blabbering on I slap him over the back of the head. "Shut up you fucking breathing propaganda machine!" This pony is surprisingly strong, he's hugging my left shoulder for comfort, but managing to hurt me a little with the force of it. I try to focus back on Elliot as he begins speaking, apparently opting to ignore Myles and I's little spat. "If Ponyville is downstream, it would be south-west of here. If north-east and south-west have ponies, we're heading south east. Oh, and Gordan..." Elliot stops trekking and turns to face me with a stern expression. "If I get captured, don't come for me. You see what they did to Myles," Elliot gestures to what used to be Myles, curled up against my shoulder. "You won't make it in time." I grit my teeth, trying to find a way to refute what he just said. I have the equipment to conduct some kind of raid, but would it be worth saving Elliot when he's no longer Elliot? I kick a small rock in frustration. "Fine." This apparently pleases the hiker as he turns on the spot and keeps moving through the prickly forest, possibly called the 'Everfree' according to one of the ponies. After an hour of tedious and anxious travel, the sound of glass smashing thankfully doesn't fill my ears. We're holed up in a small cave, it's only a dozen meters deep and barely tall enough to stand up in. But for taking stock of our situation, it's good enough. Myles's legs were tied up against his chest by yours truly since he kept trying to run off to get help from 'Mummah Celestia' Pretty obvious who the big bad villain in this world is. I'm going to find this Celestia whore and cave her face in with a hundred rounds of .223 if it's the last thing I do. It probably will be. Elliot gave me a bit of paper with a very basic map of where we are. All it has is information on distance in the form of a grid system and an estimated location for Ponyville and the possible military base. Thankfully this guy has a system for counting out how far he's walked, so we know we're exactly Three thousand, four hundred and twelve meters away from the river. I'd like to be further away, but this forest is incredibly dense and hard to move through. None of us actually had lunch before we came here, so I set up my jetboil to cook a mediocre tasting freeze dried meal of alfredo for all three of us. I don't know what season it is here in 'Equestria' but it definitely feels warmer than the autumn we came out of, although the cave we're in drops the temperature by a few degrees. Myles's high pitched voice manages to be just loud enough to overpower the dull ringing in my ears. "M-myyy earrrssss hurrrrttttttt..." I frown. Holy shit he's just a whining child now. I look to Elliot to see if he wants to reply to this kid, but he's very much happy with ignoring him in favor of staring at the frothing water in the middle of our little triangle formation. You know what, I think it's time we got some answers. I try my best to keep my voice soft, don't want to scare him into another round of incomprehensible sniffling again. "Hey Myles, what can you tell me about Equestria?" The mention of 'Equestria' makes Myles cease his groaning, instantly he perks up with something mimicking a happy expression. His voice is full of wonder, as if recounting some amazing dream. "Oh Equestria is the best! It's the main land of friendship and harmony for the whole wide world! E-Equestria is ruled by the greatest pony ever, Celestia! She looks after all the ponies of the world and makes sure they're happy and safe!" I have no idea how much of this information was implanted and how much of it human Myles knew before coming here. I study the blue ponies happy face, an obvious question coming to mind. "Is there anywhere in the world where Celestia doesn't rule? Someplace she won't drop blue potions on me that turn me into a baby pony?" I bite my tongue, cutting off my urge to rant and rave at Myles about how he's practically been murdered by the ponies he so happily speaks of. Myles makes an exaggerated thinking face as he lies on his side on the cold stone floor. "C-Celestia rules the whole wide world with friendship! A-anypony who isn't a pony is missing out on the power of harmony so they're a-all p-ponies now..." His voice trails off at the end, either aware that what he just said is terrifying or he's just worried I'll slap him again. My body tightens up, the rifle that's vaguely pointing in the direction of the cave entrance being held a little higher in my lap. Everyone on the entire fucking planet was turned into ponies? What the fuck? Well that totally destroys my idea of fleeing to a different country. My eyebrows lower, I feel all the stress I've felt this past hour building up a painful energy within me. "Did you know this is what Equestria was like, Myles? Before you got turned into a fucking pony, was this the place you called heaven?" My growling tone and glare makes Myles squeak and try his best to shuffle away from me. All he manages to do is wobble side to side, trying and failing to roll his body the other way. I stand up, stomping over to him. I kneel with one leg on either side of his tiny form, gripping his neck with both trembling hands I turn him around so he's forced to look at me with his humongous eyes. I lean down, my face almost touching his muzzle. "Did. You. Know." With each word he tries to shrink further away from me, but he fails in fading through the cave floor. The ponie's voice is tiny, his eyes scrunched shut as hard as possible. "N-no. P-please don't hur-" He can't finish his sentence before breaking down into sobs. A sliver of guilt worms its way into me, this kid sounds eerily similar to a cousin of mine I used to babysit. If I closed my eyes, maybe I could imagine I'm cleaning up a dropped ice cream as he cries about the loss of his midday dessert. Elliot's ever calm voice pulls me out of the haze of emotions I found myself in. "Gordan." With a growl I push myself off the kid and sit back down on my slightly more comfortable area of rock. As Elliot speaks he pulls out three bowls and two spoons from his bag. "Gordan, I get it you're stressed out. Taking it out on Myles isn't gonna get us into safety any sooner, not to mention you're working against yourself in the information game." I wanted to find a reason he's wrong, but there was none. I just didn't want to feel like an overly emotional little girl. I hang my head in my hands, staring through my fingers and all the way out of this horrible situation. "I've only known the guy for two days, but I guess he was a better friend then I realized." Elliot takes a deep breath of the cheesy steam coming out of the jetboil in the middle of us. He kneels down, taking a spoon and filling up each bowl equally. "Don't mourn him yet. If the people here are capable of turning a human into a pony instantaneously, surely they can turn them back." His words cause my racing heart and mind to slowly throttle down. We can get Myles back... Our next movements form on my lips. "Myles said this Celestia figure turned everyone into ponies in this world, apparently so they could be one with harmony or some shit. Surely that means she'll have a lot of enemies, right? All we have to do is find a group of people who oppose Celestia and we should be golden to get Myles back." Instead of an answer in words, I get an answer in the form of a bowl full of hot alfredo placed on the stone in front of me. As I pick up the excessively priced titanium spoon and bring the pasta to my mouth, I can hear Elliot's response in my head. 'That's a big plan you've thought up, better eat up before we go out and save our friend then' For the first time in this new reality, a smile graces my face. Somehow I've found what I came here for. Adventure, adventure for a noble purpose even. I look up to see Myles slowly licking up the meal, looking between me and Elliot the entire time as if fearing we'll pounce on him for daring to eat. We'll get you back buddy. I swear to god you're going to reaffirm your title of walking hate crime. I must admit ever since the demonic humans from tartarus tore a rift into our dimension within the Everfree, life has been much more interesting. The conquering of Equus and the victory of friendship happened many centuries ago, it was painful learning of the militaristic history of Equestria without being able to actually take part in it. But finally a new enemy has come knocking on the princess's door and here I am to defend her. My heroic musings are cut off by several approaching hoofsteps. I quickly knock over my tower of cards I was building upon my desk and stuff them into a drawer. As the curtain of the tent is drawn aside, my heart sinks. Private granite looks as if the elements of harmony have all died, the pegasi who regularly patrol the Everfree don't look much better either. A cold, calculated rage seeps through my veins as I try to figure out what good pony I might have lost today. "Captain Armor, sir." The patrol leader pegasus steps forward, an obvious plea to explain some imperative information on his face. I sigh. "Go ahead." The pegasus gulps. "We had more encounters with cannon wielding humans." I grit my teeth. "One of them had the up until this point ubiquitous hoof sized cannons, but I believe the human was being escorted by either a human guardsman or soldier. Its cannon was much larger." I try my best to beat back my excited grin, I only barely succeed. If this is true, I'll have full rights to begin a counterattack and get revenge for my fallen stallions. I take a slow breath to calm myself and smother the heroic visions of myself being blessed by Celestia herself for my victory in the name of harmony. "I cannot give the green light to my guard unless we know for certain this is an organized attack instead of mere prodding, as we've experienced for the past three months." The idea seeps into my mind to simply lie and claim it is a soldier without certainty, but the concept of such betrayal entering my conscious makes me sick. The rookie clears his throat and speaks in a meek voice. "I-I'm not sure if it was, Captain Armor. H-he was dressed in colors and p-patterns that made him hard to see in the Everfree, it reminded me of a parade uniform. B-but..." His eyes flick between the pegasus and myself. Why is he so nervous? "I don't think it was a soldier, it didn't f-fire upon us until we cured one of its two friends of its lack of harmony, sir. It seemed to be just as uneducated of Equus as every other invader, sir." The pegasi behind the rookie all flinch and try their hardest not to glare at the earth pony, but it's obvious what they wanted from him. I can already see where this is going, best to put some reigns on these colts before they do something stupid. "Who did we lose, gentlecolts?" The rookie shrinks down, a distant expression overcoming his face. "Warding Shackle, Resilient Flame and Warm Welcome." I close my eyes. I knew Warm Welcome myself, we graduated boot camp together over a decade ago. He should never have been in the field, he was always best fit for a commanding role, yet he just couldn't stop himself from breaking the rules and getting himself demoted could he? No matter how many extra chances and special treatment I gave him he just ended up getting himself gunned down by these bucking demons. "Make sure Shackle and Flame's loved ones are notified, I will speak with Welcome's family myself." I steel myself, making sure I don't shed a tear and expose weakness in front of my stallions. "See to it that the rookie gets his rest, I want your pegasi to find this possible soldier and bring it to me for questioning." The pegasi's sour moods are lifted at my new task, evidently they misunderstood. "It shall not come to harm, do you understand?" The lead pegasus looks back to me with a disappointed expression, it takes him a moment, but he nods. I understand your anger, but if we can manage to bring in a solider for questioning we're going to get a giant boost in awareness of this new enemy. A prickle of dread claws into my barrel. Maybe I shouldn't notify Celestia if I do capture it? She always claimed the results of the interrogations gleaned no relevant information, but what if she's hiding something? I thrash my head from side to side. No! Celestia is perfect, she would never lie, that is completely ridiculous. I need some coffee, clearly my mind is not functioning correctly. I pull open the curtain with my magic and the sun stabs into my eyes as if attacking me. How long was I sitting in the command tent? I huff and plod my way in the direction of the cafeteria tent. I do my best to nod at every stallion who greets and salutes me as I pass, very quickly my neck starts to cramp from the effort. This camp only houses a few hundred guards, but we're all so packed in it feels like I'm back in a Canterlot market. Thankfully my ears are given reprieve as I step onto the less trodden down grass within the cafeteria. Standing in line to get some awfully mundane food is a lavender pony with a shamefully familiar slouch. I'm not sure whether I should smile that my sister is working her hardest for Equestria, or frown that she clearly isn't sleeping enough. I was very apprehensive of choosing her to be the field analyst because I knew technology from tartarus would keep her up 24/7. Too bad she succeeded in guilt tripping me into the position. I get in line behind her and make my presence known. "Hey BBBFF, how are things coming along with your research?" Twilight lazily turns to me with a lopsided grin, her eyes are bloodshot and her mane is the frizziest I have ever seen it. This means she's managed to discover something massive. Her voice is dry and strained. "O-oh hi shiny. I finally managed to find an alternative to the human's propellant compound. It's not nearly as capable I'm afraid, but with the substitute of unicorn magic over consistent pressure you should be able to equip your unicorn guards with rapid firing cannons within the mo-" Her update is cut short by her legs giving out and her eyes closing. She falls to the grass beneath her and immediately begins snoring. "Hold." Elliot puts out a hand behind himself to stop me from continuing. His once brightly colored clothing and backpack have since been smeared with mud as to prevent flying ponies from easily spotting us. Another river can be heard ahead. I push down my anxiety, thinking back to what happened last time we walked out next to a stream like this. After eating a warm meal Myles has been in a deep sleep, I'm sure as hell not complaining. All of a sudden I realize I'm stroking his mane. I scrunch up my face and put my right hand back on the strap keeping my rifle on my shoulder. You know, if these ponies weren't genocidal I'd love to have one as a pet, they're soft as fuck. I chuckle under my breath considering a jacket made of sentient pony fur, I'd totally wear that. Like a war trophy or something. A horrified shrieking echoes throughout the forest, I quickly lower Myles to the forest floor and shoulder my rifle. That sure as hell wasn't Elliot. "No, please! Have mercy! Have mercy I plead of you!" The voice sounds hysterical, it's a strange sort of upper-class accent I can't put my finger on. Whoever this guy is, he's really loud and he's scared for his life. My shoulders sag a little. He's scared? Good, that means Elliot is the one doing the intimidating. I swing the rifle back onto my shoulder and scoop up Myles back into my chest. Dodging around a few spindly trees and pushing my way through a light bush I come upon the strangest sight I have ever seen in my entire life. It's a dragon, or is it a serpent? It's absolutely massive, I can't even see the end of it under the green river it lies in. Above its purple, scaly lips is I shit you not, a multi colored mustache. The left half is purple and the right half is golden. Its hairdo is slicked back and shoulder height, if it had shoulders that is. Its flailing its four fingered hands about and crying as if the world is coming to an end. Elliot is standing a safe distance away as to avoid the intense waves its generating in its sporadic movements and earth trembling sobbing. I can barely hear Elliot's screaming voice over the cacophony of spraying water and hysterical crying. "I'm not going to hurt you! I'm giving you mercy, calm down!" He's waving his arms about to get its attention, which manages to work as the serpent all of a sudden stops its tantrum and freezes solid. "Y-you aren't a pony?" I raise an eyebrow at that. Did the ponies do something to this guy? "No, I'm not a pony. I don't know what the ponies did to hurt you, but I promise we're not on their side. By the way, do you by chance know of any rebel movements we can locate and join up with?" The serpent gasps and whips its head around the sky as if searching for a threat. It brings its head down to Elliot's level and whispers. "Do not speak of moving against her, you will be smitten. Smitten like every single creature in this dead forest." His previously exaggerated crying is replaced by silent streams of tears as the serpent's head comes to rest on the grass at Elliot's feet. I raise my eyebrows in realization. The only creatures I've noticed have been birds. No rabbits or squirrels or mice. Are the serpent's words true? Why would Celestia want to kill off so many animals? Elliot made my question known. "But why? Why would she want to kill animals in this forest?" The serpent lets out a pitiful whine. "For the sake of friendship and harmony she claims." The giant lizard throws out his arms in a show of exasperation. "Where in so much meaningless death can you find friendship! All of my friends, they're all d-d-d-dead!" The serpent accentuates his frustration with a powerful punch into the earth. The power behind his lanky fist is so forceful I'm almost bowled off my feet from the vibration. "All the manticore are gone!" BAM. "All the timber wolves are gone!" BAM. "No more ursa!" BAM. Elliot turns and motions to the other side of the river with hurried pointing. We need to get the fuck out of here ASAP. "The ancient Hydras were all slain!" BAM. I stumble and drop the somehow still sleeping Myles to the soaked grass, waking him up with a choked cry of alarm. I focus on just getting Myles and I across this river, every shake of the earth causing me to stumble and slide. Ahead of me Elliot is already pulling himself out of the murky water and jogging to the tree line ahead. He's going to need a new coat of mud now that it's all been washed off. I leap into the green depths, my body screaming at me in shock in an attempt to ward me back to land. Holy fucking shit, this water is freezing! I can hear Myles trying to speak, but every time he begins to get a word out his mouth dips below the waves and all I hear is bubbling. "Wiped out all the cute little parasprites!" Suddenly I feel like I'm upside down, I lose my grip of Myles and completely lose track of which way I should be swimming. Another explosion of force reverberates through the water, it sounds as if a meteor has crashed into the earth. I break the surface and take in a deep breath, I spot something flailing around ahead of me, trying not to sink. It takes all my energy with the loaded down backpack, rifle and clothing. But I force myself to grab the little pony by a leg and haul him up onto the other side of the river. He sputters and coughs, trying to rid his lungs of water. I grab onto tufts of grass and try to pull myself up, but the muscles in my arms simply don't have the energy. "Cute little cockatrice, all gone!" The subsequent earthquake jostles my grip and I find myself sinking into the river. I try to unclasp my pack but my fingers are rapidly growing numb from the freezing temperature of the water. My lungs begin to hurt as I hopelessly kick my legs out beneath me to try and propel myself up to get air. I reach both my hands up, hoping something will save me. My prayer is answered as an orange blob shimmers into being above the water, two arms reach in and grasp my wrists. I ascend from my watery tomb, subsequently being thrown through the air and into the dirt. I cough, expelling a frightening amount of water from my lungs. "We need to go, get up." Apparently I didn't react quick enough as Elliot grabs me by the handle on my pack and drags me singlehandedly into the tree line, my shoes creating twin grooves in the earth as I'm pulled along. My eyes dart around, looking for the blue furry form of Myles among the glistening blades of grass. I try and replace my coughing and spluttering with words, but all I manage is a few sounds that resemble a questioning bark. "I have Myles, he's fine." I let out a cough of thanks and slap his hand off my pack. I roll onto my stomach, slowly pushing myself up onto my now wobbly legs. I can still hear the serpent going on about the extinct species he used to live with, even though the guy almost indirectly killed me I feel pity for him. The more I learn of this Celestia bitch the more I feel the need to call in a JDAM strike on her. I groan as I realize my firearms are now dripping wet inside and out. Oh well, looks like I'm going to be field stripping everything as I walk. Elliot forced me to pick up the pace a fair bit after the Serpent alerted every pony and their mother that something was going on. No doubt there's already a squad of flying ponies either interrogating or simply killing that serpent this very minute. I pull the bandanna in and out of the barrel with much more vigor then is necessary at the thought of them killing that poor bastard. Myles said we ended up in heaven? I don't know how he knew this place existed, but we're clearly in the wrong Equestria. This place is like Serbia in 1999, it's like Cambodia under Pol Pot. This place fucking sucks. I understand it's my fault I'm here, I wanted an adventure in a different, hostile dimension. But I sure as hell didn't expect to face down the pony version of Hitler and Stalin combined! I look down at my watch, time is 1521. I wonder when the sun sets in this world? I sure would love to travel under the cover of darkness, but It makes sense we should be focusing on getting distance from the pony towns over being sneaky right now. "I'm borrrreed, I wanna play ball!" I let out a droning sigh at yet another childish complaint for stimulation by the blue bastard. I look down at the now very dry sixteen inch barrel in my grip. That about does it in stopping my gats from becoming brown hunks of rusty junk. Upon putting my rifle together again, I tap Elliot on the shoulder and we switch places so I'm up front. He's still got his compass out so we don't end up walking around in aimless circles, which is easier to do then you'd think when you're in such a dense forest. I step around a large patch of bushes, through some trees I see a grey wall. Great, what now? "I spot something." Elliot's footfalls come to a stop behind me. "Put me down I d-" Myles complaint is muffled by what is probably just Elliot clapping a hand over the kids muzzle. I crouch down with my rifle chambered, creeping forward the grey wall expands up and outward until I get an idea of how big this building is. It's a goddamn castle. It's in a big clearing with a moat around it. It looks positively ancient, creeping vines have covered up a good portion of the lower levels, a lot of the walls and towers look ready to fall in on themselves with cracks and giant pieces simply missing. Is there any reason for us to go inside this thing? It probably has some giant dragon guarding a legendary horde of treasure or some other fairy tale bullshit. I pull my left hand off the magwell of my rifle and motion for Elliot to come up to me. I hear his still slightly squelchy shoes come up behind me where he proceeded to make a noise of contemplation. I think I can guess what he's thinking. "It's only three pm dude, surely we should keep going for another four hours or so before finding a place to shack up." Elliot lets out a bemused huff. "No, you clearly don't see it." He leans over my right shoulder and points at the far corner of one of the moats. It's very dark under dense canopy, but going across the chasm are the outlines of three thick ropes. I furrow my brows. "Why is that important? Someone's living here ya think?" I keep my optic trailing over the numerous windows, arrow slits and holes dotted among the walls. Elliot seems a bit annoyed with my response. "Yes there's someone living there, humans. That bridge couldn't possibly be used by a pony. We've found ourselves the rebels we were looking for." I narrow my eyes. "What if it's a trap intended to lure humans on the run like us?" All of a sudden the confused face of Myles fills my vision. "Ponies don't trap humans, they would never trap anypony." I roll my eyes. An idea pops to mind. What if we use Myles as our trap detector? Ponies wouldn't kill a lost pony kid. But humans would though. I hiss through my teeth, causing Myles to cower to the forest floor. I stand up and look to Elliot, before I say anything he nods, gesturing to the castle. Well, here goes nothing. Stepping out into the clearing, I feel more than a little exposed. I've only ever been in a clearing twice in my time on this planet and both times involved my near death. I wonder if I should cross the bridge into the castle or just yell out if anyone's in there? If there are humans in there, they wouldn't shoot me right? Would they even have guns? A few of them would, not uncommon for hikers to carry handguns to defend themselves against grizzly bears. No, I don't want to surprise them. I slink back into the forest, getting a confused look from Elliot. I clear my throat and project my voice at a level just below a yell. "Hello, friendly in Cherno!" I scoff at the stupidity of my statement versus the intensity of the situation. But if anyone in that castle knows the reference I'm in the clear. Elliot makes a weird face at my statement, but I'm focused on listening out for a response. I hear nothing but silence for a while, then a quiet male voice responds from the direction of the castle. "Come out into the open." I wish I could tell if someone was a pony or a human merely by listening to them speak, but sadly no such distinction can be made with this guy. I look over to Elliot, his face doesn't betray any particular emotion. I take a breath in and sling my AR over my shoulder, hands up in the air to show I'm not a threat. I walk out at a steady pace into the grassy clearing. My eyes trail over the castle walls but I don't see anything. The voice comes from somewhere high up. "Are you an American soldier?" "No." Silence. Another, younger voice comes from the wall, yet still I can't see them. "What did you mean by friendly in Cherno?" Ah, I can prove I'm human. "It's a Dayz reference, I know what a video game is because I'm a red blooded human being. I'm here with two buddies looking for some help and shelter." A human face emerges from an arrow slit four stories up. The guy looks like a teenager, maybe fifteen years old. He narrows his eyes at me before he spies the rifle on my back. He makes a strained gasping noise before disappearing into the shadows once more. I grit my teeth. Please don't gun me down for my shiny black rifle. I hear a very distant, echoing conversation between multiple people inside the castle walls. I can't really pinpoint where it's actually coming from. I don't enjoy just standing here being spied on by people who probably drilled tiny little peek holes in the walls to avoid detection. I feel a hundred sets of eyes surveying my every move, every blink of my eyes is another opportunity for my life to be forfeit. Up at the very top of the castle wall a wonky ladder begins rising up, it looks like it's made of sticks and rope. It somehow keeps growing taller and taller, this ladder must be as tall as the entire castle! It pitches down and is awkwardly lowered by multiple sets of arms down to the dirt below. Well, looks like we're in the clear. I hear Footsteps behind me and Elliot walks right on past and toward the rope bridge on the opposite end of the clearing. I realize Myles is still in his arms, I lock up for a moment in fear of the people in the castle freaking out about a pony being here, but all I hear is the same low level muffled conversation. Maybe this is like a human refugee camp and for the past three months of people disappearing a bunch of them ended up holing up here? It would make sense if there's a few human turned pony kids in there. I should really look on the bright side of my adventure. Things have been really shitty so far, sure. But we've finally found other people! With my rifle, maybe I'll even be the tip of the spear against Celestia. I smile like a goofy idiot as I make my way over to the rope bridge. I land with a shower of mist upon an angry looking cloud, I'm quickly followed by four of my stallions. Somewhere far below us two tartarus humans and one new-foal travel under the canopy. It's not the easiest job to track them ever since the bright orange human did something to stop being so bright, but it's no great challenge after three months of experience tracking creatures like them. "Sir, they're heading toward some kind of old castle." I tilt my head to the side in confusion. I've heard nothing of an old castle out in the Everfree, although we are incredibly deep in right now. The pegasus to my right hoofs over his spyglass and I look down it, trailing the horizon to see what castle he's speaking of. Aha.