//------------------------------// // Ch. 6 - Long Lost and Found // Story: The Witching Hour - Looking Forward to the Past // by Chaotic Ink //------------------------------// “Do you think Shoal will be back soon?” Windrunner asked as she, Midnight, Private Ghostly Fire, Private Milk Run, and Lieutenant Steel Ore made their way through the Everfree Forest from the Castle of the Two Sisters (current unofficial title: Fort Brown Alert) back to town. Midnight and Windrunner were returning to Ponyville after observing the ongoing training going on there, the privates were on their way to relieve some of their comrades on shift in town, and Steel Ore was heading back to the current barracks for more supplies. Midnight wanted training to be hard so that her guard was ready for the next evil-in-a-can that decided to pop up and required the elements to put down. After what they all went through up in the Crystal Empire, no-one argued with the regiment. Midnight throwing herself into the training as well, thus leading by example, helped with motivation enough that even the usual suspects were barely complaining. Even Ore was more impressed than annoyed at all the, mostly small, injuries the guards were accumulating, her only complaint being that her medical station still wasn’t moved into the old castle. “The princesses say there was a lot left behind when Celestia moved the capital to Canterlot,” Midnight had explained to the exasperated medic, “and that it’s going to take time to just set up a sorting system in Canterlot Castle to deal with the influx, let alone organizing a recovery group and actually getting everything out of it before we have full run of the place.” Midnight shared Ore’s frustration at how slow their new HQ was being set up, right now only useful as a training area, but the princesses had also informed her there were very dangerous traps set up in certain, forbidden areas and she didn’t want any of her guards setting them off unnecessarily. Better to just tell everyone they were restricted by the princesses and not to go there under pain of severe punishment. Makers knew who would hear the word “traps” and decide to be an amateur Daring Do. Making sure that particular word didn’t reach a certain rainbow-maned pegasus was half the reason alone. “As long s she’s back by the time the princesses arrive, she can take all the time she wants. Not like we can really use her in training anyway when she can just sit on the castle to win,” Midnight said with an eye roll. The two privates chuckled. Shoal was off picking up a large seafood order from Long Line, at Midnight’s and the princesses’ request, for an upcoming meeting with delegates from Saddle Arabia. Since they didn’t have access to seafood considering their country was a desert, Celestia and Luna had thought it would be a good idea to impress the delegates they were bringing back with them with such rare treats. It was felt that with Shoal flying high into the cold sky, the large amount of fish would stay fresh longer, so she’d been asked. She agreed, saying she’d leave early and take her time getting there so that she could see more of Equestria. “You think Doppler and Cricket will be okay back there?” Midnight asked, turning to Ore. “Those two? I don’t know if it’s because they’re such great mimics or because they’re naturally gifted but they’re taking to the job like ducks to water. At this point I’d be comfortable letting them handle some of the more serious stuff on their own; a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises should be pieces of cake for them.” She looked particularly proud of her assistants. That was good to hear. It always made Honey feel good to know one of her changelings was doing well in a new job and would be one less thing for her to worry about. Midnight was always glad to hear it as well, each time reinforcing her own personal belief that, for all its flaws, Ponyville was indeed the little slice of heaven she’d come to know it as. She was just thinking of making that evening a little more romantic with Sapphire when Private Tart Cart came flying down the path toward them like a roc was on her tail. “Captain, First Lieutenant!” she huffed as she came to a halt mid-air in from of them, “something is going down in town! Someone is attacking some of the bearers! Corporal Scarlet Claw and Sergeant Brick Break are already on the scene with some others and they said to come back and get you!” “First Lieutenant, head back and get the rest! Double time it! Lieutenant, get your supplies and meet us in town ASAP! Privates, you’re with me!” Midnight barked her orders quickly and was on the wing with the others in seconds. “What’s the nature of the attacker?” she asked over the leathery snap of her quickly beating wings. “Unicorn mare. Was flinging spells left and right until some of the bearers stepped forward, they seemed to know her. Almost immediately she began attacking them, though she seemed more intent on humiliating them than actually hurting them,” Tart reported. Midnight flicked through a mental list of who she knew the bearers as a whole could have bothered enough to warrant this and was coming up blank. Luna was an alicorn, Discord and Screwball were chaos creatures, Sombra was dead, and Chrysalis was a changeling queen. Yes, Chrysalis could be in disguise but why draw attention to herself like this when Midnight was sure she’d rather pick off the bearers, and probably Honeycomb and herself, one by one and from the shadows? The only other non-threats to Equestria she knew of with bad blood with the lot of them were that griffon, Gilda, and the Flim-Flam Brothers, neither of which were both a unicorn and female. “Anyone pick up a name?” “She was shouting a long title and rolling her Rs a lot, but I didn’t hear any name clearly,” Tart explained. “She’s pale blue with a frosted blue mane, if that helps.” It didn’t. Regardless, they needed to get to town ASAP and the buildings were just coming into view through the trees. ----------------------------- “This shade of brown should only be used for accents!” Rarity shrieked as Midnight and the others made it to the gathering in town square. She and the three privates had picked up some other guards on the way there who confirmed that the word was spreading to everyone, on duty or not, to get their flanks to the scene and be ready to fight. They came in over and through the crowd, who parted to let them pass when they saw who it was. “What’s going on here?” Midnight called out as she landed, then saw AJ and Pinkie with Rarity as they retreated towards the edge of the crowd. “Oh, Midnight! Thank goodness you’re here! Look what that BEAST put me in!” She stepped away from the other two and posed for Midnight to see. The kirin just stared at the dress with a raised eyebrow. While her mother might be someone in the fashion industry, the eye for it had not been passed down to her eldest. “I demand you lock her up and throw away the key!” Midnight looked towards where Rarity was pointing and saw a powder blue unicorn with something red and black around her neck facing off with Scarlet and Brick Break who looked ready to strike but didn’t move. “And what else has she done?” Midnight finally asked just as Twilight, Spike, Dash, and Fluttershy made it onto the scene, followed by several more guards and the town’s tiny, three-pony police force. “Well, she jus’ showed up in the square and did somethin’ to the cupcakes Pinkie was carryin’ and they started attackin’ her, then when I told her to cut it out she bound me up in mah lasso and spun me like a top!” AJ said. Now that Midnight looked there were indeed some frosting smudges all over Pinkie and AJ looked a little green. “Alright, we’ll handle it,” Midnight told them, walking around them towards Brick Break and Scarlet and tried not to look annoyed. Tart Cart had seemed worried but from what she’d been told it sounded like some dumb prankster. Then again, the two guards already on scene had to be ready to attack because of something. “Report,” she said as she came up to them. “There’s something weird about her, captain,” Brick said, not relaxing from his combat stance. “When she first attacked Miss Pie the corporal and I jumped at her but she just pushed us away with her magic like we were nothing. Don’t know any normal magic user that can do something like that.” “It’s the necklace or amulet or whatever she’s wearing,” Scarlet provided, “whenever she uses magic both it and her eyes light up along with her horn.” She shook her head. “She won’t let us get close enough to grab it and after we try she attacks another bearer. Her name’s Trixie, by the way, with an obnoxious title she keeps repeating.” Midnight nodded, wondering what was going to happen this time, then addressed the mare. “I am Midnight Storm, Captain of the Bearer Guard, and it is my duty to inform you that by assaulting the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony without provocation, you are committing a serious crime. Cease using magic immediately and surrender yourself or you will be stopped by force.” The mare, Trixie, ignored her and looked at something over her shoulder. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” “You call all that “great and powerful”? That’s the same lame tricks you did last time!” Rainbow called out. Trixie powered up her horn and Midnight indeed saw the eyes and amulet light up but she stood her ground, getting into a combat stance with a growl, shifting the unicorn’s attention from the pegasus to her. Powered up or not, this Trixie’s magic would do diddly to her and after confirming for herself that the mare was indeed not coming quietly, she’d fly over, pin her to the ground, yank off the amulet and have the others cart her off to the police station where she’d be dealt with. As expected, she felt the magic envelop her and in another second she’d shrug it off and enjoy the look of confusion on Trixie’s face before she took her down. What she didn’t expect was for the magic to get a firm grip on her, pick her up, and throw her into Scarlet, the two of them bowling into more guards who’d just arrived. This was quickly followed by Rainbow wobbling by overhead, one wing significantly larger than the other. Picking herself and then Scarlet up, she grunted as she watched Trixie turn her magic on Snips and Snails next. “Okay, not good.” “Midnight, only an alicorn-!” Scarlet said. “Or a changeling queen can do that to me, I know,” Midnight finished for her, not liking the implications. “That amulet needs to come off yesterday. Pass the word: three-sixty staggered attack. Someone has to get through and rip it off her. I also want all the unicorns we have to hit her with as many stunning spells as they can.” Scarlet nodded and turned to began informing the others of the plan. Midnight moved towards Twilight, who Trixie was approaching. “Me and you, a magic duel. Winner stays while the loser has to leave Ponyville forever!” Trixie said, her eyes glowing read again. “Forget it! I’d never make a deal like that!” Twilight shot back. “And even if she did, I wouldn’t allow it to happen anyway,” Midnight said, coming up and standing next to Twilight. “Once again, stop resisting and come quietly. You’re outnumbered and no matter how powerful you think you are, there’s more of us than you can possibly hope to handle.” All around them the members of the guard closed in, both in the air and on the ground. Each was a different distance away, that way even if she used an area of effect attack, not everyone would get caught in it and some would make in to her before she could cast another one. All of their unicorns had their horns glowing and ready. Midnight raised an eyebrow at her. “Your call.” Trixie acted like she was thinking about it. “Hmm, how about… NO!” Her horn glowed and Spike was quickly compressed into a ball that started bouncing all on his own. The guard sprung forward, all aiming to dog pile the mare to stop her as stunning spells flew. Trixie used her magic to knock the closest of them back and deflect the first volley of spells but the others bore in, slamming into her from all sides, only to bounce off of her like she was rubber. As she charged in herself, Midnight saw that Trixie had a layer of red magic all over her that the others were just bouncing off as they tried to tackle her that was also deflecting the stunning spells, making others duck and dodge out of the way. A clear shot opened up and both Midnight and Spine, who’d come in at a different angle, shot jets of fire at her hooves, hoping the heat would at least make her focus on the flames enough that she’d drop her shield to deal with it. No dice. She simply let off another AOE spell that pushed back the flames as well as another charge. “Enough!” Trixie yelled, “You all need a TIME OUT!” Another blast and this time all the guards were locked into several lines of magical stockades, with Midnight and Spine having muzzles strapped to their faces and the unicorns having magical suppressants stuck on their horns. “My business is with Twilight Sparkle and NO-ONE is going to interfere!” “Why are you doing this!?” Twilight yelled, shocked Trixie was letting things get this far. “Because you humiliated me! After what you did with that Ursa Minor I became a laughing stock, practically run out of every town I visited after that! I had to take a job on a rock farm just to get by!” “You’re lucky a rock farm would take in the likes of you!” Pinkie shouted from where she was trying to free one of the guards alongside the officers who’d stayed back to let the guard handle the overpowered unicorn. “Especially if they knew how you’d start acting! And another thing, I-!” she was cut off when her mouth was magically zipped up and a lock snapped onto the zipper. “I want revenge, Twilight Sparkle, and I’ll keep casting spells on everyone in Ponyville until you agree to duel me!” Twilight looked around at her friends and the guard. All except Fluttershy had been targets of whatever “revenge” Trixie had in mind, though from the sound of it Twilight was her real target. Alarmingly, the Bearer Guard was completely incapable of stopping her, her magic even blowing Midnight over like she was nothing. How had Trixie gotten so much more powerful? “Well?” Trixie pressed. “Fine, let’s duel,” Twilight begrudgingly agreed, giving everyone an apologetic glance. Several more guards had arrived but they were either putting themselves in front of the other bearers or trying to free their fellow guards. “Excellent! Remember: winner stays, loser is banished forever!” “Fine!” The crowd backed up a little as the two mares took up positions. Midnight watched from her place in the magic stockades, fuming. Every other time the guard had gone into action, they’d been able to do something, be it holding off Discord’s s’mores army, beating back changelings, or holding large, animated crystal statues back from overrunning and entire empire. Now, somehow they weren’t able to do anything against a unicorn on an ego trip! Granted, she’d somehow gotten an amulet that let her gain the power of an alicorn and it made Midnight wonder how a fight with Nightmare Moon would have gone down, but for them to stand against such previous foes only to be swatted aside as easily as annoying gnats by someone so seemingly innocuous leaving their only hope in Twilight rankled something fierce. The muzzle didn’t help. She grunted as Blackberry bucked at a spot of the magical stockade between her and Long Spine. “Sorry ma’am, but the weapons aren’t having much of an effect,” the sergeant apologized, motioning to where several others were hacking away with swords and hoof blades to little, if any, affect. If she could, she’d have told them all to stop and to just keep an eye on any possible openings Trixie might give them. Maybe when she and Twilight finally got the duel going she’d let her guard down enough for someone to sweep in and remove the amulet. “DRAW!” Trixie yelled and shot a magic bolt at Twilight. Midnight struggled in her bonds again but nothing gave way or even budged. From what she could see Spine was even trying to lift the stockade but that, too, was failing as if Trixie had bolted them all to the ground. She huffed as she gave up the struggle and watched the magic fly. Twilight was Celestia’s student after all; even against someone with alicorn magic Twilight should be able to find a way to beat her, right? And it was thanks to her that Nightmare Moon and Discord had been defeated, so… Trixie took another shot but instead of aiming at Twilight, her red beam struck a nearby Snips and Snails who were both lifted into the air as the red magic enveloped them. When it cleared and they were let back down, Snips was now a baby and Snails an old stallion. Jaws dropped and several gasps could be heard. Midnight had certainly never seen Twilight practice magic like that, though such spells didn’t seem that farfetched to the kirin. Twilight had done that time spell the week Cerberus had come to town, after all. “An age spell? But only the most powerful unicorns and princesses can do magic like that!” Twilight said in a tone Midnight did not like the implications of. Trixie merely buffed her amulet with a smug smile. “Are you saying you give up?” Twilight gave a resolute huff and activated her magic, lifting Snips and Snails into the air again and trying to reverse Trixie’s spell. From the very beginning it was obvious Twilight was struggling and Midnight and the others once again began to try and break their bonds. Twilight’s magic flared as it began to envelop the two, putting all her magical strength into the spell. Then her horn flickered, grew brighter, flickered again, then gave out entirely, dropping Snips and Snails, unchanged, to the ground and leaving Twilight magically spent. “Trixie IS the most powerful unicorn!” The powder blue mare crowed. “And since you’ve lost, you have to leave Ponyville FOREVER!” Plans began rushing through Midnight’s head. ‘Okay, so Twilight has to leave; not a big deal as Trixie can’t really enforce it. Even if we can’t figure out a way to take her down ourselves, both Celestia and Luna will be here in a few days and I’d bet gems she can’t take them BOTH on. I can ask about anti-alicorn measures after that, though they might not want to share that kind of stuff. And to Tartarus with the amulet, if she has no horn then she can’t… wait…’ Midnight was suddenly aware that she and every other guard were now floating. Looking around, she also realized that the stockades were gone as well. Twilight was also being levitated with them. “You fools!” Trixie said with a sneer, “she’s already-HEY!” Somehow, some way, Private Umbra Shroud had sneaked in close to Trixie through the shadows on the ground and now had a grip on the amulet around Trixie’s neck. It wasn’t coming off, however, and Trixie’s horn flared. “And you stupid guards can GET LOST TOO!” She yanked Umbra away then used her magic to hurl all the guards and Twilight away from the square and over the houses and buildings of the town. As they flew, the flyers’ wings still stuck in Trixie’s magical grip, Midnight could see that they were being tossed towards the Everfree on the North-East side of town where there was a plain between the town and the forest. As soon as they soared over the last house, Trixie’s magic finally released them and the flyers quickly got their wings together and bolted to help their non-flying comrades before they slammed into the trees or the ground. Midnight caught Corporal Lance Breaker while Private Gusty Glow was able to catch Twilight. As everyone safely landed on the ground, there was a flash of magic over the town and what looked like a ginormous fishbowl lowered itself over it. Midnight and several of the others shot forward to try and get back under it but it landed with a *THUD* before they could. Midnight growled as blue flares erupted from her hooves and everyone got clear as she transformed. When she was fully wyvern she first tried to pick the dome up but she could barely get a grip as the bowl had sunk into the ground when it landed. She tried hammering it with her body, claws, and tail, followed up with a sustained blast of fire but she barely left a mark on the glass. Huffing and growling, she changed back into a kirin. “First Lieutenant!” Midnight called out, looking around for Windrunner. If a wyvern couldn’t do much, maybe a wyvern AND a huge dragon could, seafood be damned. “Windrunner!” she called again when the dusty brown pegasus didn’t show. “Ma’am!” Sergeant Star Claw said as he came forward, “when Trixie threw us, some of us went wide.” He cringed and said apologetically, “I saw the First Lieutenant and a few others hit some houses.” Everyone flinched sympathetically. “Now what?” someone asked. “Now we figure out a way back under that dome,” Midnight told them, “obviously my brute strength alone won’t work and without the First Lieutenant or Rainbow Dash no-one will be able to catch up with Shoal before she’s already on her way back.” “Can I just point out that even if we get back in there that we still don’t know how to take this Trixie out?” Spread Eagle said. “Can I point out that you’re not helping?” Wild Mane growled. “Well, even if we get back in there, what’s stopping her from turning us all into babies or feeble old ponies? How are we supposed to stop her then? Drool on her?” He asked. “Something’s strange about Trixie,” Twilight said, “even as boastful as she was last time, now it’s like she’s just plain nasty.” “It was that amulet she had,” Scarlet said, “it lit up whenever her horn did; in the same color, too.” “Hmm… I think I might have seen it before…” Twilight said, tapping her temple as she tried to remember. As she thought, Midnight closed her eyes, only to stagger a moment later as if she’d been slapped. “Captain?” Night Sky asked but Midnight waved her away. “I was trying to contact Arina but the second I tried it felt like something hit me. The barrier must be magic-proof, too.” She snorted at it, sighed, then turned back to face everyone. “Alright, what we’re going to do now is head back to the castle, regroup and recover, and tonight we’re going to probe the edges of this barrier. If there is a weak spot in it, it’ll be safest to find at night. As for what we’ll do when we get back inside,” she looked over at Twilight, “there’s a good chance Twilight Sparkle has a book in her library that identifies what Trixie has that’s powering her. She finds out how to stop it, we do it, end of crisis. We might even get lucky and those left on the inside will come up with something at the same time. If all else fails, we’ll simply have to wait for Shoal and the princesses to arrive. Let’s move!” ----------------------------- “Well your highness, all I can ask is that you don’t put me out of a job,” Lieutenant Steel Ore said as she did a finale once over of her patients. First Lieutenant Windrunner, Sergeant Brick Break, and Privates Strawberry, Smooth Stone, Autumn Pillar, Tart Cart, and Umbra Shroud had all been brought in after having been thrown into buildings instead of out of town like the rest. While nothing was life threatening, some would take a while to heal. Honeycomb had been just starting lunch with Sapphire and Squeaks when the remaining bearers and some of the changelings who worked in town had come running by carrying the wounded, one changeling stopping in to tell them what happened. When Honey saw how bad her housemate and the other guards were hurt, she immediately went about casting healing spells on them. From what her changelings had breathlessly told her, they couldn’t afford to have anyone down for the count. “I only want to help,” Honey told the medic, “and I hope the others are okay.” “Doppler and Cricket never made it back, so I assume they’re still out there with the others,” Ore said, “if any of them are hurt, those two will do a good job patching them up.” “The real question is what do we do now?” Sergeant Brick Break said as he finished testing a previously hurt leg. “We can’t just sit back and do nothing.” “But what can we do, sergeant?” Sapphire asked, absently stroking a worried Squeaks with a wing. After hearing about what had gone down, Arina had tried to connect with Midnight, only to jerk back like she’d been hit by something hard. It had made both ponies even more concerned and the young thestral had kept the spider on her head. “Trixie has the power of an alicorn; how exactly do you expect to fight that?” “Well, to be fair, Queen Chrysalis took on Princess Celestia and won, so…” he said, glancing over at Honey. Several changelings, all of whom had been able to fit into the mostly empty barracks, bristled. “Queen Honeycomb is not your backup plan, nor do you have any right to ask!” Mandible said hotly. “And yet this town is our home and the ponies have been more than welcoming, not to mention that yourself, Verpine, Trill, and Buzz all owe the Bearer Guard service,” Honey retorted. “As the sergeant said, we cannot just stand by and do nothing.” “Beatin’ her is only half the battle, Honey,” Applejack said, “even if ya do, we don’t know how ta remove that amulet she’s usin’.” “Maybe beating her is how it comes off, like it recognizes someone’s stronger than the pony using it now and will want a new owner.” Rainbow suggested. “That’s too risky; if she takes Honey out then we really don’t have a backup plan,” Windrunner said. “The best thing we can do is lay low until the captain comes up with something." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Aren’t the princesses supposed to be arriving in a few days?” Sapphire nodded. “With delegates from Saddle Arabia, though. If they have to fight, it might cause an international incident if they get hurt.” “We could always blame Trixie and let them punish her,” Private Smooth Stone suggested, but a look from her superiors wiped the grin off her face. “If we can’t do anything to directly stop that fashion monster, then why don’t we try and find out what exactly that amulet is?” Rarity suggested. “Surely Twilight has a book on such things?” “There isn’t exactly a “Dummies Guide to Evil Amulets”,” Spike said, “we’d have to check every book in the library until we found it and that will take a while.” “So? It’s not like Trixie is summoning us or anything,” Dash said. “ATTENTION PONYVILLE!” Trixie’s voiced boomed from outside, “THE GREAT AND ALL POWERFUL TRRRRRRIXE DEMANDS THAT APPLEJACK, RAINBOW DASH, RARITY, PINKIE PIE, AND FLUTTERSHY ALL REPORT TO THE TOWN HALL IMMEDIATELY! FAIL TO SHOW UP IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES AND ONE OF YOUR HOMES WILL BE USED AS A NEW PIG FARM! THAT IS ALL!” “Eh heh,” Rainbow mumbled as they all gave her a look. “What in tarnation does she want now?” AJ grumbled. The members of the bearer guard looked torn. “We can’t just let them go,” Tart Cart said. “And what are we supposed to do?” Strawberry asked. As everyone looked around, unsure what to do, flashes of green light came from the crowd of changelings and there were now doubles of the summoned bearers in the room. “Wait!” Honey said, realizing what they were doing. “As you said, your highness, this town has done a lot for us,” the changeling who had turned into Applejack said, “and we can’t just sit back and watch.” “We promise to be as careful as can be,” the Fluttershy double said. “Besides, we have no idea what we’re looking for in those books, so how useful would we be doing that?” the Pinkie with the unzipped mouth added. “HMMM HM HMMMM!” Original Pinkie mumbled, her mouth still zipped up. Honey reached out with her magic, fumbled with the lock on the zipper, then popped it open and unzipped her mouth. “THANK YOU!” Pinkie cried, immediately stuffing her mouth with a cupcake. The Pinkie double made sense; only the remaining bearers, Spike, and the remaining guards knew what Trixie’s amulet looked like. At least until the others got a look at it. Honey bit her lip, not liking the idea of putting her changelings in who knew what kind of danger but she finally nodded and turned to Mandible. “You and Buzz go with them. If Trixie does anything too harsh…” “Understood, my queen,” he said with a bow. “The rest of you, that barrier is keeping the town’s best magic user and the rest of the guard from returning. Get in disguise and see if it has any weak points. Report back immediately if you discover anything. Above all, be safe,” Honey stressed. All the remaining changelings bowed and flashed green, entering their pony disguises. “Alright,” Windrunner said, “the sooner we start searching, the sooner we find out what we’re dealing with.” Spike let out a defeated sigh. “Reshelving is going to be a nightmare.” ----------------------------- “Anything yet?” Midnight asked a while later as their march through the Everfree continued. She and Twilight had fallen into step together as the group walked along one of the paths she and her guard had carved through the forest. There weren’t many and they more or less formed a box shape that one could connect from Midnight’s home to the castle to Zecora’s and then back to town with a few deviations here and there for reasons. Currently they were on a path that cut through the center of the square to get straight back to the castle instead of the long way past Zecora’s hut. “No, sorry,” the unicorn apologized, “it’s like it’s right there on the tip of my tongue but I just can’t get it.” Midnight hummed in understanding. “I hope everyone back in town will be alright. I know you’re probably really worried about Sapphire and Squeaky,” Twilight said. To her surprise Midnight made a so-so motion. “I am and I’m not. Trixie seemed to just be after you bearers, you most of all, and with you gone I think that my girls will at least be safe as long as they don’t cross her and I know they’ll both keep their heads down. Plus with Honey and her changelings still in town, I think they’ll be safe,” she snorted, “but yeah, I’m not thrilled leaving them there.” “You did get a bit violent as a wyvern back there.” Midnight snorted again, then tilted her head just enough to look up at the sky. “What are-” Twilight started, turning her own head to look up. “Don’t look,” Midnight snapped and Twilight quickly looked forward again. “It’s probably nothing but that blue bird has been following us ever since we came into the forest and I don’t like it.” “Have you fought with birds like that before?” Twilight asked. Despite living next to the Everfree and visiting a friend IN the forest, she’d never taken the time to properly study the flora and fauna of the area. She made a mental note to see about changing that. “No and it looks less like it’s stalking us and more like it’s just observing us. Never seen a bird do that before, though. I doubt it’s Trixie’s as it’s blue, not red, but…” the kirin trailed off, then motioned for Scarlet to come over. When she told the hippogriff what was going on, her fellow hybrid took a discrete look of her own. “It’s definitely following us, which isn’t normal,” she agreed, “what’s more, it’s a phoenix.” “But it’s blue,” Midnight pointed out. Scarlet shrugged. “Animals can be different colors, like albinos, for one example. I saw a green phoenix once.” “So why would it be following us?” Midnight asked. “That I have no idea. It’s not stalking us, more just like following us, like if one of us were its owner.” Midnight’s ear twitched. As a rule, you always felt like something was watching you in the Everfree, usually because something was watching you more often than not, so while not ignoring the feeling outright, she’d chalked it up to the normal feeling of the forest. Now, however… “Want me to slip off and check?” Scarlet asked, coming to the same conclusion. “We both will, me on the left and you on the right. When we pass under some canopy, we move. Stay on the side of the path and let everyone pass, then count to sixty. If nothing shows up, then fine. If not, everyone is less than a minute away. Pass the word.” As Scarlet melded back into the group, Twilight asked, “won’t that be dangerous? What if it’s a manticore or another owlursus?” “Scarlet and I will be on opposite sides of the path in the trees but still very close to each other. If one of us get’s jumped the other will be right there. Everyone is going at a walking pace now so if we get in trouble you all will be less than a minute away if you run. Worse comes to worse, I can still go wyvern.” Midnight told her. “Just be careful; we still have Trixie to deal with.” In a few minutes the whole group knew the plan and Midnight and Scarlet were in position. As soon as they passed under some branches and were out of sight, they both ducked off the path and, as silently as possible, shot up into some tree branches and hid as best as possible. The group soon passed and both hybrids went into hunting mode. By the count of thirty Midnight was beginning to think she had just been paranoid and that the phoenix was just weird when something moved in the undergrowth near her. As she focused on the spot she could see leaves and grass rustling but not much else. She could make out that there was something, but not its size or intent. She caught Scarlet’s eye and pointedly looked down below her where the thing was passing under her tree. The hippogriff made a slight nod of understanding and tensed. Midnight also tensed as she prepared to spring. Closer now, she could see that it was smaller than her but close to the size of a normal pony. It had plants covering it so it was difficult to tell what exactly the thing was. Well, only one way to find out. She stepped off the branch as if she was about to fall on a deer and several things happened immediately. The blue phoenix came rocketing into the trees, squawking and aiming right for her. Scarlet launched from her own perch across the path right towards them, making her own screech to startle it away from Midnight, and whatever was below realized it had walked into an ambush and tried to jump out from under Midnight. The blue phoenix was indeed startled out of its attack and Scarlet was even able to grab it as she passed while Midnight angled herself at the last moment. She wouldn’t fall directly onto of whatever it was, but she’d still be close enough to grab it when she landed. In fact she landed on part of whatever was covering it, tripping the thing as it tried to bolt away and allowing her to get a good, firm grip on it with her jaws before she tossed it onto the path where it took a hard landing, the noise of the bird and hippogriff drawing the rest of the guard back quickly. She pounced on her target, again biting the covering, which she realized it was a cloak covered in well-made camouflage, and pulled back in an attempt to rip it off and expose the stalker. Whatever she’d gotten a hold of under the cloak felt like a pipe or thick stick and gave her a good grip. “Okay, okay, I’ll take it off! Please don’t rip it!” came a voice from inside. A rather young, male sounding voice. Midnight only growled and held firm as the stranger attempted to untangle itself. After a few more struggles he popped out of his disguise and backed up, looking around at the guards now surrounding him and the ebony kirin with his cloak still in her fangs. “It looked like something important was going on back at the town and I just wanted to wait until everything calmed down and we could talk!” he explained. Silence answered him. All the guards’ eyes had gone wide at seeing him and now most were looking between him and Midnight, whose own eyes had gone wide at seeing what he was. She even dropped the cloak which made a sound like wood when it hit the ground. The blue phoenix cawed and came down, landing on his head, while Scarlet landed next to Midnight, blowing onto her claws. “Little puff ball tried to burn me! Gonna need to see Ore about- holy heck! He’s a kirin!” He was. His build was much like that of Ember’s if not the same colors, with the main body much like that of a pony’s, or maybe a zebra’s as he sported black stripes, with his front legs ending in claws, draconic wings, and a draconic tail. He even had spikes running along his back and tail, which ended in a tuff. His coat was grey and his mane and tuff were black while his wings changed from grey at the roots to black at the tips. Like Ember his fangs stuck out and his ears looks more like fins, both of which were pierced with studs and his right eye was blue while his left was orange. He was also young, about early teens if Midnight had to guess, and he had a necklace around his neck. A rather familiar looking necklace with half a rose at that. Both sides remained silent, not sure what to say to the other, until Lieutenant Hazelnut cleared his throat. “Ma’am, I hate to remind you, but there IS a situation going on back in town. Perhaps, um…?” He motioned towards the young kirin. “Oh!” he said after a moment, “my name’s Norik. This is my pet phoenix Lhikan.” Lhikan cawed. “Norik and Lhikan can come with us so you both can talk later?” Midnight blinked. “Ah, um, yes, lieutenant, that’s probably for the best right now.” She turned back to Norik. “Sorry about your cloak, I, um, don’t think I damaged it.” She offered it back to him with a wing claw and he took it back with a nod and put it on, leaving the hood down this time. “Right, everyone. Show’s over so let’s get back to business; we’ve got a long rest of the day and a long night to follow.” This was answered by noises of accent and the group began making its way back down the path again. As they marched, Spine came up beside Midnight. “A grey kirin with a necklace? Sounds an awful lot like a certain kirin we’ve been asked to keep an eye out for,” he said quietly. “Yeah, but the stripes are throwing me off. Eden didn’t say anything about stripes. And as improbable as it is, he could have just come across that necklace,” Midnight whispered back. Norik was watching her as they walked. Spine grunted and looked up and back. “Norik, right?” “Uh, yes!” he answered, looking up at the dragon. “That’s a nice starting horde you got there. Where’d you find it?” “You mean my necklace? I’ve had it all my life. My master said it was with me when he found me.” He fiddled with the jewelry as he talked. Spine gave Midnight a knowing smile and the kirin snorted back at him, then turned to look back at Norik, too. “Sounds interesting. Why don’t you come over here and tells us about where you’ve been all your life. It’ll make the walk go faster.” “O-Okay!” and he hurried up to walk beside her. ‘Today’s gonna be a weird one,’ Midnight thought as she and Norik began to talk.