Departure day came and the excitable stallion descended off the mountain on the westbound train. Canterlot was miserable in winter, but in summer the weather was cool enough to be comfortable. Descending to the plains underneath Cloudsdale the weather was a hot ninety degrees or so, before cooling off near the West Coast. The first leg of the trip was uneventful, though it took the first three days of his vacation.
Before catching the train to Crystal Heart City, PW needed to display his passport. When asked about his destination and purpose of visit, he had to be very careful not to arise suspicion.
“I’m visiting my distant friend in the Bug Bear Territory, northeast of Rainbow Valley. Starlight’s Cave happens to be the closet station” he told the inspector.
“Are you aware of all the news coming out from the pass?” the inspector questioned.
“All the ambushes and stuff? Yeah. Very. I did some research to check the areas to avoid.”
“We have this brochure I’ll give to you- all the red areas are known hotspots. There’s some real firefighting going on there- you don’t want to be there” he said, handing PW the map.
PW grinned and whispered silently “and the red areas are likely the best places to go! All that firefighting is hopefully my NightMares’ standard issue Celestar D16!”. After two and a half more days on the train PW arrived in Crystal Heart City and transferred one more time to an old steam train. The line to Griffonstone was more antiquated and slower than the others. Finally, on the evening of the seventh night of his PTO he arrived at Starlight’s Cave, with an evening and a day left before he’d be due back at work.
PW took the evening to plot out all the red spots. There were five of them. One of them was in a hillock, two of them were in the cave itself, one was near the shore by the north cave entrance, and another by the shore past the south cave entrance. The train station was north of the cave by a few miles, so after alighting the train PW took to the sky and climbed a few thousand feet up to survey his surroundings. The landings at each of the spots looked doable, though he’d have to be careful around the cliffs.
He began descending when he heard a familiar “BRRRRRRRRRR!” sound of a high-powered rifle. PW whirled around in desperate hope. “BRRRRRRRRRR!” it went again. “Yes! Yes that is definitely the D16! One of the NightMares is down there!” he exclaimed. PW waited several more minutes to listen for more- since he didn’t quite get a fix on the sound. Unfortunately, no more firing would be heard and soon after PW tired himself, and had to land. This last night would be very difficult for him. So many questions flew through his mind.
“It was a D16 I heard, wasn’t it? Which mare's was it? But what if it got stolen and is being re-used? No. Not possible- the blow-back is too strong. Unless the gun were mounted? If the enemy captured a NightMare, would they keep her alive? Could she be turned evil? And who was firing? What do I say to them after nearly two years? What if it’s NightMare-2? What do I say to 2 if its 2?” PW said all at once. The poor stallion stressed himself out so much that his heartbeat became erratic. His thoughts dimmed away, and his chest felt heavy. A cold flash enveloped him in a wave, and his blood pressure fell. “No! Deep breath. In… Out… you’re going to kill yourself PW if you don’t stop this! It’s not worth going into cardiac arrest over…” he said, trying to calm himself down.
Evening came and morning followed- the eighth day of his PTO. Then PW said “it is time to find my friends and finally devote myself to their cause. It is not good for the NightMare to be alone”. He had a meal at the bed and breakfast he was staying at. Then he flew south out of town, approaching the first red zone. “I’m going to land early. Don’t want to be an open target” he told himself. PW landed and retired to the hedges for cover. The weather was party sunny- a veil of cirrostratus dimmed and yellowed the sunlight high above, smoothing shadows. The temperature may have been in the mid-forties, but it felt colder with the weakened sunlight and sea breeze. PW was unaffected by this though, himself being a pegasus from north of Cloudsdale.
PW sat waiting before moving deeper into the red zone and waiting again. If he covered the whole zone, he’d switch to another zone. He was about halfway through when he heard noises in the vegetation across from him.
“1, 2… 3, 4 legs” he said, silently counting its footfalls. PW noticed it was making towards the road, so he settled deep in the vegetation for cover. Then he began to hear the bushes on his side of the road making noise. At the same cadence.
“What should I do? Should I take to the road? The Sky? No. This is something trying to flush me out into the open where I’m vulnerable!” realized PW. He would stand his ground. He would be brave, like the NightMares. The noises continued getting closer, getting nearly ten yards from him- almost near enough to see. And then, they ceased altogether.
“What? Where the heck did it go? Is it staring at me? Is it moving silently now?” asked PW, trying different head positions in an attempt to see through the brush.
PW once read about a unicorn spell that would lift the debris on the forest floor, as well as bow the branches back allowing the caster to move all but silent through the forest. PW opened his wings just in case and waited.
“HALT! Hooves up! WHO are you and WHY are you here?!?” shouted a powerful mare’s voice.