Chapter 19: Pathfinder
“Hey, Sandman!” Andrei called out.
The small group of humans and ponies were just about to board the train that would take them to Ponyville, where they then would enter the Everfree forest and begin their search for the Tome that would hopefully be the ticket to taking them home.
“Yeah, Andrei?” He called back.
“If uh… you know… just… maybe keep an eye out for Leyonid while you out there?” He said in a rather sad tone.
“I will.”
“Thanks…”
“Train leaves in two minutes!” The conductor called out down the train station.
“Good luck.” He said one final time before turning around and walking back towards the castle.
Before Sandman could do anything, he was stopped by a certain pony he was not expecting. Princess Luna.
“Human. We are here to give our aid.” She said, causing Sandman to look at her funny.
“Uh… we, ma’am?”
“What? Oh… forgive me. I sometimes slip back into the old Canterlot speak. I wish to give my aid and advice on your journey.”
“You are coming with us too?” Sandman asked, shocked.
“No, but I am sending two of my own guard to aid you. My night guards have excellent vision in darkness, and the Everfree is always dark, no matter the time of day. I believe they will be of great use to you on your quest.”
“Oh, thank you, ma’am.” Sandman responded. Sure enough, two lunar guards walked out from behind the Princess. They looked a little out of sorts, but that was probably because they weren’t used to being outside during this time of day, when they would be sleeping. He recognized one of them though as Night Weave, the one who was guarding their door that morning.
“I wish you the best of luck on your journey, but I must warn you. The Everfree is a very dangerous place, inhabited by some of the vilest creatures in Equestria. You must stay alert, for one false step could be your last.”
“Ok, thank you for your help, ma’am.” Sandman responded, trying to sound as thankful as possible. Although he was glad to have more information on the place, it still was a bit of a morale killer to hear that they were basically walking into a pitch black forest filled to the brim with things that can kill you.
“Oh well… I have been through a lot worse.” Sandman thought as he boarded the train.
“One minute!” The conductor called out again.
Sandman entered the train car they were staying in and took his seat next to Frost, who was going over their ammunition and weapons.
“We got two mags each for the ACR’s and three mags each for the M9’s.” He said as he gave Sandman his allotted ammo. “And we each get one frag and one flash.”
“Keep the flash bangs. I still got one of the 9-Bangers with me, as well as a breaching charge, just in case.” Sandman responded. “But uh, how much did you leave with the others?”
“Well… they got two mags of ACR and M9 ammo left, along with three frags and tree flashes.”
“Damn… we are starting to run low.”
“Well, Andrei still has his AK-47 with about four mags left on it and his G18 with three.”
“Eh… doesn’t matter. For the moment, we are stuck with what we got so if we run into trouble, pick you shots carefully.”
“Got it.”
Sandman turned around in his seat to make sure they had everyone onboard. There was Swift Wind, Wise Free, O’Tipsey, Storm Breaker, the recruits who they brought along with them. Then they had four royal guards, two unicorns, one pegasus, one earth pony, and the two lunar guards, as well as Haybrun. That, plus Sandman and Frost, totaled to thirteen.
“Looks like we are all good to go.” Sandman said as he slumped back down into his seat.
As if on cue, the train slowly began to move forward, away from the station. It would be a little bit before they got to Ponyville, so Sandman thought it would be a good time to catch up on some much needed sleep.
The remaining three humans, Grinch, Truck, and Andrei, watched as the train departed down the mountain, until it was no longer in view.
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“I hope they will be ok…” Truck mumbled to nobody in particular.
“Oh come on, we have all been through a lot worse. It’s just a forest.” Grinch said reassuringly.
“Yeah, but remember when we first got here? We got attacked by that wolf looking thing. You shot it in the head and it didn’t die. If what the Princess said was true, and it really is as dangerous as she believes, what else could be in there?”
“They will be fine, trust me.”
“I hope you are right…”
The group turned and walked back inside the castle, to be met by an unfamiliar group of ponies standing in the lobby. At their entrance, they all turned to face them. There were six ponies altogether, three Earth Ponies and three Unicorns.
“Um… who are all of you?” Andrei asked.
“You are the humans, right?” One of the earth ponies asked.
"Yes?”
“So you are here to help train us for the ESDF, correct?” Another one asked, this time a unicorn.
“Yes, we… wait, wait, what? What do you mean train YOU?”
Before an answer could be given, a guard came trotting up to them at a brisk pace, followed by Princess Celestia.
“Here they are, Princess.” The guard said. “And it appears they have already met the humans.”
“What is going on?” Truck asked, confused.
“I wish you had informed me sooner, or given me some sort of warning that there was going to be more recruits.” Celestia said to the guard.
“I tried to find you earlier, but could not, Princess.”
“Oh god, there are more?” Grinch said, lowering his head a bit.
“Apparently so. I was not informed of this either.” Celestia said.
“Ok, well… what are all of your names?” Truck asked. One of the earth ponies spoke up first.
“My name is Buckwild. It is a pleasure to meet you.” He said enthusiastically while sticking a hoof out towards Truck.
“Uh, same here.” He responded as he uneasily took his hoof into his hand and gave a rather odd handshake.
“That’s certainly a new one, shaking hands with a pony.” He thought to himself.
“I’m Blackburn.” The next in line said, a unicorn.
“Nexus is my name.” Another Unicorn spoke up, however, his eyes were white and glazed over, giving him the impression that he was blind.
“Uh… are you blind Nexus?” Truck asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
“No, I look like it, but I am not.” He responded.
“Hmm, ok then.” Truck said, and continued to go down the line. “And your name is?” He asked, looking at the last of the three unicorns.
“Cold Hoof.” He responded with a nod, which Truck returned. The next was an earth pony who, in contrast to the others, actually was wearing clothes. However, he looked a little bent out of sorts.
“Your name?”
“Jinx…” He mumbled, almost to the point of being inaudible.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What was it again?” Truck asked.
“Jinx.” He said once again, this time with more force.
“Ok, and your name?” Truck asked the last of them, an earth pony.
“I’m Spade.” He responded, but in an almost sad tone. Brushing it off, Truck turned back to Grinch and Andrei.
“Well, what are we going to do?” He asked, receiving shrugs from both of them.
“I guess train them like we did with the others.” Andrei replied.
“But we are shorthanded. I mean, Sandman and Frost aren’t with us.” Grinch pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter. Boss told us to train them, and we are. We will just have some new guys with us. Nothing big.” Truck said reassuringly, but Grinch was not as confident.
“We still got to get their basics, like their buck-power and magic endurance.”
“Shouldn’t take too long, and it’s not too much of a challenging job. All you do is write down numbers and watch.”
“You got a preference Andrei?” Grinch asked, receiving nothing but a mere shrug.
“I don’t care either way.” He responded. Something had been off with him since that morning, but they shrugged it off.
“Oh well, it’s your call Truck.” Grinch said, taking a step back. After a few moments of consideration, Truck turned back to the group.
“Ok, follow us. We will take you to your barracks and let you meet the other recruits. We will go over a few things there.”
With that, the group did as they were told, and set off towards the barracks.
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The train rolled to a stop as Sandman and company reached Ponyville. The short nap he had on the way there had lifted his spirits, and he felt as though he was ready for anything. However, the town seemed in a state of depression. The vibrant colors that he remembered when he was walking near the town almost seemed gone, or dulled. No doubt the other ponies were distraught over the loss of Cloudsdale.
“Ok guys, get your gear off the train. You got five minutes to do whatever you need to do, but then we are out of here.” Sandman called out as he and Frost exited the train. Soon the others followed suit, carrying saddlebags full of water, food, and other supplies, along with their weapons, which consisted of swords and spears. Sandman and Frost had their gear together, almost consisting of the same items, with the obvious exception of having ACR’s instead of swords.
“I still think it was risky to bring the recruits here. They have had only one day of training.” Frost spoke up.
“Well, at least they will get to see what it really is like to go out on missions. I don’t feel absolutely comfortable with it either, but it’s a simple snatch and grab. Nothing too complicated, and nothing that bad should happen.”
“I hope your right… I just don’t have a good feeling about this.”
“What do you mean?” Sandman asked, interested in his reasoning.
“Look at it this way… when have we EVER been on a mission where NOTHING went wrong? Something horrible, debilitating, or unexpected ALWAYS happens. I don’t see this being much different.”
“Yeah, but look at it this way. Every single time something horrible, debilitating, or unexpected happened, we always came out on top. Like you said, I don’t see this being much different.”
“Yeah, like how you guys came out on top in that diamond mine, right?” Frost said sarcastically, causing Sandman to give him a stern look.
“Let’s just get this over with, ok? We all want to get home, and this looks like our best opportunity.” Sandman responded after a few moments of silence. As he turned to walk away, he was blindsided by a giant lump of grey and blonde, sending him sprawling into the cobblestone road.
“Oops, my bad!” The lump said apologetically.
“Goddammit! It’s always me!” Sandman yelled out angrily as he got back on his feet, with a little help from Frost. He looked around, trying to find the source of his misfortune. He eventually hit his mark, which was a grey and blonde, wall-eyed pegasus, which was frantically picking up what appeared to be a bunch of letters that now littered the street. Sandman went and began to help pick up some of the letters that were near him.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there and I was in a hurry and I didn’t…” She began almost hysterically, but Sandman stopped her mid-sentence.
“Hey, it’s fine. Just be more careful next time, ok?” He said kindly as he attempted to hand back her letters. She obviously must not have gotten a good look at him the first time, because when she looked up, her entire mood switched and she flew up in the air in astonishment.
“Whoa! You look funny!” It said, giggling a little bit after finishing.
“I look funny? You looked in a mirror lately?” Sandman said internally.
“Yeah, I probably do. I’m not from here, in case you didn’t notice.”
“What’s your name?” It said eagerly.
“I’m Sandman, and that is Frost over there.” He said, pointing to Frost, who returned a small wave to the pony.
“That’s an odd name for a pony… Oh well! My name is Derpy Hooves! Ponyville’s loyal mailmare!” She said with extreme excitement, flying a bit into the air.
"Derpy Hooves? Jesus, that’s almost cruel to name someone that.” Sandman thought, but it seemed as though she didn’t mind it.
“Well, it was nice talking to you Miss Hooves, but we have got to be going.” He said politely as he handed her the letters he had been holding. After giggling for a second, she took them in her mouth and placed them into her saddlebags.
“Nopony has ever called me Miss Hooves before!” She said, giggling again.
“I guess there is a first for everything. Well, we got to go. Have a nice day Miss Hooves.” Sandman said, and got up and began to walk off.
“You too!” She called back, and took off back into the sky.
“Well, that was interesting.” Frost said.
“Yeah… I guess you could say that.” Sandman responded as he turned back to the train. The rest of the ponies were gathered near the back.
“Ok, everyone good?” Sandman asked, receiving a few nods and some “Yes, Sir’s”.
“Good, we are going to be splitting off into two groups once we hit the woods. One will take the front and the second will be a little ways behind us. I will take the first group in front, while Frost will have the one in the back. Each of us will take two royal guards and one of you lunar guards.”
“I will take Haybrun, Storm Breaker, and Wise Free.” Frost announced.
“Ok, I will take O’Tipsey and Swift Wind.” Sandman responded.
After a minute of getting settled into their groups, they set off towards the Everfree, taking a route on the outskirts of the town instead of through it. The less attention, the better. After about fifteen minutes, they reached the entrance to the Everfree Forest. It was just about noon, so they had plenty of time if they moved quickly. Sandman was already plotting out time management in his head.
"Twenty Klicks total… Approximately three hours there, one hour to secure the tome, Approximately three hours back…” Sandman thought to himself.
“One final check, does everyone got everything they need? Once we go in, we are not coming back out till the job is done.” Sandman called out to the two groups. Nobody spoke up, so Sandman took that as a yes.
“Ok, time to get a move on. I want to be done and out of here before it gets dark.” Sandman called out for the last time as his group headed in first, while the second group hanged back for a little bit, but they eventually ventured into the forest as well, and were all soon out of sight.