//------------------------------// // Scouting // Story: The Winds of Change: Fog of War // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// Scouting "Jason, it's three, wake up!" There was absolutely no shift from the body she had her hooves wrapped around, even though she'd been yelling from only a few inches away. She let herself relax for a few more moments against his form, almost as against the idea of leaving the bed as she was sure he was with waking up. She leaned forward and started to nip at his ear, letting out a giggle when it twitched. She pulled lightly, before moving over to his face and nuzzling all over his face. And he was still out cold. Jason always was a little oblivious. Oh well, more time for her to try to wake him up like this, it's not like it wasn't fun for her anyway. She pulled her hoof out from under the covers, skimming it across his nose and licking at his fin like mane. He shuddered and swept a hoof across his muzzle, and Dash waited until he settled back down before resuming her treatment. Last time she'd done this he'd complained about how ticklish it was, and she'd only brushed it back then. He still seemed to be dreaming as his legs started to shift around like he was trying to gallop away from something in slow motion. His blue eyes shot open just as Dash stopped tickling him and he ceased his movement, moving a hoof above the bedspread to try to get a semblance of what was going on. Dash went back to his 'mane' and tickled it with a hoof. "It was you!" She giggled from behind him. "Well which was a better way to wake up, exploding alarm clock or that?" "I dunno, the dream was pretty screwed up towards the end there. You left it in the middle, by the way, just flew off." He paused. "And then I just got attacked by..." He stopped, and she was sure he would have blushed. "What?" She poked him in the chest. "Are you really afraid to tell me?" "A little, all these mares were tickling me, and that was strange because I'm really not ticklish anywhere, you know, besides this." He pointed to the back of his head. "None of the mares were you, though, and I was kinda enjoying it. It makes me feel bad." "It was just a dream, it doesn't mean anything." "I guess it's your call, you'd be the one to get mad." She giggled. "Well yeah, if your dream turns out to be a premonition, I'll be pretty annoyed." "I'll try to avoid large groups of dangerous tickling females." "You'd do that just for me?" She fluttered her eyelashes, giving him a pouty face. He chuckled. "Just for you." There was a pause, and Jason yawned. "You're feeling better, I take it?" "I'm not as dead as before, no. But it's not hard to be less dead than that, I guess. You were here while I was asleep?" "Yeah, you're really warm, I like it. It makes it hard to leave." He rubbed his hooves together. "Yes, it's all part of my elaborate plan to keep you in bed with me." "I guess it's working." Jason chuckled, and they lapsed into silence. "So did Shining say how many we lost?" Dash sighed, running a hoof along Jason's side absentmindedly. "Fifteen dead, twenty three injured. Forty four dead griffins." "Wow, I expected something bad, but still, wow." "Most of the injured are in for burns." "That's what I figured, I guess. Should be interesting to see how this effects things. You know, from an isolated point of view." "What're we going to do about those things?" "Be more careful, take measures to solve the problem. An early warning system would be nice, I should be able to get that rigged up fairly easily. As long as we have enough string." "What, tripwires?" "I guess so, that could work pretty well. I mean, I'm operating with backdated technology, it's hard to think in terms of stuff I can do here." He sighed. "So did you talk to Scoots last night?" "A little, she still misses us, which doesn't surprise me. And she told us that they've got a whole bunch of cutie marks to try for tomorrow. Let's hope that doesn't mean Ponyville'll be wiped off the face of the map." Jason chuckled. "I think you're slightly overestimating the damage three fillies could cause." "Only by a smidgeon." "Now I'm worried for a whole other reason, thanks so much, Dash." "No problem." "So you wanna get up, I figure Shining's going to have something for us to do anyway." He pulled himself forward and rolled out of bed, making sure not to hit his shoulder again. Dash sighed behind him and he let out a chuckle, starting to walk over to the door, pleasantly humming a tune to himself as he picked up the saddlebag. Dash watched as he walked back over to the side of the bed, offering her a hoof. She took it and he pulled her gently up into a sitting position. "So Jason, about this scouting and guerrilla stuff, how long do you think it'll take?" "Well, the problem is, I don't really know how--" There was a thud as he hit the ground, his hooves already over his head. Why do you resist? Came an echoing message through his head. He tried to formulate a response, but couldn't think past the mindless chatter. "Get the fuck out of my head!" He yelled out, not sure if the message would move through the hive mind. At least, through all this, he knew that's what it was. But where does this free will arise? Why are you different? Jason felt a hoof on his shoulder, and opened his eyes to make sure that he wasn't somehow being attacked. He was met with Dash's rose eyes, and one of the most reassuring smiles he'd ever seen. Jason's hind leg twitched and hit the cloud bed, leaving a slight deformation as he resumed his slightly constrained writhing. He started to focus on the source of the noise in his head, pushing it away to the back of his mind, closing off the link as best he could. You can't keep me out forever... There was a sudden silence in his head as the link was interrupted and he suddenly regained the ability to think. Jason pulled himself up from the floor, and shook his head, trying to clear it of all the chaos the whole ordeal had caused. Dash was saying something, but it sounded like she was speaking through a wall. He listened to her for a few more moments before his ears decided they were going to work again. "Alright?" "Uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, it depends on what you consider alright." "Did you at least figure something out?" She asked, pushing him onto the bed to rest. "Yeah, I heard the regular chatter like last time, but there was a voice that I could hear above the rest, it was asking me stuff, like why I resist and what makes me different." He sighed, his head feeling a little better. "It was probably Chrysalis, all things considered." "Well great, another thing to add to the list." "I'm sorry." "No, I'm not mad at you, just the world or fate or whatever that's making all this shit happen. It's not fair, we deserve a break." "It'll be one hell of a break after this." He mused. "Is this one of those 'you and me in my bedroom for the weekend' things?" "Maybe..." He chuckled. "I know we're always together, but it's just-- I'd rather be with you in Ponyville or somewhere that I don't have to worry about your well being." There was a brief silence. "So you're sure you're okay?" "I think so, my head's still a little fuzzy, but that seems to be going away." "Let's not talk about this to anyone, alright?" Dash asked. "You don't have to tell me. I don't need to give anyone a reason to distrust me at this point, especially given how many times I said I wasn't part of the hive mind." Dash nodded, throwing a saddlebag over her back. "Where'd you get the new saddlebags?" "Shining had a few laying around. Your computer got a little singed, it still works though." "Good, it's not like I'm going to get another one with all my stuff on it." "Yeah, we still have to get through episode three of that zombie thing." "Sure, we can do it tonight if you want, or something." Dash grabbed an apple out of her saddlebag and took a bite. "I cahnt sahy I'm nort hinterested." "Mihelm ber der." He replied. Dash giggled, swallowing the apple chucks. "Let's just go." She walked past and brushed through the door, before returning back inside. "Almost forgot, I found this earlier." She pulled a tiny axe with some beads hanging off the end. "Wow..." Jason said, taking it into his hooves. "It's a tomahawk It can be used for either hacking at someone or throwing." He put it into the saddlebag before walking outide with Dash and looking around for Shining's tent before setting off. Jason broke into a trot to catch up, wincing as part of his chitin dug into the angry burnt skin on his shoulder. "Hey." Shining said, waving as he met them in front of the tent. "One of those few times I'm not in there working, huh?" "That's an understatement." Jason replied, smirking. "Don't push it." "Sorry." He heard Shining chuckle as he led them inside, and sat down behind a slightly burnt desk. "So," The general started, "Rainbow Dash probably filled you in on most of this, so I'm just going to cut to the chase. We're getting some patrols out there before dark, just to look for signs of, well, anything. So you're up to some walking around and stuff, right?" He looked at Jason. "I'm a little tired, but hey, we all are." "Okay, good. I sent out an order for something, I think you'll like this." He walked over to a large wooden box and levitated the lid away, tipping it over to show the contents off to Jason. "You sent out an order for more ghillie suits?" He said, laughing. "Yeah, Rarity didn't make these, of all ponies it was Fancy Pants. From what the princess said, he's more than happy to tear up some clothes to make some of these." "I thought he did jewelry." Dash said. "He does a lot of stuff, actually." Shining replied, picking up one of the suits. "You can use these, I take it?" "Well, I guess sizing isn't a problem, considering I can just kinda get smaller. Being a little smaller than Big Mac doesn't exactly yield itself to well fitting clothing." "You have such terrible problems, Jason." Dash said, poking him in the side. "Well, he actually made a couple that were pretty big. Here." He tossed one over, and Jason caught it against his chest. "That one's about Tank's size, I think." "Yeah." He caught another one. "This one's a little better." "Good, whenever you're ready, just grab six ponies and send them here to get suited up. Then you can head out. If you're not back by dark, about six, I'm going to assume you've encountered trouble. But if I'm going to send anypony for you, I'm going to need to know where you're planning on going." He gestured to the map, and Jason walked over. "I was thinking we go kinda east, this way." He dragged a hoof across the map. "I want to scout out these hills over here, and hopefully make sure they aren't all over our flank. If you want to send out another group to the west, it seems less likely that they'll actually find anything, but better safe then sorry, right?" "Yeah, wait, just take this." He handed over a pad of paper. "Just send me something if you need help." "Sure thing." He slid the pad into his saddlebag. "That's about it, right?" "As far as I can tell." "Oh yeah, get some tripwires strung up out there, we need an early warning. I was thinking, stretch some string through the areas in front of each of the boxes and keep them taut enough that when someone trips one it pulls a flint against some metal and starts a little contained fire. Even if it doesn't light, the thing'll still be pulled." "I guess that works, I was kinda thinking about spotlights and stuff, but we don't have enough unicorns that can pull a trick that advanced. I'm referring to the distance, not the skill it takes to create a small light." "So see if you can get that to work before dark." Jason said. "Of course, I'm not letting any more ponies get burnt to a crisp around here." He replied. Jason nodded and saluted, grabbing the new ghillie suit and moving to leave. He pushed through the flaps, hissing as they brushed on his shoulder. "We need to get some bandages on this before you hurt yourself worse." Dash said. "Fine." "Jeez, usually you go through this whole macho 'it's just a flesh wound' thing." "Yeah, but I'm kinda getting sick of the whole, everything hurts thing." He paused, looking around. "Where's the infirmary anyway?" Dash giggled, pointing to a tent with a red plus on the side. "I think it may be that one." She said, laughing when he facehoofed. They walked inside onto the wooden floor, the ragged breathing from more than a few ponies inside meeting their eardrums. A nurse came up and smiled. "What can I do for you?" She said, tilting her head slightly to the side. She was a rather cute looking white mare with a pink mane tied back into a bun. Jason let out a sigh of relief at the realization that she wasn't like the nurses they had in Canterlot. "I just need to get something for my shoulder here." He turned so she could see the burn. "Just some bandages or something." "You've got to be kidding, let me at least get some burn cream on the wound." "It's really okay, I--" "No, it's the least I can do." "Seriously, it--" He deadpanned, she'd already gone into another sectioned off part of the tent. She trotted back in a few seconds later with some bandages and a small glass container in her mouth. She sat down in front of Jason despite his protest and Dash's giggling, and quickly dabbed a hoof into the cream, extending it towards his shoulder. "Wait we don't know what will happen if you-- Ohh, that's nice..." The nurse giggled, globing some more of the goo onto her hoof and spreading it around his shoulder. "I wouldn't risk internal medication, and this medicine is virtually impossible to be allergic to, there's only two main ingredients, and one of them's water." "So it'll heal me up faster." "That's what I don't know, there's a little magic in the stuff that helps healing, like we have in casts or slings, but I'm not sure if it'll actually help you out or just dissipate. Either way, it's still a painkiller on the spot." "I'm so glad you made me do this Dash." Jason said, sighing gratefully as the nurse spread another glob and picked the bandages back up from a nearby table. "I knew it'd do you some good." "Yeah, but I never expected anything like this." Jason flinched as the nurse pulled the bandage across his wound. "Why's it hot?" He asked, looking at his shoulder to check that no damage had been done. "I steamed it to get rid of diseases. No sense getting you infected, huh?" "But didn't you bring it over here in your mouth?" He asked. "I set it on that grate over the water right there." She pointed over to the table again, which Jason now noticed had a fair amount of medical stuff on the surface. "Ah." She stopped wrapping, sticking a few pins through the bandages to hold them in place. "Alright, all done." "I didn't get your name, what is it?" "Nurse Redheart." She shook his hoof. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, general." "Jason's fine, really." He replied. "So how'd you end up all the way out here?" She shrugged. "I guess I wanted to deal with more than a deep cut every couple weeks in Ponyville, maybe play a part in saving a couple of pony's lives." "I guess slow business in Ponyville isn't really a bad thing..." Dash said. "Well it doesn't pay the bills," She sighed. "I like to think I didn't come here partially for the money, but I'd be lying." She hung her head. "It's a little morbid, relying on hurt ponies for my salary." "But you're still helping them." Dash retorted. "I'm sure a lot of these guys wouldn't have made it without you. You're definitely earning the money." Redheart smiled slightly. Dash was kinda surprised she hadn't recognized her earlier. "Thanks, it's nice to hear some praise from somepony other than the patients I'm supplying with medicine." "Don't their compliments and thanks mean more though? They wouldn't even be giving it to you if they had died." The mare's smile grew. "You know what, you're right. I earned this, and I do a good job. Why should I care that I took it for the money?" she paused, turning to Jason. "Need anything else?" "No, I think I'm good." "Okay, a couple of these guys should be waking up in a couple minutes here, and I'll have to attend to them." "Okay, I'll leave you to it." He turned and departed, taking a look at the pony he'd saved early this morning, who looked like he was doing pretty well, minus a few small burns and the large missing patches of hair. He sighed and walked through the exit, turning toward the southern trenches as Dash came out of the tent behind him and pushed up against his side. "You know," she started, "There's this think that pegasi do in place of leaning, where they thread their primaries together between the pair." "And you want to do that, I assume?" "Well why not, I mean if you can be any pony, why not take some advantage?" "You've already done that, trust me." He stepped away and shifted into Alternis, before sticking out a wing towards her. She giggled and did the same, carefully meshing his wing with hers. She stumbled and brushed the leading edge of his wing, and he had to fight to keep the other wing from extending as well. "Sorry, I don't really want to give you a wingboner or anything." She paused, giggling. "At least, not in public." Jason chuckled along with her. "So, enjoying yourself?" "Yeah, it's nice. I've never really tried it before. I'm not sure if I like this or leaning more." "Oh god, important questions." "It's a tough decision! It's either, lean against you and feel warm, or get this kinda nice feeling from my wing. It's not like I can do both." "Yeah, well I need to change back, so that ponies will actually recognize me here." She pouted but relented, and he felt her feathers slide away from his. He dropped the disguise and felt her return against his side, putting a wing over his back. "What is it with you and warmth?" He asked. "I dunno, maybe everypony would be like this in my situation." "You wanna put that to the test?" "No, I'd get jealous." "Yeah, you were kinda looking like that in the infirmary." He felt a punch contact his foreleg. "No need to be harsh." "You better never cheat on me, I'll die of jealousy before I get the chance to kill you." "Yeah, the only way I'd find a mare that's better than you is if she... uh...hmm. This was supposed to be easy." "Are you being sarcastic?" "No, I really can't think of anything. Well, besides that when you punch me it kinda hurts." "That means something, considering you're covered in armor." "Yeah, I guess. Hold on." He walked up on top of one of the boxes and cleared his throat. "Listen, I need six of you to come out on a scouting mission with me. There may be combat, so make sure you're prepared. Go ahead and decide which of you is coming." Chatter started up as Jason turned back to Dash. "Just so long as you don't crack it, that hurts like hell." "I can imagine." "It's weird, I have to say. Not the cracking, just how it feels. Most of the time punches are just a heavy pressure unless it decides to give." "Yeah." "You're a mare of many words, Dash." "What am I supposed to say? I don't know what it's like." "Touché." He turned back to the soldiers, who had become much more quiet. "You've got your six?" "SIR YES SIR!" "The six of you, whichever ones you are, report to Shining Armor's tent to get fitted for camouflage, then report out front." Six ponies jumped out of the trench, two pegasi, three unicorns and one earth pony, as far as he could tell. "So we've got to get ready as well, I assume?" Dash asked. "Yeah, you wanna see how fast we can do it this time?" "You're on." ___________________________________________________________________ A pony finally came out of Shining's tent, jumping slightly as his eyes focused on Dash and Jason, Ghillie suits covering most of their bodies. Jason has skipped bringing his AUG; it was just too conspicuous to be useful. Besides their usual armor and knives, Jason and Dash had left everything else behind, minus the pad of paper Jason had tied to one side. He had stuck the tomahawk through a loop on his back that apparently came with these new things. "So how close are the others?" Jason asked the pony, looking at the sun anxiously. At most, they had two hours. "U-uh, good I think." The young stallion took a step back, clutching his spear more tightly. Jason rolled his eyes, and briefly wondered if they had any outward change in appearance. "What's your history here? Military wise?" "I-I was in the a-attack where we finally go the griffins out of the city, and I fought here last night." Another couple ponies walked out and saluted, making the first pony realize his mistake and whack his foreleg into his head in his rush. "Listen," Jason started as the rest of the ponies exited. "You don't need to be afraid of me. At least not as much as you are. It'll be a little bit harder to actually work as a team that way. So don't pull shit like this on me anymore, I'm not the enemy. Got it?" "SIR YES SIR!" The group yelled, much louder than he had been expecting. "Well then, let's get going!" He turned and trotted off, checking behind himself to make sure that the other ponies had been following. He quickly got to one of the trenches and vaulted over, giving a slight buzz of his wings before he remembered that they were inside his ghillie suit. His eyes locked with Eravel's as he went over the trench, and the griffin gave a slight nod as he whittled away a little more of an arrow shaft. They quickly descended from the hill into the trees and slowed down, not wanting to scare griffins off before they even made contact. They continued their slow movement for another half hour, staying behind low foliage as they tried to find any hints. Jason put up a hoof to stop, and quietly pulled out a map. They were still on track, which was good, but they weren't far enough south to have any chance at finding something, not at this rate. "Dash." He whispered, summoning the mare. "I'm going to turn a little bit south here, make it easier to find something." "Not too far though, or any reinforcements won't find where we are." "That's what I figured." He folded up the map and put it away before setting off on his new course. They arrived at the hills Jason had wanted to explore a few minutes later, and started to look around. Jason pushed through a couple bushes into a clearing, feeling his heart leap as he noticed a smoldering fire. He waited for the rest of the team, trying to figure out which direction they had gone in. They walked off, not finding anything new as they crested another small hill. Jason looked up and froze, moving behind a nearby bush and signaling to the others to do the same. He could swear he heard some voices, which quickly turned into yells as they got closer. He had noticed a griffin up in a tree, probably up there to keep watch, although he appeared to be asleep. But who was that moving closer, it sounded like two strikingly similar voices, although he couldn't distinguish any of the words. A pony came into view, a greenish pony with a white mane that looked somewhat similar to Lyra. He could still hear the voices, and suddenly realized that the mare was arguing with itself. The griffin in the tree was jolted out of her slumber, and quickly caught sight of the pony plodding along below it. Jason darted out of the bush, shouldering the griffin out of the way as she dove in for the kill. Dash slit the griffin's throat, covering its mouth to muffle any noises. The pony just continued to walk. "Hey," Jason asked, "Who are you? Why are you way out here?" The pony turned, going rigid as her eyes went across Jason's face. "No!" She yelled, taking a step back as her face did a nervous twitch. "No, you aren't taking me back!" She turned and started to fly as Dash lunged after her, catching hold of her tail. "Just let me go!" "Why are you out here?" Jason asked. "I fought to be different, I just want to lead my own life." She went stiff for a moment, dropping back to the ground before she curled up into a ball. "Just let me go." "Who are you anyways?" Jason asked, rather disturbed by the whole situation. The mare went rigid again and got up, pulling her tail free with a flick of her flank. Her eyes flashed red as she started to calmly circle around Jason. "Ah, it's nice do be back in control of one of my own." The pony's face twitched again. "Shh, I'll be gone in a minute. I just want to look over the world's most interesting changeling.