//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Friend or Foe? Part 2 // Story: Revelation 21:6 // by Silent Scout //------------------------------// It had been four days since the guards had returned from their chase after the creature that escaped into the forest with its pet. All the ponies in town had returned to their daily routines, allowing a semblance of normality to return, minus the fact that there was a dramatic increase in guards. It had become common knowledge that the Captain of the guards little sister lived in town and had even temporarily been one of the hostages, so it surprised everypony little when he stayed there and used it to coordinate the guards. No matter how many guards were sent into the forest, none returned with any further clue of where it might be, it was easily eluding them and it just further irritated the captain. The library had been closed to the public until the guards were finished and as of late there could be yelling heard from those who passed by, none willing to work up the courage to see why. “How is it that one, giant metal clad, freak able to evade all of you, my best lieutenants, for four days,” screamed Shining Armor at the guards before him. None of them were wanting to make eye contact with him, having only heard him get this angry once and that was only after an invasion on his wedding day. “This thing has disgraced the Royal guard, and killed several of our own along with causing severe damage to the local hospital and library. And to top it all off, it not only took hostage my sister and bearer of the Element of Magic, but also threatened her life. Now I want you all to go back into that Celestia forsaken forest and FIND IT.” With his orders given the guards stumbled over each other, in an attempted to get out of the building, to carry them out. Shining stayed and glared down at the reports that laid out before him, he could hear the clopping of hooves coming up behind them, but he refused to react to them. Hoping that by glaring at the papers long enough they might finally yield the information that they just did not hold. “Shining.” He didn’t have to turn around to know that it was Twilight standing there behind him, possibly giving him worried looks. “Shining you need to calm down, everything is fine, I’m fine.” He couldn’t stop himself from snorting at the last comment venom in his voice as he said, “That may be true, but it was not thanks to my help. I could only stand there as it held its blade to your throat. It was in control of the situation and it was obvious that it knew it. We are suppose to be the best line of defense yet here is another situation where we can do little to actually help. I will not let this slight stand, I will make it regret ever coming here.” He finally turned to face her and saw the saddened look in her eyes along with the burn mark on her neck, it would probably leave a scar, which only proved to worsen his already foul mood. Twilight could hear every bit of anger and hate that filled his voice as he spoke and it scared her, for she had never heard him this angry before. “I understand that you are angry, but I have faith that you and the others will find it soon, I have faith in you and your stallions. Until then don’t take it out on them, they’re trying their hardest and probably want to find it just as much as you do.” Shining took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out, he lowered his head as he could feel the lack of sleep finally hit him. In his efforts to find the creature, he had not been sleeping well and often found himself going over report after report late into the night. “I know I just want this done and over with, the sooner the better.” “Well in the meantime why don’t you go take a nap, you could really use it.” She felt relieved when she saw him finally give in and head over to the couch removing his armor as he made himself comfortable. Its not like anything unexpected will happen if I just get a little sleep, were the only thoughts going through his mind as sleep took him. ---- Three little fillies sat together at the table just beneath their clubhouse, boredom having taken hold hours prior. “Guys lets just do something already, just sitting around here is just so boring. There has to be something that we haven’t done yet,” groaned the young pegasus as she banged her head on the table in frustration. “I have an idea. We can try selling stuff at the market to get our cutie marks,” spoke up the small unicorn, who had been on the verge of falling asleep herself. “Sorry Sweetie Belle, Ah’ve tried that already. It ain’t all it’s cracked up ta be,” stated the earth pony in the group. “Oh oh oh, I have an idea.” Leaping from her chair, her small wings buzzing with excitement as she slowly alighted on the table. “We can be monster hunters, it would make us famous if we can capture that metal creature that ran through town.” Sweetie Belle looked up at her over excited friend before asking, “Don’t get me wrong Scootaloo, but haven’t we already try that once before and get nowhere?” “Uh Sweetie, Ah don’t think yer sister who's been pranked by Pinkie with some Poison Joke counts as a monster,” laughed Apple Bloom. “So its settled then, lets get our stuff guys and lets catch ourselves a monster.” “CUTIE MARK MONSTER CATCHERS, YAY!” The three little fillies quickly galloped up the stairs to the clubhouse to get the things they would need, their capes being a necessity. ---- With the forest being so dense and dark it was simple work of eluding the armored ponies, what came afterwards was not what she expected though. The Lone Wanderer had been in a forest before and though it did have a few creatures, she had to kill, it never gave off the oppressive feeling this forest did. She could never fully relax no matter what her Pipboy’s radar was telling her, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. The forest was acting like a double edged sword, though it prevented the ponies from seeing her, she too could not see them and was forced to rely on her Pipboy to give her warnings when something wandered too close to her camps. Each camp had to be moved each day so as not to be found, there had been many close calls and proved that if she wasn’t careful she wouldn’t stay hidden for long. What time she didn’t use moving her campsite and keeping an eye open for the ponies she spent tinkering with her armor and her transportalponder. When she had first lost the ponies, she had tried to use the device but much to her dismay found that it had been fried by the same thing that blew out part of her armor. What made matters worse was that she didn’t have any of the required materials to even consider trying to repair it. She would have to go back into town in order to find the things she needed, if they even had them. She did not look forward to the prospect of going back. In the time being until she prepared to venture back into town, she decided to take a nap while Dogmeat stood watch for her. ---- In order to increase their chances of finding the creature, the three fillies had decided to go through town in its footsteps. By the time they had actually reached the forest edge they were each experiencing second thoughts but refused to voice them to the others, not wanting to let the each other down. Working up the last of their courage they took their first steps into the forest after the creature. One hour passed yet they couldn’t find anything that might lead them to the creature or even show that the creature had ever even been there to begin with. The time spent in the woods was having its effects on the fillies as they became more and more afraid of what it was they were actually there to do and where it was they had chosen to do it, even if they had been in there several times before. “G-g-g-girls I think we should go back now,” stuttered the scared young unicorn. “What are you talking about Sweetie Belle, we haven’t even found anything yet and you already want to turn back,” asked Scootaloo not willing to let her fears show in front of her friends. “Ah don’t know, Sweetie migh’ be right, we should probably go back,” said the third crusader. “What are you two chickens,” exclaimed the Pegasus. “Ah am not a chicken, you take tha back,” growled Apple Bloom at the accusation. “Well if you’re not a chicken then you wouldn’t be afraid to come with me to nab us a rare creature,” egged on the pegasus. Their arguments were interrupted by the deep growls coming from the bushes a few feet in front of them. They froze where they stood, none of them wanting to give whatever was on the other side of the bushes any reason to come out and attack them. What came out was what they had been looking for but yet not what they had hoped to have find them. Walking out came the pet of the metal clad creature, it towered over them menacingly, staring them down where they stood. As it came closer to the fillies it stopped its deep growling and sniffed at them before stopping just in front of them. It seemed confused at what it was looking at. It seemed to have been expecting the guards coming in after them not a group of children, who were obviously scared out of their minds. It had no idea what to do with them. Seeming to have made up its mind, it turned and started to make its way back in the direction it had come from only to stop and wait for the fillies. “Ah think it wants us to follow it,” suggested Apple Bloom, as she tried her hardest to quell the shaking in her legs. “H-H-How did you come to that conclusion,” asked the frightened unicorn, not bothering to try and hide the fact that she was scared and no longer wanted to be there. “Well fer starters its not attackin’ us and didn’ Fluttershy say it was friendly.” Coming to a hesitant agreement they each approached the dog as it continued to watch them, only turning around once he was sure they were following him. They followed in silence for several minutes as the dog padded at a steady pace keeping the fillies close. Only once they had thought that the dog was not in fact taking them to its owner, did they pass through a bush and trot into a makeshift campsite. It was at this campsite that they saw the creature, it sat propped up against a tree but it did not seem to respond to their presence. It seemed to only stir after the dog barked a couple of times. The creature shifted its weight and turned its head in their direction. ---- You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Standing across the small clearing was not what she had expected or wanted to wake up to. Three of the ponies stood there staring at her with different levels of fear and curiosity that seemed to be the normal reaction to her. But what shocked her the most was the fact that Dogmeat stood in front of the small group. These ponies however were not like the others she had seen since arriving here though, they were much smaller than the others and they wore some sort of explorer gear. “While I have to admit they are kinda cute, you did just compromise our location Dogmeat.” Dogmeat barked a few more times before padding over and taking its seat next to her, panting slightly. The Lone Wanderer rolled her eyes, before scratching him behind the ears, “I can’t stay mad at you. But what am I suppose to do about them, huh?” They must be children, I don’t think their parents are going to be very happy that I have them. Whatever plans she was going to come up with were ground to a halt when a large collection of hissing could be heard coming from multiple different directions at once. Scrambling to her feet she pulled out her combat shotgun and took a fighting stance. Not wanting to be caught from behind again she had her back towards a tree while Dogmeat took a stance and growled at the hissing noises. The fillies shrank back, huddling close together for protection as the sounds got louder and louder. What came into the clearing caused her to pause to assess the threat of the things before her. To her they looked like someone had taken the head and legs of a chicken and placed it on the body of a snake, it was an odd thing to look at nonetheless. She couldn’t quite determine what kind of a threat these snake things possessed to her and Dogmeat but the small ponies seemed to be terrified. When a snake would stalk close to the fillies, the normal pony would start kicking out and forcing them to back off a bit, proving that whatever these things could do was probably dangerous. Shouldering her shotgun she fired shell after shell into the mass of snakes that seemed to be pouring out of the surrounding shrubbery. They didn’t stand a chance to her onslaught but the ponies weren’t holding up so well. Before she could get to them, a snake had coiled itself around the unicorn and brought its face right up to the little fillies. What happened next both shocked and confused her as the little pony turned to stone before her eyes. Dogmeat chased the snake away as another tried to repeat the action on the winged pony as well. Unlike the other pony though, as it brought its face to the filly the Lone Wanderer reach out and closed her fist over its head, crushing the life out of it with a soft crunch. She was too slow to fully stop it however as the pony fell over screaming, its legs turned to stone and making it too heavy for its wings. The third fled screaming, heading in the direction that they had come from. “Dogmeat go after it, make sure nothing happens to it.” Dogmeat charged into the foliage after the pony at her command. This left her alone to deal with the few snakes that remained from her massacre. They slowly backed off having had second thoughts of continuing their attack. As the last of them ran off from the clearing, everything became much quieter, the only sounds coming from the whimpering pony that laid next to its petrified friend. Scooping up the two, she felt the filly squirm in her grasp until she placed her closer to her gear she had placed before her nap. ---- Ah need to find some help. Running as fast as she could, Apple Bloom pushed herself to her limits, not wanting to leave her friends for long. She needed to find her sister, Applejack, she would know what to do. She could hear the sounds of paws hitting the ground behind her, closing in on her and only driving her try even harder to stay ahead. It wasn’t long before she burst out of the forest with nothing following her out. Turning back she could see the dog stand at the edge, watching her before turning back. She gave a sigh of relief until she realized the time she was wasting. There was only one place she would find Applejack at this time of the day and that was at the orchard collecting apples. With a destination in mind she redirected her mad dash back for home. ---- Applejack had spent most of her time out here in the orchards collecting apples, it was what she was best at and she was proud of it. She and Big Macintosh would normally split up to cover more ground, so they didn’t ever really see each other until later in the day or when they had to drop off the basket of apples they had collected. Twilight had fallen into the habit of visiting more often ever since her brother came and made the library his base of operations and Applejack was happy for the company. Applejack had heard about the yelling coming from the library lately and she could understand why Twilight would not want to stay there. Twilight hadn’t visited today which was fine too, Applejack would just get more work done this way. Moving from tree to tree, bucking the apples out had become second nature to her now and allowed her mind to wander. The escaped creature was the hottest topic as of late, with so many of the guards hurt from their first encounter, it wasn’t a surprise to her. When she had seen it running and tried to lasso it and then again at the hospital, it just looked unnatural to her. She had seen many critters in her time but nothing like that, she couldn’t stop the shivers that followed the thought. It was about time to call it quits for the day, so Applejack gave her last buck at the nearest tree and watched as her hard work came falling from down to the ground. Her thoughts were interrupted as in the distance, distressed cries could be heard calling her name. It only took an instant for Applejack to recognize the voice as belonging to her younger sister Apple Bloom and from the sound of her voice she knew something had gone horribly wrong. Running full speed into the direction of the shouting she spotted the little filly panting on the ground. Coming to a halt next to her, Applejack gave her little sister a quick examination for any kind of injury, seeing none was a huge relief to her and allowed her heart to slow down a bit. “What in tarnations goin’ on sugarcube, I’ve never seen ya so worked up before.” In between pants Apple Bloom tried her hardest to speak, “Sweetie Belle... Scootaloo... Trouble.” The mentioning of the two names brought Applejack’s heart rate back up, it was common that these three fillies would get themselves into trouble but it was never a pleasant experience to hear it. “What kind of trouble sugarcube,” she asked worry starting to creep into her voice. “Scootaloo... Sweetie Belle... Creature has them... We were attacked.” Applejack’s blood ran cold as she heard the words leave her sister’s mouth. Scooping up Apple Bloom, Applejack placed the exhausted filly on her back. “We need to go get Twilight and her brother, we’re going to need their help.” With the filly secure on her back Applejack bolted for Twilight’s, hoping that they would get there in time to help the fillies. ---- It had been a while since Dogmeat had run off after the small filly and the Lone Wanderer was starting to worry for her companion, not that he couldn’t take care of himself but nonetheless the feeling was still growing. After he had left and things had calmed down again did she finally have time to get a closer look at what had attacked them. They looked just as they had earlier, chickens with a serpin like body. There was no indication as to how they managed to turn a pony to stone, it was a puzzling thing to think about. Having examined them long enough she walked back over to her gear and pulled out the now ruined bed sheets. Tearing a strip along the edge, she kept that to the side as she made an impromptu bag. Once the bag itself was finished, she tied the strip to it making a strap to slip her arm through to carry. With the preparations finished, the Lone Wanderer went around the campsite and collected the carcasses of the chicken-snakes. Her plans were going to be accelerated tremendously and she was going to need something to give the ponies to show this wasn’t her fault. The local inhabitants must have something to use against these things, otherwise this is going to be a lot worse. As the last of the snakes were being stuffed into the bag, Dogmeat came walking into the clearing alone. “Did the pony get out of the forest?” Dogmeat barked in response to her question. “Alright lets pack up camp. If we can drop these two out of the forest before more of those ponies come to help the better.” The small filly watched as she put away her things and slung the makeshift bag over her shoulder. When it was picked up, it gave a yelp and struggled in her grasp again until it was placed on Dogmeat's back. Once the Wanderer was sure the filly wouldn’t fall off, she picked up the stone filly and started walking. With the added weight of the two fillies, their progress was slowed and by the time they had reached the forest’s edge it had been over an hour. From her kneeling position in the brush, what she saw made her stomach drop. From where she was she could count roughly thirty-five armored ponies on the ground with an additional sixteen flying ones already in the air. To make matters worse she could see the purple armored pony along with the crowned white winged-horned pony giving orders. Standing around the crowned pony stood four unarmed ponies three of them she recognized from the hospital while the fourth she had not seen before. It was the purple unicorn, the cyan winged pony and the orange regular pony that seemed to pop up wherever she went and was beginning to get very annoying. The fourth however was a pearly white pony with a stylized mane and if the make up smears were any indication under its eyes, it had been crying recently. As she knelt there she saw the purple armored pony line up the others into a formation and give them commands. It was while these commands were being given did she see the crowned pony close its eyes then its horn flare to life for a moment, then die back down as it opened its eyes again. It scanned the forest’s edge before it stopped at where she sat. Neither moved. Well fuck. She had the sinking feeling that she was not hidden like she thought she was and the longer she stayed there the more restless the filly got. “Dogmeat, I need you to stay here.” Dogmeat only whimpered, knowing what would come next and was not happy about it, more than willing to go out there with her. “Whatever happens do not come out of the forest to help me. Stay. Here.” Giving a last whimper, he forced her hand on his head before lying on the ground. Taking the filly off of his back, she stood up and stepped out into open view of all present. Now that she was standing she could make out the shape of a large carriage that was obviously designed to carry something much bigger than a pony and had thick metal bars blocking the windows. It took little thought as to who that carriage was designed to carry and where, it didn’t help her mood much but it did tell her one thing: They were not going to try and kill her. Shortly after the rays of light made contact with her armor did the armored ponies look her way, many of them freezing in place while others looked ready to charge her. Slowly she lowered the two fillies to the ground, every eye keeping a close watch on her every movement. With the fillies in sight many of guards took to offensive stances. The Wanderer thought she heard one of them yell something, “What have you done to MY SISTER YOU MONSTER,” but as always, she was unable to decipher it. Carefully she removed her arm from the strap of the bag and gave it a toss, making sure that it landed halfway to the group, it made a soft splat as it landed. Your move. The purple armored unicorn looked to the crowned one, a moment passed as the crowned one never took its eyes off her before giving a slight nod. With approval given the purple armored unicorn's horn began to glow, the same glow surrounded the fillies and bag. The fillies were given to the four mares while the bag stopped before the crowned and purple armored pony. They seemed to take their time in opening the bag. Once it was actually open, the armored one took a step back in disgust while the crowned one showed no differing expression, making it all the harder for the Wanderer to judge what was going through its head. Finally the armored one stepped towards her, she made a note of the sword on its side, only stopping when it was a few feet away from her. From there it became a stare down, the absolute loathing of her was present in its eyes. Minutes passed before it gave any indication that it was about to speak. “You are hereby placed under arrest for murder, the destruction of property and foalknapping. Relinquish your weapons and come quietly or we will use force to stop you.” She groaned in irritation, I can’t understand you fucker. As its horn began to glow again she waited to see what it would do next and saw as the sword on its side took the same glow and begin to float next to its head. She might not have understood what it said but she knew a fighting stance when she saw one and with its weapon out like that it was all she needed to know. She unsheathed her own sword and flipped the switch, bathing the blade in flame, if it was waiting for an answer it got it. The pony’s eyes narrowed at her actions as they continued their stare down, then suddenly it struck out with its blade. Without the blade being attached to the main body it was impossible for her to predict his next strike. Without the opponent's body giving away their next move she was forced to take a defensive course in the fight, reacting at the last moment to each attack. The pony seemed to take advantage of her lack of a formal training as he bashed at her defenses, pushing her farther and farther back. It wasn’t long before the armored pony slipped past her defenses and slashed her across her wrist severing the tendons. Crying out in pain, her hand released the weapon and it fell to the ground, her hand now useless. She felt the opponent's sword rest against her throat and could see the victorious smirk on his face. “You not so tough, now then you are under arrest and-,” it was cut short as the sound of a loud bang from her revolver could be heard by all present. In his victory she had pulled it out with her left hand and brought it to her stomach for support. I never said I would fight fair, that's just stupid. The victorious smirk faded and was replaced with a look of surprise and shock as it looked down at its chest, seeing its now ruined armor. The round had punched through the top right peytral plate, blood flowing from the wound. It was another second until its legs gave out and it fell over and a pool of its own blood began to form. What followed was as if a group of people started demolishing a collection of bee hives and released the angered swarm on her. A wall of laser like projectiles impacted into her, some being negated by the tesla coils on her back while the rest harmlessly hit her armor, doing nothing harmful to her person. That only lasted until a particularly strong blast slammed into her chest and threw her into a tree. The tree gave a thunderous like crack from the impact, knocking the air from her lungs and disoriented her. When she tried to remove herself from the tree, she found that she couldn’t move and for that matter it felt as if a stronger and stronger force was pushing down on every part of her body, the pressure prevented her from sucking in air to feed her now burning lungs. She could hear the sound of the metal in her armor and the wood from the tree behind her groaning in protest from the abuse. What peaked her terror was the hair line crack slowly working its way up her vision. Utilizing every ounce of strength she could muster, she lifted her arms up and removed the helmet, letting it drop to the ground. With the helmet off, her vision began to darken at the edges and she was on the verge of blacking out from the lack of air. Silent screams was all she could do in her vulnerable state, many of the armored ponies watched on as the life was being squeezed out of her. In the distance stood the being that she guessed was doing this to her. Standing there was the lavender unicorn, its horn shining brightly but unlike the others she had seen do this, this one’s eyes were giving off a green like smoke with the appearance of pure rage and hate. The ponies around it were reacting in different levels of fear, the crowned one seemed to be trying to talk to it. Just as the last points of light were leaving her vision did the pressure lift. Gasping for air, life returned to her at the last moment, muscles spasiming as they received the much needed oxygen from the lungs. Without the force keeping her pinned to the tree, her legs buckled, her face meeting the ground once again. Every muscle burned from exhaustion and refused to respond to any command that her brain might give them, the most she could do was tilt her head and pant. The sounds of approaching hooves kept her from passing out. Looking up she saw that the white crowned pony was walking towards her, its horn constantly glowing, the purple one next to it having stopped what it was doing to her and was instead crying as it watched the armored ponies, that were not surrounding her, were hurriedly carrying off the purple armored one. As the white crowned pony stood over her it said, “You will come with us and there will be no more resistance.” Not able to lift a finger she was helpless to stop them take her things yet again and place her in the large carriage. She was once again in their custody.