I wished for a good pair of wings as I fell, but I had the next best thing: my cape. I spread it out and it caught in the wind, letting me soar above the rooftops of Equestria. It was a swift flight, due to the winds that had been conveniently scheduled that day. I didn't need to worry about the guards, they were more worried about the princess that was surely paralyzed with fear. Celestia however would not forgive me for frightening her sister. She'd call the "Shadow Hunter", and she would never let me rest.
The disadvantage of riding the winds is that there are no brakes. I didn't mind, though, I had no idea where to hide anyway. A small village passed by beneath me, and then a forest spawned below. Just as I began to fear it would take magic to stop me, the breeze ceased as though it had been executed. I fell faster than a rock, and a slightly girlish scream may have emitted from my throat, but I will admit to nothing. I knew I was close to the edge, though. I might be able to crawl out.
I crashed through the upper branches of trees, the tiny branches clinging and slicing my skin. I smashed into a bough thicker than I was, but I fell so quickly that it snapped on impact. I felt more than wood crack, and the ground wasn't anymore forgiving. I struggled to remain conscious as blood poured from various cuts. I fought to stand, but gave up after the pain of several broken bones stopped me. My hoof was probably shattered, my ribs were cracked and broken, and I knew I had a concussion. My cloak was enchanted, however, and was perfectly fine. Stupid irony.
A low growl came from behind me, and somehow I conquered the physical obstacles enough to turn over and find a pack of drooling timberwolves only a few yards away. "Killed by timberwolves. Master would be disappointed." I thought as I closed my eyes.
"Take that, ya Varmit!" I heard a country accent order as the sound of hooves contacting with wood hit my ears. I opened my eyes to see an orange mare battling the pack. "Run." I tried to say, but a fit of coughing interrupted me, and the shaking caused excruciating pain. A bit of blood came out of my mouth. Ponies here would find timberwolves a formidable enemy, I would never forgive myself if she died because of me. I could tell she helped bare Harmony, she glowed with the shard of Honesty. She made surprisingly quick work of the wooden pests, and I must say, I was impressed. The defeat of the wolves did nothing to help my current condition, however. I would still bleed out.
"You okay, sugar cube?" the mare asked as she walked towards me. "What happened? Who are ya?"
Sadly, the mare didn't get a reply. The last thing I saw was two earth ponies running at me, one was a filly, and the other was a large, red stallion.
I woke up in a white bed in a room so white it made my eyes hurt. A steady beeping sound came from beside me.
Beep--beep--beep--beep--beep--beep
I tensed up. I was in a hospital.
Beep--beep-beepbeepbeepbeepbeep
The urgent sounding beeps increased with my heart rate. I needed to get out, the princesses would find me soon. As I started to remove the IV in my foreleg, a nurse burst into the room. The white unicorn's face was twisted with worry.
"Please, sir, you're alright. Don't touch that, please." She said as she calmed down and began to reconnect all the wires I had taken off. "You had some nasty injuries, but our unicorns struggled to do anything. I'm guessing you've cast quite a few protection spells on yourself, right? we couldn't even take your cloak off."
"Something like that." I said. I just wanted her to leave so that I could make my hasty retreat. "how long have I been here?"
"Three days.There's some ponies outside waiting to see you. I'll send them in." the nurse left the room, and my heart dropped. The princesses must have found me. I prepared to do some swift fighting to escape, but instead of guards, I was assaulted by six mares and three fillies. The red stallion from the forest followed behind them.
"hi, sugar cube. Ya gave us quite a scare, we weren't sure if ya were gonna make it." The orange mare said. Honestly glowed from her so badly I could barely keep a straight face. "I'm AppleJack, this 'ere is Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and my brother and sister AppleBloom and Big Macintosh. Big Mac for short."
I turned my gave to Big Mac. "Which war?"
He looked at me with a shocked look. "Saddle Arabia. Captain of 132nd. You?"
"I was at Saddle Arabia. I was a Sargent in the 415. We might have fought beside each other." I replied. It was only a partial lie, I had fought with the 415, I just kind of assumed the position. No pony questioned.
"You were in a war?" Apple Bloom asked.
Big Mac turned even redder. "Eeyup."
"How could you tell?" Twilight asked.
"Soldier thing." I replied. "When can I get out?"
"Soon. You'll have to find somewhere to stay, though. You're going to need some rest after you fell into the Everfree. Using your cloak to glide is quite genius. Anyway, we need some information. Like, your name, age, occupation, current residence, Cutie Mark." Twilight replied. "For the records."
"I'm kind of a wonderer." I replied. I was relieved to know that the princesses hadn't found me. "My name's Cason. Cason Changewing. I'm 23."
"So name: Cason Changewing. Age: 23. Occupation: wonderer. Residence: None. what about Cutie Mark?" She asked. A magic checklist levitated in front of her face.
I blushed. "Can I stand up?"
"Uh... sure. You should be as good as new." Twilight said.
I unhooked myself and stood to my hooves. My magical aura briefly surrounded the back of my cape, and the corner curled up enough to expose My flank. A gasp came from every mouth in the room.
"You're a...a..." Scootaloo gasped.
"BLANK FLANK!"