Ah made mah way down the path towards what was left of Ponyville. Ah had made sure ta leave before Cheerilee had recalled her Mist, which she insists we call Dawn. Applebloom is just too young ta know about this, an’ Ah don’ think AJ would like me doin’ this at all.
It hurts me ta do this behind her back, though.
Ah stuck to th’ allies an’ shadows. No one really expects me ta be sneaky, given my size an’ color, which, oddly, makes it even harder for anypony ta see me. Carefully, Ah made mah way ta th’ library. Several moons back, we discovered tha’ somepony had pried th’ boards over th’ kitchen door off. They did a good job coverin’ th’ door back up whenever they left, and it helped us keep our meetin’s a secret from th’ town, so we put th’ boards back however we found it. Ah pulled th’ boards off, carefully opened th’ door, checked the daggers Ah’d hid in mah yoke, an’ snuck inside.
Once again, Ah had beaten them. Ah took a quick look ‘round the library, an’, findin’ nopony, Ah took a book down off th’ shelves for somethin’ ta pass th’ time with. Darin’ Doo, uh? Might be interestin’….
*^*
The wagon creaked to a stop on a hill top. The sight of rundown roofs was visible in the distance. I bounced out of the harness, glad that I wouldn’t be the one pulling it into town.
“That’s where we’ve been heading this entire time? It looks worse than Trottingham!”
I shot a quick glare through my mane at the light blue unicorn behind me. “Hey, I used to live here, remember?” I moved to the back of the wagon, the unicorn following me. “And, besides, Ponyville was wa~ay smaller than Trottingham, even before Nightmare Moon. And, being smaller, means less ponies. Less ponies, worse upkeep. Many left for the Chaos Lands, where the food was being grown, rather than stay here, in the dark and cold.” I reached into the back of the wagon, and pulled out a dirty, tattered brown cloak. With a quick snap of my neck, I draped it over myself.
“Whatever.” The unicorn huffed, “So, what’s the game plan, then?”
“We~ell,” I started, “I’m going to go into town, and meet with somepony. You are going to hide the wagon until I get back. Then, tomorrow, we’ll both go into town, sell the junk in there,” I point at the wagon, “while trying to gather any juicy info from the townsfolk. Then, we’ll leave tomorrow night, and give our report.” Running like madmares away from this place the whole time. I turn to look at the unicorn. “Any questions?”
“Yes. Why does Trixie have to watch the wagon?” She pouted.
The pout quickly shriveled up and died under the full force of my glare. “Because the boss put me in charge. And you know that, since he put me in charge, I have his authority. You know what happened to the last pony who didn’t follow orders, right?” Trixie’s bravado withered like Whitetail Wood. “Now, be a good little mare, and hide the bucking wagon.”
I start walking towards the town, listening to Trixie grumbling under her breath. Faust, I hate dealing with ponies like her…
It didn’t take me long to reach the outskirts of town. Keeping the hood on my cloak up, I darted through the town, ducking into my old hiding spots whenever I knew somepony was about to look in my direction. Eventually, I made it to the library. I snuck around back, and, seeing that the boards over the door had been removed, I quickly snuck inside. He’s early again.
Just as I was about to walk into the main room, my rear left hoof went numb just as my tail twitched. I jerked my head back, just as a dagger buried itself into the door behind where my head would’ve been. I moved back from the wall a little ways, but kept myself away from the door. “Identify!” I yelled into the room, drawing a dagger of my own.
“... Blue!”
I relaxed, sheathing my blade. “Well, it’s been a while.” I state as I pulled the dagger from the door. “Did you kill the last pony we sent here with that trick?” I peaked into the room to see the sole occupant nod. “Ah. We were wondering what happened to him.” I finally entered the room myself and hoofed over the dagger. “So, what happened since we last talked, Big Mac?”
The red stallion sat down, motioning me to another chair. “Whelp, Ah guess th’ most important thin’ would be tha’ th’ farm got a new pony workin’ on it now. Y’see, ‘bout a moon back, Cheerilee left for the Everfree, but came back with an Amulet….”
*^*
We were a bit later than normal. There was a tree that was near death that Twilight needed to spend more time on. Now, I was walking around the barn to head in for a late breakfast, Twilight safe in the Amulet. I entered into the kitchen, and opened the “fridge” door. It was more of an ice box, really, though I never figured out where they got the ice. I carefully grabbed the plate they made up for me last night, and brought it to the table.
I looked over my shoulder to see if anypony was watching, then tapped the amulet. I watched Twilight seep a tendril out of the amulet and into the food. Soon, it was warm enough to eat, and I watched half of it dissolve into the cloud that made up of Twilight’s body. As soon as she slide back into the amulet, I started to eat the rest. It was a mutual agreement we had. I didn’t get very far when I heard the sound of hooves behind me.
“Mornin’, Cheerilee.” Applejack mumbled as she moved to sit across from me.
“Morning.” I focused back on my food. It seems Applejack wouldn’t let me.
“Ah want ta ask ya somethin’ about tha’ Amulet of yours.” She began. “Did the book ya found say if there was anythin’ else tha’ the Dawn’s Light Amulet could do?”
“I think she’s talking about the dreams I've been giving her.”
“Thanks, Twilight. I kinda figured that….” To give myself more time, I took another mouthful from my plate, while screwing up my face in
“concentration”. “No,” I replied once I had swallowed, “I don’t think so. All the book said was that the Amulet will, if I’m remembering correctly, “aid in the growth of nature”. Or something to that effect. Why?”
“Nice ad lib, there.”
“Shush.”
Applejack looked away, biting her bottom lip. She looked back to me with a nod. “What Ah’m about ta tell ya doesn’t this room, got it?”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I intoned, going through the motions. I could almost feel Twilight doing the same.
“Well, abou’ a moon after ya started workin’ here, I've been havin’ these weird dreams.” She sighed. “In ‘em, Ah wake up on the farm, an’ it’s the way Ah remember it, from before Nightmare Moon. Granny’s alive an’ Applebloom’s at school. But Ah can tell that it’s well after Nightmare’s return. Ah reach the gate ta the farm, an’ there Ah meet this Alicorn. Except she doesn’t look like Princess Celestia or Cadence.”
“Was she a purple Alicorn, with what looks like a star cutie mark?” I interrupt.
“Yeah,” She narrowed her eyes at me, “how’d ya know?”
“There was a picture of her in the book. Her name was Twilight. I think she was the one who made the Amulet. The book didn’t say what happened to her, though.”
“And how is this not telling her anything about me?”
“Don’t you think it would be easier to talk to Applejack if she knew something about you?” I pick through what’s left on my plate while I waited for Applejack to digest this tidbit of information. “And I still left it vague enough for you to do your own ad libbing…”
Applejack finally spoke up, “So, mah dreams could be connected ta the Amulet? Ah mean, this Twilight made it, right. An’ now she’s appearin’ in mah dreams. Don’ ya think that that’s a very convenient coincidence?”
“Repeat this…”
“…. Well, the book did say the Amulet would aid in growth. What if that also included personal growth?” I finished off the remains of my breakfast. I got up and cleaned the plate. I put it back on its shelf and turned to the door. I looked back and noticed that Applejack hadn't moved. “If there’s nothing else you want to talk about, I’m heading to bed.” She nodded, with a thoughtful look on her face.
I hid in the bushes. Well, we were all hiding in the bushes, but I was hiding from everypony else. My Queen had tasked me with the important task of making sure Agis completes his. I had made sure to tell my Queen about the Amulet, and she summoned Agis to her court. She and I made sure I was out of the caves when he got there, but Stones and Stix filled me in on what happened.
Apparently, She had charged Agis with finding the Amulet, and bringing it to her. I was to make sure there he didn’t try anything. The pegasus that saw the mare in the first place said that the mare was no longer at the castle when she had gotten back. Now, after nearly two moons, we had found it.
So, here we were, hiding in the bushes, waiting for the signal to attack the one farm that had repeatedly withstood every attempt to raid it. I checked to see if Agis had moved, then turned my eyes back to the walls of Sweet Apple Acres. With every Feral called in that we could on short notice, we may actually be able to breach them this time.
A cry rang up and down the line. Then, with a war cry from some thirty ponies, the small horde charged forth.
This time, I thought with a smug smile, the walls will fall.