//------------------------------// // It stinks here // Story: Identity // by Hyper44 //------------------------------// Twilight and Fluttershy had teamed up with several other pegasus to do a slow gird search a between the tracks starting from the rails and reaching a mile away. On the other side another group of pegasus were doing the same. Rainbow Dash and others were high in the air rapidly, searching and double searching every place they could think of. The two groups Twilight was with were slow and low search looking for any subtle clues. This included anything thrown from the train or as Twilight refused to consider, anypony. They also searched for even the slightest hint of any track leading away from the rails. All around them flew birds that Fluttershy directed to fly down in areas of high grass where they could not see the ground look for anything of importance. "These guys were good." A black pegasus stallion commented. "I don't think we're going to find anything." "We'll find her." Twilight called back. "Keep your eyes on the ground." "I'd hate to say it but-" "Then don't say!" Twilight snapped. "I just mean that if they were only concerned that Princess Celestia didn't know until sunrise then it's probably too late." He went on anyway. "Shut up!" Twilight snapped. "I not trying to be rude, just logical." He explained then jerked up short as a yellow mare thrust her face in front of his. "Listen here mister! A princess just gave you an order so you better follow it or she might have you thrown in a dungeon or banish you or have you banished and thrown in a dungeon in the place she banishes you to!" "Yes, ma’am!" The stallion replied quickly. "Good! Remember that!" Fluttershy said and flew back to directing her birds. * * * A few miles away sounds of a struggle came out of a tight opening in the earth. Grunts and gasps got louder along with the sound of soil cascading down. With one last grunt a unicorn head popped out of the gap. He coughed then grinned. "I'm almost out!" He called back into the crack only to be answered with coughing. "Oh, sorry about all the dirt." He said quickly and struggled to get the rest of his body out. "You've,-*cough*-apologized for the umpteenth-"Cough* time! Stop it!" Valentine called up. "It's fine, keep going!" "Yeah, sorry. I'm almost out. I can get it!" Ember Light called back as he struggled to get his fore hooves out. With a hard jerk his right forelimb came free. With serval more yanks he pulled his left above the earth. He braced them against the ground and pulled with all his might. "Almost there, just-" His face suddenly flushed red. "Who's pushing on my butt?! Stop it! I can get out myself!" He used his magic to grab a nearby tree and pull. Little by little his torso was pulled out of the earth. Then came the hardest part, his flanks. He braced both forelegs on the ground, grabbed the tree tighter in his magic and pulled with all his might. At first it didn't seem like his hind end was going to budge but then the earth finally gave way. He was pulling so hard that when his backside was yanked free his butt and back legs were slung into the air and he literally did a front flip before landing hard on his back. While he was regaining his hoofs a purple head popped out of the ground like a flower. She placed her fore hooves on the ground but had to give little effort since Valentine pushed her up and out. The pink earth pony quickly lifted her head and fore hoofs out of the ground and Ember Light helped her the rest of the way up. He stepped back and looked at them a moment. They were covered from mane to hoof in soil. Sweat had caused it to become plastered to them and they looked like they had changed color. He laughed. Valentine fixed him with a critical eye. "Have you looked at yourself?" She asked but there was no anger in her voice. Lightning Jolt just looked down at herself and laughed. She sat down and started trying to paw some dirt out of her mane with her hoofs. It did little good with her hoofs being just a dirty. "You just do this." Valentine instructed and shook herself like a dog. Her two friends just shrugged and followed her example. They created such a cloud of dust that they had to walk a few feet away in order to breathe. They were at least a little cleaner. Only a bath though would fix it though. "So where are we?" Lightning Jolt asked looking around. Her two friends did the same. "We," Ember Light announced. "Are in the Everfree." * * * In the castle of Canterlot the two royal sisters were pouring over the information that they themselves had gathered and what the guards had brought to them. "Fortunately the workers at the train station take not only a tally of who bought tickets and departed they take a tally of how many get off at each station. It's not specific, just wither their earth, unicorn, or pegasus and male or female. Sometimes they note colors and always take note it their connected to royalty" Princess Celestia said. "Unfortunately you don't have to give your name to purchase a ticket." "They would have used aliases regardless." Luna replied. "But it still might have given us a clue, even aliases can have meanings." Celestia said. "We do know that two guards boarded with Lightning Jolt but neither she nor the guards got off at the next stop." Luna flexed her wings. "The guards themselves did not travel all the way to the next station? The pegasus could have easily flown off. The unicorn could teleport or have levitated but we would have to assume him to be powerful or at least very skilled. The night trains move very fast so if he teleported then where ever he would have appeared at he would still be going the same speed. To levitate off he'd have to slow gradually or it would cause almost the same effect as the sudden stop at the end of a fall." "Yes, he would." Celestia agreed. "It's also worse than that from what I have found after looking over the rosters." "Worse? As if we didn't have enough with a conspiracy in our mists and one of Twilight's friends missing under such circumstances." Luna remarked. "What is it, sister?" "There were two more young adults that boarded the same train but also never got off at the next station or any other station after that." Luna struck the air with her wings. "Two more victims!” She exclaimed. Neither of the princesses took it lightly when any of their subjects came to harm. “Who were they?" "A young Unicorn male called Ember Light and a young, female earth pony named Valentine." A pony clearing his throat caught their attention. They had not noticed Shining Armor walking in. "What is it, Shining Armor?" Celestia asked. "Have you found any of the culprits?" "No, your majesty. So far all guards that we have interviewed have been cleared but we still have many more. We did find that two suits of armor were missing." "At least we found something." Celestia said. "Anything from the searchers?" "No, ma'am, nothing with results. There were a few pegasus who were night flying and reported seeing a bright glow from the direction of Ghastly Gorge but it disappeared so fast that they could not pinpoint it. I sent pegasus to sweep the area." "Good, I hope that it is a lead that gets up somewhere." Celestia said. "Anything else?" "Yes. I think it would be a good idea to have my sister come and help organize." He said. "This is a nightmare interviewing and cross interviewing every pony in the royal guard as well as checking their story out." "I'll have her sent for." Celestia said. "She's probably about to fly herself ragged anyways." * * * "From the stories my friends told me, I really don't want to be here." Lightning Jolt said as they walked. "You know you can just fly back to Ponyville?" Valentine commented. "I don't want to leave you two behind." Lighting Jolt replied. "We'd be fine and are you sure it's just that?" The pink mare pressed. "Why wouldn’t it be? “Lightning Jolt asked not looking back at her. "Lightning Jolt, do you know why I knew that those guards were up to something? After a long time of being a fighter I learned to read ponies pretty well. That, and the fact that we saw a group of pegasus fly over the trees and we know you did too. You pretended like they weren't there. You even crouched closer to a tree to make sure the canopy hid you." "They were royal guards." Lightning Jolt replied. "I don't want to give myself up to them." "I can understand your fear but what do you plan to do?" Valentine asked. "I'll go to Twilight and my other friends. I want to get to them unnoticed and talk to them first. She'd probably be surprised that I'm back so soon. I don't know what she's goanna say when I tell her what happened but I trust her. I want to talk to her first so I'll turn myself in to her." "Sound reasonable." Ember Light said. "Don't make it sound like you’re a criminal though. You don't know that." "Alright, but if it's because they did find something out about me I don't think I even want to know anymore. I hope I don't have to hide out here the rest of my life. It's dangerous...and it stinks out here!" Lighting Jolt put a hoof over her nose. "It wasn’t me." Ember Light said. "I blame Valentine." "It wasn’t me either." Valentine snorted then covered her nose too. "It's coming from the forest. She paused and looked around trying to identify what plant was giving off that odor. Then her ears flicked as she picked up something barely audible. "Everypony freeze." She commanded without raising her voice. They froze, looking at her confused. "Why?" Ember Light asked. "I'm not sure yet, but just be quiet and let me listen." She said raising her head up as high as she could and swiveling her ears around. Her friends stayed still even trying to breathe softly while she listened. They thought they might have heard things but for them it could have been their ears playing tricks on them. Years of training and fighting, sometimes even to keep herself from harm had given her a sixth sense that let her know when to take caution. It was not a finely tuned as many fighters for most of her battles were in competitions or against typical bullies, (the most dangerous day of her life was the night before) but she still had one. She was a good fighter but when it came to serious life experiences she really considered herself a rather cushy warrior and untested. She only thought herself to be impressive to ponies who did not know the world of martial arts it all that well, which often happened when she encountered normal ponies. Valentine stood up on her hind legs straining her ears knowing that the lives of her friends might depend on it. After a few moments she identified the sound that had made her alert. It was a soft sound, that of shifting branches, the crush of grass and the movement of plants. She almost dismissed it since it only came as the wind blew but no, it wasn’t quite right. Then she felt chills as it dawned her what the reason for such light movements that were lined up with the rustle of the wind through the trees was. Something…no, somethings were stalking them and they were all around. She slowly lowered herself back to all fours. From her expression and tense pose her friends knew that danger was near. "Lightning Jolt, get ready to fly." She hissed out in a low, urgent voice. "Ember Light get your horn ready. Whatever you do don't run or you will run right into them." "What is it?" Ember Light asked with his horn already lighting up. She didn't know for sure being unfamiliar with the forest but she didn't have to answer. Eyes began to glow beyond the surrounding vegetation accompanied with eager growls. "Timber wolves." Lightning Jolt breathed. As if her soft words was a signal they all lunged from every direction.