//------------------------------// // 34 - In Case I Go Crazy // Story: Storm Of Secrets // by Beware The Carpenter //------------------------------// When the search party made camp in another cave on the third night, Twilight was exhausted; but didn't let that get in the way of what she knew she needed to do. Ignoring the ache in her shoulders as she shrugged off her saddlebags, she turned to Shining Armor and tried to muster a chipper smile, "I'll take first watch tonight, and if you like I'll take part of your shift. It's only fair since you watched for me last night." Shining Armor smiled weakly but shook his head, "No need, I'll keep watch tonight. You get some sleep so you're fresh for tomorrow's walk." "But that's not fair! I'll take the first... hold on; did you just say you were going to watch for the whole night?" "Yes." Even Rainbow Dash stood up from where she had been kicking some ferns together to make a bed and stared at him incredulously "You’re kidding! You were the first up on Thursday, you stayed up almost all of last night, and now you want to stay up again? Get some sleep!" "I'm not tired. ...At least, not as tired at you two are. Storm and I are both elite worriers and are trained to go long periods without rest. You two are civilians and need all the sleep you can get." "And when are you going to sleep?" Asked Twilight anxiously. "When we're safe in Canterlot with Cadance and Storm." "But that's two days away at least!" "Then you'd better get to sleep so we can start early." They argued. Twilight pleaded with her brother to take some rest, Dash called him an idiot and asked what he was trying to prove, but neither of them could alter Shining Armor's immovable will. At length, Rainbow Dash decided to let Shining Armor destroy himself if he wanted, but by now she was wide awake and couldn't have slept even if it hadn't been for the unicorns ongoing debate. Then, all at once, the voices stopped as there was a bright flash of light Dash could see through her eyelids. She opened them in time to see an unconscious Twilight caught by her brother's telekinesis and levitate to a bed of ferns beside her. Dash rolled to her hooves to demand an explanation, but before she could get a sound out, Shining Armor's horn flashed again, and Dash felt the world around her go dim. ............................................................................................................................................................ Breakfast was even bleaker then the day before; Dash was fuming at having been magically chloroformed the night before, and could tell that Twilight was even angrier, but neither of them said anything. The food wasn't that good either, (not that she expected it to be), and the comfort of having lighter saddlebags was off put by the thought of their dwindling food supplies. The sooner they got to Storm and Cadance the better. As soon as Shining Armor finished scoffing down his oats he was on his hooves, looking around for any preparations that needed doing before moving out, "You two ready to start heading south?" "Actually B.B.," said Twilight sheepishly, "I really need to go to the bathroom." Shining Armor nodded, "Bushes, outside the case, to the left." Twilight smiled gratefully, but before she cleared the cave entrance, Shining Armor turned to Rainbow Dash, "Go with her." "What?" "None of us should leave the cave alone, surrounded by changelings there's no guarantee the pony who leaves your sight is the one who comes back. You two go, I'll get the camp packed up." Shining Armor's command was... awkward, to say the least, but rather then to argue with a stallion who may very well be verging on insanity, Rainbow followed Twilight out the cave mouth. Passing round a corner the two mares found the glade at which point Twilight turned to Rainbow, "Give me a couple minutes?" "No probs" nodded Rainbow, turning her back to her friend's privacy to keep watch, in case Shining Armor came by and asked why they weren't together. She took her post and waited... and waited, there was a snapping somewhere in the thicket, followed by a swift grunt; "Twilight?" Dash turned, and darted behind the first bush, almost running into Twilight who seemed to have been on her way back. "I thought you were going to wait!" protested Twilight after stumbling backwards from Dash's onslaught. "I heard a noise." "I tripped over a branch, now come on, Shining Armor's waiting." Twilight walked past her and began heading out of the thicket. Dash almost followed, but then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a purple unicorn mare, unconscious on the ground, blood seeping from a head wound behind her cracked horn. "Hey Twilight" the purple unicorn still standing turned her head to face Rainbow Dash, only to have it pummeled a second later by a solid buck from both of Dash's hind hooves, sending her sprawling. Dash flicked her hooves together, ejecting the blades from her shoes, and then lunged at the stunned mare, whose hind hooves flew up and caught Dash painfully in the gut, making her overshoot her target and plunge into a nearby thorn bush. Dash struggled, her protective chain mail trapping her as it snagged onto the thorns. She heard the changeling regain its hooves and the morning light seemed to become suddenly brighter. With a final, desperate heave, Dash broke free from the bush seconds before a fireball sent it up in flames. Dash gained altitude, swiveled and then came barreling down on the imposter from above. The two collapsed to the ground, but Dash was the first to regain her composure and got the idea of stabbing the changeling through the heart. Dash was about to make the cut, when her hooves became paralyzed and began glowing with telekinesis. A moment later she was dragged off the changeling and onto her back a few feet away, as one of Zecora's jars came flying out of nowhere, shattering between them. Dash looked up to see an upside down view of Shining Armor with one sword drawn, waiting for the mist to reveal who the changeling was, then charge, jump over Twilight's doppelganger and towards a manticore who had sprung into the glade. The two seemed to charge each other in slow motion; Shining Armor brought his sword down a moment too early, striking a rock and causing the blade to shatter. The manticore lunged to bite Shining Armor, who ducked just in time to drive his horn into the manticore's chest. The two struggled, the manticore howling in pain as it drove Shining Armor back with its superior weight and momentum, clawing viciously at his armor with both fore claws. Shining Armor shook, and from beneath the manticore's mane there came a brief glow before the manticore exploded into chunks of gore which flew in all directions. Shining Armor regained his balance almost immediately and began pelting the nearby tree line with massive fireballs, setting the front row of trees ablaze. A nightmarish cry issued from behind one of the trees and immediately began receding deeper into the woods; Shining Armor drew his second sword and gave chase, jumping through the wall of firehe had just created. Dash rolled to her hooves; ready to follow Shining Armor, but then saw the flames were about to engulf Twilight, still with a cracked horn and unconscious from a head wound. Giving her wings a hard flap, Dash reached to retrieve her friend, only to have her hooves pass right through her paralyzed friend as she vanished. Dash fondled the empty air then, without stopping, looked behind her to the 'changeling' she had fought, standing in the remnants of the mist cloud and still looking like Twilight. A brief thought passed through her mind that only a changeling queen could have cast a fireball, then Dash collided head first into a tree. ............................................................................................................................................................ Twilight woke suddenly. She was wrapped in a blanket and laying on a bed of ferns, but she couldn't remember how she'd gotten there. Had she taken her shift and then been too tired to remember going to bed? Had she slept through her watch!? Twilight sat bolt upright and saw Shining Armor sitting on a rock a few paces away, sharpening his swords. "Good morning" he sighed without looking up, "I was just about to wake you." Twilight tried to remember the night before; she had been insisting that her brother take some rest, saying she would stay up regardless of what he did and then... he knocked her out. He had actually assaulted her. White hot rage flickered inside her, but was drowned beneath a river of worry when Shining Armor turned to face her; his eyes sunken looking like deep pits of fire. Twilight got up, woke Rainbow Dash and made breakfast, quickly, before Shining Armor felt he needed to do it himself and use even more of his energy. All throughout breakfast no one spoke, and Twilight kept watching her brother hunched over his oats and apples; every move speaking of utter exhaustion and every bite of ravenous hunger. Knowing that missing sleep increased energy requirements, Twilight began taking little portions of her breakfast and adding them to his. What really scared her was that Shining Armor didn't even notice. At least Shining Armor looked a little once he'd eaten; licking the last of Twilight's oatmeal from around his muzzle he rose to his hooves, "You two ready to start heading south?" Twilight wanted to say yes, but knew there was something she else needed to say and couldn't wait much longer, "Actually B.B., I really need to go to the bathroom." Shining Armor nodded, "Bushes, outside the case, to the left" he then turned to Rainbow who looked impatient to move herself, "Go with her." Rainbow's wings flared in indignation, "What?" "None of us should leave the cave alone, surrounded by changelings there's no guarantee the pony who leaves your sight is the one who comes back. You two go; I'll get the camp packed up." Twilight nodded to cover up her worry; Shining Armor was acting paranoid, another clear sign of exhaustion. Objecting to the obvious unreasonableness of his request would just make him more stressed, so Twilight feigned compliance and was grateful that Rainbow showed him the same consideration. The mares rounded the corner and Twilight turned to face Rainbow, "Give me a couple minutes?" "No probs." Once her business behind the bush was complete, Twilight was on her way back when she stumbled over a protruding branch; she looked down to regain her hoofing and when she looked up Rainbow Dash had appeared practically on top of her, looking hostile. "I thought you were going to wait!" "I heard a noise." "I tripped over a branch, now come on, Shining Armor's waiting." Twilight had just passed the blue pegasus, when it called her name, she looked, and her head exploded in pain as something solid tore into her skull. She fell on her back; stars brawling through her vision as she saw a blurred image of Rainbow Dash pick up spikes and lunge at her throat. Either by luck or survival instinct, Twilight's hind hooves rose to parry the changeling and throw it into the bush behind her. Her lungs were burning, but she managed to inhale and roll to her hooves. Looking behind her, the changeling was stuck, probably by its wings as it squirmed and yelled as it tried to break free. Twilight was still dazed from being hit, but tried to focus her mind a fireball spell to incinerate the changeling before it broke free. After several moments fighting for air and concentration, she released the spell, burning the changeling and bush together. Twilight turned, desperate to find the real Rainbow Dash or Shining Armor but just two steps later she was pummeled to the ground by another Dash doppelganger at near suicidal speeds. Twilight collapsed, as the thing on top of her beat her without pity and then drew a knife. Twilight watched helplessly as the knife descended in slow motion towards her unprotected heart when the changeling suddenly glowed and was dragged off of her. There was a smashing sound and Twilight felt her body saturated by tiny droplets of water, wondering if she was dead, she lay there trying to regain her senses when the roar of a manticore drew her back to reality. Jumping to her hooves, Twilight saw Shining Armor (or a changeling that looked like him); fighting a manticore about ten yards away. There was an explosion; Twilight ducked as piece of torso flew over her head, heard an unearthly shriek and looked up in time to see Shining Armor disappear into a wall of fire. Glancing beside her, Twilight saw the changeling who had been attacking her. She readied another spell, but seeing that it no longer had the element of surprise the changeling took off into the forest in a headlong retreat. Whatever satisfaction there was in seeing an enemy run was countered by concern for Shining Armor and Twilight took off galloping after him, hoping that she could reach him before his rashness cost him his life. When she finally found him, he was surrounded by the splinters of a broken sword, the dismembered corpses of two terrormongers, a cockatrice, a pack of timber wolves and lumps of flesh whose origin Twilight didn't dare guess. Shining Armor stood alone, breathing hard, staring vacantly into space. He was soaked in blood from hoof to horn and every time he inhaled more of the vile liquid oozed from the pores of his torn armor. "B.B." She asked timidly, slowly approaching while trying to find a path that meant stepping over as few bodies as possible. Shining Armor swung to face her, his horn flashed with a revealment spell, reminding Twilight to do the same, but his unchanging appearance assured her it was safe to continue. Shining Armor watched her approach for several more steps, then pounced on her; grabbing her in a vice like grip with his forehooves, he began shaking her violently back and forth as he roared, "What is wrong with you!? I told you two to stay together!" "I... I didn't-" "You do as I tell you, or I will kill you myself!!!" As soon as the words had left his mouth Shining Armor's grip loosened, and Twilight broke free, falling backwards she stared up at her brother in horror. Shining Armor's expression transformed from madness to fear, "I-I didn't mean to say that." The siblings faced off in frantic silence, and swapped expressions, Shining Armor now backing away in terror and Twilight glaring in anger in fury. "How could you even think it?!" she demanded before spinning around and after taking note of the sun began a course for south. "Twily I'm sorry!" called Shining Armor as he took off after his sister, "Twily!!"