//------------------------------// // Behind the Veil // Story: Friendship is Forever // by fabrosi //------------------------------// Chapter 11: Behind the Veil "My dearest student Twilight, I couldn't help but notice that I haven't received your report on the magic of friendship for several days now. I don't want you to feel overburdened by this task, but I must confess I find it strange that somepony as diligent as yourself would forget to do something that you normally have such enthusiasm for. Please remember that if anything is wrong, you are welcome to tell me about it—especially if it is something very serious. Sincerely yours, -Princess Celestia" After she had read it aloud, Twilight continued to read the letter over and over in her head, struck dumb by the words. "She suspects that something is wrong," she whimpered. "Do you think maybe she knows we went to Sustria?" "I'm sure it's just because you didn't send her your report," said Fluttershy dismissively. "After all, this is the first one you've missed, isn't it?" "Yeah… yeah, I guess it is." Twilight rolled the scroll back up, but kept staring at it as she wondered what to do. "I'm sure the princess doesn't know about the awful things the royal court is doing," Fluttershy reassured her. "That's just it," said Twilight. "The letter said they had 'proof' that Celestia was up to no good… and even though I find that impossible to believe, I'd really rather wait and find out what this secret resistance has to say before I decide on a course of action." She dictated a letter to Spike about how to help your friends when they have a problem but won't admit they have a problem, along with apologies for the lateness of the report and the excuse that she'd been very sick lately. When Spike had sent the letter, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief—though she knew full well that her troubles were far from over. It chilled her that she had just lied to her childhood mentor, but she reassured herself that, in due time, none of the terrible and strange things she'd seen would turn out to be Celestia's fault. "Do you think we should go back to Ponyville to see where that clue leads them?" asked Spike. "As much as I'd like to," replied Twilight, "I feel like it would be more efficient for us to continue our work here in the forest for now. These mysteries we're dealing with will require a broad range of scientific investigations to solve, and I want to be as thorough as possible." With that, she packed up all of her instruments and led the other two back towards Zecora's hut, in the hopes that she might help lead them deeper into the forest. … Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Applebloom and Rarity paced around the barn, trying to make sense of the clue. "So," said Rarity, "we're supposed to look for somepony without a cutie mark… but I can't think of anypony like that." "Yeah, me neither," agreed Pinkie Pie. "I wish they could've been more specific than just 'blank flank'…" "Blank flank?" Sweetie Belle walked into the barn, followed shortly by Scootaloo. "Sweetie Belle!" said Rarity. "Don't startle me like that." "Sorry," she said. "We came here to find Applebloom." "Cheerilee gave us a clue," Applebloom said to her friends. "She wanted us to look for a pony without a cutie mark." "Well, that sounds like us, doesn't it?" said Sweetie Belle. "No, " said Applebloom, "I think we're supposed to be looking for an adult…" "Now, hold on," said Applejack. "Little fillies got no part in somethin' as dangerous as this. Applebloom, you've seen enough involvement already." "Fine," replied Applebloom, rolling her eyes. "Then I guess I won't tell you which pony you're lookin' for…" "What?" the three older ponies interjected. "Yep," continued Applebloom, "I already figured it out, but I don't think there's any point in tellin' y'all if y'all ain't gonna' let me come along." Applejack opened her mouth to argue with her little sister, but she marched out of the barn along with the other Crusaders. "Ah, they're bluffin'," she said, waving dismissively. … "I thought that was going to work for a second," Sweetie Belle said to Applebloom as she trotted around the farm. "Yeah," added Scootaloo, "you even had me fooled for a sec there." "What do ya mean?" asked Applebloom. "I really did solve it." "Really?" "Sure did. Now, if y'all will just follow me…" she led them to the chicken coop, where they were surprised to see an old brown pony with a grey mane and an oddly-shaped hat. "Howdy there fillies," he greeted them jovially. "Don't mind me, I'm just cleanin' up this here chicken coop—Applejack hired me, you see." "That was her?" asked Applebloom. "I wonder why she didn't notice, then…" "Notice what, now?" "Well… that you don't have a cutie mark," replied Sweetie Belle. He looked at his flank, as if he'd been unaware of this deficiency until then. "I s'pose I don't," he said evenly. "What of it?" "What do you know," asked Scootaloo, narrowing her eyes, "about a secret resistance effort against the princess?" He froze as his head snapped up. For the first time since they'd walked in, he studied the fillies very carefully. "You're all a bit young to be askin' after that sort of thing," he decided, and resumed his cleaning. "But it's true, right?" asked Applebloom. "There's a secret group, somewhere in Ponyville, and we were s'posed to follow somepony without a cutie mark to find it… right?" "I very much doubt that you specifically were supposed to," he replied without looking up, "but if I'm correct, your sister Applejack went on a little trip down to Sustria, didn't she?" "Well, yeah, but what does that have to with…?" "I'd be quite interested to hear what she's got to say. I would've asked her myself earlier, but there's rules, see. I'm s'posed to wait 'till somepony comes to me, not the other way around." "All right," acquiesced Applebloom, "We'll go n' find Applejack. You stay here, okay?" He nodded. A minute later, the fillies returned to the coop with Applebloom, Rarity and Pinkie Pie in tow. "Well, I'll be," declared Applejack. "I didn't notice that before! You really don't have a cutie mark, do ya?" "No, ma'am, and quite honestly I wouldn't trade my blank flank for anythin' in the world." It was an exceedingly unusual thing for a pony his age to say, but everypony present was willing to overlook that. "Anyways," he continued, "I'm gonna assume you want me to introduce y'all to my… associates. Follow me, please." As they all exited the chicken coop, Applejack blocked her sister's path through the doorway with her hoof, saying "Not so fast, Applebloom. You three are stayin' here, ya hear?" "Applejack!" they all protested in unison. "Applejack," repeated Applebloom, "we were the ones who found this guy in the first place,"- "Name's Hayseed," he said over her- "so you at least oughta' show us some gratitude by lettin' us see this thing through!" The other two fillies chimed in with their assent. "All right, all right!" cried Applejack, raising her hooves despairingly. "I think I must be makin' a terrible mistake sayin' so, but y'all can come." "Cutie Mark Crusaders go!" they shouted with fierce joy, and, much to the older mares' bemusement, they gave each other a three-pony high-hoof. With that, the old blank flank led them away. … Twilight was carrying Spike into the dark heart of the Everfree Forest, with Fluttershy behind her. Suddenly, the pegasus froze and began whimpering softly. "What is it, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight softly. "There's some dangerous animal nearby," she whispered softly. The other three were on their guard in an instant, standing back to back so nothing could sneak up on them. "It's through there," added Fluttershy, pointing to a thick patch of brush. There were unsettling wet noises coming from it. After a moment's hesitation, Twilight parted the bushes with her magic, creating just enough of a gap for them to peek through. Her blood ran cold as she looked into the small, depressed clearing—for there before her was a massive, wolf-like creature with filthy, matted grey fur and deeply muscled limbs. It had its back to them, hunched over something they couldn't see, making ripping sounds as it ate. Twilight felt deeply sick. As a putrid smell reached her nostrils, she realized what was on the other side of that monster. It turned around, sniffing the air, and she felt a jolt as she realized it was looking at her. In a flash, she produced a force-field that repelled the creature just before it was upon her, eliciting screams from the others. Twilight called upon her adrenaline reserves to help her focus on the immediate danger and not at the red, lumpy mess on the ground that had once been a thinking, feeling, living being. Before the monster could get back up again, Twilight allowed the force-field to dissipate, choosing instead to use her magic to pin the thing to the ground. Its snarling mouth was filled with sharp, vicious teeth flecked with saliva, and its entire visage gave off a general impression of pure, unstoppable, efficient death. Twilight had more than enough power to keep it from getting back up, but it was still unnerving to watch it thrash about on the ground, thumping its arms and legs against the forest floor. "A warg!" gasped Fluttershy. "What should I do?" cried Twilight. "Tie it up!" suggested Spike frantically. There was no rope present, however, so instead, Twilight telekinetically buried the warg up to its head in the dirt, packing it in hard so that it would be unable to dig its way out. Then, tentatively, she released her magical grip on the beast. To her great relief, it stayed in the ground, snarling and jerking its head impotently from side to side. "Wait… what now?" asked Twilight. "If it manages to escape, it might come after us or attack some helpless woodland creatures, but if it doesn't escape, it'll starve to death…" "Just leave it," suggested Fluttershy. "There's no way of dealing with carnivores that any of us could feel okay about." Twilight looked at the thing's frothing mouth and the bloodlust in its eyes, and at the poor creature it had killed—a deer, she realized—and decided that letting the warg starve would be the lesser of two evils. "You're right, Fluttershy," she said shakily. "Let's keep moving." As they hurried onwards, the warg's hellish snarls slowly faded into silence behind them. "I want to know how these creatures are kept out of Equestria," replied Twilight. "I feel like we meet some terrible monster every other time we enter these woods, but so far, the Ursa Minor was the only one to actually follow anypony all the way back to town." "Maybe the creatures are kept out with magic," suggested Fluttershy. "That's an interesting thought, and I strongly suspect you're right," said Twilight, "but in order to prove conclusively that there are spells in place, and to analyze their nature, we'll have to find a large, powerful creature and lure it to the edge of the forest." "But Twilight," said Fluttershy, "what if it ends up attacking Ponyville, like the Ursa Minor did?" "Well… I'll just have to find something weaker than an Ursa Minor, but stronger than a warg. That way, if there are magical wards in place, then they'll produce a reaction large enough for me to measure. If, on the other hoof, they don't hold, I'll be able to prevent any negative consequences." With that, they started making for higher ground, hoping to climb a tree and survey the area for such a creature as Twilight was looking for. Using magic and the thickest tree branches she could find, Twilight constructed a lookout tower high in a tree growing at the top of a ridge. As the only one who could reach it, Fluttershy flew up, perched herself in it, and looked out across the forest. "Tell us right away if you see anything!" Twilight called. Fluttershy responded in the affirmative, but no one on the ground heard her. Twilight was staring up at her anxiously when she heard a belch come from Spike, followed by something bouncing off her head. Her stomach tightened as she opened another letter from Princess Celestia. "My dearest Twilight, Thank you for your last letter. It is a great relief to know that things are going all right for you. I do have some bad news, however: as you may or not be aware, a schoolteacher named Cheerilee recently disappeared from Ponyville. Many ponies who spoke to her before she went missing report her being of a questionable mental state. I was wondering when you might have spoken to her last, and exactly what she may have said to you. Please, this is very important—you must provide as many details as possible so that we will know where to look for her. Yours, -Princess Celestia" "Well," said Spike when he had finished reading the letter, "at least the royal court doesn't know where Cheerilee is." "Maybe they don't, and maybe they do," shrugged Twilight. "Honestly, Spike, I'm just not sure whom to believe anymore." Consequently, she decided to write a reply saying that she hadn't seen Cheerilee for months, and that the schoolteacher had seemed perfectly sane and healthy back then. After that, it was just a matter of waiting at the base of the tree for Fluttershy to spot their next target—that, and trying not to feel too alone with her thoughts. … Back in Ponyville, the other ponies were still following Hayseed to their mysterious destination. For some reason, rather than taking them along a direct path, he doubled back on himself a lot, even passing by the same fountain three times. Still, it seemed that he knew where he was going because he never once stopped or hesitated. Eventually, he brought them to what appeared to be an old, abandoned house away from Ponyville's main roads and stepped inside. "Y'all don't s'pose this might be a trap, do ya'?" Applebloom asked her friends. "What's the worst that could happen?" said Pinkie Pie, and they went in, closing the door behind them. Hayseed took them down a set of stairs into the house's basement, which was almost pitch-black. Rarity was about to light up her horn when Hayseed flipped a switch somewhere, illuminating a table in the center of the room just five ponies filed in from an adjacent room, gathering around it. The six newcomers immediately recognized Daisy and Carrot Top, but they had only vague recollections of seeing the other three in Ponyville at some time or another. "What are those children doing here?" asked a blonde stallion. "This is no place for them." "Sorry," said Applejack, rolling her eyes, "but there ain't nothin' we can do to change their minds, and if we didn't bring them along, there's a good chance they'd find a way to look into this stuff on their own." "Fair enough," he nodded. "Now, I'm guessing you most likely wanted to speak to us because of some… things you saw in Sustria, no?" "That's right," replied Applejack. "Some ponies—the Wonderbolts, apparently—destroyed of the pigs' towns and claimed in the name of Equestria, and now the whole thing's been hushed up." The rebel showed no surprise. "Yes, Equestria's military is quite an aggressive one," agreed a somewhat large white stallion with a blue mane. "We weren't aware that the Wonderbolts were in their employ, although I suppose that makes sense." "Why is all this happening, though?" asked Rarity. "What would be the point of waging a secret war?" "As we understand it," explained Carrot Top, "there were plans for war long before the assassination attempt." Rarity suppressed a shudder, remembering that she was speaking to the very ponies who had orchestrated that attempt. "The real issue," added Daisy, "had nothing to do with any military threat the pigs posed—it was simply that they knew too much. Being creatures with no love of ponies, it was only natural that they would circulate rumors amongst themselves about some of Equestria's more barbaric and disturbing practices. Furthermore, chance had it that some of these rumors were true." "What rumors?" asked Pinkie Pie. "Well," replied a grey stallion with a dark mane, "we learn about most of the royal court's tyrannical ways indirectly, through inferences based on scattered clues. However, we do have one picture, taken by one of our spies, which I believe you will find to be most compelling evidence against the throne…" He walked over to a safe in the corner, unlocked it, and pulled out a small photograph. "Perhaps it would be prudent not to let the young ones see this," he said, and Applejack and Rarity covered their respective sisters' eyes while Pinkie covered Scootaloo's. A moment later, he laid the picture on the table in front of them, and their collective horrified gasps caused the fillies to struggle to get a glimpse. In the picture, Celestia was standing in the middle of a circular arrangement of magical runes carved on the floor of some dark dungeon. There were thick, glistening rivulets of blood running down her face and neck, for impaled upon her horn was a dead or dying blue unicorn.