Captain Campion was having a very good day today. The General had allowed him to take a few from the Owslafa with him to a new territory. Beyond the Everfree Forest, there was a field where a warren called Efrafa lay. The pony town of Trottingham had grown out in recent years, causing General Woundwort to become concerned about the ponies getting too close to Efrafa, and therefore needed to seek out new rabbits to defend the warren. There were rumors that beyond the Everfree Forest was a town called Ponyville where there were plenty of rabbits without a warren. Captain Vervain was too busy and too important to let go on a journey such as this, so Woundwort sent the next best officer for the job: Captain Campion.
Campion was very pleased that he could be trusted to go on an expedition like this. In fact, he was excited by the possibility for adventure. The rabbits he had chosen to come with him were strong and fierce, and they’d have to be if they wanted to get past the Everfree Forest. Woundwort was counting on him, and to fail would mean demotion from Captain at best. Death, at worst. But Campion wouldn’t fail.
The journey through the Forest was grueling, but he only lost one rabbit to the terrible Black Rabbit of Inlé. Campion and his group moved on as normal and encountered many more dangers in the Forest. In particular, the bears had given the rabbits trouble. But bears are slow and clumsy, and Campion was easily able to lead his rabbits away from it. After several days of travel, Campion and his hlessil, rabbits wandering above ground, reached the other end of the Everfree Forest. Immediately the brightness of Ponyville blinded the rabbits, who had become accustomed to traveling in almost complete darkness. But no matter. The General’s owslafa was strong and quite used to traveling in extreme conditions. Campion wouldn’t have picked weaklings for this journey.
It didn’t take long to find the native rabbits of Ponyville, for they were slow and fat. Campion knew that they would be worthless to Efrafa should they survive the trip through the Forest, but he also knew that if he didn’t bring any rabbits, Woundwort would strip him of his rank. Campion asked around to find out where these rabbits lived. At first, they seemed slow and stupid, but once they understood what Campion was asking, they were happy to point in the direction of a pony’s house. The pony whom these natives called ‘Fluttershy’ lived in the house and supposedly took care of them. Campion, of course, could not understand this at all, but asked whether these rabbits would join them anyway. They all seemed to like where they were, but as always, Campion was able to convince a few of the more weak-minded rabbits to join him.
Campion left most of his rabbits in some bushes on the outskirts of town to rest and silflay, or eat above ground. He himself led a group of three of his strongest rabbits out to inspect the town. When they first encountered a pony, it tried to come close to them and they retreated. They found that same pony looking at them later and some of his group began to feel nervous. Still later, after all of the rabbits had rested, Campion spotted that same pony again, this time with another. The other pony was staring at Campion, and he didn’t like that. Giving a subtle signal to his group, Campion began to slowly advance, slowly about to take down this pony for its suspicious stares. The pony stood its ground, positively asking Campion to attack. So he did.
Suddenly, something on the pony’s head started glowing and a strange aura appeared around the two ponies. Fearlessly, Campion slammed into it, slashing it with his claws. His claws made no mark, but he kept trying vainly to pierce the evil aura and reach the ponies. The one who was causing the barrier was still glaring at him, and that was what kept him at his useless task.