//------------------------------// // Caravan // Story: Everquestria // by RB_ //------------------------------// The morning sun’s rays slid mischievously across my closed eyes, waking me from my much-needed rest. Reluctantly, I rose from my makeshift straw pile bed, wiping the last remnants of my slumber from my mind. “Ugh… damn it Celestia, couldn’t you at least have given us a few more hours of night before you died?” A few minutes later, I had finished devouring my meal of smoked mist-salamander, and began preparing for the day’s work. After pulling on my leather barding, I carefully attached my hoof-talons. The iron weapons may have been old, but they sure were sharp! Leaving my hut, I found the caravan leader waiting for me. “Hey! You the new guard?” She was an earthy green pegasus, with a compass needle for a cutie mark. “Eeyup,” I replied. “Name’s Rat.” She raised an eyebrow. “Funny, I was expecting someone taller.” As usual… “Anyway,” she said, “My name is True North. You can call me North. I’m Mr. Farhoof’s right hoof mare.” “Who?” “Mr. Farhoof?” she replied incredulously. “He’s the one funding the excavation!” “Excavation?” I replied, now thoroughly confused. Her look of incredulousness grew to one of annoyance. “Didn’t they tell you anything? We’ve been excavating some ruins near Old Manehattan. The caravan is bringing some of our findings back to his manor. We found some really strange stuff, too! There’s this one gem we found, it- oh, uh, never mind. Just follow me.” With that, she trotted back over to the rest of the caravan. It was composed of several Vertigator-pulled wagons, the large reptilian beasts easily pulling the large loads along. Oddly, I could only spot five other guards, a surprisingly small number, considering the types of things one could encounter in the forest. However, I didn’t want to antagonize North any more than I already had, so I kept quiet and trotted after her. *** It was a few hours after we’d departed from my home of Littletree village, and we were taking a short rest in a clearing. One of the other guards and I were chatting. “So, you know what exactly we’re guarding?” I asked cautiously. I’d asked several members of the expedition, but nopony would give me a straight answer. “I dunno,” replied the guard, “But North seems to think it’s valuable. She’s very secretive about it, though. Whenever anypony asks her about it, she either changes the subject or takes them aside to talk to them privately. It’s all very suspicious, but hey, as long as I get paid, I don’t really care.” “So you’re not even a little curious? Not even a little?” “A little, yes, but again, as long as I get paid, I’m good!” Sigh. “So, where are you from?” he asked. “Me? I’m from Littletree. Nothing very exciting. You?” “Mist Clearing. Not much goes on there, either, but I’m not comp-” A huge roar pierced the clearing, startling us. We leapt to our feet, watching the outskirts of the clearing for any sign of the beast. I could hear it now, the ominous rustling of a beast running through the undergrowth. Then, all went still. And then everything went to hell. I could only watch in horror as a pride of manticores leapt through the tree line. Snarling, the beasts pounced at us from all sides. The others drew their swords, falling back to the caravan. Snapping out of my state of shock, I turned to join them. “Look out!” my friend from earlier cried in warning, but it was too late. Before I could react, I felt a sharp pain in my skull, and everything went black.