The Misadventures of a Few Ponies

by Power Hors3

Ch 7: The Fort of Batponies

Ch. 7: The Fort of Batponies

The cuffs had been re-administered on the batpony so that he and Cherry walked in unison, occasionally though the rhythm was tripped up. “A little more, I’ll warn you that when they see us, they’ll come to us.” He says.

“Good, then we can have a talk” Cherry states.

“What’s your name? I don’t want to keep calling you batpony” Alina asks.

“It’s Einstein Fuzzyflüge, it was given to me randomly when I was born.” He picks at his wing with his muzzle.

A gush of air passes by them, “It’s getting a little windy here” Alina comments.

“Maybe wind, maybe my clan” Einstein smiles.

“How can we tell?” Cherry sees the fort now in sight.

“Like this” Einstein lifts his head up, “eeeee….eeee...ee…” He lets out a pitch, soon a thin sound replies to him, “It’s them alright”

In an instance three batponies appear in front of them, one at their back, “Einstein who are these unicorns who are with you, more dared ponies?” The oldest one asks.

“They’re looking for them, to get them out” Einstein replies, the oldest notices the cuffs on his hoof, he takes out a sword and slices the chain in half, Einstein regroups with his clan.

“You mares are here for them?” He asks.

“Yes, my friend here is a detective. She was given the job of finding them. We mean no harm to you or your ponies.” Alina says, Cherry nods.

“Cover their heads and lead them to a cell.” Two of the batponies cover their heads, leading them slowly and carefully into the containmet area of the fort; they are searched and put into a cell together. The two have black bags on their heads that get removed by a batpony.

“Tell me, why have these ponies been coming here?” A female batpony asks.

“It was a dare to come to a spot in the Everfree, if you’d like to see evidence, I have a file in my coat that shows the case” Cherry states. The batpony looks through it.

“I see; the others have said the same but hadn’t had any documentation.” She says and puts it back into Cherry’s coat.

“Where are they? Are they still alive?” Cherry asks again.

“They are alive and in a cell.”

“What are you doing with them?” Alina asks.

“That is our business. You and them are trespassing, we are going to release them in an unspecified place in the forest.” She opens the cell and walks out.

“Wait, what about us??” Alina starts to ask but is ignored, “At least it’s not execution…and they’ve treated us well”

“Yeah, but we need to get out of here. I want to ask if they’re apart of the Equestrian Service in anyway, because if they’re not; I’ll need to report it.” Cherry looks around, “We could teleport”

“Good idea” Alina attempts to but only gets as far as the roof and falls back onto the cell’s floor, “Oww…”

“Must be magic-proofed like the Equestria Olympics” Cherry sighs, “We’ll have to wait.”

Einstein knocks on the cell bars and passes them a bowl of fruit, “Eat if you want, there are restrooms to the right of the cell with a cover.”

“Wait, Einstein I must ask, is your clan part of the Equestrian Service?” Cherry goes up to the bars.

“I can’t say, I don’t think so” He starts to walk away.

“When can we be released?” Alina asks, “We’re on a case so if we go missing, a lot of ponies will come searching.”

“I’ll go see, it’s not my duty though” Einstein goes away.
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Einstein makes his way to one of the elder’s place after a few hours and knocks on the iron door, “Excuse me, it’s Fuzzyflüge”

The door opens, a very old looking batpony smiles, “What is it young one?”

“I think we may have some trouble if we keep those new prisoners here. They claim to be part of the Equestrian Services, one of them is a detective so they’ll have uniformed ponies coming to search if they’re here long”

“I was going to have them dropped off somewhere else in the forest, but now that you mentioned the Equestrian Services, I may need to speak to them myself.” The old one starts to trot to the cells with Einstein following him lightly.

“Cherry, someone’s here” Alina points a little (but not too much) to the old batpony who enters the cell.

“More guests for us, looks like we have a packed house or had” The old one says, sitting down a few feet away.

“We’re on a case sir” Cherry speaks up.

“I’m aware”

“Then you know we need them back” Cherry stand up.

“They’ve already been taken care of, they’re out of here somewhere in the forest. Unharmed. Well, almost all of them. One decided to stay a while”

“Someone? Which one?” Cherry takes out a file showing all the missing ones.

“The yellow unicorn.” He says and smiles, “He’s grown fond of the bat culture”

“Speaking of which, since you allowed him to stay, can I? I’d also like to learn.” Alina interrupts.

“Perhaps, but what of your friend?” He asks her, looking towards Cherry.

“I don’t want leave without Alina, and now that I know the others are safe, I’d like someone to take me to them.”

“I can arrange it, but first the Equestrian Services.”

“What of it? Are you apart of it?” Cherry sits down.

“We’re very loosely connected. We’ve been in this part of these woods for countless years, and since Luna returned, we’ve needed to adapt to it. The high law, the royals know we’re here but we’re not too disclosed to the public.”

“Why is that?” Alina asks.

“Long ago we were wronged by the ‘normal’ ponies as beasts or terrorist, agents of Nightmare moon. Although, yes, we were; that was over 900 years ago. Now we’re just getting by and thriving in our own places.”

“The clans…how many are there?” Alina starts to write things down.

The Old Batpony notices he scribing and grins, “Well, if you’d like to know, I’ll allow you to come with me for a small tour. Visits here are usually not often. Many may have a sense of hate towards your kind, so stick close and don’t stare.” He stands and opens the cell, “As for your friend, Einstein will lead her to someone that will show here the locations of these ponies.”

“Sounds good to me” Cherry says then turns to Alina, whispering, “Be careful and stay safe, we don’t know this place”

“I will be Cherry, same goes to you” Alina whispers back then follows the Old Batpony; Cherry parts with Einstein.

“Einstein mentioned a scroll you had, something about us” The Old Batpony says.

“Yes! I found the scroll” Alina gives him the scroll she had been studying.

“Written by Starswirl the Bearded. Where did you get this scroll? It must be older than I” He examines it, “It’s protected with a spell to keep it in its good condition”

“I um... just found it somewhere in the library. How old are you?” She asks the senior.

He chuckles, “I’m 257 years old this Sunday.”

“Wow, I’ve never meet anyone quite as old”

“Some ponies, of all kinds can age more if they’re wise with how they live.”

“Do you have a name?”

“I do, but most here call me Der Stammvater, or The Patriarch”

“You must be important here. My name is Alina Starfire”

“Important” He chuckles more, “I’m just an old pony, it’s mainly respect to the elder. If you want to know whose really important, it’s the ones in charge here.”

“Oh I thought you were hehe” Alina smiles.

“No no, the one in charge here is General Stinious. He is an alright leader in my opinion, however, he is stubborn.” They walk through the stone halls that had low visibility. Alina could see some batponies around silently talking, going about, nearly all of them wore some sort of armor, whether some simple toughened clothing or up to the knight status of armor; looking like 16th century gothic steel protection.

“Are all batponies like this in forts?”

“Not all, some travel in small caravans, migrating from region to region. We chose to stay here and so we do. Perhaps you know the knights of Luna, they’re full of themselves living in the luxury of the palace grounds. They were and are her personal clan. Though in the past it was all of us, mostly, as a part of the kingdom, like normal everyday ponies you would see on the street.”

Alina had written that down, “So your numbers were bigger?”

“Much bigger but not the most common pony you would see. We were known, and all was relatively peaceful. You probably read what happened to us. Starswirl The Bearded wrote that”

“I had no idea Starswirl wrote it, funny cause I thought I’d recognize the handwriting.”

They walk into a big room that belonged to The Patriarch, “He may have changed his style, he had a few that he used.”

“I only know of two”

“That’s okay, most wouldn’t know of even one” He grabs a book that was locked with key and passes it to her unlocked, “In this book I have written some of our latest history, it is towards the back.”

She flips through with care, “You have the data Luna returned. So, you knew she was coming back?”

“We did, though we were uncertain if it was entirely true. That day all the clan joined together in a spot to welcome her back. She wanted to do it on her own and overtake the kingdom but as you know, that failed.”

“Wait, so you were going to follow her as Nightmare Moon again?”

“I’m unsure if we would have joined, many clans seemed not to like her idea. I personally thought it was insane, trying to do something again the same way and with less support and more to stand against.”

“For the ones that would follow here like that, are they still that way?”

“Young one, there exist a few cult-like clans. Ones that mess with the true dark arts of magic.” He says, his tone shifting to a graver one, “We don’t associate with other clans too much, but with those ones, much less.”

“W-what do they do?”

“I know little of their dark practices, or what their ultimate goal is” He sits in a chair of fur.

“And your clan, what does it do? I heard the name from Einstein: Black Ghost. Assassins of some sort?”

“That was long ago when we’d take contracts from the wealthy. We were especially trained in it from our ancestors. You see, many clans have their own style of handling situations. We were just specifically known for being assassins. That title hardly stands true today.”

“I see, any books you guys keep here that I can read?” She asks.

“I do keep my little personal library if you want to take a gander”

“Yes please!” She almost squeals. With a smile, The Patriarch opens her a door in the room that had a book closet-like place inside. He sets a few candles for her and leaves the room as Alina starts to pick through the books.
End of Chapter 7.

Author's Note:

All this history's got me trying to stay as canon as possible while adding the post realistic idea for the 'clans'