Never Alone

by SoloBrony

Search and Rescue

I coughed violently and pulled my head out of the rubble I'd been poking into. I probed my mask with my hooves and found where it had gotten loose, and secured it.

Stupid thing...

I took a deep, sharp breath once I'd cleared my airways.

"Can anyone hear me?! Search and rescue! If anypony is there, please respond!"

I'd done some search and rescue as Quillon before, but lacking my magic or fully-functional wings was making it a lot tougher.

Still, I had some new tricks up my sleeves.

I pulled a small vial out of one of my sleeves, and drabbed some fresh oil under my eyes. My vision went hazy, but I could vaguely make out a glowing, white outline underneath a collapsed house. I grinned to myself.

The problem with magic is it makes ponies complacent – even me! Having to explore new solutions makes all the difference.

I dug into the rubble, shoving aside beams and roof slats, careful not to disrupt the structure and cause more of a collapse. It took me a couple of minutes, and I heard zaps and explosions in the distance that told me that Twilight and her friends hadn't taken care of the monster, yet. I fought the reflex to jump into the fray.

Gotta stick to what I can do right now. I didn't come here to fight, I came here for THIS.

I carefully hauled a chunk of stone wall off of the pony. He was a grown stallion with a mint-green coat and white hair, and judging by the discoloration on his head, he'd gotten hit hard when the building had come down. I instinctively checked his breathing, even though I knew the glow I saw around him meant he still had to be alive.

Okay... concussion, maybe a fracture. I've got stuff for that...

I dug in my saddlebag and pulled out some first-aid alchemy, applying it. Once I'd finished, I kept gingerly removing rubble from him and looking for injuries.

Ooooh pony, our legs don't bend that way. Okay, okay, okay, keep calm. I've got to keep calm, or I'll make it worse. Focus, Cozy.

I knew I was the only pony searching this sector, so I did my best to splint up his leg and make sure he was safe to move on my own. I gently laid him on the rolling stretcher I'd brought with me and began slowly pulling him out of the area. As soon as I laid eyes on another pair of rescue ponies, I called out to them, and they flew the injured stallion to our basecamp on the edge of town.

"Phew. Alright, gotta go find the next one."

I felt a tap on my withers that almost made me jump out of my coat. I looked over to see a dark-blue stallion wearing a hardhat and a rescue-pony vest.

"Hey, my partner is busy administering first-aid to our most recent pickup at the camp. Team up?"

I nodded. "I'm checking the collapsed houses on the east side, so follow me. I can spot trapped ponies under the rubble, but I'm slow on extracting them by myself."

He nodded and we set off. He glanced at me curiously as he saw me dabbing more of that poultice under my eyes.

"What is that stuff?"

"Uhh, it's a modified Clover's Cat-Eye Blend #2. It doesn't seem to work for anypony else, but it works for me. I can't see too well with it on, though, except for living stuff."

He chewed his lip on that while we started inspecting the first collapsed building – looked like it was a pub – and finally spoke up once I'd declared it was clear of survivors.

"Is that, uh... is that because of your weird wings, or something?"

I shrugged as we walked. "Probably. We're still not really sure what's going on with that, but I'm just doing the best I—look out!"

The ground shook from another explosion, and a nearby stone wall tipped over towards my partner. I reflexively jumped at it and blocked it with a wing and a kick, beating my opposite wing as hard as I could to drive it away from him, and managed to rotate its fall so it landed in front of him, instead. I dropped somewhat clumsily to the ground and folded my wings back up with some effort.

Stupid, I don't have my crazy strength or wing power anymore...

The stallion whistled. "I was going to say you seemed a little young for this kind of work, but I can see why you're here, now. Thanks."

I laughed as we cantered to the next building, conserving our energy. "Yeah, well, some ponies probably would feel that way. But I didn't ask them, so."

He snorted as I began analyzing the toppled-over house. "You didn't tell your parents you were rushing to a disaster-site?"

"I left a note for my mom. She'll understand. Uhh... hmm, I think something's still in here. It's faint."

"Where?"

I directed him to a section of caved-in roof, and we set to work. I was easily able to prop things up with my wings, which worked well with his neck and hoof strength, able to nose or shove things around, and soon we'd unearthed a terrified-looking foal. The stallion's eyes softened.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Are you hurt? We're here to get you someplace safe."

The foal glanced between us. I gave my most winning Quillon smile. She slowly took in a breath and spoke.

"Umm... I'm okay, I think. I just, uhh... where's my mom?"

I cut in quickly. "She's probably back at our camp. That's where everypony is evacuating to. Come with us, we'll take you there!"

The stallion lowered his head, and the foal slowly climbed up on his back. We'd just finished trudging out of the ruins when I heard a rustle from a nearby copse of trees that sent a chill up my spine. I glanced at my partner.

"Did you hear that?"

He glanced over at the trees. "Yeah. What's wrong?"

I squinted at the copse. "I don't know... wait. What made that noise? I don't see anything living in—oh no. Run for the basecamp!"

I ran between the stallion and the treeline, fanning out my wings in a threat display and hoping my guess was wrong – a hope which lasted only a moment before an unliving, pony-like mass of twigs and rocks stumbled out of the shrubs, looking at me with glowing green eye sockets. I glanced at my partner, but he had already started running, and called back, 'I'll send help!'

"Good!"

The golem stared at me, and I glared back. I took a slow, measured breath, and adjusted my stance.

Okay, Cozy. You knew these things were causing trouble here, but nopony knows how to fight them, yet. Just stay calm. It's clearly powered by magic, so maybe—

The golem cocked its head, and a raspy voice emitted from it. "Your camp. Where is it?"

I recoiled my head very slightly in surprise, but did my best to take it in stride. Just need to buy time!

Don't get into unnecessary fights!

"Camp? What camp?"

"Your... camp. You said that everypony was at camp. Where is it?"

So it eavesdropped on me. Keep it talking!

"Well, uh, in the coordinates are West 1B, North 3A, relative to here."

"What... coordinates are those?"

"Uh, y'know, it's, uh, it's hexadecimal, and measured in, uh, ten-meter increments?" I smiled as innocently as I could.

I'm more used to trash-talking monsters at this point than trying to lie on the spot.

The golem took a step closer to me, and I pointed in the wrong direction. "It's that way! Uhh, you just need to cross the river at the ford and follow the old woodland trail!"

Is there even a woodland trail here? Whatever!

"Your... partner. Ran in the other direction. You are lying."

I set my hoof down and we had a brief stare-off. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Buck it. Yeah, I'm lying, so what?"

The golem suddenly lurched forward, swift as a panther (though without any of the associated grace), and I instinctively snapped a wing out in defense. I'd expected to deflect the creature, but the extra weight and rigidity of the crystals on my wings made it more like a sledgehammer meeting a stone wall.

I felt my stomach turn upside down as I felt a cracking sensation run through my wing, but my attention was more focused on the golem, which was smashed backwards and went tumbling until it crashed into a tree.

Whoa. That hit HARD. But what about my wing? Did I break it?!

I glanced at my wing, expecting to see a sickening split in it, but instead I caught just the barest hint of rainbow light shining from a hairline crack before it sealed up before my very eyes. I gave the wing an experimental stretch, but it seemed fine.

Huh... well, okay then!

I grinned and set myself into a battle posture, practically snarling at the golem. "Yeah, that's what you get! Think you can just shove this pony around?! You picked a fight with the wrong hero, sucker! Now—GAH!"

I'd been mid-monologue when the golem, still crumpled against the tree, and suddenly bounded off of it in a distinctly unnatural, un-pony-like fashion. It rotated in midair and its jaw opened wide enough to bite off my entire head.

I barely had time to jump back, giving my wings a powerful beat to gain more backward speed, and I watched black arcs of energy lance out of them to fry the entire area I'd just been in – blasting pieces off of the golem and scorching it. I landed and almost lost my footing as pain lanced through my wings.

Ugh – I'm definitely pushing it! I'm not in condition for a prolonged face-to-face fight against something that doesn't even feel pain or fear!

I racked my brain and dropped my saddlebags, pulling out one of Trixie's smokebombs and slamming it into the ground. I carefully moved, silently, behind some rubble and listened. The golem took slow, heavy steps into the smoke, but it didn't seem to know where I was.

Okay, so it relies on sight... small favors. That bought a little time, so what now? Think! It relies on magic, and its footsteps are irregular, so I injured it just now – I might be able to outrun it, or maybe I have something in here that can disrupt its magic...

There's no point in speculating on that! This isn't a lab where you can test ways to disrupt some unknown spell! Just run!

I hesitated for a moment, then I remembered the structures we'd passed on our way here. An idea struck me, and I bolted from the smoke. I glanced back to see the golem stumbling after me, and my heart leapt – only to sink right back down as I looked back forward and realized there were two more of the monsters cutting me off. I snarled as I diverted course for the center of the village.

TWILIGHT! DAMNIT, THIS PART WAS YOUR JOB! ARGH!

The golems were hot on my heels in moments, and I barely sidestepped a lunge. I realized my top speed couldn't keep me away from them, and I wouldn't make it to where I was headed at this rate, so I jumped and beat my wings to gain the height to climb up on a nearby section of standing wall. I hissed down at the golems, who were already pounding at the base of the wall.

"Oh, you really want a piece of this, huh? FINE! I'LL TAKE YOU BOTH ON!"

I jumped backwards, beat my wings to launch me into the back of the wall, and kicked as hard as I could. The golems had already beaten a chunk out of the base of the wall, and my kick to the top caused that segment to give way, sending the wall crashing down on them. One of the golems was smashed to pieces beneath it, but I saw the blur of the other as it darted out of the way.

I quickly looped around the ruin I was in and listened. The golem moved slowly, but not quietly enough. As soon as I heard it creep up near the corner I was hiding behind, I pulled another smoke bomb out of my sleeve and threw it around the corner – directly into the monster's face.

I heard a stumble, and leapt around the corner, snapping one of my wings out at where I'd heard its footsteps. I felt the connection as I pinned the creature to the wall, and I kept increasing the pressure as the smoke faded.

"Hahahaha! I've got you now!"

The golem's head rotated unnaturally to look at me while I crushed the rest of its body against the wall, and that same, annoying, stupid, weak raspy voice came out.

"Where is your camp?"

"WHEREVER PONIES GO WHEN THEY DIE! LET ME SHOW YOU!"

I strained as hard as I could with my wing, trying to pulverize the monster, to snap its feeble body with every ounce of strength I had. I even extended my other wing into the ground to give myself more of a platform to push with, but the more I strained with both wings, the more I realized my own body would give out from the pressure before the creature of stone and wood.

"Where is your—"

I screamed in rage at the creature and pulled out the emergency flare I'd kept on my belt. "Shut up! Shut up and DIE!"

I bit the cap off of the flare, causing the tip to burst into a brilliant, hot flame, and I strained my body to lean over until I could slam my hoof down on the golem's face, driving the flare into one of those haunting green eye sockets. I hesitated for a second as the creature's entire head lit up in a freakish orange glow, backlit by the bright flare.

The golem began struggling and vibrating violently, and I used the chance to spring away. It snapped its jaw and lashed out with its hooves, but it did so blindly. For a moment, I almost pounced on it to finish the job, before I suddenly realized I was wasting time.

Search and rescue! Search and rescue, Cozy! Go!

I whirled on my rear hooves and bolted, realizing with a thrill of terror that other ponies in the town – rescue ponies and survivors alike – might be running into these things. There wasn't any more time to search for survivors in the rubble, right now – they were actually the safest ones left in the town.

I forced my wings open and flew up to the top of a mostly-intact house near the center of town, and I closed my eyes, halted my breathing, and listened. Sure enough, I heard a distant cry of alarm – an older mare, by the sounds of it. I set off with everything I had.

Okay, what do you know about these things? They rely on sight, they're stupid, but fast, and they're very durable. They attack straight-on, but they can avoid danger if they see it coming. And they can hear you when you speak, so they're not deaf. Okay. Okay. I can work with this.

As I wove around the rubble, a thought dawned on me. They're not alive. That means the one speaking to me was the caster of the spell, not the actual golems. Which means they're listening for a reply, which means...

I grinned viciously as I rounded another house, and I saw a golem bearing down on a rescue-pony and an elderly mare. The rescue pony – a pegasus stallion – was squaring off with the creature, but he couldn't afford to take off, or the earth-pony mare would be defenseless. I dug out one of Trixie's most annoying inventions and ran straight for the golem.

"Hey! I'll tell you where our camp is if you leave them alone!"

That's right... focus your senses on this golem, caster...

The golem's head rotated to track me, and it cocked its head. "Where is it?"

I pulled out a map with my teeth, careful to hold Trixie's troublemaker with my hoof where the golem couldn't see it, and I flung the map down in front of me. "This is a map of the area, see? Come here, I'll show you."

The stallion looked between us as the golem approached me. "What are you doing?!"

I pointed at the map as the golem drew closer. "See, our camp is right... HERE!"

I leapt at the golem as its eyes fixed on the map, and I slammed the firecracker into its ear, yanking the ripcord to set it off at the same time. There was a sound like a bomb going off, followed by a high-pitched squeal of agony emitting from the golem, which staggered drunkenly.

The caster's concentration has to be maintained for the golems to remain coordinated! Now's my chance!

I pounced on the golem's back, hooking both forehooves around its neck and locking its head in a face-forward position. The golem tried to buck me off, but it was a weak and uncoordinated effort. As soon as we came down, I yanked upwards as hard as I could, and to my surprise its entire head came off with a pop like a bottle opening. I ended up tumbling backwards and landing on the dirt, golem-head still in my clutches and dazed.

Whoa. That, uh, that worked better than expected.

I slowly got up to my hooves and dropped the golem-head as I tried to shake my confusion off. I glanced at the rescue-pony, who seemed stunned by the whole ordeal, and I felt serious irritation run through me.

"What the buck are you still doing here?! TAKE HER OUT OF HERE, NOW, YOU IDIOT!"

That woke him up; the stallion whirled on his hooves and set off for camp alongside the mare. I rolled my eyes and rubbed some dirt off of my face before I suddenly felt pain lance up through my hoof.

"OWW! HEY—YOU?!"

I looked down to see the disembodied golem-skull gnawing on my hoof. White-hot rage went through me, and I stomped it as hard as I possibly could, smashing it to pieces. I actually stared at my own hoof in surprise.

Whoa. I've smashed rocks in practice before, but these things seemed a lot tougher – do they get weaker as they're more damaged, or is the spell disrupted, or...?

Not the time! Find the rest of the survivors and get them out of here!

My progress was slowed by my injuries and fatigue, but thankfully, the rest of the search went uneventfully. It turned out that mare was the last pony in the town – even the rescue-ponies had taken off when the golems had come back – and so I made my own way to camp, with a bit of a limp from where that dumb golem had bitten me.

Stupid, worthless, junk, golem... rrrrrgh. I should punch that caster right in the face for that!

When I got to the camp, it looked like things were in order. Ponies were receiving medical attention, the hastily-erected barricades were still up, and the rescue-ponies seemed to be taking a break.

I guess it must be over.

I started when a pony suddenly started shouting at me.

"YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU LITTLE WITCH!"

I stared dumbly at a furious-looking unicorn stallion in a dark robe, chained and with a magic-suppressing metal sleeve on his horn. Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash were holding him in place, and both stared at me. Twilight, without breaking eye-contact with me, levitated a gag onto the crazy-pony and fixed me with a stern look.

"Cozy? What are you doing here?"

I froze and thought for a second.

"Uhh... Heroing?"

Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes as I smiled uneasily. Both of us were slightly offbalanced when Pinkie suddenly appeared next to them from seemingly nowhere and cheered.

"I call dibs on organizing a 'Welcome back to heroing' party for Cozy when we get back!"

Author's Note:

Serious? Me? I'm not serious, you're serious!

Comments

[Cyana Flame]

[asdtroi8895]

Well, nice to see Cozy doing hero work again.

[Frazzle2Dazzle]

"YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT RUINED EVERYTHING! YOU LITTLE WITCH !"

Ah, so this is the guy I need to kidnaphave a talk about that fascinating spell, with... I am curious about whether he took control of Timber Wolves, or actually made a bunch of golems.

[Nyronus]

Gotta stick to what I can do right now. I didn't come here to fight, I came here for THIS.

I carefully hauled a chunk of stone wall off of the pony. He was a grown stallion with a mint-green coat and white hair, and judging by the discoloration on his head, he'd gotten hit hard when the building had come down. I instinctively checked his breathing, even though I knew the glow I saw around him meant he still had to be alive.

Okay... concussion, maybe a fracture. I've got stuff for that...

Damn, girl is all work.

Mad respect.

Ooooh pony, our legs don't bend that way. Okay, okay, okay, keep calm . I've got to keep calm, or I'll make it worse . Focus, Cozy.

Eeeuuuuggghhh.

The stallion whistled. "I was going to say you seemed a little young for this kind of work, but I can see why you're here, now. Thanks."

Man, imagine what it's like to be this dude, doing the mundane if horrific work of search and rescue, and then suddenly this teenager spin kicks a stone wall out of the way before it killed you. Dude has some serious inability to be flapped.

The golem suddenly lurched forward, swift as a panther (though without any of the associated grace), and I instinctively snapped a wing out in defense. I'd expected to deflect the creature, but the extra weight and rigidity of the crystals on my wings made it more like a sledgehammer meeting a stone wall.

I felt my stomach turn upside down as I felt a cracking sensation run through my wing, but my attention was more focused on the golem, which was smashed backwards and went tumbling until it crashed into a tree.

Ooooooh. I just felt thaaat.

I glanced at my wing, expecting to see a sickening split in it, but instead I caught just the barest hint of rainbow light shining from a hairline crack before it sealed up before my very eyes. I gave the wing an experimental stretch, but it seemed fine.

Huh... well, okay then!

Oh. Ooooh. That's... good?

TWILIGHT! DAMNIT, THIS PART WAS YOUR JOB! ARGH!

That feel when team members fall behind schedule and clog up the entire pipeline for you.

"WHEREVER PONIES GO WHEN THEY DIE! LET ME SHOW YOU!"

"Look at me... LOOK AT ME, BITCH!"

Also, the bolded text is giving me weird vibes, dude. I know you. Using the medium to convey message. Cheeky git.

The caster's concentration has to be maintained for the golems to remain coordinated! Now's my chance!

Hive Mind also means Hive Sensation Processing, bitch!

Whoa. I've smashed rocks in practice before, but these things seemed a lot tougher – do they get weaker as they're more damaged, or is the spell disrupted, or...?

Not the time! Find the rest of the survivors and get them out of here!

Or maybe this is a setting where magic is explicitly tied to emotionality and your body is such a hyperactive magical cocktail at this point you've developed Hulk powers as a side effect.

You've constantly performed physical feats you didn't think you could this whole episode. Just saying.

Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes as I smiled uneasily. Both of us were slightly offbalanced when Pinkie suddenly appeared next to them from seemingly nowhere and cheered.

"I call dibs on organizing a 'Welcome back to heroing' party for Cozy when we get back!"

Oh. Ponks. Blessed be your name.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Damn, some great action. And Cozy, you were awesome here.

Pinkie, you may throw the party. but the cake can only be twice as tall as Cozy. No exceptions.

[Sylica telca]

A bit weird that this isn't connected with what happened in other chapters

[Reese]

Finally caught up with this. :D

[Cackling Moron]

10482889
I'll assume that's an earth pony villain, in which case hurrah, variety!

[Wild Stallion]

10482999
Gladmane appears in " Viva Las Pegasus". Of course there's also Suri Polomare from "Rarity Takes Manehattan", Svengallop from "The Mane Attraction" and Dr. Caballeron from Daring Don't, Stranger Than Fan Fiction, Daring Done?, and Daring Doubt. That's not even counting Caballeron's henchmen who (as I recall) are also all earth ponies.