Ghost of the Everfree

by David Silver

51 - Day Shower

They sat. They watched. The day dragged with not even a ticking clock to keep track of it. The munching of a fruit made their ears turn.

"What?" Scootaloo finished her berry. "Eat it or lose it, that's what he said. I took one with me."

Sweetie giggled, stuffing her berry in her face in a messy explosion of flavor. "They are pretty good..."

"Who is that?" A guard was approaching them, one of the Everglow soldiers. Dry waved at them for quiet, but said nothing. "Come out." The guard tapped at the bush with his right hoof. "I heard something..." Dry repeated the motion, tense, but silent.

Sweetie licked her snout clear of berry, as if that could help the situation.

"Hm." The guard circled around the bushes, just to pause mid-step. "Damn..." A single drop landed on his head, but it wasn't the last. Up above, a single overworked pegasus was packing clouds together as quickly as they could, starting a sprinkle over the town that slowly grew. "They did warn us." He turned to the two guards. "Are you going to stay there?"

"Until we're--"

"--You're too into this." The soldier turned from his peers. "I see why the commander picked you." He took off at a trot, perhaps to seek shelter. He abandoned searching the bushes entirely.

Dry thumped to his side in an almost silent motion. "Phew..." He scrambled up to his haunches. "You heard him."

Silver peered out of the bush. "It's raining."

Diamond snorted at that. "Dummy. He said the commander trusts those two." She pointed at the two guards stoically standing in the building rain. "They may not be #2, but... close enough for our work. If we make her look bad in front of them, it'll probably work."

She reached up, swatting at some idle bits of rain dripping from their bush cover. "But, for now, let's get out of here." There were no arguments, and the foals darted to their home, which wasn't all Apple Bloom's place.

"Be right back." Sweetie and Scootaloo darted off, only returning about half an hour later with new bags at their side. "Here you are." She presented them to Apple Bloom's caretaker. "Our 'dad' was getting extra food for us. You need it way more than he does."

The mare accepted the food with a smile. "How delightful. Tell him I said... Oh, who was it? They live here, I assume. I may know them."

Scootaloo pointed off. "About three blocks that way. Huge fan of Rarity?"

"Oh, him!" The mare nodded. "Does he still have that... shrine? A little overmuch, if you ask me, but a nice pony besides that." She looked to Sweetie with an additional consideration. "On the other hoof, I'm glad you've decided to stay here."

Sweetie inclined her head. "Why's that?"

Scootaloo patted Sweetie on the head. "I'll tell you when you're older."

"Hey!" This prompted a spirited wrestling match to prove neither were that mature.

The mare returned with a few towels and grabbed the fussing foals to get to drying them without a word beforehoof. "Now, as much as I appreciate that, you could have waited until the rain was done. It's so nice to see a rain, especially on schedule. Are they letting the weather pegasi back out?"

Diamond shook her head. "Yeah, not all at once. On the upside, with today's weather working right--"

"--They'll let out more tomorrow," finished Silver with a smile. "Things will, like, keep getting better. Wonder if we can get them to let other ponies back outside. You have to, like, be going a little crazy."

The mare offered a tired smile at that. "It is trying, being stuck in this house without a break... I'm just glad you're all--" She paused, being hugged by Apple Bloom. "You all make this worth the trouble." She returned the hug to the earth filly. "Your parents are so lucky to have you all. Let's be sure I can return you all to them, hm?" She jumped as something knocked on the door. "M-moment!" She hurried for the door as the foals scattered out of sight.

She reached the door and pulled it open. "Good--" She stuttered to a stop, seeing an Everglow soldier in armor. "Haven't I met you before?"

The soldier stepped in from the light rain. "Yes, ma'am. I returned your foals to you." She kicked the door behind herself, sealing out any further rain. "I've been watching them."

She flipped an ear back. "I only... have one foal, ma'am..."

The soldier waved a hoof at the foster mom. "I've been watching," she repeated firmly. "I don't know why your community has taken it upon itself to elect you as the neighborhood foalsitter, but I have noticed it. They appear to be sleeping and eating here."

The mare shrank back, caught. "I..."

"I'm not mad." The soldier shook herself, sending water flying a short distance. "But this isn't proper, or manageable. I saw two of them bringing food from their other homes here."

"They're no trouble at all!" she got out in an almost shrill squeak. "I... don't mind caring for them."

"All the more reason." She reached up to pat the shivering caretaker. "I will change the counts. Tell me, truthfully, how many foals are in your care and I'll see that food arrives to satisfy them. If they're here, it'd be easier to just count them, so I can move the numbers properly." She stressed that word, raising in volume so any foals nearby could hear her easily. "Nobody's in trouble."

"You sure?" Apple Bloom peeked up from behind the couch.

"I give my oath." The soldier made a strange gesture with her hooves. "May the sun forsake me and leave me in darkness, should I speak falsehoods. Now, if you're here, and hiding..." Her eyes darted across the seemingly empty room. "There are likely other small souls... I'm not here to harm you."

"I don't get it." Diamond strode into view from behind a flower pot. "Why is practically everypony except a few kinda nice?"

The solder inclined her head. "I like to think most people are nice, by default. We don't want trouble, as a rule. What makes you think this has changed? Had someone been troubling you, little girl?"

Diamond brushed some imagined dust off her shoulder. "You, at the moment. Since you're here, you can answer a few questions."

"I would see the rest." She waved about the room. "Come free. I'm not here to capture you."

Silver popped free, perhaps emboldened by Diamond's appearance. "It's easy to, like, say that."

Scootaloo and Sweetie emerged a moment later. Scootaloo scrunched at the soldier. "Don't you follow the orders of that 'commander' pony?"

The soldier smiled at each additional foal. The last, the thin colt, had her humming. "Look at you. You're shaped differently than the others."

Dry colored sharply. "I'm just a pony."

"You are a pony. Sorry, that was thoughtless of me. Nothing wrong being a little thin... Are you eating properly?"

The maternal mare stepped protectively between the soldier and Dry, her coat sleek against the morning light. "He is in fine health, I am happy to report. Are we finished giving the poor colt body image issues? Some ponies are large, some are small. Some are thin and some are wide. That is the nature of things."

"Y-yes, of course." The soldier shifted uncomfortably, her face hot with embarrassment. "Of course... Sorry. Are you all here?" She counted them quickly, getting nods. "Then I will adjust things to be sure you get the food you need. May I ask why you all live here, instead of at your homes? Your parents must worry, hm? Why trouble them?"

Dry shook his head. "We told them about this before we did it. They know where we are. Um, ma'am... Um..."

Silver took over. "Do you know about the train?"

"Train?" She frowned faintly. "The one they stopped? The one you were on?"
She wobbled a hoof among all the foals there. "If they had just allowed it to come into the station, it would have been much simpler than the alternative."

Apple Bloom crossed her arms. "The 'alternative' was getting a lot of ponies hurt and some of 'em even..." She swallowed thickly, the word stuck in her throat.

"Killed," volunteered Dry, shaking. "They didn't 'stop' it, ma'am. Um, not nicely. They crashed it. We almost died, but we are, um... clever."

Silver tapped her chest lightly with her hoof. "We're all adventurers, Miss. I know we, like, look like little foals that don't know a thing, but we've all adventured. A crashing train didn't take us out, but a lot of other ponies weren't so lucky..."

"W-what?" The soldier took an uncertain step back, hooves shuffling on the wood beneath her. "They said... they stopped it. I thought they... made it come to a stop." She brought her hooves together, shaking, but meeting in a gentle thunk. "Like it would at the station. Were there soldiers on the train?!"

Apple Bloom frowned at that. "Even if there were, would that make it alright?"

"No... No." She sank to her haunches. "No..." She snorted explosively, proving that Everglow ponies were pretty good at that when they wanted to be. "This is awful... And explains, a lot... I feel... Sun scorch me for my ignorance!"

Silver went up to the soldier, patting her left leg gently. "The sun bids you open your eyes, even if it hurts."

The soldier perked. "Y-yes... Yes she does." She smiled, a timid gesture. "That is exactly correct. How do you know such wise words?"

Dry waved at Silver, looking quite proud in motion and words. "She is a cleric of Luminace, as am I. Um, we've learned about religious things... even past her."

The soldier inclined her head. "I would call you both liars if you hadn't already thrust evidence in my face. Why are... I thought the ponies of this world had no gods. And yet, here are two claiming to have one, speaking with the wisdom of my world on their lips. How?"

The mother thrust a hoof out. "Enough. Since we all seem to be getting along, ma'am, I would invite you to either come inside and share a meal with us, with your guard's attire put away, or you return to your duties until that can be done. It is hard to do, but you are currently in the role of a guard, requesting that we take down our precautions right now."

The soldier rose to her hooves. "You're not wrong. I'm asking a lot, and giving a little. I am on duty, and I don't plan to desert that. I will change the numbers and secure your food. For now, just be safe, and don't cause trouble, kindly." She turned and grabbed the doorknob in her teeth, pulling it open and stepping out into the light rain. "This is a lot of rain, for one pony. I hope that changes." She fled out into the inclement weather.

Their caretaker gently closed the door. "Well, good. It looks like food will be handled, and you've made a new friend, but I won't trust it entirely until she makes good on her word, all of them."

Scootaloo twitched an ear at that. "All of them?"

"If she wishes to be our friend." The maternal one put her hooves to her chest, then spread out to all the foals. "She will come when she is not a guard. Then we can talk."

Dry pointed to the closed door. "She wasn't hiding when she came in. She was when she left. We made her change."

Silver threw an arm around her boyfriend, squeezing Dry gently. "What an interesting way to, like, look at that. Well, in the name of Princess Luminace, I say we rejoice at finding a new friend."

Dry smiled from within the grasp of his girlfriend. "Friendship will be the answer to our problems. I... trust her. She didn't know the train would be... attacked."

The crusaders grumbled and whispered. Surely more than one pony had to be involved in stopping the train.

Author's Note:

Friends? Luminace approves of this effort. With a confidant of the commander in sight and a potential new friend, things are looking up, I say.

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

That is a lot of useful information discoverd about the local inhabitants, through the action of looking to ask nicely.

Depends on if that guard rep[orts in detail willingly, or its extracted from them under a standard information cycle of debrief to deal with subterfuge etc?

[redmar]

There is still a lot that is unclear about the whole situation. If derailing the train is not common knowledge it would weaken the commander's position if it got out.

[howard035]

Interesting, he swears by the sun, probably worships the Sun Queen. I'm starting to think some Night Mare worshipper is conning a bunch of innocent Everglow ponies.