My Little Fortress : Losing is Fun

**My Little Fortress : Losing is Fun* - Chapter 1 : The Embark*

By: TwiliteSpunklez (Now goes by Pnoy)

Note: Following '***,' will be links to optional music to help set the mood for the following passages. One's without a link signify the end of previously playing music. (Be sure to open them in a new tab!)

***

Recently the weather in Ponyville has changed for the worse. It was early spring in Ponyville and Winter Wrap Up had already taken place. But only a few short days after the end of winter, it started snowing again. The pegasus ponies baffled by the return of the winter weather, because normally they planned all the weather. Even if they had scheduled the sudden snow storm they wouldn't have had enough snowflakes ready for it. As most of the snowflakes were expended over winter.

The pegasus ponies tried to break up the clouds just as they did during Winter Wrap Up, but with little effect. The clouds only returned a short time later after many hours of hard work to get rid of them. When it was clear to the ponies that they couldn't get rid of the clouds, they tried to wait it out. But after weeks of non-stop snowing and many ponies struggling to feed themselves, they decided they needed to leave Ponyville.

Chosen by Mayor Mare, the Elements of Harmony were chosen to found a new town in an area far to the east of Ponyville on the other side of the Everfree forest. They decided it would be the best place to settle since it was rumored the land there was so favorable.

The weather there mysteriously changed and scheduled itself. While none of the ponies knew why this occurred, they did know the changes followed a pattern and never really strayed far from it. Acting on this, they felt it would be safe to assume the weather there was still hospitable.

Now our heroes, currently without Applejack, are parading through the streets of the frostbitten town in order to prepare for their journey. Many ponies came outside, dressed in winter gear, to give the friends a bittersweet farewell. Although they knew that eventually they would also move to their new home, they still had to say goodbye to many of the great memories they shared in Ponyville.

However, little did they know, along with the naturally occurring weather, were more dangerous entities that existed outside the magical protection of Celestia. While inside Celestia's magical reach many predatory animals are driven out, and into the Surrounding landscapes. Her reach extended to the border between Ponyville and the Everfree forest, but they would go far beyond that border, with little connection to the Princess.

***

"Where's Applejack?!" asked Twilight Sparkle as she walked with her other friends.

"Sheis probaly back at her farm saying goodbye to her family, it really must be hard on her..." Answered Fluttershy with Angel riding on her back.

"You think this is easy for the rest of us? I'm not gonna see Cloudsdale again! And what am I going to do now? I don't have a job!" Grumbled Rainbow Dash, guiding the oxen that pulled the caravan full of their equipment.

"Rainbow, you know she's lived on that farm all her life with her family, and I don't think she ever expected to leave that farm. Its been in her family since Granny Smith's parents founded Ponyville, I think we can cut her some slack." stated Twilight Sparkle.

"Yeah, but, all I'm saying is- ugh never mind." refuted the cyan, rainbow maned pegasus.

"Look, it will all be fine, you'll see. It's not like anyone was hurt, or we won't be seeing anypony else again, we are just moving, that's all." Twilight reassured.

"Oh look! There she is!" Shouted Pinkie Pie suddenly, prancing in the air, hoof pointing out towards the orange mare. She came into view around the corner of a building hauling a saddle bag full of seeds and tools. Following the honest earth pony was Big Mac also carrying seeds and tools.

Once they caught up to each other, Twilight thought Applejack seemed unusually solemn. "Hey guys." greeted Applejack bluntly.

"Is something the matter Applejack?" inquired Twilight.

"Actually, I'm just learn'n to cope with the changes ah guess.." the orange earth pony started, "But, do ya think Big Mac'll be able to come with us?"

"Oh uhm, I don't think it'll matter, in fact that would be nice to have him come along! But that'll be up to the Mayor." she answered.

Big Mac just stood there with his large red scarf, stoically staring back at the group of friends. 'Never was a stallion of many words' Twilight thought to herself. 'But we could certainly use his size, I still don't know why the mayor thought it would be such a great idea to send just a small group of young mares like us out to found an entire town.'

Applejack felt somewhat relieved to hear that Big Mac would be able to come with them. It meant a lot to Applejack more than her friends probably would have realized, she always was a family mare. "Well," Applejack sighed preparing herself for the inevitable, "We'd best get goin' wouldn't want to keep her wait'n, we got a job to do."

"Agree'd, come on girls." Twilight gestured towards the Town Hall.

As they approached the Town Hall, a sizable crowd, despite the weather, had formed outside in anticipation for the friends' departure. They made their way through the crowd of on looking ponies, many rather sad to see them departing, knowing they too would be following them. They continued up to the Town Hall's steps until they met the Mayor who was waiting for them behind a podium atop the stairs. "Hello girls..." The Mayor paused as she stared at Big Mac, "Big Mac, what are you doing here?"

"We were hoping he could come with us." Stated Twilight.

The Mayor took a moment to reply. "Well I suppose it would be for the best, he is a strong hard-working pony." She stated. "Big Mac, do you wish to go with them?"

"Eeeyup." His ever so familiar reply.

"It's settled then! Big Mac shall also accompany our ponies on their journey!" The Mayor announced to the rest of the ponies. The crowd of ponies responded with a rumbling hoof stomping, muffled by the laden snow.

She motioned her hoof up to silence the crowd's applause. After a moment the rumbling of the hooves slowed to a stop and the Mayor began, "Today we say goodbye to our heroes that have saved us countless times already. Let it be known, though we are saying goodbye, that they are not leaving us, but instead, they leave for us!" The crowd began their applause again as if on cue. After a moment the stomping ceased and she resumed her speech, "Many of us here have lived in Ponyville for most of our lives, and we have seen it grow from just a small village, into a sizable town. But now changes beyond Celestia's control have forced us to take drastic action. In order to continue to thrive as a community we are forced to leave our homes in search for new ones. Although we are leaving many memories behind, many more await us in our new home." The Mayor paused for a moment and cleared her throat after taking a drink from her hot chocolate that sat on the podium. She continued her speech, which she had taken some time before to prepare. It was a strong and inspirational speech, but it couldn't do much to improve the situation that the ponies had left in front of them.

"D-do you think this is the right thing to do?" Fluttershy quietly whispered to Rarity who stood next to her.

Rarity's attention suddenly snapped to Fluttershy and she turned her head to look at the yellow pegasus. Being so immersed within the Mayor's speech, she almost forgot her friend was there. "What do you mean darling?"

"Well... I mean, it just seems so, uhm... Sudden. Just packing up and leaving, everything." she emphasized.

"Oh sweetie, you heard Twilight, it'll be fine, a girls just gotta get a little dirty sometimes to get some real work done, that's all. You'll see, once we get it all set up everything will be just like Ponyville, just think of it as a change of scenery!" assured Rarity.

"I-I guess, I just don't have a good feeling about this..." Fluttershy said under her breath.

***

Zecora combed through the plants for her missing herb. The zebra experienced trouble getting the herbs she needed for her latest brew because of the recent snow fall. Although where she lived wasn't necessarily affected by the change in weather like Ponyville was, many of the more tropical herbs couldn't survive the colder temperature that blown in from Ponyville. She had felt uneasy since leaving her hut to find the herbs she needed, as silence and a dense screen of fog began to form throughout the jungle.

Zecora was used to living on her own, as she had for some time now. But to find these herbs, she was forced into an area she wasn't very familiar with. 'All is not well' the Zebra thought as she paused from her work. She stood for a moment feeling increasingly uncomfortable with her environment. Deciding she wasn't comfortable enough to continue, she started back towards her hut, but then she heard a snap behind her. She turned quickly to face her possible intruder. She didn't see anything but she didn't feel safe, there was something there. "Come out, who ever you a-" she was suddenly interrupted as a giant yellow and dotted feline pounced at the Zebra from the bushes.

***

Zecora jumped in surprise, standing on her rear hooves flailing her front ones. The leopard immediately tackled Zecora to the ground with claws dug into the zebra's chest. Violently, Zecora kicked her back legs making contact with the leopards soft underbelly with both of her hooves. The contact was hard enough to bruise and knock the breath from the leopard but was not hard enough to throw the leopard off the Zebra. "STOP YOU MONSTER, I WILL BE FORCED TO DEFEND IF YOU CONTINUE TO OFFEND-" shouted Zecora until she was interrupted again with the leopard's teeth digging into her neck. Pain shot through her neck and she felt the walls of her throat punctured with a rush of blood spurting out. "Gk-krr," she gurgled as the blood filled her punctured throat.

The flailing of her rear legs intensified but ultimately to weak to do anything as the pain overwhelmed her. The zebra's thoughts became clouded and she was unable to concentrate on protecting herself. 'W-whhha-a-attt' is all she could manage as she felt her head getting increasingly light from the lack of blood. The Leopard laid atop the Zebra with both rear and front claws now dug into the Zebra with its killing grasp being its fangs.

She felt sharp, pinching on her chest and lower body where the leopard had dug its claws in.  But those were nothing in comparison to the pain she felt in her throat. She felt four large fangs clasping increasingly harder on her neck. She couldn't breathe anymore as her own blood began filling her lungs. Her body reacted, and blood started getting ejected from her mouth as she coughed it up trying to clear her lungs. But as she coughed, it only served to rip her wounds open as the leopard's teeth held on harder, agitated with her struggling.

She felt her limbs growing cold, and her head getting incredibly light and even colder. The world seemed as if it were spinning until a horrible ripping sensation flooded her stomach. "Nnn-ggqqquukkk-" she gurgled, in response to the leopard pushing its claws in and down the zebra's underbelly. She could only look in horror at the leopard's eyes that stared back at her with fire and rage. She could feel tears swelling up in her eyes, and everything going blurry as she felt her colon splash onto the ground. It shot a nauseating pain through her belly as the colon detached itself from the body and ripping out other essential organs with it. She felt her bowels release themselves and her bladder emptying, but the bladder broke, unleashing its contents all over the other organs and spraying onto the ground.

The pain climaxed, with an emptiness in her body that she could not describe. The air licking the inside of her body, drying her flesh. Traces of urine she could feel burning and infecting her entrails. But suddenly the pain stopped. Almost as if by some kind of magic everything was cold and not even the sharpness of the leopard's fangs could bother her. She felt her consciousness fading as her eyes shut. Her last blood bubbling breath drew to a close. And in that moment, the zebra ceased to exist.

The leopard continued its hold on the zebra's neck for a moment to be sure it was dead. Zecora's body laid there on its side covered in blood and partly in fluids released from her extremities. Her entrails laid falling out of her stomach on the ground getting stuck with dirt and other particles. Her saddlebag she had carried lied on the ground behind her with its contents spilled out across the ground. Her mane and coat dirtied with fresh blood and earth, along with traces of urine that had ejected from her bladder. Her expression, with closed eyes that leaked drying tears, left limp as her tongue protruded from her lifeless muzzle.

When the leopard felt no more struggling from its meal, it let go and started sniffing the body. It realized it had spilled its urine and other excretions on itself inside the stomach cavity. The meat was spoiled in that area and noted to eat around it. It began eating and left the leopard well fed, and alive for another couple of days before it would need something else to eat.

***

End of Chapter.

I hope you enjoyed!

This is different from the last version because I am taking a new approach to the back story and writing structure, this is only a prologue and the elements of Dwarf Fortress wont take over until the next chapter. Please leave comments below on suggestions, and errors you might find, I will make corrections to the best of my ability as I see them!

Sorry for the Zecora scene if you weren't ready for that, but I wanted to emphasis on the possible dangers that lurk and await our ponies, because this is Dwarf Fortress, not a child's cartoon show anymore.