Shining Armor's Voyage

          The small rowboat was overfilled with the majority of the crew and various provisions. It gradually made its way to a bare sandy shore with a mixture of Vinyl's and Shining's magic and the other ponies' manual labour. The sea-soaked wood slid into the soft sand with effortless ease, much to the no weary pony's delight. Barely ten yards away was a massive intimidating forest, wild and overgrown. Lush green leaves littered the dry brown grass and golden yellow sand. Bushes of every kind dotted themselves throughout the immensely packed and dark forest. Moss could be found upon the bark of the oak trees. The ponies' felt many eyes upon them, as if they were watched at every angle by beasts foul and evil. Sweetie Belle gulped. Applebloom stared in awe. Scootaloo faced the ground, avoiding eye-contact with it. It would resemble the Everfree Forest if there was any friendly town nearby, the orange pegasus  was then overcome with home sickness.

          Shining and Vinyl lifted the rowboat telekinetically and carried it with them into the densely packed forest.

"Where should go?"

Octavia inquired, no further route was established and it was a necessary question. The white stallion pondered over the words a little longer, giving time for thought.

"The way I see it, we have two options. One; we spread out into groups and head in different directions, then meet back at the shore at midnight. Or, two; We stay together and have our safety in numbers."

"We should split up, be quicker that way, and we'll all be back 'afore ya know it! I'll take the fillies, the couple together and I reckon you can handle jus' 'bout anything'!"

The ever optimistic Braeburn suggested only to be greeted by a chorus of neighs. A small movement in the tree line said otherwise. All Shining saw was a flash of a purple tail and Braeburn chasing after  a slow whirring sound. Shining opened his mouth to protest, only to have a light grey hoof shoved into his mouth. Octavia gestured for him to go in a different direction.

"You go east and we'll go west, I'm sure we'll handle anything they can throw at us."

The musicians left there self-made path westward. The stallion was left alone. After a moment, he left and headed east, with nothing stopping him.

          Braeburn ached. He had been galloping non-stop through the forest for what seemed like hours. The purple tail was all but gone and the rustling sound he heard only came from him. When he found a small clearing, where a miniature beam of sunlight escaped the tree's firm grasp and lay abandoned on the floor, he stopped to catch his breath. HIs breathing was heavy and his limbs wobbled uncontrollably. Just as he thought all hopes of finding his way back to the shore were dissipated, a loud earth-shattering KA-BOOM came from behind him. He turned, quickly, to find a changeling with a hole coming from its head and a thin trail of blood pouring out of it. Through the hole in the corpse's head, he saw Octavia and a smoke trail emitting from her wrist. He let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Thank y'all kindly!"

"Where are the fillies?"

The blue-maned DJ spoke through hoarse lips, furthermore, Braeburn couldn't see their weapons from earlier and they both looked slightly uncomfortable. Their voices and movements seemed distant as if alien to themselves. A spark of realisation ignited itself within the farm pony's mind.

"What have you done to my friends?!"

Silence fell upon them. A black and green light flashed over the couple's body's, releasing their true forms as changelings. Braeburn gulped as he expertly drew his revolver.

          Octavia awoke with a start. Vinyl was sitting beside her, wielding both of their weapons. The two were in the middle of the forest, trees enveloped them in total uneasy darkness. The dry forest floor was littered in leaves and dotted in blood. A pile of corpses could be seen a few yards away. The cellist stood, grasping Vinyl's attention.

"Oh thank Celestia you're alright!"

Before she could protest, Octavia felt the familiar and comfortable hooves of her lover's bring her into a hug. After a moments embrace, the grey mare retracted herself.

"Vinyl, what happened?"

The DJ pointed towards the pile of bodies nearby. Her hammer was coated in wet blood, still dripping with fresh blood. She held out Octavia's rapier towards its owner, who graciously accepted it.

"We got attacked. A changeling managed to somehow stun you with its magic. That was enough of a warning. I tried to fight back but soon got overwhelmed. Eventually one of those buggers landed one on my head. I was out, cold."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but when I woke up, our clothes and gadgets were gone and there were squabbling over our weapons. I managed to end that little dispute between them."

Octavia turned to her mare-friend, in both awe and concern. Quickly a smile grew upon her face.

"Not all of the gadgets...."

"What do you mean?"

Octavia drew her fore-hoof into her black mane. After fidgeting in her mane, she withdrew her hoof and revealed a small silver tube with a clockwork contraption attached. The musicians smiled.

          Big Macintosh and Derpy Hooves weren't faring well either. Changelings had periodically surrounded The Sea Pegasus making escape impossible. The apple farmer could only swing his axe to greet thin air. He snarled through his hatred of such creatures, stories that his sister told him about them lived to expectation and further. His attention was momentarily diverted to Derpy as she flew with expert speed and skill. The wind rushed by her mane, the whistling grew as her speed increased, her eyes widened with adrenaline and to her there was no danger, only flight. Big Mac could only stare in awe as the usually clumsy mail-mare darted back and forth with effortless ease.  She was beautiful when she flew there was no doubt about that. The red farm pony shook his head and concentrated on the battle before him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Derpy wave at him. He smiled, maybe one day.