My first Christmas in Equestria was not fun, not that I can remember much. What I can remember I'm not proud of. After several months of binge drinking, going cold turkey wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done. I thought Sparky would give up after a while, but... I was wrong. I know now that she would never have. It's just the way she is. There have been moments where I was weak, decades even after I quit, but even then she never stopped. During one of our many arguments I asked- yelled actually- why she cared. Why would she care about me? For all she knew, the senate was right, and I was going to destroy Equestria and society as they knew it. Then she told me something I'll never forget.

She cared because no one else would.

Which is probably why she was so mad we'd left her out of the plan to catch my "would be" assailants, but even if we had told her I doubt I'd have had such an easy time getting out of the old tree house.

After my detox, I actually felt a lot better, surprise, and I started doing things again. I picked drawing back up. Something I had initially lost interest in due to a lack of an electronic medium, my medium of choice. I had learned to draw with a pencil of course, (What art student doesn't?) but it felt different now somehow. Once I had regained my interest I attempted to draw everything I could remember about Earth. Back then it was so Sparky could study it (she found the female form particularly interesting), but I think, deep down, I knew I was going to be here for a while. I'm grateful now. Sometimes I flip through the pages and remember things I thought I'd forgotten forever.

One thing that Sparky had thought was interesting was camping. Despite the fact that I had lived in a city back on Earth I had camped a lot when I was a kid, and once I was healthy enough she had asked if I would like to go camping in the woods west of Ponyville. Initially, I didn't want to but Sparky wore me down. She thought it would be good for me to get out and do something other than sit in my room. The weather ponies had just changed the season to spring so it would be a good opportunity to, as she put it, "get up and do something".

-Daus Skarr

*******

"You come to my door at three in the morning, three, throw a pack at me-"

"It's almost lunch Hedge. Are you going to complain all day?" I adjusted my pack on my shoulders and went to take a drink from my water bottle.

"I'm not complaining. I'm just letting you know how happy I am to be the guard that keeps tabs on you."

I finished drinking and said, "You are the one who told me to tell you if I planned to take any trips out of Ponyville."

I heard Hedge grunt and respond, "A little more warning would have been nice."

I grinned and looked up the trail to see Twilight and Applejack consulting a map. Once I drew nearer I motioned to it and asked, "Are we lost yet?"

Twilight looked up and glanced down the trail at my lagging friend. She shook her head and replied, "Even if we did get lost we could just ask Hedge to fly up and look around."

"Hey."

I turned to see Hedge struggle up the last few feet of the hill and stop to catch his breath.

After a moment he went on, "I am a Pegasus. Walking is for the lesser species of this world"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that before saying, "And Alicorns, apparently."

Hedge raised his hands in mock surrender, "A thousand pardons milady."

Twilight shook her head again and resumed walking down the trail, "The camps just a little further."

I grinned and looked at Hedge who winked at me and started walking after Twilight.

We walked for about another hour. Unlike the Everfree, White Tail Woods was a bright and pleasant place. At some points, the scenery almost seemed enchanting. I asked Twilight about it on a water break, but she just shrugged and said "magic". Not exactly the most comforting response give the Everfree was only about fifty miles to the northeast.

"Twi?"

We all glanced up from the trail to see Applejack standing off to the right of the trail looking at something.

Twilight and the rest of us walked up the Applejack and stood for a moment to look at what AJ had found. The path seemed to open up on the right where it led to a clearing.

I looked at Twilight, "This the place?"

Twi pulled the map out and looked over it. After a moment she put it away and gestured to the clearing, "Looks like it."

***

I stood on the edge of the cliff and looked down. Below me was a drop of about 200 feet. At the bottom, the forest touched the base of the cliff and ran all the way to the north end of Ponyville. Looking out, I thought I could make out a few buildings, but the setting sun obscured most of the horizon.

"Daus!"

I turned to see Twilight giving me a severe look.

I smiled, "Come on Twi. I won't fa-" I lurched forward suddenly, but caught myself before I went too far. Twilight sprang up and started to move towards me, but stopped once she realized I was joking.

I laughed and walked away from the edge, "You actually thought I'd throw myself off the cliff? That's what we call trust issues in the real world."

"This is the real world," Twilight said as she sat back down.

I shrugged, "So you say."

Twilight gave me an exasperated look.

I grinned and pointed with my thumb at Hedge, "Hedge would've caught me."

Hedge snorted and readjusted himself on the rock he was sitting on, "I refuse to move from this spot for at least another hour."

Applejack spoke, "Gonna' be kind'a hard to get your food from over there." She looked up from stirring the food to see Hedge looking at her.

Applejack gave a short laugh, "Ha! No way I'm bringing you your food neither."

I took my coat off and sat down, "Hard to believe this place was covered in snow three weeks ago."

Twilight asked, "Don't your people do anything to change the seasons?"

I shrugged, "No, the world just kind of... takes care of itself, so we don't need to."

AJ shook her head, "That's just depressin'."

I laughed, "What?"

Applejack made a sweeping gesture with her hand, "It feels good to take care of the world like this. Gives folks purpose. Without it, you're just livin'."

"What's wrong with that," I said.

"Well," Applejack said," People gotta have purpose. Otherwise, what's the point?"

I shrugged, "My people give themselves purpose. You ponies are given too much."

"Then what's your purpose right now?" Twilight asked.

I waved my hand toward Ponyville, "Making the super awesome magic portal thingy that'll get me home."

Twilight snorted, "You sit around all day annoying me about when I'll finish. You should get a job."

"Join the guard today," Hedge droned, "Help protect the ones you love and in seventy short years you can retire and start collecting your pension."

"Other than the fact that I'm not a pony," I said pointedly, "Life expectancy for an average human guy is in the high sixties, I think, and Pink has probably already crushed a few years out of me anyway."

"Yes, I'm sure it's so hard getting hugged by that- uh," Hedge glanced up at the two mares present before dropping his head back down onto his rock, "You know what I mean."

Applejack shook her head, "Twi has a point, and if you start doing something the time will pass quicker."

"I can draw," I said."

Applejack shrugged and said, "Then draw, but right now," Applejack stood and lifted the food off the campfire, " I'm eating."

***

I slowly opened my eyes to the pleasant glow of dawn. Despite not being a morning person, this had always been my favorite part of camping. Remembering this made me realize how much I had actually missed camping, which made me miss home. I pushed the feeling away and climbed out of my sleeping bag to get dressed.

It wasn't until I was fully clothed that I felt something was wrong. I opened my tent flap and stepped out.

A fog had descended onto the camp, so I couldn't see very far. However, the slight chill and blueish glow told me it was early morning. The cold drove me to the campfire, which was just coals now. I turned to look at the other tents and could make out some rustling from the nearest. Beyond it, toward the tree line, I could just barely see a faint figure that must have been Hedge. I turned back to the fire and poked at it with a stick to try and stir the embers back to life.

I heard Hedge rummage through his tent before walking up to me. I glanced up and nodded to him beside me. Across the camp, I heard the girls start to stir.

I waved a hand through the air and said, "Wonderful weather we're having."

Hedge stretched and sat down on a log close by, "It's fine with me, so long as I don't have to clear it out."

We sat in silence until Twilight and Applejack emerged from their tents. The two stood and looked around, confused. Applejack spook first.

"Welp," she said, "that's just not right."

Twilight waved her hand and, with a flash of her horn, fired off a spell. I glanced around to see if anything had happened, but nothing had changed.

"Good, you did it." I said.

"No," Twilight looked at me for a moment before turning to look around the whole camp, "that was supposed to clear the fog, but the spell matrix dissipated before it had an effect."

"Well," I stood and walked over to the pack line, "While you figure that out, I'll make some coffee."

Twilight walked to the edge of camp and started to cast spells. She walked around us a few times, but, eventually, sat down and started drawing symbols in the dirt. The rest of us gathered around the campfire and started getting breakfast ready.

Applejack started trying to relight the fire, but I could tell it would take a while to light the slightly damp tinder we had gathered. I searched through our food pack and pulled out a bag of coffee grounds. I used to drink coffee back home but had really started to indulge the habit much more since arriving on Equus. Partially because the coffee tasted much better here, but the main reason being that when I had first started living in Ponyville, Twi would make me coffee every morning. After a few weeks of this, I asked her about it, and she said the only reason why she did it was because I had told her it was common for humans to drink coffee in the morning. She personally didn't care for it, but by then I had grown accustom to it.

Hedge, as usual, was too lazy to help with either task. I had asked him about it before, but his only response had been that he had already done his "fair share" of menial labor during his early years. However long ago those were. His casual manner and my inability to distinguish the slight differences in a ponies age often disguised the fact that he was the oldest pony I knew.

I focused on the coffee cooking in front of me. Once finished, I poured myself a cup and passed it to the others. The two like coffee almost as much as me.

"So," I said, sitting back against a log, "What's with the weather? I thought ponies were masters of their environment?"

Hedge shrugged, "Probably just a mistake at Cloudsdale, but I do know someone's a least getting fired for this."

"Does this happen often?" I asked.

"Not really," Applejack responded," Every once in a while it might rain unscheduled, but this fog'll be much worse than a little rain."

I laughed, "Why? You make it sound like something horrible."

"It'll shut down the shipyard," she said shaking her head, "There's probably more than a few wrecks by now."

Hedge said, "Glad I'm not out there right now. Clean up's going to be a nightmare."

"Well I like this weather," I said stretching out a little, "Reminds me of home."

AJ took a sip of her coffee and said, "You must not have had so many flying ships in the sky."

"Not ships, but we had planes," I looked up into the opaque sky as if I could see one flying overhead, "My people probably didn't have as many planes in the sky as you have ships, but they also moved a lot faster." I looked back down to Hedge with a telling look, "Less room for error."

Hedge pointed an accusatory finger at me and said, "You jumped. I didn't drop you."

I scoffed, "You were drunk."

Hedge gave me an incredulous look, "So were you!"

"Hey!"

Applejack was standing close to the cold ashes of the fire, having abandoned all attempts to start a new one. Her back was to us frozen, as if listening. I tried to speak but she shushed me with a wave of her hand, "Quiet. Do you hear that?"

We paused for a moment before Hedge spoke, "I don't hear anything."

"Exactly," Applejack turned toward us, "No birds, no wind, no nothin'."

I went back to listening, and, sure enough, the entire camp and surrounding forest were completely silent. Once I noticed it, I was surprised I could have missed it. The lack of sound was almost stifling.

I stood and looked around. The fog obscured most of the treeline, but from what I could make out, everything was still. After doing a complete turn I realized something else. Something marginally more troubling.

"Where's Twilight?"

Before the words had even left my lips Hedge was going through his backpack. After a moment he pulled a small radio out and turned it on.

Hedge spoke into the radio, "I need assistance at the camp. Please respond Mead."

We all waited for a minute, then Hedge continued, "Need some help Mead, please respond."

After another minute of silence, he threw the radio back in the bag and said, "Damn fog's probably not even real." Hedge reached back into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water. After unscrewing it he threw the contents of the container through the air. As I watched the water seemed to streak forward as if through a grate, then fall to the ground.

"And that confirms it," Hedge tossed the bottle aside.

I started to ask what he had done but he dismissed me with a wave of his hand, "Ask your purple friend later. I don't really know myself. I just know it works."

Applejack spoke up, "If we can find her."

I shook my head, "We'll find her."

Hedge snorted, "We'll probably find her alright. Her body that is."

He looked around at the horrified looks Aj and me gave him and shrugged, "They managed to quietly take the 'Princess' of Magic. It's too dangerous for them to let her live."

"Stop," AJ crouched at the fire again, but I could tell her mind was a million miles away.

I shook my head at Hedge, who shrugged. Turning, I scanned the treeline again, then walked over to the spot Twi had sat down to think.

I heard Hedge walk up to me. He said, "We should leave."

"We," I said as I turned to look at him, "Should look for Twi."

Hedge shook his head, "They're toying with us. The moment we try anything they'll make their move.

"So we should... try to leave."

Hedge through his hands in the air, and gave me an exasperated look. He said, "At least we might get lucky."

I turned fully to face him and set my jaw in a defiant look. After a short standoff, he went on in a quieter tone, "You don't know them like I do. If you did we'd have already been running back to town."

I gestured up and down his body and said, "You seem pretty calm for a dead man."

Hedge shook his head, "If they wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already. They're waiting."

As if in answer, the air suddenly seemed to contract and spasm. It happened so fast I was thrown slightly off balance. A slight breeze flowed through the trees, and a sound like splitting wood prompted me and Hedge to turn back to the campfire.

Twilight stood for a moment next to the ashes then fell to her knees clutching her midsection.

Me and Hedge ran up to her and tried to pull her to her feet, but she collapsed the moment we let her go. AJ pushed us back and knelt down next to her.

"Twi! Twi!," Applejack grabbed her by the shoulder, "Are you ok?!"

Twi shook her head and tried to speak, but only coughed. Dark specks of liquid hit the ground in front of her.

Hedge grimaced, "Blood."

Behind me, I heard a ripping sound. Looking back, I saw our tents rip apart before flying into the air and disappearing into the tree line. Below where they disappeared, at ground level, I could just make out the outline of someone standing there, watching. A second later it was gone.

While helping Applejack prop Twilight against a log, I said, "A little subtle for trying to kill us, Hedge."

"Where the buck is Mead?!" Hedge growled.

"I thought you'd seen it all," I said. Going on in a mocking tone, "No, Daus, stick with me. They'll never catch you if you're with me."

"Shh! Do you hear that?"

Hedge shushed me and stopped to listen. The rest of us did the same, but there was nothing but silence.

Except...

I looked to the other side of the camp, where Twilight's and AJ's tents stood. I could just make out a low white noise coming from beyond the tree line. My ears started to ring. I rubbed them and saw the others do the same. A sudden jerky movement at the edge of the trees got our attention back. The three of us watched, frozen.

Suddenly, the tents flew into the air just like mine had. Then shredded themselves before disappearing into the mist.

Applejack broke the silence, "I don't think this is a Guard kind of problem."

I looked at Hedge. His face seemed to mirror AJ's thinking. Whatever was out there, it was looking for more than a bounty.

The ringing in my ear stopped. I looked around the clearing. Now that all the tents had been shredded, I could see all around the camp. Not that there was much to see. The mist was still obscuring most of the treeline, but on the far side of the camp, I could just make out a figure.

I pointed, but before I could say anything it spasmed then was gone.

"Twi!"

I turned to see Applejack holding Twilight. Her face was slack and her chest was barely moving. A moment later she suddenly lurched forward and spewed a dark substance all over the ground in front of her.

I heard Hedge yelling. but I couldn't move. My body was cold, and all I could see was the large stain on the ground, slowly spreading.

***

I jerked awake gasping for breath. Around me, I heard similar sounds from the tents around me. Scrambling, I opened my tent and fell out into camp.

The sunrise was obscured by the treeline, but it was definitely morning. After a quick look around, I confirmed that the day would be bright and sunny without even one cloud in the sky. I heard Hedge swear under his breath as he imitated my less than graceful exit from his own tent.

Ignoring him, I warily walked across the camp to Twilight's tent. Applejack was standing next to it, but there was no sign that Twilight had even woken up.

A moment later, Twilight's tent unzipped itself, and I saw. to my relief, the alicorn's aura on the zipper. She emerged a moment later looking shaken but unharmed.

I tried to speak, but she held a hand up. For a moment I was confused. Then I saw the dark smear on her palm.

Author's Note

A wild chapter appears.