The learning curve

POV Fluttershy

Fluttershy hummed to herself as she tended to the last of nocturnal animal's needs. She gave the unusually small amount of nightly creatures a sufficient amount of food to last until the next evening, and sent them all away into the night, back to their homes. Letting out a satisfied smile, she sighed and took a rest on the soft green couch.

She lay there for a few minutes to let a bit of stress roll off her shoulders and calm her down from the days work. Feeling a tugging on her hoof, she looked down to Angel who was staring back up at her with a worried expression.

"Hello Angel. You look uneasy, is there something wrong?"

The white rabbit bounced up and down, pointing toward the door frantically. Fluttershy frowned, thinking of what his obscure body language could mean.

"You want to go outside? At night?" She suggested, getting a quick shaking of the head from Angel.

He then bore his teeth and raised his claws in imitation of a predator while pointing to the door again.

"Is there something outside?" The rabbit gave a worried nod and hopped up onto the couch, before jumping up onto Fluttrershy's back.

Fluttershy froze, as the bunny's reaction implied that it could be something dangerous. She turned to him and looked stern.

"I'm going to get Ben. He might be able to help us, and you need to find somewhere to hide in case something comes inside while i'm upstairs, okay?" The rabbit hurried over to a set of drawers in the corner of the room, before pulling one out and hiding in the back.

Okay, lets go and get Ben.

She slid off' the couch and walked to the stairs. Her body locked up again, as the cracking of twigs could be heard coming from the front of the house, outside the door. But she contained her sudden fear of the unknown and turned back to the stairwell.

Moving to the second floor, she remained silent. pushing open the door to the Human's room, her muscles locked up as the hinges squeaked in their stressed movement. But she could breathe easy again when she saw that he remained in slumber. Tip-hoofing over to his bedside, she slowly got closer to his ears and took a deep breath.

"B-Ben..."

She blushed and bit her bottom lip at her feeble attempt to get his attention. A vibration ran through her spine and she took another breath.

"Ben, please wake up..."

Trembling, she sighed and prepared herself to raise her voice. Relaxing her shoulder's, she inhaled deeply.

"Ben, wake up."

She 'squeed' when he shuffled to face her and opened his eyes, a fire burning across her cheeks. He squinted to see her in the darkness with tired eyes.

*Yawn* "Fluttershy? Whats going on?" He gave her a confused look and rubbed his eyes.

"T-There's s-something outs-side. T-The front door." She stumbled back onto her haunches and raised a foreleg to nibble at a hoof.

Ben sighed and looked around for a second, thinking about whether it was worth getting up for. He cracked his neck and twisted to sit on the opposite side of the bed, and Fluttershy looked away in embarrassment.

She could hear the shuffling of him putting on clothes, and the tinkling of a belt buckle behind her before the sounds paused for a brief moment. Only to be broken by the distinct metal-on-metal of loading the 'pistol' she had grown accustomed to seeing.

He walked passed her and out of the room. Following him down the stairs and onto the landing, she pointed at the door and shook nervously.

"There, it's c-coming from out t-there." She trembled and dragged her scared body over to the set of drawers that Angel was hiding in.

She watched him flick of the safety of his small, black handheld weapon and raise it up, ready to use it if it was needed. Then he slowly walked step by step towards the front door and stopped within his arms reach. Keeping his pistol in his right arm, and reaching out for the handle with his left, they connected. She could barely watch as his arm began to twist...

POV Twilight Sparkle

Twilight had been doing some late night studying when she felt like reading a few unread advertisements that she had been mailed recently. Opening them up, she read one that said something about the decline in certain animal species. She instantly thought of Fluttershy, and decided that having nothing else useful to do that evening was a good enough cause as any to go see her about it.

Now of course, if she was asleep then she would just head home and talk with her in the morning. But considering the fact that Fluttershy is kept up until almost eleven every night, that was unlikely.

The path to her cottage was beautiful at night. It was incredibly serene, and it allowed the brain to explore the world in a way that you didn't really see in the day.

The trees loomed overhead, creating a dramatic biological tunnel. And the moon gave everything a lightish blue sheen that made the surroundings look like a dark, uneven ocean of night-life. The odd owl hooting and the wind rustling through the trees echoed surprisingly loudly throughout the cool and crisp air.

She contemplated nature at it's most peaceful time, walking with her eyes closed in thought whenever the path would allow it. She continued like this until a faint yellow flash faded in through her eyelids, followed by an unfamiliar *BANG*, causing her to stand still and open her eyes.

She could see the cottage no more than two hundred feet away, and in the dark there was no way she could make out details at that distance. But what she could see was more flashes of light that were quickly followed by the same sound, not so different from a large firecracker. Then a blood curdling scream was let out into the air, and Twilight's ears fell back against her head.

She immediately broke into a canter, running as fast as her legs could carry her across the meadow that hosted the humble little cottage. As she neared the cottage she could begin to make out the sound of a struggle coming from inside the cottage, like things were being thrown around and crashed into. This only caused her to prepare her magic for a fight, just in case.

And to make things worse, she could now see the body of a creature lying in front of the open door. It had a large portion of its back colored a pearly dark blue, and its scraggy translucent cyan wings were splayed out across the ground. Its head featured a horn that sported a gentle backward curve and was sharpened to a blade at the point and down the front edge. A hole was placed on its face, leaking out blood from in between its eyes.  Lying in front of Fluttershy's cottage was the corpse of a Changeling.

Twilight's horn lit up a bright lavender as her face hardened into an angry frown and she widened her stance into a combat pose. She leaped into the doorway valiantly and raised her head, ready to blast whatever made a move on her friend.

"Flutter..." She was cut off at the start of the word when she saw a changeling pinned up against the wall, suspended in the air with a booted foot jammed in its neck, underneath its chin.

The expression on its face was one of sheer terror as it writhed around to break free. But that look dissipated and turned sad as it accepted its fate. It could only watch when a familiar black 'L' shaped object was raised up, pointing at its head. Suddenly, the room was lit up with a bright flash and an ear splitting *BANG* filled the air once again. An explosion of yellow-green liquid burst from the back of its head, spreading out all over the wall, and it dropped to the floor.

Before her was a scene taken straight from a crime novel. Three dead changelings were strewn about the place, all with the same fatal wounds in their body's. In-front of her stood the five foot, eight inch tall biped gripping a pistol in its right hand, and it stared back at her shocked form with worry.

"Come on Twilight! We need your help!" Ben said, rushing over to a butter colored pegasus cowering in a corner near some drawers at the back of the room.

"Fluttershy..." She whispered under her breath, still in a daze from the scene that just un-folded before her eyes. She shook her head bringing herself back to sense, and rushed over to her side.

Fluttershy looked traumatized. Her usual caring gaze had been replaced by an almost empty stare, and her body was shaking like crazy as she curled up into a ball. Fluttershy whimpered and cried when they came close, but looking up to find the purple alicorn looking back at her made her gasp and then latch onto Twilight like her life depended on it.

Fluttershy buried her face into her shoulder and cried hysterically. Her screams faltered as the tears flowed down her face and she held Twilight in a surprisingly strong hug.

"I'm gonna go and get suited up. We need to get Fluttershy somewhere safe and i don't know if the roads are safe or not." The deep voice stated beside her. She just nodded and got back to comforting her friend.

POV L.Cpl Beal

Ben rushed up the stairs and stormed into his room. He took a glance around and located the rest of his equipment in the wardrobe at the back of the room. Putting on his jacket and armour, he shuffled his shoulders to get everything comfortable. He then grabbed his rifle and checked the safety was on... It wasn't.

I left the safety off? Shit, i thought i checked that this morning... He thought, clicking it on.

"And I thought I might just be able to get some peace." Ben mumbled to himself.

Grabbing his bayonet and strapping it around his waist, he breathed in to collect his thoughts on everything that had just happened.

He let out his breath in a loud sigh and went back downstairs again. Fluttershy was still crying into Twilight's shoulder, but more softly now. Poor mare must have been terrified. Gripping his rifle in his hands, he waited for the princess to get up.

"Did you have to kill them?" Her soft voice asked. Truth be told, he hadn't thought about mercy at that time. All he knew was he was being attacked by deadly insects and both his and Fluttershy's lives were in danger.

"Its was either us or them, Princess. I couldn't let Fluttershy come to harm." Twilight looked back at him with a sad expression and sighed, looking down at the floorboards.

"Very well then..." She took the crying mare's face in her fore-hooves and looked into her eyes. Telling her that she needed to be strong before she lifted her up onto her hooves with magic.

They made their way over to the open door and peered outside. The night-time silence washed over them, impairing their speech for a moment until Twilight started walking outside. Ben blocked her path and turned to face her with Twilight looking up at him with confused eyes.

"Whats the matter? Is there more of them out there?" She questioned with a frown.

"I don't know. Do you know if you were followed?" She shuffled uncomfortably and shook her head.

"Great..."He lifted a hand to his chin and thought. If they were to be following then their pursuers would need a suitable place to hide, which wasn't too hard with being in the dark and all. Taking another look outside, he searched for hiding spots the well camouflaged chitinous bodies of the changelings could be lurking in.

The path fell away into a ridge-line on the left side with the Everfree tree-line only 20 feet or so behind it, the tree's shadows and the bushes would make excellent cover for an ambush. The right side fell away just as quickly but it was open past that point, allowing for a small number of people to travel the length of the ridge without being spotted by anyone hiding at the other side.

Problem was that the right ridge-line only continued for 10 feet or so, at which point the next bit of cover would be the line of Ash trees that were on the outside of the pathway. But then again, they could just use the ridge as cover by moving straight backwards into the trees without revealing themselves at all.

Pulling back from the doorway and quietly shutting the door, he crouched down to the ponies' height and pushed his hat back to prevent it from falling.

"Right, i have a plan. It involves stealth so try not to make any noise." The duo nodded their heads and sat down to listen. "Fluttershy, is there anyway out the back of the cottage?"

She nodded again while rubbing her tired and red eyelids, un-able to move her eyes from the corpses on floor. "T-there is a balcony that leads out the back, w-why?"

"Because that's our escape route. We're gonna go out the balcony and use the ridge to the right of the path leading up to the cottage for cover. Then we can move up to the dirt road without being seen by anything that may or may not be hiding in the Everfree's tree-line and make our way to Ponyville for help, got it?" Getting a round of bobbing heads settled his mind.

His plans were quite good, but he usually overlooked or missed something major that screwed him over one way or another. He just hoped this went well. He might have lives on him this time.

Making their way over to the balcony, he slowly opened the double glass doors and rested them against the walls of the cottage. Looking left and right, he couldn't see anything that immediately stood out as hostile. So he signaled the girls over. Fluttershy apprehensively went first, tentatively placing her hooves on the stone railings and then gliding down to the floor, where she began to shake with anxiety.

Then twilight glided down to sit beside her. Placing her foreleg around Fluttershy's neck and looking back up to Ben. He rubbed his gloved hands together and exhaled, trying to stop his nerves getting the better of him. He clambered over the stone and let his legs hang down, slowly climbing as far down as he could go before dropping.

He landed on the floor in a crouch with an uncomfortably loud thud, causing him to cringe and freeze in place along with the two mares. They waited in the cottage's shadow for something to happen... but nothing.

Ben smiled as he straightened back out and grabbed his rifle. Fluttershy was still shaking and her walking was no different. She couldn't seem to go in a straight line properly, almost as if she was tipsy. So Twilight had to stay beside her as they traveled round the side of the cottage to the ridge-line.

Ben peered over the ridge and exhaled to quell his nerves again. He looked back and signaled for the two ponies to make their way in a line to the line of trees at the side of the path for cover.

*Twang* Ben tensed up at the sound of tension being released on a wire. Then a large force slammed into his upper back, sending him onto his hands and knees. He could feel something sharp poking through his armour, and the first thought that came to mind was...

"Archer!" He shouted to the girls. "Get close to the walls, NOW!" The mares darted toward the cottage walls and pressed themselves against them. Ben turned to do the same, but he was hit in the chest with another arrow, causing him to stumble back. However this time he wasted no time and quickly joined the girls.

"We got an archer on the roof of the cottage." He informed them while fumbling with his rifle, flicking the safety off and cocking it to be sure it was loaded. "Twilight, can you cast a light onto the roof so I can see?" She nodded and her horn lit up. "On my mark..." He said before skirting round the back of the cottage to find a new shooting position.

"Mark!" A ball of light shot into the air, casting an ominous violet light over the area. Ben lined up his iron sights and began pacing backwards until he could see the whole roof on his side.

The light showed a silhouette with large blue eyes hovering a little above the roof. The silhouette already had its forelegs raised with a crossbow aimed right at him. Ben lined his sights on the figure and tapped the trigger, sending a short burst of rounds at the archer.

Instead of killing the archer, the bullets hit an invisible shield and created large glowing green cracks that seemed to float in the air. The way the cracks curved around suggested the shield to be curved, which would deflect projectiles fired at it.

*Twang* The crossbow fired again, hitting Ben in the chest for a second time. He flinched and paced back due to the bolts speed, before letting off another loud burst of gunfire which shattered the archers shield. The archer dived behind the lip of the roof to avoid more bullets that were sent its way.

The cadet stepped back to the wall for cover and removed the mag for an ammo check. The magazine had three rounds left, meaning that he could give the enemy one more good burst of fire before a reload. He pushed the mag back into the rifle and silently crept back around the other side of the cottage to get another shot on the archer.

Employing the same tactic, he lined his sights up and backpedaled to aim for his target. The shady figure was nowhere to be seen, which elevated his breathing. Where the fuck could it have gone?

He dropped into a crouching position and swiveled to look for it, it couldn't have gone far. Behind him was the Everfree, and his sides were both clear.

"Shit!" He shouted in a mixture of frustration and fear. He broke into a sprint and ran round the back of the cottage to meet the girls, who were cuddling each other in terror.

"Twilight, can you cast shields?" He asked quickly and desperately.

"Y-yes..." She stuttered her words while glancing around.

"Good, i need you to cast a shield around you and Fluttershy so that you can make a run for it. Can you do that?" He put his left hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes. She nodded and tapped on Fluttershy's back.

"C'mon 'Shy, follow me." She cast a purple dome around the both of them and they ran down the footpath toward Ponyville. Once they had disappeared from sight, Ben used the time to reload his rifle. If he was going to take on this archer again, he'd need the advantage of not having to reload.

Turning around, he raised his rifle and started creeping to the back of the cottage again. Taking cover on the corner, he stopped before peering round to see if the archer was hiding there. It wasn't.

"Okay, its hide and seek motherfucker. Lets see what you got." He whispered to nobody in-particular as he made his stance as low as he could go while still walking. Checking every corner, he tried to breath methodically when searching for his foe.

Okay. If I was out-gunned, what would I do? He thought to himself before turning to the roof for a second. No, not enough cover and I've already forced it out from there.

Now he was starting to panic. How could something just vanish? The only other place it could have gone was...

He faced the balcony. The curtains blew in the night-time breeze, beckoning him inside the house. He sighed and made his way over to the the wall at the base of the cottage. He leaped onto the wall and rebounded to the balcony, grasping it and wedging his toes into the stonework to haul himself up.

Landing on the balcony with the occupied cottage open in-front of him felt so fictional it was untrue. But shoving these thoughts aside, he stepped beyond the doors with his rifle raised. With the dead bodies strewn about, the main room looked very un-inviting, almost like the scene in some messed up science fiction movie.

Ben checked everything and anything that could be hidden behind, and seeing nothing that could hide an over-sized insect shifted his attention to the next room. The kitchen was plainly rectangular and had nothing that could hide his enemy, so he would give that a tactical miss. Now he would have to go to the unlit second floor, so he grabbed a lantern hanging on the wall.

Now its Amnesia style, bitches!

So he turned his attention to the stairs. Stairs felt risky, as they were great for setting up ambushes against lone soldiers such as himself. If he had flash-bangs, this would be a great place to use one. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped up the stairs, the boards creaked and broke the silence with a sledgehammer, if there was someone up there they would know he was coming up.

He was certain that no-one could come in-front of him now so he turned around to walk up the stairs backwards. This meant he could see anyone camping at the top as he came up. As he reached the blind spot, he jumped up the next 2 steps. Again he aimed at every cover he could see, nothing was hiding at the top of the stairs.

"Ready or not, here I come!" He called out to the shadows beyond the reach of the lanterns glow. The darkness seemed to wrap around the small sphere of light that his boxed candle gave out like a present at a birthday. It hid what lay beyond with perfect efficiency, making the foe that waited for him invisible to the naked eye.

He steadied his breaths and ventured across the second floor. Coming to the first door, he sighed. He had never been in Fluttershy's room, so he didn't quite know what to expect. He kicked the door open and rolled the lantern across the floor of the room to illuminate it.

He jumped into the room and repeated his sloppy room clearing tactic, making sure that he missed nothing. Still the shady changeling eluded him, this one knew how to make a guy nervous. Picking up the lantern, he now had only one hand controlling the rifle.

So he stepped out of the room un-prepared for a black hoof to punch him in the face making a sickly crack as his nose broke. Ben screamed and brought a hand to clutch the smashed cartilage. A foreleg wrapped around his arm and threw him out of the room and into the banister rails surrounding the stairs.

He barely had time to collect himself before he was kicked over the rail and sent tumbling down the stairs. Each step felt like a completely separate blow, leaving him dazed and in pain by the time he came to a stop at the bottom. He rolled his battered body onto his hands and knees and wobbled to his feet, un-able to properly make out the blurry figure approaching him.

The changeling slammed him into a set of drawers and lined up another punch. Its strike landed on his stomach, causing his body to convulse and making him wretch violently. A hoof raised his head and allowed him to get a proper look at the changeling.

It had tattoos covering its body, making pictures in places. The other sections of the markings looked tribal, even curling round into spirals at some parts. The most intimidating bit was the claw marks on its face. Whatever had made them, they were pretty big scars, like a Lion had slashed your face and you barely escaped with your life.

The next thing he knew was that his face was battered against the wall with such force that his vision was distorted, leaving a ringing in his ears. A migraine washed over him and he slid down the wall completely disoriented. The world seemed to bend in an almost drunken haze as he forced himself to stay awake. Blood ran down his face and dripped onto his lap, making a mess of his trousers.

He just about managed to pick his head up from hanging by his chest to see the changeling in-front of him.

"You are even weaker than i expected you to be." It told him in a cold voice. Something about its icy tone made him feel so inferior in comparison, and it scared him. "But when we next meet again, remind me to stay clear of your weapons. Good riddance, creature." It drew its crossbow and rested it against Ben's bloodied forehead.

But just before it could pull the firing lever, a white flash jumped out from the drawers and latched onto the changelings scarred face, causing it to shriek in surprise. Angel sunk his teeth into the changeling and then withdrew, grimacing in disgust.

"Gah! What is this,'Xenacunatra'?" Ben didn't recognize that last word, but it probably meant something ironic. The black insect threw the rabbit into the corner of the room and snarled menacingly.

This is my chance... He thought, pulling his bayonet from its sheath and stumbling to his feet. The changeling turned around, expecting to be faced by a defeated foe, but Ben quickly lunged for its head. It wasn't able to fully move out of the way, and the bayonet buried itself deep into the insects side.

It screamed in pain and threw him aside. Taking into the air, it hovered for a moment to give him a deathly stare.

"You may have been lucky this time, but next time, I.WILL. kill you!" With that being said, it sped out of the open double doors and away into the night. Ben fell onto his ass and shuffled back into the wall to rest after the battle, and Angel limped over to rest with him.

"Thanks bud'." He scratched behind the bruised rabbits ears and smiled. Being able to relax at that moment felt heavenly, but his broken nose and cut up face seemed to prevent him from fully enjoying the peace. He kicked his legs out, crossing them over and slouching against the drawers. Closing his eyes, he felt sleep begin to creep into the corners of his mind...