They Came from the Everfree

Day 11

SFC Grayson

We spent the next three days letting things settle down and building defenses. On day six, we began getting a little desperate, as food and the constant threat of wood wolves created stress, and decided that it was time to go back to recon. Things were relatively the same, but there were considerably more ponies in golden armor. It's day eleven and we have decided to get a bit closer of a look.

A Ridge Overlooking Ponyville in the Everfree Forest

0545 Hours

"Gray, it's approaching dusk. What should we do?" asked Elliot.

I considered before saying "Feel confident enough to go into town? I'm sick of rolling around in this forest. Even the deer are getting hard to find."

"With all do respect, that sounds like something someone who just got out of basic would say. You really think that's a good idea? That's the last thing we are SUPPOSED to do, you know."

I took a quarter out of my pocket and said "Heads, we go in. Tails; we stay."

I heard him mutter "Alright Two-Face."

I flipped the coin and caught it. I slapped it against my wrist and moved my hand away.

"Heads, we should ditch the suits. As if 2, incredibly tall figures walking down the street wasn't suspicious enough."

"Agreed. What do we do if we're caught?"

"Civilians; book it to the forest, split up, loose them and meet up at base. Those guys in armor; Depends on situation. They meet with force, respond with less lethal force, if possible. If they surround us and get some diplomat, we talk it out. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll understand our plight."

"We've been hiding out in the forest for eleven days and intentionally avoiding contact with ponies. Not exactly an airtight defense."

"Better than lying and paying for it if they find out. Gonna be a long night, might as well get some sleep while we can. Get some sleep, I'll take first watch and wake ya in 'bout an hour."

Outskirts of Ponyville
1145 Hours

“Remember what we talked about on the way down here, keep it cool and slow. We don’t want to look like we want a fight” I reminded Elliot.

At this point we had removed our weapons and gear, leaving us in just sage green body-hugging t-shirts and shorts. They were rather thin, so they were not very hot. Much less than a ghillie suit. They reminded me of the army PTs we wore in basic.

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve been saying that since we started walking. I get it already!” He yelled back, annoyed at my pestering.

“Right, well, this is the last of it. Where should we go? That place looks a bit crowded for a first appearance.” I questioned.

“Do you really want to walk north for miles just to find a less crowded entrance? Hm? Didn’t think so, now or never.” Elliot remarks as he gets up and slowly walks toward the village.

“Wait, Elliot!” I step out of concealment to follow him, which immediately gains almost all of the courtyard’s attention. I was no more than a foot away from the bush and it seems the entire population of the city froze to look at us. Not even a bird chirping was heard.

As we neared the crowd began to back away slowly and cautiously, mumbling quietly to each other. As if any movement could set one of us after them. Their eyes were a mixture of emotions. Some scared, shocked, even a few were just curious.

Elliot and I remained completely quiet, now beside him. I crouched down a little and gestured for him to do the same, realizing we were almost a foot and a half higher, getting lower might make us look less that of a threat.

“Uh… Hello?” I asked, quietly. Attempting to break the silence without startling the locals.

This was not the case.

They all recoiled back and took a few steps away, before one stepped forward. Elliot and I both took a sharp breath in, recognizing this one from earlier.

The one we agreed to call ‘Purple’ was staring at us closely, as if inspecting our each move, no more than a few feet away.

‘This one’s confident enough, maybe why she was leading that search party’ I think to myself.

I looked at Elliot, out of ideas as of what to do. He returned the glance and simply shrugged, clearly as lost as I was.

“You speak Equestrian?” Purple spoke up at us.

We both turned away to look back at the little thing, Elliot was the first to speak up.

“No, we speak English.” He replied.

‘Fantastic first impression, we look real smart now...' I say in my head, catching myself from saying it out loud.

“Yes, we speak the same language.” I responded, raising my eyebrows at Elliot to alert him of his mistake, which he clearly still didn’t realize.
He looked at me for a few seconds, before mouthing an ‘Oh’ and looked back at Purple with a slight blush.

“Fascinating, you don’t look anything like us. Where did you learn your language? Where do you come from? Are there more like you? Are there…” The little one pelted us with questions, faster than either of us could respond. When we opened our mouth, the next question was already asked.

‘I have a new nickname for this one, I’ll call it Egghead…’ I tell myself.

Before I could make more fun of the creature rambling more at us then to us, another silhouette appeared from the crowd. Starting towards us.