The Hunt For Twilight Sparkle

Twilight woke up from her relatively high speed impact. The last thing she remembered, was her and Spike escaping their prison cell and being pursued, then blackness as she slammed into a tree. She looked down, and saw that she was on top of another pony. He had powerfully strong muscles, dark brown hair and a light brown mane, he was a unicorn, and had a scar over his left eye…Twilight jumped up, suddenly remembering who it was. Campion was underneath her, his mechanical wings crushed and crumpled due to their combined weight upon impact. The scar was fresh, had she caused that? Or the impact? Spike was starting to regain consciousness as well, and he was also startled when he saw who had cushioned their fall.

“Come on Twilight,” Spike said gesturing to her “we should leave now before he wakes up.”

“Hold on a second Spike,” Twilight said nosing Campion “I think he saved our lives.”

“Saved us?” Spike said snorting “you can’t be serious. He wants to kill us, remember? More importantly, he wants to kill you, and Equestria can’t survive without you.”

“I know,” Twilight said after pausing and looking down at Campion “I just want to make sure he is alright.”

“He wouldn’t do the same for you,” Spike said “and besides, we’re at war. Have you forgotten that?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten,” Twilight said retorting and looking back towards Spike “but I just want to know…”

“Why I saved you?”

A voice from underneath her spoke. Campion got up, shaking off the mechanical wings and bracing himself for a fight. His eyes flashed, but Twilight thought she could see something for a second, but couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

“Yes,” she said “among other things. I wanted too…”

“No time for questions,” Campion said he started walking, but he grimaced as a sharp pain from his left back leg shot up and made him aware that he wasn’t going to be dancing any time soon.

Twilight saw him wince in pain “Are you alright Campion?”

“I’m fine,” he grunted and gesturing with his horn “you and the dragon, into the trees, now!”

“What for…” Spike was about to ask, when the drone of more wings could be heard in the distance. Quietly and quickly, they all made it to the undergrowth.

“Deeper in,” Campion said his voice almost tickling Twilight’s ear he was so close behind her. He could hear him fighting the pain through his breathing, but she kept her mouth shut. Now wasn’t the time to ask if he was going to be alright.

“Alright,” Campion said after a few minutes “here’s okay, now get down and shut up.”

He pointed at Spike “Especially you.”

Spike looked as if he were about to protest, when a look from Twilight made him stay quiet. Down below, there were more security guards from the POW camp, that Twilight and Spike had escaped from. Twilight was puzzled, there, less than fifty feet away, was Campion’s perfect opportunity, to turn her back over to her captors. But here they all were, hiding behind a clump of ferns, and desperately trying to stay undetected. Had he suddenly had a change of heart? Or was it that he didn’t want any witnesses around when he finally got around to killing her? If that were the case, then she should just rush out and surrender to the guards right then and there. Sure it’d be difficult for her to break out of prison again, but if it happened once, it could happen again. If she could just find a way to distract her long enough…

“Don’t, even, think about it,” Campion whispered into her ear. He was laying on his belly next to her and had placed a hoof firmly in between her wings and right at the base of her neck. Twilight turned and looked back at him, but she inwardly shivered, his eyes were as cold as steel in a winter night, and there was murder in them. Twilight turned her head back to face the guards down in the clearing, and decided to wait and watch. It was a very long wait, three groups of guards, probed and watched the edge of the clearing, while a third first assessed than inspected the wreckage of Campion’s flight harness and took it back with them for repairs. Then the rest joined the inspection crew, before, they all lifted up into the sky and flew back to the prison. A minute later, they were beyond visual range. Twilight shook off Campion’s hoof in her back and got up.

“Well,” she said shaking off the dirt and sticks which had clung to her “I suppose we ought to…’

“Quiet,” Campion said his horn starting to glow dangerously with magic “the area is rigged, either with traps or sensors, I don’t know which, but we better not go down there if we don’t want to walk into a mine field.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s standard operating procedure for prison guards,” he said matter of factly “if something seems a miss, and you can’t have sensors or anything like that, you just mine the area and then leave. Saves a lot of time and effort.”

“I didn’t see any mines being laid,” Twilight said “perhaps they forgot?”

“Unlikely,” Campion said “we move, now. Deeper into the forest.”

“Why?”

“Because otherwise,” he said while gesturing to Spike “I kill the dragon and then you. I could always claim that you shot at me first, and I was only acting in self-defense. As a top ranking General, I have that privilege.”

“What do we do now?”

“We think,” Campion said “and dragon, get over here.”

“My name’s Spike,” Spike said haughtily “I have a name you know.”

“Like I care,” Campion said “now shut up while we talk.”

“You don’t have to be rude to him,” Twilight said coming quickly to Spike’s defense “he’s more than just a dragon, he’s a close friend of mine…”

“Ask me if I care,” Campion said again.

After a pause, Twilight realized that reason and logic would only get to Campion, not aversion. At a glance from Twilight, Spike knew that she understood how he felt and felt sorry for how he was being treated, but Spike sat down was content to stay silent.

Twilight then looked back at Campion “Thank you for not turning me into the prison guards.”

“It wasn’t my choice,” Campion snorted “don’t worry, there wasn’t anything noble in the deed. I didn’t want to be found just yet, and you would have given away my position. Candle Bright is going to have to give some hog-wash story about what happened to me, and I can’t contact her until I know what that story is…”

“You could send her a message,” Twilight reminded him.

“I could just alert the prison guards who were watching over you and be done with it,” Campion said “unless you don’t think that they can’t tell a message spell from a transfiguration one. Now, are you ready to actually make a good plan or what?”

“Okay,” Twilight said trying to change the subject “what’s your idea?”

“It’s four days to the closest settlement away from the prison,” Campion said “ we designed it that way, makes it difficult for convicts who’ve escaped to blend in back with the rest of society.”

“So what do we do to get there?”

“I first have to alert my superiors that I’m alright without compromising the fact that you escaped,” Campion said “and anyway, we can’t just waltz down in there until I know the situation. Also, we’re leaving the dragon.”

“What?” Spike said, protesting “Twilight, I…”

“Spike is a valuable asset to me and my friends,” Twilight interjected “more importantly, he’s my friend. I wouldn’t abandon him here in the wilderness.”

“I wasn’t talking about merely abandoning him,” Campion said his pointing his horn towards Spike “besides he knows too much.”

“Too much about what?” Twilight argued.

“Everything,” Campion “he can’t be trusted, and he’ll compromise the mission…”

“What mission?”

“The mission of getting out of here alive?” Campion snorted impatiently “he has to stay, he’ll only slow us down.”

“Twilight…” Spike began but Twilight cut him off.

“I can carry Spike if I have too,” Twilight said firmly “but I’m not leaving him, and that’s final.”

“Alright,” Campion said turning back to Twilight “then we come back to my original idea, and I kill both of you and leave you here. It won’t hurt my career any. Why don’t you try and convince me otherwise?”

“Firstly,” Twilight said “if you’d wanted to really kill us you would have done it already…”

“Point,” Campion said his eye slightly twitching.

“…and secondly,” Twilight said “Spike can send messages that can’t be detected. I’ve sent many to Princess Celestia…”

"Oh great,” Campion rolled his eyes “now the mission’s been compromised before it’s even started…”

“…before the war even started,” Twilight continued, ignoring Campion’s interruption “we can get a message to Candle Bright and she’ll know that it’s from you. Don’t you have a secret method of being able to let her know that it’s you and only you sending the message?”

“Of course I do,” Campion said “that was one of the first things she and I created when she became my adjutant. Verbal codes and more importantly, a cipher which only she and I know.”

“Well then,” Twilight said “what if we send her a message through Spike. That way, we can update her on our progress as we go along. Spike can make it pretty discreet when he wants it to be.”

“And where do you fit into all of this?” Campion asked eying her suspiciously.

“I’m the only one who knows the spell which can allow us to both send and receive messages,” Twilight said, playing a bluff “Spike is merely the courier…”

“What do you mean?”

“I say the spell,” Twilight said making up an explanation as she went. It wasn’t how it really worked of course, but if she was going to keep both her and Spike alive long enough to get out of this situation, she’d have to fib a bit. She then continued “then Spike breathes fire at the same time which causes the message to disintegrate. The spell causes the message to appear to whomever and wherever I want. Then when we want to receive a message, I’m notified but Spike actually receives the physical message…like a mailbox.”

Campion didn’t look convinced, but he wasn’t about to waste any more time arguing the point.

“Fine,” he said shrugging “we’ll send the bloody message. But isn’t it just convenient that you thought of this plan just so that both of you could stay alive?”

“It’s kind of the whole point,” Twilight said “besides, you said yourself that this forest has lots of dangerous creatures in it. Having a third pair of eyes can’t help keep us safe while we sleep.”

“Us?”

“Yes, us,” Twilight said stomping her hoof irritatedly, was there no end to this pony’s stubbornness? “I don’t think that Spike would be too happy if I didn’t come along.”

Campions face showed a mix of emotions as they rapidly crossed his face as he worked through the logic of her answer, anger, annoyance, and reluctance, but the desire to survive eventually won out.

“Fine,” he said jerking his head “but follow me, and keep up.”

Despite his limping Campion kept a steady pace. Clearly, Twilight thought, the Maretonian military discipline was strong in him. He didn’t utter one word of complaint, though she could clearly see the strain on his face as they hiked over rugged and sometimes swampy forest terrain. The glade where they had crashed was far behind them by the time dusk arrived. Campion raised a hoof, causing them to stop.

“What is it?” Twilight asked

“Standard procedure Twilight,” Campion said “unlike your soldiers, we never go running head first into something before checking it out first. It’s called reconnaissance, maybe you should tell your brother about it sometime…”

Twilight winced, she’d almost forgotten just how badly her brother Shining Armor was beaten at the Battle of Ponyville. It had taken place over three days with heavy losses on both sides, but in the end, Shining Armor had to gallop back to Canterlot with his tail tucked between his legs, and Campion was left standing alone, triumphant on the battlefield. Twilight never got the courage to ask Shining Armor about the details of that particular defeat. She was gone on a different mission from Celestia, when she’d heard about the battle. Then the Storming of Canterlot happened, while she was there, and she got to see first hoof the ruthless efficiency of the Maretonian military machine, once more, with Campion in command. As Campion looked, his eyes never missed a thing, darting back and forth, not missing a single detail, he gestured that they move forward.

Twilight found herself suddenly admiring Campion. She wondered how things might have turned out if she had met Campion before the war started. Shining Armor had told her once, how he and Campion were best friends at the Canterlot Military Academy, but she was too young to really understand why Campion was there in the first place. He was after all, only a year younger than Shining Armor, and yet, he outranked Shining Armor. Apparently he was smarter than her brother, which appealed to her. But she had a burning desire to find out why he hated her so much, and why in fact, he wanted to kill her. What had she done? To her knowledge, she hadn’t had any prior contact with Campion. Had she hurt his feelings or insulted him back before she had become the Princess of Friendship? What could she have possibly done to cause him to have such strong negative emotions towards her?

Campion must have sensed Twilight thinking about him, because he suddenly stopped “This looks safe enough,” he said breaking her thoughts and concentration “we’ll camp here for the night.”

“Can’t we have a fire?” Spike asked “I’m freezing!”

“Deal with it,” Campion said gruffly “unless you want to douse yourself in tasty sauce, tie yourself to a roasting pit, and cook yourself.”

Spike visibly grimaced “I think I’ll pass…”

“Good,” Campion said and then added “don’t worry, it’s understandable why you want a fire, but as we’ve said multiple times, there’s dangerous animals here. Fire only attracts them, and more importantly it’ll give our position away to the soldiers who want to find you.”

Spike was surprised. Why was Campion suddenly having this mood swing towards him? Was his lashing out earlier just been a result of Twilight being there? He shrugged “Okay,” he said “who’s staying up first?”

“I’ll be taking first watch,” Campion said laying down and working his foot gingerly “you two get some sleep. Spike you’ll be next, and then Twilight, you can have the dawn watch.”

“Are you sure?” Twilight asked “I’m not incompetent you know…”

Campion shot her a glare which sent shivers down her spine. She decided it would be best to go to sleep, anyway, she could use the rest and needed to recover her strength. But that nagging thing at the back of her mind kept her up. She tossed and turned trying to find a more comfortable position, but every time she did, she kept asking herself, why does he hate me? What did I do? The question kept mulling in her mind over and over again, what did I do? What did I do?

Spike sat up and eyed Campion, his head was slowly swiveling like a clock, trying to take in everything to establish what was normal and what wasn’t in his surroundings. He noticed Spike, but then he kept on his vigil “You should go to sleep dragon,” he said “we have a long day tomorrow.”

“I know that,” Spike said “but I can’t sleep. Anyway, my name’s not dragon, it’s Spike.”

Campion eyed him curiously, Spike saw…a warmth and kindness in his eyes, something he hadn’t noticed before and certainly not whenever he talked with Twilight.

“I apologize Spike,” Campion said “I’m also sorry for being rude to you earlier today. The pain in my leg was getting to me, and…well, I don’t like Twilight and whenever I’m around people I don’t like, I get a bit touchy.”

“Yeah,” Spike said “I noticed. Is your leg doing okay?”

“It’s a bit tender,” Campion said testing out his leg again “but I’ll manage.”

“Wow,” Spike said “you’re tough. If I were in your position, I’d be in bed for a week. I remember one time I broke a scale once, that was painful enough...”

“That’s what military training does to you,” Campion said “it makes you tough. You need to be tough in order to survive. Those that aren’t…well, they don’t make it back do they?”

Spike nodded “I guess so,” he said, then he asked “Campion, if I might be so bold, why are you fighting us?”

Campion looked up, surprised by the question “What do you mean?”

By this time, though she kept her eyes shut feigning sleep, Twilight eavesdropped on their conversation.

“I mean,” Spike said “what did we ever do to you? I mean, as far as I know Maretonia and Equestria have always been good friends. It wasn’t until General Winter Gust came that the war started. It just seems like the war began for no reason.”

Campion swallowed, he wasn’t about to pour his heart and soul out to Spike, they weren’t on that level yet, but he could give him part of the answer “We thought we were friends,” he said to Spike, like a teacher in a classroom “in fact, you’re right, for the longest time, we looked up to Equestria like a big brother or sister. But when we asked for help, it never came.”

“What do you mean?” Now it was Spike’s turn, he never kept up to date on politics, he was more interested in comic books and playing Ogres & Oubliettes than reading the news, that was Twilight’s area.

“Well,” Campion said “about ten years ago there was a great famine, part of it was caused by weather related conditions, the other was due to raiding parties coming over the border from Yakyakistan. We had sent many messages to Princess Celestia, the Duke and Duchess themselves even went to plead our case. Celestia said at the time that she couldn’t do anything about it. Two years after that, there was wide spread rebellion across Maretonia, mostly due to food riots, but a Great Sickness spread throughout the country and many ponies died. We still pleaded with Celestia hoping she would help us, but she didn’t do anything. Then General Winter Gust came from out of nowhere. It’s true that his ascension to power could have been a lot less violent, but he brought us back. That was four years ago. When he tried to reestablish relations with Equestria, Princess Celestia called him a tyrant and a dictator. Then instead of helping us, she formed and alliance with Yakyakistan.”

Spike groaned, so that’s what that whole party Pinkie Pie was trying to pull with those Yaks had been about. He facepalmed himself in recognition of what was finally going on. From Maretonia’s perspective, when Princess Celestia should have really sided with them, her fellow ponies, she instead sides with their enemies. Spike could understand completely why they felt the way they did. But he had to ask one more thing.

“So,” he asked “why do you hate Twilight?”

“I…” Campion began but he was interrupted by a howl and a pair of green glowing eyes which popped out of nowhere. Distracted by their conversation, Campion hadn’t noticed the Timberwolf which had snuck up on them. Twilight heard the howl, her eyes snapping open as she struggled to get up. The Timberwolf leaped up at her, Campion leapt towards it and tried delivering a spinning kick. But in his rush of adrenaline he’d completely forgotten his hurt leg, instead of pulling off an cool martial arts maneuver, his leg seized and he crumpled to the ground. Spike rushed to his side, waving his arms in the air and trying to look helpful, but he didn’t know if he actually was. By this time Twilight had fully gotten up but the Timberwolf was now attacking Spike. It swiped at him with a paw, battering him away like a fly causing him to slam against a tree and see stars. Twilight darted up and then came hurtling downwards like a thunderbolt, the Timberwolf saw it coming and swiped at her as she approached the lowest point in her dive, she only dodged by a hairbreadth but the claws managed somehow to catch hold of her left wing and pull her to the ground. She screamed in panic and terror, and was looking into the open slobbering jaws and green eyes, when it burst into shattered slivers and splinters of wood. Campion was there, his horn glowing a bright gold, panting very heavily, and his legs shaking, his body covered in sweat.

“Are you alright Twilight?” Spike asked rushing over as best he could to her side.

“I’m fine,” she said looking over at Campion “as for you, you don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” Campion panted his horn going back to its natural brown color “I’ve had worse."

“Hardly,” Twilight said shrugging Spike off and running over to Campion as he collapsed on the ground.

“Campion,” she asked concern written all over her face “Campion, are you alright?”

But Campion soon faded into the black of unconsciousness and her voice faded into obscurity.