The Fight for Happiness

The Fight for Happiness Chapter 2 part 1

Dear Journal Log

It has been a little less than a week since the incident at brunch; I haven’t spoken with many ponies after it. Rarity stopped by yesterday to talk to Twilight we made brief conversation, but I went back to studying Twilight’s notes. Twilight has been very helpful as of late, she has helped me improve my magical abilities, we went over the art of invisibility and she taught me a weak offensive spell. I’m expecting mail from Celestia any day now, the forest can’t be that quiet and there aren’t that many Vanguards out there.

As Drake put his journal on the table in front of him the door of the library swung open and a furious Twilight trotted in.

“I can’t believe him, can’t even tell his own sister about his wedding!” Shouted Twilight as she trotted upstairs

Drake Shrugged it off and went back to studying Twilight’s notes, until a little dragon waddled in holding a scroll.

“Hey there Spike, so what’s got Twilight so upset?”

“Her brother is getting married and he didn’t tell her until now.”

“I didn’t know Twilight had a brother, so what’s the guy’s name?”

“Shining Armor, also I have this scroll for you.” Said the dragon as he tossed the scroll to Drake

“Interesting, I didn’t know Twilight was related to the Captain of the royal guard.” Said Drake as he started to read the scroll

Dear Drake

There is a disturbance in the forest, a few of the ponies studying the Everfree have seen strange looking bears in the center forest. These bears are said to have spikes growing out of their backs and strange black ooze dripping from the base of the spikes. I would like for you to go in and take care of it if you can, if not just get close enough to confirm it and I will send a few more Vanguards over. Be careful Drake these bears are very hostile, I hope for your safe return.

Sincerely Princess Celestia

Drake put the scroll on the table with his journal, and levitated his bracers from the table on to his hooves and buckled them.

“Spike I just got an order from Princess Celestia, I need to get going as soon as possible. Give Twilight my regards, and tell her to enjoy the wedding.”  Drake made his way toward the door before Spike interrupted him.

“Drake before you go I have a question.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Well I noticed Rarity was falling head over hooves for you when you first got here, well can you give me some tips on how to impress her?”

“Spike all you have to do is be confident and be yourself, but remember she is a lot older, if she has a younger sister don’t be afraid to flirt with her a bit.”

“Does that really work?”

“It worked for me when I was younger.” Said Drake walking out the door.

Twilight walked down stairs about ten minutes later, wearing her saddle bag and an annoyed look on her face.

“All right, Drake I’m going to be gone for a few days so…Spike where did Drake go?”

“He received a letter from Princess Celestia and said he had to go somewhere.”

“Great, Spike let’s get going I don’t want to miss the train.”

Drake was walking through the center of town heading towards the Everfree forest. He saw ponies going about their day as of regular until he bumped into something; he looked to the ground and saw a familiar yellow pegasus.

“Oh I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to bump into…oh hello Drake.”

“Hello Fluttershy, it’s my fault I should have watched where I was going.”

“Oh, it’s okay. So where are you heading to Drake, I mean if you don’t mind me asking.”

“The forest, I just got an order from Celestia.” Said Drake glancing away from Fluttershy.

“Oh…well I hope you come back safe, bye.” Said Fluttershy before walking off.

Drake just shook his head and continued to walk towards the forest. He kept walking until he reached the edge of the forest, as he looked in he realized he forgot Twilight’s mapped out areas of the forest. Drake cursed himself for being in such a hurry, he looked to the sun and saw that it was already past noon and he wanted to be out of the forest before nightfall so going back was out of the question.

“Just another day at the office.” Whispered Drake

“Where is that damn train?!?!” Shouted a Silver mare with a white and orange mane

“Calm down Silvy it will be here.” Responded a Blue male pegasus with a white mane.

“Cloud Walker, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? It makes me sound like a fucking filly.” Replied the

Silver mare.

“Easy Quick Silver, no need to get all uppity, plus we don’t even know if anypony is in any real danger.”

“I don’t think the Captain of the royal guard puts up a defense field around the whole city just for the fun of it. Now shut up, do your job and keep your damn eyes open.”

The two ponies watched from atop a tall building close to the entrance for Canterlot’s passenger trains, the silver mare snorted as she saw a train approaching and levitated her crossbow to the ready.

“This is it Cloud Walker look out for any signs of trouble, the wedding must go off without a hitch.”

“I don’t see any immediate dang…Wait hold it, that building across from us look at the roof.”

“I see, so should you take care of it or should I.”

“I’ll fly over and take care of it don’t want to cause too much commotion.”

“Make sure you make it look like and accident.”

“Got it boss.”

The Blue pegasus flew over out of sight of the unknown assailant and of the guards. As he approached the building from the side he saw that it was a female unicorn with a white coat and yellow mane. He touched down softly to be sure not to make noise, as he approached he saw her levitating a black crossbow with silver engraving on it. He walked slowly hoping that the pony wouldn’t hear him.

“Come on your purple armored bastard walk out and greet your guests.”

The Blue pony smirked before landing a solid hoof at the back of the unicorn’s head successfully blackjacking her into unconsciousness. He turned her over and noticed he chipped a few of her teeth, her nose and mouth where now letting out streams of blood and one of her eyes were staring to swell up.

‘I said make it look like an accident, not bash her face into the ground’ thought Quick Silver watching over the event from her building.

Cloud Walker started looking over the crossbow the pony was using and made a mental note of the insignia the hilt boar, it was a crescent moon with a sapphire eye inside of it. After things died out around the buildings they were at, Cloud Walker put the unconscious body on his back and proceeded to walk over to the edge of the building where and ally was located.

“Too bad you don’t have any wings, not that they would do you any good in this situation anyway.” Said Cloud Walker to the still unconscious pony as he slung her off the building.

The body hit the ground with a thump, but nopony was around to hear it. Cloud Walker picked up the crossbow in his mouth and flew back over to where Quick Silver was. He landed and looked accomplished and proud of himself as he dropped the crossbow in front of Quick Silver.

“Good job Cloud Walker, what is this?”

“It’s the crossbow that unicorn was using, check out the insignia on the hilt.”

“Seems like they’re getting more and more ballsy each and every day.” Said Quick Silver with a look of concern on her face as she looked over the crossbow

“So what do we do now?”

“You go back to base and report this to our mentor and then meet me back in the center of town.”

“Yes mam.” Responded Cloud Walker as he flew off.

“We could really use you right now Drake.” Whispered Quick Silver.

Drake moved quickly through the thick underbrush and foliage to come upon a large clearing. The clearing was pretty much empty spare a few trees and spiked creatures sleeping in the area. Drake walked up silently to the creature to discover that these where the bears he was looking for. Drake unsheathed his blade from his bracer and approached the bear quietly; He raised his hoof and plunged into the sleeping bear’s neck. Blood and black slime sprayed from the bear’s neck onto Drake’s robes. The pungent odor of the slime was awful, it made Drake want to gag he quickly ran his blade across the bear’s neck slicing through muscle and tendons to increase the size of the wound. Before the bear could even get up to roar he was already dead, blood and black ooze pouring from his neck by the pints. As the black ooze ran from the bear the spikes on its back started to retreat and eventually become nonexistent.

Drake turned to see how many bears where left.

‘One down four to go’

Drake repeated this process on the next two bears, and got his cloak even more covered in blood and black slime. Drake approached one of the last two bears, as he walked towards them, one of the bears rolled over on to a fallen branch causing it to make a loud snapping sound. Drakes eyes widened as the two bears sluggishly started to get up, Drake summoned a teal aura around him, and he looked at his hoofs to see nothing. He and his clothes became transparent. As Drake walked silently away the bears let out a loud roar, Drake turned around to see the two bears walking his way at a fast pace. Drake looked down again to realize his spell had worn off already.

‘You have to be shitting me’ thought Drake

The two bears charged him; Drake tried to summon a magical blast of energy but was too tired from the transparency spell. Drake jumped and rolled to the side dodging both bears, but only by a little bit. He tried to cast another blast of energy but was still too tired; he jumped behind one of the dead bears to hide for a while. The Bears looked around for a bit sniffing the air for his scent, but the air smelled of blood and a different unholy smell. Drake popped out of cover and tried to cast a blast of energy one last time, this time a spear like shape of teal magic shot from his horn leaving a large gash in one of the bears causing it to fall over. After firing it off Drake immediately fell on his hide quarters and tried to get up.

‘Shit why aren’t my back legs working, come on boys up and adam.’

As the bear charged Drake tried to get off another spell but couldn’t even come close, as the bear raised a claw to strike Drake he shifted all his responding body weight and rolled out of the way just in time. The numbness of his legs started to fade and his legs started to work again; he started wobbly trotting over to the injured bear to finish it off before it could get back up. Drake plunged his blade into the bear’s neck spraying blood everywhere just as before. As Drake turned to face the other bear he felt a sharp stinging pain in his side and realized he was no longer on the ground. Drake could feel the blood leaving his body and the sting of the wound whilst flying through the air. Drake hit one of the small tries in the clearing and slumped to the ground. He looked at where the sharp pain was coming from and saw a large wound in the shape of a bear’s claw; it was bleeding a considerable amount and looked as if it was already getting infected, blackness forming on the edges of the wound while puss slowly dripped out. The Bear slowly approached him taking in the moment of this kill, just as he brought up his claw to finish Drake off a cloud of green smoke hit the bear in the face and Drake heard a voice speaking in a language he never heard before. The Bear looked confused and disoriented and ran off. After that Drake felt himself being lifted and carried the last thing he heard before passing out was.

“We must get back in a rush, if it’s death you just want to brush.”

A silver mare stood atop a large building in the center of town looking upon a group of ponies sitting around a table. It was night time now, the moon setting a light glow across the city. A blue pegasus flew next to the mare.

“So did you find anything Cloud Walker?

“No mam, any strange activity on your part?”

“No, but it seems like this purple unicorn doesn’t trust her brothers bride, don’t know if it’s something that should be looked into or not.”

“She’s probably just being over protective; I know I was when my sister got married.”

“Oh, by the way how has your sister been lately?”

“She’s doing fine; she’s actually two months pregnant.”

“Good for her, well I think it’s about time we called it a night and let the night shift ponies handle this.”

“You want a ride back to base?”

“Just let me off at the ground, I’m going to walk the rest of the way.”

“Gotcha boss.”

The Blue pegasas grabbed Quick Silver in his arms and brought her down to ground level.

“I’ll see you back at base Cloud Walker.”

“See ya.”

As Quick Silver walked through the streets of Canterlot she noticed that the group that was at the restaurant was now missing one pony, a purple one to be exact. She continued to walk down the street thinking nothing of it, until she passed the house of the groom. She could her voices inside, somepony left the door open so she got a bit closer to listen.

“She isn’t just unpleasant and rude, she’s down right evil!”

The purple unicorn galloped out of the area with blinding speed. Quick Silver did the same; she started to gallop back to base to tell her superior that there is some suspicion that the bride could be putting the groom’s life in danger. Quick Silver came upon an old warehouse and walked inside, there was a lot of scrap metal and large wooden boards lying around, and the roof was sagging in a bit and had a few holes inside of it. She walked to the other side of the room and knocked on a metal cellar door.

“What is more important, day or night?” Said a voice coming from the door.

“Neither, a balance will make everything right.” Responded Quick Silver

“Welcome back sister Quick Silver.”

The sun was setting across in the city of Canterlot leaving the sky a beautiful orange and pink color. Two ponies sat upon a clock tower in the center of town, enjoying the final moments of the day. The older one of the two opened his saddle bag and produced a leather bracer and brought it to the younger ones attention.

“It’s for you, happy birthday.”

“My birthday isn’t for another two months, why are you giving this to me now?”

“Well I just couldn’t wait to give it to you, I made it myself. Try it on.”

The young pony put it on his hoof and tightened the clasps until it fit perfectly.

“So how does it fit?”

“It’s amazingly, thank you Wyvern.”

“No problem, Drakey.”

The two ponies sat there for a while admiring the sunset until the older one spoke up again.

“Drake, the real reason I gave you that bracer is that I’m going on another expedition sometime in the next three to four weeks and well I wanted you to have it before I went.”

“So you’re going to be missing another one of my birthdays, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Come on Drake don’t be like that, they need an experienced pony to help them traverse this new ruin on the far side of the Everfree.”

“Yeah the most dangerous place in Equestria.”

“Drake why are you so worried, there will be a lot of ponies going with me.”

“Yeah like last time, only half of you came back from that expedition and that was in the middle of the Everfree, now you’re going to the far side of the Everfree, I just don’t want to lose you.” Said the younger pony hugging his older brother, tears on the edge of his eyes.

Wyvern sat there for a moment not knowing what to say, tears where starting to form on the edge of his eyes as well. Wyvern took of his necklace and gently pushed his younger brother off of him.

“Drake I want you to have this, it’s a necklace I found on my first expedition. It means a lot to me that’s why I want you to have it, as long as you’re wearing that necklace I will always be with you.”

Drake looked at his brother with teary eyes; he was at a loss for words. Wyvern then hugged his little brother in a tight embrace, which Drake returned.

“I love you brother and I always will.” Said the Older pony

The two ponies sat there in each other’s embrace for a while watching the sun go down. As the sun went down a cold feeling shot up Drake’s spine, a voice whispered into his ear.

“We all have to let go eventually.”

Drake sat up from his sleep to a stinging pain on his side, he grabbed at it in pain but it was now wrapped up in bandages. Drake propped himself upright to see where he was. The décor of the room seemed familiar, odd colored masks, cauldron, and potions. He finally pieced it together, he was in Zecora’s hut, but how did she find him. The next thing Drake realized is that his robes where gone, and so were his bracers. The only thing that was on him was his amethyst necklace; he levitated it to his face and just stared at it for a while. Drake’s concentration on the necklace was broke when the door swung open and  Zecora came in wearing a saddlebag full of different herbs. She sat them down on the table and turned to Drake.

“Good morning Drake, I hope I did not cause you to wake.”

“No it’s fine I was already up, and did you just say morning.”

“Indeed I had, I brought you here because your wounds were bad.”

“Right, the bears that attacked me. Thanks for the help Zecora. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but I need to get back to

the library I have a lot I need to get done.” Drake got up out of bed, only to fall flat on his face after walking a couple steps.

“I hope you don’t mine if I suggest, I really think you should stay here and rest.” Said Zecora while helping Drake back to the bed.

“Alright you’re the doctor, so how long will I need to stay.”

“I would say a day at most, unless you want to take your chances and become a ghost.”

“I’ll stick around, so Zecora where did you put my robes?”

“I washed them up to remove the slime, so you can return to ponyville without the grime.”

“Thank you. I’m going to try and get a bit more rest.”

“Drake can I ask a question if you don’t care, I just want to know why your flank is bare.”

Drake only sighed and went back to sleep.

“Good morning Quick Silver.”

“Cloud Walker you’re late, again.”

“You can take it out of my paycheck.” Chuckled Cloud Walker

“Alright joke times over now spot me, we need to keep an eye on the bride, also Shadow Stepper is at the wedding in case something goes wrong.”

“Keeping an eye on two people at once, I didn’t sign up for this.”

“What did I just say about joke time?”

“Sorry.”

The two ponies were set up across the wedding on one of the taller buildings. Quick Silver didn’t have a good vantage point because the wedding was inside, but the windows allowed here to view the ceremony.

“I’ve got an eye on the bride, how about you Cloud Walker do you see Shadow Stepper.”

“Yeah I see him and he’s looking very dapper.”

“Good, now we wait and see what happens

The two ponies sat there and waited for something to happen, but nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Celestia was in the middle of doing the service, while all the ponies just sat and watched. The two ponies were starting to think that the groom’s sister was being a bit paranoid, until Quick Silver heard a familiar wizing sound. She instinctively rolled out of the way, as a crossbow bolt hit where she just was. She did a quick check of the trajectory of the bolt hit the ground and determined where it came from.

“Cloud Walker, Snipers, two, few buildings over, that way.” Said Quicksilver as she hopped on to Cloud Walker’s back.

“Straight to the mount, you didn’t even let me buy you dinner first.” Said Cloud Walker as he flew towards the direction she was pointing.

“Make another joke and you’ll be next, right after these ponies over here.”

As the two flew towards the target two crossbow bolts wized right by them as Quick Silver shot one off and hit one of the snipers in the chest with a bolt. The sniper then proceeded to fall over and continually tried to get back up. Another bolt wized by them almost grazing Cloud Walker but he was able to dodge in time. They were now right at the building, Quick Silver jumped off and rolled to lessen the impact while Cloud Walker closed his wing and landed on the pony trying to get up, successfully cracking most of his ribs.

“Sorry didn’t see you there friend.”

The pony didn’t respond as blood trickled out of his mouth.

Cloud Walker heard a crossbow be fired and ducked out of the way to have it fly past his head, he turned to see a black mare with orange hair firing a crossbow at him

“Stay focused.” Said Quick Silver firing off a crossbow bolt.

The unicorn rolled out of the way and reloaded her crossbow, firing it at a charging Cloud Walker who jumped above it with the help of his wings. Quick Silver fired of another bolt only to strike the weapon of the black unicorn making it unusable. Cloud Walker was getting ever closer to the unicorn, until the unicorn whipped out a small knife out of her belt and launched it at him using her magic. The knife hit Cloud causing him to stumble over and fall mid charge.

“NO!” Shouted Quick Silver as she fired a crossbow bolt at the Unicorn successfully hitting her in the neck blood spraying everywhere as the bolt ripped through the flesh of the unicorn.

Quick Silver tossed her crossbow aside and ran over to Cloud Walker and turned him over to see the knife sticking out of his shoulder.

“Oh thank Celestia, I thought that hit you in the neck.”

“No I’m fine, I didn’t know you cared so much.” Said Cloud Walker weakly

“I don’t, I just didn’t want to lose my spotter.” Said Quick Silver a bit coldly.

“I love you to sir…Ahhhhh!” Screamed Cloud Walker as Quick Silver pulled the knife out of his shoulder, causing it to bleed more.

“No joking in the middle of a mission, what do you not understand about that?”

“Sorry.” Said Cloud Walker weakly with tears in his eyes.

“Sit here I’m going to find you some bandages.”

“You could have left it in until you found some.” Said Cloud Walker holding his hoof over his wound.

Quick Silver walked over to the dead pony with the bolt in her neck and searched through the pouches on her belt. She found some knives, some bandages, a piece of paper and a pencil. Then she walked over to the other pony with the cracked ribs and checked him out, he was wearing the same belt. She found pretty much the same stuff on his belt that she found on the other one, but this pony was wearing something special. On his right hoof he was wearing a battle bracer, at that moment she remembered Drake and how is bracer functioned, and how she has not used hers in a while. She undead the clasps on the bracer and took it off, and started to walk back over to Cloud Walker.

“Hello bleeding pony here, could use some help.”

“Quit your whining, I’m right here and I found some bandages.” Said Quick Silver levitating her crossbow back to her.

“I wasn’t whining, I was complaining.”

“Shut up.” Said Quick Silver as she patched up her bleeding comrade, being a bit more rough then needed.

“You’re so not getting your First-Aid license anytime soon.”

“Do you want me to take the bandages back off.”

“No, no, no I’d rather not lose any more blood than I already have.”

“Okay so shut u…” Quick Silver was stopped mid-sentence to the sound of shattering glass, then she saw a magic like piece of purple looking glass fall near her.

She looked up and saw the magic shield shatter and watched thousands of magic shards fall to the ground and dissipate. After seeing that she saw thousands of tiny black dots swooping into Canterlot.

“Quickly let me see one of your hoofs.” Said Quick Silver lifting up his right hoof and slipping the bracer on.

“What is that thing and why are you putting on my hoof.”

“It’s a battle bracer, it is a knife you can wield and not have to use magic.” Said Quick Silver tightening all the clasps on it.

“Now stand on your hind legs” Shouted Quick Silver.

“You want me to what?”

“Just do it.”

“Fine.”

Cloud Walker shakily stood on his hind legs, hardly keeping upright.

“Now flick your right hoof out hard.”

As he did a beautiful engraved knife popped out of the bracer he was wearing. The look on Cloud Walker’s face was one filled with awe and excitement.

“Cloud Walker look out above you!”

“Oh shit!” Shouted Cloud Walker dodging out of the way of a black pony like creature slamming through the roof of the building and through the next couple of floors.

Cloud Walker turned to Quick Silver only to see five of her, and five of him all standing at the edge of the building ready to attack them.

“Be careful there changelings try to keep an eye on me and don’t get confused”

Cloud Walker just shook his head yes out of pure confusion.

As the changelings charged Quick Silver put a bolt into the head of one of them disguised as her successfully changing it back and killing it. The four changelings disguised as Quick Silver surrounded Cloud Walker and five changelings disguised as Cloud Walker surrounded Quick Silver. The Changelings pounced at Quick Silver; she successfully rolled out from the middle of them and put a bolt into the head of one killing it. Cloud Walker was having a bit more difficulty he was flailing about with his new fighting style, only successfully cutting one but just lightly. Quick Silver went to levitate another bolt from her quiver but they were all gone.

‘Shit, I knew I should have brought more.’ Thought Quick Silver.

She then ran to the dead body of the female unicorn and levitated three knives from her belt. As the changelings charged she sent the knives flying. Hitting one of them in the neck one in the head and hitting one of the ones Cloud walker was fighting in the back of the neck, causing them to all bleed a green liquid and fall over reverting to their original forms. She quickly levitated the bolts the unicorn was firing and put them in her quiver placing one into to her crossbow and getting ready to fire. She shot off another bolt this one shot right into the chest of one of the Changelings charging, leaving one left. She tried to reload her crossbow but the final changeling rammed it out of her magic radius and off the building. Quick Silver quickly threw a right hook hitting the changeling in the jaw causing it to stumble back and revert back to its original form.

“Time to put my training into action.” Said Quick Silver as she stood up on her hind legs

The changeling charged again, Quick Silver side stepped it and punched the back of it’s head causing it to smash it’s face into the ground. The changeling hissed at Quick Silver, it got up and tried to balance it’s self on it’s hind legs, trying to mimic Quick Silver’s fighting style. It was very wobbly getting up, and could hardly keep it’s balance, Quick Silver capitalized on this opportunity by hitting the changeling in it’s stomach causing it to drop it’s head and grab his stomach. Then Quick Silver delivered a right upper cut to the changeling’s jaw causing it to fall over and not move. She levitated a crossbow bolt from her Quiver and stabbed the changeling in the neck with it causing it to squirt some of it’s green blood.

She looked over at Cloud Walker who somehow managed to kill one changeling but was still flailing about trying to kill the other two. She got back down on all fours and levitated another bolt from her quiver, she then proceeded to charge at one of the two remaining, She jumped on its back driving the bolt into the base of the Changeling’s neck causing it to thrash around a bit and revert forms. The changeling was still alive but clearly in pain, Quick Silver removed the crossbow from it’s neck and went to stab again but was thrown off It’s back. The Changeling charged her but was meet with a crossbow bolt to the chest, the changeling stumbled back and fell to the ground, Quick Silver stabbed it in the neck again to make sure it didn’t come back. Quick Silver went to turn around but was immediately pounced on by a changeling disguised as her. They rolled around for a bit and eventually got up and looked at each other, Cloud Walker charged up with his battle bracer at the ready but was immediately confused.

“Cloud Walker she’s the Changeling kill her quick.” Said both of them

Cloud Walker just looked at them confuse and not knowing what to do.

“Cloud Walker, I’m your teammate we share a connection you know it’s me now kill that thing.” Said one of the Quick Silver’s

“Cloud Walker, stop being a damn idiot and kill that thing already”

Cloud Walker stabbed the first Quick Silver hoping he made the right choice. The creature suddenly reverted forms and sprayed green blood on Cloud Walker’s battle bracer as he removed his battle bracer blade from the creature it hit the ground with a thump.

“It’s about time; I thought you’d never kill any of them.” Said Quick Silver

“Hey, it took me a while because they all looked like you.”

“That’s funny because I killed them pretty quickly, must be the fact that they all looked like you.”

“Well I’m not a fighter; I’m more of a lover.”

“No you’re more of a transportation unit if anything.”

“Fair enough, so what do we do now?”

“Well first off, are you okay to fly, you look a bit tired.”

“Yeah I’m fine; I like this new toy you got me.”

“Don’t break it, alright we need to get to the streets and see if any civilians need help.”

Right after she said that a large purple sphere grew out of the wedding hall and expelled all of the alive changelings from Canterlot.

“Looks like someone did our job for us.” Said Cloud Walker

Quick Silver walked over to the dead pony with the broken ribs and grabbed one of his knives, and proceeded to walk to a dead Changeling. She proceeded to saw of it’s horn and levitate it next to her. She walked back over to the dead unicorn male and tore out the bolt in his chest and stab him with the horn making a larger jagged incision point.

“You know he’s already dead right?”

“Yes I’m just making it look like the changelings did it.” Said Quick Silver walking towards the female unicorn.

“Oh, so why do we want it to look like the changelings did it.”

“So they don’t think anypony did it.” Said Quick Silver as she jabbed the horn into the neck of the unicorn.

She repeated the process on the female unicorn taking out the bolt in her neck and jabbing the horn into it. At this moment a red pegasus with an orange and yellow mane flew over to the roof and landed.

“Flash what’s up?” Asked Cloud Walker in an obnoxious tone

“I’m here to speak with Quick Silver.”

“Fine, be that way.” Whispered Cloud Walker as he walked away

“Quick Silver, we need you back at the base ASAP.” Said Flash while walking towards the silver unicorn.

“Why, what happened?”

“We have one member who was fatally wounded and another who was somewhat wounded and we need all the help we can get.”

“Who was fatally wounded?” Asked Quick Silver

“Shadow Stepper.”

“Drake put the last ingredient in, so you can fight wounds within.”

Drake poured the last ingredient into the mixing pot and took a sip. Drake felt a sudden boost of energy and felt really good all over, except for where his wound was.

“Wow, I feel amazing. What was that?”

“It is a brew which helps fight the flu.”

“Zecora, I can’t tell you how grateful I am. You didn’t only save me and heal my wounds, but you taught me how to make all of these great potions and took care of me for these past two days.”

“No need to thank me for helping you, because a vanguard always has to pull through.”

“Well…wait how did you know I was a vanguard?”

“Drake I’ve been living in these forests for many years, almost every month a vanguard appears. To kill a creature to help the rest, never faltering always doing their best.”

“Well thanks for the help I need to go, I have a report to right to Celestia.”

“Drake I will accompany you back to your house, while injured predators see you like a field mouse”

“Thank you Zecora.”

Drake put on his cleaned up robes which still had the bear claw mark in it and his bracers and walked out the door with Zecora. The two walked through the forest making small conversation and talking about the state of the forest. They eventually made it out of the forest and walked right by Fluttershy’s cottage; Drake looked up at the sky and determined that it was late afternoon. Fluttershy was outside feeding her critters; she waved a Zecora and Zecora waved back Drake just continued to walk forward. As they passed through the town people looked upon Zecora accompanying the robed pony through the town, Drake could feel the stinging pain in his side intensify and almost fell over only to be caught by a large red stallion accompanying an orange mare.

“Whoa there, are you okay Drake.” Asked the orange pony

“Yeah I’m fine just in a little pain is all thanks for asking Applejack. So who is your friend here?”

“This is my older brother Big Macintosh, he helps me run the farm.”

“Well thanks for catching me.”

“Eeyup.”

“Pony of few words, huh?”

“Eeyup.”

“Well it was nice meeting you; maybe we can grab a drink sometime.”

“Sounds good.” Said Big Mac

The ponies parted ways and Drake continued on back to the library with Zecora. They were passing through town and were at the front of the town library when Drake stopped walking.

“Drake why do you stop walking, perhaps you want to do some talking.”

“Look Zecora, you’ve seen me without my robes and you’ve noticed well that I have…a blank flank.” Said Drake Whispering that last part.

“Drake don’t worry my mind is blank, about your bare flank.”

“Thank you Zecora I am forever in your debt.”

“Don’t worry Drake there is no need to thank I, but this is where I have to say goodbye.”

“Alright, I hope to see you again under better circumstances.”

Zecora walked off and turned around one last time waving to Drake. Drake opened the door to the library and walked in, he saw Twilight sitting on the couch reading a book and spike was cleaning up a bit. Drake walked in a bit shakily but was managing.

“So how was the Everfree forest Drake?” Asked Twilight not looking away from here book.

“It was fine, killer bears surrounded by a dark energy, heavy injuries, had Zecora look at them, you know same old same old. So how about the wedding?”

“It was okay, bride was a changeling, had to find real bride, invasion of Canterlot, saved the day, you know same old same old.”

“Well I’ll be sleeping if you need me, try not to need me.” Said Drake chuckling a bit

“Wait Drake before you go I need to tell you something.” Said Spike running up to Drake

“Yes?”

“It worked; I totally danced with Sweetie Belle at the wedding it was awesome.”

“I knew you had it in you Spike.” Said Drake with an abundant amount of pride.

“So do you have a new crush Spike or are you just trying to make Rarity jealous?”

“I…I uh need to get back to cleaning I’ll talk to you later Drake.” Said Spike picking up his broom and walking into the kitchen

“Drake I’m glad your back safe and sound, I’ll take a look at your wounds tomorrow when you get up.” Said Twilight while turning a page in her book.

“Thanks Twilight.” Responded Drake as he ascended the staircase.

“What’s the report from Canterlot?”

“The Changelings betrayed us sir, all four of our scouts were killed by means of changeling horn to the body or neck, except for one who fell off a building.”

“That is rather unfortunate, were any of your other squad members killed.”

“No sir, when the scouts didn’t meet us at the gate I had one of my soldiers go look for them, she came back and told us that.”

“Is that all commander?”

“No sir the scout that fell off the building was dead before the changeling attack, he had a note attached to him that said

‘the end is nigh’.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes sir, do you think it was the brotherhood’s doing?”

“I do suspect some form of foul play from the brotherhood, but let’s not take credit completely away from our changeling friends.”

“Also sir, our spy tells us that two of the members of the brotherhood were injured in the battle and one is in a critical state.”

“Take note commander, that pony got us that information so quickly and securely while everypony’s guard was up, maybe it will teach your squad members and you to do better at the jobs given to you.”

“Yes sir.”

“Dismissed commander.”