Chapter 4

As Swift Specter had said, the clouds loosened a few minutes later.
"Then let's go." he said and flew in formation with Celestia. it was automatically and by habit he was taken on the position of a wing pony. He also searched everything for hazards. After all, he was now responsible for the safety of Princess Celestia, at least in his eyes he was. She, however, flew leisurely next to him and kept looking at him, asked at some point: "Did it hurt a lot, my little pony?"
Swift looked straight, his eyes filled with pain, before he replied, "I hardly remember what happened. I was hit, crashed and passed out. When I really woke up, I was already in the hospital. under treatment with pain medication. "
She kept looking at him, waiting for him to continue speaking.
Swift noticed that and closed his eyes for a moment, "I think the worst was when I realized it myself. At first I didn't feel different, but then I understood. Then it hurt incredibly. Not physically, but everything I am has been lost.
I ... I also thought about ending it ... "
"But you didn't." said Celestia.
"Just because I was previously visited by your student Twilight Sparkle. If it hadn't been for her and Electric Swing, there would have been very little that it would have been worth living for me. I'm very grateful that they came."
Celestia nodded, but nothing was said for a while.

A storm caught up with them again over Ponyville. Swift looked at the clouds and then said, "Your Highness, I have to ask you to land so we can go to a shelter."
Celestia laughed softly then asked with a challenging look: "Afraid of getting a little soaked, sergeant?"
Swift managed a small smile when he said, "Not that, Your Highness, but my wings are sensitive to lightning as I have found out. And I was just lucky the last time that I wasn't hurt more when lightning hit me."
Celestia's smile faded and she grew serious again, began to descend.
"I'm sorry, sergeant. That was very rude of me." she said when they landed near a farm called "Sweet Apple Acers".
"It doesn't matter, Your Highness, you couldn't have known that." Swift said and went to the farm. The terrain was not particularly beautiful to look at, it was heavily industrialized. He led the princess to the house on the farm and knocked.

"Alright, Alright, ya can stop banging on ma Door." came an annoyed voice from inside, "Who in tarnation is there?"
When the door opened, Swift found himself facing an orange mare with a blond mane.
"Good evening." Swift said, bowing slightly, "I apologize for the sudden appearance, but would it be possible to find shelter here from the storm? I'm not really all-weather capable." He smiled apologetically with a glance at his metal wings.
"and who are ya?" she asked further, then saw Celestia and seemed to freeze with disbelive.
"My name is Swift Specter, i am sergeant in the Royal Guard, and I don't need to introduce who she is." he smiled slyly.

"Please, only if there are no problems." Celestia said with a smile, "But like my sergeant said, His wings don't allow you to fly in ... difficult weather."
"Am a dreaming?" asked the mare incredulously, then bowed quickly: "Your majesty! How can we be of service to ya?"
"It is not necessary that you make extra effort. We only rest briefly until the storm is over." said Celestia, "But if there is no trouble, could my companion and I have some tea?"
"Tea as you wish!" said the mare and hurried away, calling for two others on the way, named Big Mac and Applebloom.
Swift looked around a bit and it was strange. This house looked very old but in good shape. signs of a proud family history could be seen everywhere.
"Ah." Celestia said suddenly as she looked at a picture, "The Apple family. I remember giving them this land for their farm and Ponyville." she started smiling.

A little later, the three residents of the house, Applejack, Big Mac and a Filly named Applebloom, were sitting on one side of the room and Celestia with Swift on the other. As Swift quickly found out, all three were siblings. The parents had died some time ago and recently the great-grandmother also died.
"it's very nice here." said Celestia at some point and looked around the room.
"Thanks ..." was Applejack's quiet reply. She seemed to pause for a moment when Applebloom asked out of the blue, "What is the Princess of Equestria doing so far from her castle?" It sounded genuinely curious, and not like a reproach or criticism.
"We're looking for something in the Everfree Forest. An old ruin, in which I used to live," Celestia replied with a smile, probably happy that the quiet was gone.
Swift stayed out of it. it was her privilege to freely distribute such information.
"Ah ... can I have metal wings like him?" the little one asked and pointed to Swift.
"I'm afraid that won't work." Celestia said with a giggle
"Why not?" Applebloom asked, "If one earth pony can do it with another."
Swift swallowed hard. he felt the anger rise in him
But he couldn't be mad at a Filly just because she didn't know. He calmed down again and then said softly: "I don't bink an earth pony. I was once a Pegasus before I lost both of my wings in a fight. These are prostheses. If it were possible I would just say: no more wings? No problem earth pony it is, but I don't have the same strength or stamina as you have. Without these prostheses I'm nothing. "
Applejack looked at the Filly and said: "I think you've been annoying our guests long enough. Apologize to him."
"No, it's okay." Swift said a bit depressed, "I should get used to it happening more and more."
Applejack bit his lower lip, then said, "It's still not right. As an apology, I'll accompany you to the Everfree Forest and take you to the ruins. By air, it's far too dangerous. The closer you get to the center, the more unpredictable the weather becomes. In addition, only recently a Pegasus has disappeared, maybe Wyona and I can find a lead on the occasion. "
"We would be grateful for the company." said Celestia with a smile.
"But Sis, don't you always say we shouldn't go in there?" Applebloom asked with a skeptical look.
"We're not going in either, I'm going with an almighty princess and a soldier. Don't worry, we'll take care of each other."

A little later, Applejack, Celestia and Swift made their way to the Everfree Forest, accompanied by a K9 in case they actually find a trace of the Pegasus that was missing.
Swift had also agreed to pull one of the wooden wagons, which Celestia said they might need one.
Why they wanted to go then was a mystery to Swift, but okay.

So they trotted into the forest for a few hours. It was really scary, even by Swift standards.
"I feel absolutely uncomfortable here." He admitted after a while, "It feels ... wrong here."
"Everfree is not really a place for ponies either." said Celestia, "there are all kinds of creatures here that do not have our benevolence in mind."
Swift swallowed, but then took heart and said again in his military function as sergeant: "Your Highness, if I have to, I will fight to the bitter end. Can you then please take care of the civilian? At least she helps us. "
Celestia looked at him and stopped: "I don't think that will be necessary."

Then, deep in the forest, the dog barks to attract attention and growled in a certain direction. Applejack looked through the thicket and then said, "Oh, I see the missing pony! Can you help me, soldier?"
Swift nodded, parked the car, and followed her through the brush. On the other side, Swift could see the splash of color in the dark forest. He took off to get a few meters up, and to pull the Pegasus out of the tree, when he noticed that the tree on the side was red.
Swift knew the sight.
His heart started pumping, the adrenaline rushed into his veins, he just wasn't sure whether to fight or flee until the moment when a wooden creature wanted to pounce on him.
"Timberwolf!" Applejack called, backing away so as not to be flattened by the creature as it jumped at them. Swift, now able to see the enemy completely, took a dive and landed on the creature's snout, squeezing it shut and the creature to the ground, where it skidded across the ground.
With a kick in the creature's eyes, it shrank back, howling.
"That's how it should have been." Swift said grimly
"Oh no, that was just the beginning." Applejack said, "Grab the Pegasus and ..."
"She is dead." interrupted Swift, "Torn by that Timberwolf."
With a closer look Applejack could see for himself that the colored remains were only the back of the ponies. Everything else was gone and the innards were hanging out.
Applejack almost threw up at the sight, but then said: "We cant let her remains here!"
Swift bit his lip, then said harshly, "Yes we can. There's nothing we can do for her other than survive and say what happened to her."
Applejack bit his lip, but there was more than a Timberwolf howl.
"Gosh darn it!" Applejack exclaimed and ran while Swift landed and closed his eyes to better rely on his ears.
He heard movement.
Something tried to sneak up to his left, something bigger from the direction in which the first Timberwolf had run. on his right and behind him everything was free.
There ... the left has stopped moving.
"is ... is she dead?" a young voice asked and Swift's eyes widened.
The Filly from the farmhouse stood next to him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked through clenched teeth and raised his wing to block the little girl's view of the corpse.

"I wanted to help." said applebloom, shocked. then a timber wolf broke out of the forest in front of them, followed by a second and a third.
Swift gritted his teeth, turned and stood in front of the Filly. What would he give now for his battle gear and a spear. All he was wearing was just the normal uniform.
He took a deep breath, said softly: "Appelbloom ... run. Run as fast as you can to the wagon. I'll hold these creatures for as long as I can."
He expanded his wings, also to look bigger, and strode towards these beings, towards his enemies.
"but ..." began the Filly, then Swift turned around and yelled: "RUN!"
The little one took her legs in her hoofs and ran.
A Timber Wolf used the short distraction to bite Swift in the wing, which was pointless and without damage. With the other wing Swift struck the attacking Timberwolf on the nose and managed to break free.
"I hope you are very hungry and have a lot of time ... I will not make it easy for you." Swift snorted and dodged further, with individual flaps of his wing he moved across the ground, changed direction in the air, and scratched the wooden bodies of the Timberwolves.
No, he won't be easy prey.
Besides, he only had to fight for a while, untile the filly got away.
It would work.
hopefully...

Celestia had waited by the wagon and checked out the area. It all looked so different from what she remembered. There used to be a splendid street, a small town, gardens ...
It was all lost a long, long time ago. Far longer than her sister's exile had been.
The castle and a safe road were the last things the Everfree had gotten, but now everything here belonged to the forest.
There was a grumble, then screams and something that sounded like a fight.
Shortly thereafter, Appeljack broke through the bush and said, "Princess Celestia, we were attacked by a Timber Wolf! Please help Swift!"
Shortly afterwards Applebloom broke out of the bush and ran to the wagon, "Sis! The soldier has to fight three Timber Wolves! We have to help him!" called the little one
"Applebloom? What in tarnation are you doing here?" Applejack asked, startled.
"I followed you because I wanted to help!" said the little one, and sobbed
Celestia spread her wings, said, "stay here." and rose up to look after Swift. This was surrounded by three timber wolves, and lay on the ground, under the paw of one of the beasts. Its wings just held the creature's mouth open when the horn of Celestia lit up and golden rays burned down, burned one of the wolves, then another, the last one Swift had in its mouth, was literally torn apart. Then she landend next to Swift. "Is everything okay, sergeant? Are you injured?"
"just my pride." Swift said, getting up again with trembling legs, "That wouldn't have happened to me with my real wings. They would have grabbed me out of the air that easy."
"I believe you, sergeant, but we should go back." replied Celestia and rose again into the air. the forest was too thick for her to go trought it, but Swift preferred to walk. He didn't want to show the princess that he had injured his back when he had fought with the beast and kept its mouth open.

He came back to the wagon, winced when he reattached the wagon, but didn’t let it be seen that he was in pain.
Little Applebloom was sitting in the wagon and looked shocked, Applejack ran along next to the wagon and scolded the little one. Swift was just glad they'd all survived. It's just a shame that there wouldn't be any better news about the missing Pegasus

Celestia had to lower the sun when she got to the old castle, which gave her a little sting in the heart. She walked through the ruins, further down the hall, to an old balcony. she used to do that here, and her sister would pull out the moon. Now she had to do it all by herself.
"Your Highness." came a cautious voice from behind her. It was Swift, "I just wanted to say thank you for the rescue."
"You don't have to, my little pony." she said when she had brought the moon up, "They are soldiers like you who have my respect. You could have just left the Filly behind and saved yourself, but you decided to buy her time."
"It is the duty of a soldier to protect the population. And if it means that an old pegasus without real wings dies so that a Filly lives, so be it."
This answer made Celestia more thoughtful, and she looked at the moon for a while.
"Now that I know your sister was banished to the moon ... is she the mare in the moon?" Swiftn asked after a while.
Celestia just nodded and replied: "Yes, she is the mare in the moon from the story. But she was not always like that. Actually, she is an artist, and very funny. I miss her very much."
Swift sighed softly and sat on the floor next to her and looked up with her.

The next morning, Swift hadn't even noticed that he had fallen asleep, he woke up the other two by the fire, but Celestia was nowhere to be seen. He had to look for her until he found her in a small room, lying there in a bed. In fact, the room was still relatively good, and the bed looked more comfortable than the floor. It was not until a little later that Swift thought that this could have been her room.
"good morning, sergeant." said Celestia and got up again, stretched herself, "I had hoped to be able to sleep for an hour or two after raising the sun."
Swift smiled narrowly, but unfortunately he couldn't help but say, "Unfortunately, that's not possible, Your Highness. We have to find the elements first. And I would also like to say that we are not prepared for such a long outing. Applejack and her sister are looking for something to eat around the castle. "

Applejack came to a separate room that she wanted to cross, her little sister Applebloom close by.
"Hey Sis, take a look at this." Filly said and pointed to a statue. Applejack looked at her and at that moment ... she felt a slight pull. She followed the train and one of the balls on this statue began to glow.
"What in Tarnation ..." she began as it got very bright for a sec.

Celestia startled when she saw the light.
"Impossible!" she called and just teleported away, making Swift take the long way, who first had to gallop the way through the castle.

Author's Note

Notes:

I tried to use the Apple family accent at first, but I couldn't. Anyone who can help me is cordially invited to do so ^^