The years after the fall

Wow the sun was bright. When the ponies in my home sector 54 told me about it, I never thought it would be as bright as it was. How could I after living in the Underground for so long? I looked around, and saw the other ponies step off the platform onto the muddy ground. Jet followed and so did I. "What now?" Jet whispered. That's what I wanted to know. We had no way back into the Underground, there was no controls up on the surface. Damn. But at least we had a shot at looking for Daisy I thought. We approached Strawberry, who was busy directing troops into defensive formations, to prepare for an unexpected attack. "What are your orders ma'am?" I asked politely. She turned to look at us and smiled. "Boy am I glad to see you two here. We need some ponies to scout out the hill up ahead, and I have a feeling you guys are the right ponies for the job." She pointed to our left, to a giant hill. It was a break in the jungle. Maybe the edge? Jet smiled in return and said, " I'm up for the challenge" he turned to me. "And I'm sure Tup is too."

"Great!" Strawberry replied, "I'll be back here if need anything. You should take your squad mates as well."

"Will do" we said in unison and we walked over to where Sugar and Dasher were. They were working on a making a new control panel on the surface. As we approached, Sugar turned to greet us. "Orders are to take the hill." Jet pointed with his hoof, "For recon." Sugar nodded and told Dasher. He looked up at the hill, then back at us. "You have to be kidding me right?"

"What's the matter Dasher?" I asked, "You and Jet can just fly over it, then we can rush up after you give us the all clear."

"The changelings will know we are above the surface then, and they will attack. They will see our shadows on the ground.  It's not up for debate. We are NOT flying."

Well ok then, we could just do it the old fashioned way too. Creeping up, inch by inch, hoping nopony would see us. Or in our case, nochangeling. I looked around to where ponies were working hard to get their tasks done, and I came to a conclusion. "We won't be flying, but we WILL be walking." I said in a very serious tone. Sugar and Jet nodded their approval, but Dasher looked unconvinced. "We can't go running around without first scouting the area." I told Dasher.

The crawl up the slope was difficult, as the jungle had many trees we had to avoid. We kept leapfrogging along, and slowly we made our way up to the top of the hill. The view was amazing. We could see at least 20 miles in each direction. In front of us was a valley. It had many other mini hills in it, and low grass. The next thing I saw was the ground as Dasher shoved me and Jet quickly to the ground. Sugar was already pushed against the ground as well, and she looked annoyed that Dasher had to push us down. "Are you CRAZY?!" Dasher whispered in a angry tone, "A changeling could have seen you!"

"Um.... Sorry?" I replied, not having a better thing to say.

"Sorry won't bring back dead ponies"

I looked over at Jet, who shrugged at Dasher's statement. "No harm done, nopony is hurt or anything. What's our next move?"

"We sit and wait for the order to return to camp, when it is ready." Sugar replied, "Which shouldn't be too long. It's getting late and if we don't want to get destroyed by changelings, we need to get it ready in the next hour or so." She shifted, and I noticed her cutie mark was a paint brush. I didn't say anything though. It was finally getting dark, and we were getting tired. Finally, Sugar said it was probably ok if we left our post and returned to base. As we approached the camp however, we noticed that there were a lot more fires then what there should be. Also there were a lot more screams and a few gunshots as well. We all agreed to sneak up and see what the fuss was about. "You take right, and I'll take left." I whispered to Jet, "And you two, stay here. We'll report back ASAP."

"Got it." Dasher replied.

Sugar just nodded.

As me and Jet began even further down the hill, I whispered, "Keep low to the ground. No need to telegraph our presence to whatever is down there. Move fast, but silently."

I couldn't tell if he heard me or not, but he did what I was telling him to, so I assume he did hear me. I broke off and kept as close to the ground as possible. I saw the DI and Strawberry running away from the camp in my direction. I quickly flagged them down, dismissing the thought of them being changelings. They noticed me and changed directions to meet me. By this time, the tents that had been set up were all ablaze, and ponies were running everywhere. It was madness in the camp. "Goddamnit RUN!" The DI yelled in a powerful voice, "The changelings have attacked!"

"Our squad is waiting for your orders ma'am." I told Strawberry, "We are sitting just behind the trees about a half klik to the north. One klik was about 500 meters, I thought in my head, and we were certainly halfway there. They rushed to the treeline, where Sugar and Dasher were waiting. I turned back to the fire, only to see another pony running towards me. This was somepony I didn't know. But I could tell he wasn't a changeling because of his eyes. There was a great fear in them. No changeling can mimic fear, it's not in their nature. He ran towards me, then stop short. He quickly saluted me and said, "Sir! Corporal Muffins reporting for duty Sir!" Despite the circumstances, I had to chuckle. He mistook me for an officer. Ha, I wasn't anything more than another cadet. "Run that way if you want to live" I told him and he nodded and raced for the treeline. By this time the gunshots had stopped, and I too ran to the treeline. I met up with our group and Dirk, the DI, filled us in on what happened. Apparently the pony in charge of making sure no changelings followed us into the Disco Bay had done a bad job, because a few made it through. He also said they had shadow armor, which I had no clue what it was, but I assumed that it was important based on Dirk's facial expression. We as a group decided to make a run for the the valley, since it was a better option then the forest. As all seven of us crept along, (Dirk, Strawberry, Sugar, Dasher, Jet, Muffins, and me) we heard less and less of the fires that still raged in the background. They soon faded into the night as we made it over the first hill we were originally stationed on. Then came the next. And the next. Jeez, I didn't realize that walking was so much work. "All right everypony, lets take a break for some much needed rest." Strawberry suggested, "Dirk, would you mind putting you sleeping bag out? Also remember that there will be no fires tonight, so we will need to huddle together for warmth."

I knew where I could find Jet if I needed him. Giving 'warmth' to Strawberry. I didn't need to see his face to see how he was reacting. As a matter of fact I DIDN'T want to see his face at the moment. I was too busy rolling out my sleeping bag when a newcomer came running up the hill. It was a fairly pretty mare, with a pink coat and green mans, panting from running. "Hello..." She panted, "My name is...." She still hadn't even caught her breath yet, and that fact worried me. She was getting more pretty by the second. Even more pretty than Strawberry. I felt compelled to hear her name. "My name is.... Daisy."

I was now the one out of breath. Daisy? How could this be? How had the adorable, loving Daisy gotten out here when the only way out was through the...... Oh. It all made sense. Her and Tux both hid until the breach happened, then ran. The changelings came in shortly after. "Tux was working with the changelings."

Those words made me stop breathing entirely for a few moments. Tux betrayed us to those... Those MONSTERS? Why in Equestria would anypony do a thing like that? If you were going to do that, you might as well donate your body for a transfer. "Anyways" she continued, "I ran when I realized that Tux was intending to hand me over to the changelings. I didn't stop until I found the evac site above ground. By the time I reached it though, everypony was dead. Except you. I took my chances and took off after you."

She looked like she hadn't eaten or slept in days. "All right, get some rest. Tup?" Sugar looked at me suspiciously "If we have the nice lady sleep with you in your sleeping bag, will you promise not to...."

I felt my face get red, luckily nopony could tell because it was night. "Wouldn't dream of it ma'am." Sugar raised an eyebrow, and started to speak, but Daisy seemed fine with it. Fortunately, the sleeping bag was going to fit both of us. "I will take first watch" Dirk said.  Sugar also went off to do sentry duty as well, and that just left me, Daisy, Jet, Strawberry (who was already asleep) and Muffins. Jet and Muffins crawled back into their respective sleeping bags, Jet with Strawberry, and Muffins by himself. Looks like he was the only pony not getting a girl tonight I thought as Daisy made herself comfortable next to me. Her body heat was more then enough to sooth my nerves. I feel into the deepest sleep I had ever had, not knowing what what tomorrow would bring, nor caring. I was to busy absorbing Daisy's body heat, and reflecting it back to her.

Unknown to our group, on the hill we were first stationed on, there were 2 changelings looking across the valley at our little encampment. "Tonight" The lead changeling said, and the changeling next to him nodded. "Yes, General ToxicSparky, we will gather the men for one last strike against the ponies before we report to the Queen." He said in a very menacing tone. The General looked down at the small changeling, "Thank you Seeker, your loyalty to our cause is unmatched."

"I just do what is necessary General"

"That you do, that you do."

They turned around and headed down the hill, towards the burned out camp. There were other things that needed their attention right now, such as the survivors. The General doubted there were any, because nopony surrendered, but that didn't mean there wasn't wounded ponies who were left behind. Oh the plans he had for them he thought mischievously. If the night went well, they would recapture their former prisoner, and have maybe some new changelings. It was going to be a good night.