The hills overlooking New Liberty were generally peaceful at night, no growls or howling coyotes broke the moonless silence, and the crisp desert air made it the perfect weather for thestrals to go about their normal business. The hills, from a distance, were small and one would think it would be easy to see something hiding in them with no issue. Up close, however, was an entirely different subject. From the ridge looking down upon the fledgling American town a pair of beady green eyes glared with malice and anger.

The changeling had his gaze focussed on the P.O.W. camp, watching as one of the thestrals guarding it opened the gate and a pair of nervous looking changelings stepped out of the camp. Another thestral was taking down information on a clipboard before the two changelings were escorted out of view. The changeling on the hill grumbled before he slowly shimmied his way backwards into the bushes that surrounded the area. From there it was easy for him to turn on his hooves and trot towards the rest of his comrades.

Shrouded in the blackness of night, the changelings looked to their scout with expectant eyes. The scout, for his part, held just as serious an expression. He began drawing a sketch in the sand with his hoof, circling the POW camp first, followed by the Capital.

“The building with the flag is their main headquarters. The strange creature, a human if the tabloids we’ve read are correct, resides there.” The scout gestured to the POW camp with his hoof. “It has direct line of sight to the place they’re holding the Queen and our surviving brothers and sisters.” The scout drew several lines around the town itself. “These are their defenses, they’ve entrenched themselves well. We must have at least freed the queen by the time the alarm is raised, otherwise I have no doubt we’ll have a massacre on our hooves.”

“Fine by me…” Commented one of the changelings, the scout sighed and rubbed his temples. “What, you want to show these flying rodents reprieve? After what they’ve done?”

“The massacre would be on our side, idiot.” The scout said flatly. “These ponies are far different from anything we’ve faced, it’s not just unicorns we have to worry about now.” The scout pounded his hoof on the capitol building. “During the first attack reports state that two ponies from this building were able to wipe out half of our brutes.”

“Those were regular brutes.” Said another voice, this once far more deep. All eyes turned to the owner of it, he stalked forwards with his armor clicking on each step. Stripes indicating his decorations and commendations adorned every inch of it. Commander Gigant, the Queen’s former high general, a feared and revered soldier in the hive’s legions. “We will be advancing with something quite different, scout… But I admire your attention to detail. Truly commendable.”

“Th-Thank you, sir.” The scout replied, receiving only a nod from the commander before he stopped and looked down at the map.

“There is one factor we haven’t taken into account. I’m sure you’ve noticed, the flag atop this building is not Equestrian.” The commander looked to all those present, his most trusted officers that would be leading the coming attack. “We must assume the enemy will fight differently than an Equestrian. So far we’ve seen just that. They do not shy away from killing, nor do they lack ingenuity. This leads me to believe we are trifling with a force far more dangerous than the Equestrians. An unknown force.”

“What are your orders, commander?” Asked one of the officers, Gigant turned to him with a very cold expression.

“Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best… We’ll make our move soon. Get your soldiers ready.” The commander began walking away, then he paused. “Wait to ready the assault group… I want them good and cranky when we go in.” With that he began walking off into the blackness, leaving his officers to go off and ready the attack force. Nearly one hundred and fifty changelings would be going into battle, and many of the officers began to worry just how many would be coming back.

In the town not five miles away, Dominic sat in his office with the lights dimmed and a cigar smoldering in an ashtray. On his desk was laid a series of maps and plans which he stared at with growing contempt, beside his hand rested a half empty glass of scotch. His expression, unbeknownst to him, was growing angrier and angrier. There was little he could do to combat what he was dealing with, other than just waiting it out. Dominic hated waiting with a passion, for three years he’d been waiting for death or salvation, only pausing his wait to search for food and water.

Even after all Luna had done to put some of his demons to rest, every time he closed his eyes he could see it unfolding before him, as if he were practically there. The smell of fresh cut grass mixing with burning wood and the copper scent of blood, the warm sunny sky blotted out by thick black smoke, and the screaming that never seemed to stop. He nearly jumped out of his seat when his trembling hand knocked the glass to the floor, thankfully not shattering it, but spilling the rest of the alcohol.

“Fuck…” Dominic mumbled quietly before he reached down and picked up the glass, then set it aside. There was a knock on the door a few moments later before Sonar pushed it open, Dominic gawked at her attire. She was in a nightgown and sleeping hat, her spectacles resting crookedly on her muzzle. “Sonar? What’re you doing up so-”

“-I was just tidying up the office because I worried I’d missed a few forms, but then I figured you were about to need something, so here I am.” Sonar cut in before letting out a small adorable yawn, Dominic gave her a sad smile and shook his head.

“I’m fine, Sonar… Just, thinking on some stuff.” The man looked at the empty glass sitting on his desk, Sonar didn’t seem to notice.

“Human stuff, sir?” She asked, Dominic nodded silently. “Bad human stuff?” The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t drink that unless it’s really bad. I’ve seen you drink, sir. Normally it’s something smooth. That’s bathtub scotch.” Dominic looked at the bottle he’d taken the scotch from, then looked back at Sonar.

“Well… I know you’ll figure it out, you always do… I’ll see you tomorrow, Sonar…” The president watched as the mare turned and walked out of the office completely, closing the door behind her with a mild thud. Dominic remove the cork from the top and took a gulp of the alcohol, afterwards patting his chest and standing up. He wiped his lips with his forearm, his boots carried him to the window where he stopped to stare up at the moon and stars. Seeing so many of them reminded him of the moonless nights in Colorado during the winter, back when his biggest worry was figuring out how to try and talk to girls.

“I want to go home…” He whispered to himself in an extremely tired and defeated tone, staring at his own reflection in the glass. He didn’t turn his gaze to the POW camp as he usually did, instead closing his eyes and trying to remember the last time he’d stared up into such a beautiful night sky before the infection. Whatever Luna had done to ease his suffering all that time ago was undoubtedly just a minor repair on a much larger broken machine. As Dominic stood there, he could swear he felt a hand on his shoulder, and yet, he knew it wasn’t. That soft grip, one he recognized as Maria’s, was a figment of his own imagination.

Sure enough, when he opened his eyes and turned to look over his shoulder there wasn’t a soul in the room with him. Dominic quietly walked back to his desk and looked at all of the plans he’d laid out, all the maps and charts and estimates, and promptly picked them up and threw them across the room with a grunt. He reached for the revolver hanging slack in the holster he’d hung from the back of the chair, when he had it in hand he drew back the hammer and placed the barrel against his temple. He forced his eyes closed and tried to squeeze the trigger, but in the end he couldn’t do it. More of him wanted to live than wanted to die, though if that was purely out of guilt was unknown to him.

Dominic lowered the hammer on the revolver and set it down on his desk, he laid his head down on the wood next to it and sighed. He could understand part of why he hadn’t just ended his life, and that was because he was alone. For some reason, that resonated with him more than anything else. More paralyzing than the fear of the infected or the rage of battle was the fear of dying alone, and more importantly, unloved. It shook him to his core.

The man sighed and felt himself dozing off, hoping against hope that his dreams would grant him a moment of rest. He knew very well that was not going to be the case, but he could at least hope. The hard wood of the desk and odd angle he sat at would certainly do a number on his back, but he’d had much worse in the past, and with that, he fell into a miserable, dismal slumber.

[♦]

Johnny scowled as he sat in his bedroom overlooking Canterlot, the lights of the city sparkled like glowing stars in the night, his clothes were slept in and his hair was a mess. The tank top he wore was stained and there were bags beneath his bloodshot eyes, his eyes focussed on the Everfree Forest. He knew she was out there somewhere, alone probably, and thinking he was probably being held prisoner. In a way he was, the Princesses had placed him under ‘protection’, a fancy way of saying ‘house arrest’. The man adjusting his position in his arm chair, finding it a tad uncomfortable as it had been designed for a pony.

Johnny was always one of the colder guys in his old crew, more concerned about getting the job done than anything else. This had made his bosses take notice and he was often handsomely rewarded for what he did. As Johnny rubbed his eyes he thought back to his time before the world had ended, this caused him to scowl further. If he could do it again, he’d have never gotten into the habit of killing his problems. Jen had made him realize there were still good people out in the world, even among the walking corpses.

“This is bullshit.” He muttered as he gritted his teeth, he rose to his feet and walked towards the dresser. With a yank he’d pulled an entire drawer free, he began dressing himself in the clothes he found. Again, they didn’t really fit him, but the application of a belt helped solve some of his problems. With a fresh pair of boots on his feet and a grey t-shirt tucked into his jeans he looked around his still dark room. He needed something heavy.

Some would argue what he was planning was rash and unplanned, but that was the story of his life. Johnny was at his best when he was improvising. He picked up a candlestick and looked it over, then gave it a couple test swings. He shrugged and walked towards the door, doing his best to draw up a mental map of where he was in the castle. He knew he was on a top floor, meaning he’d need to get down a lot of floors, truly this would be his greatest heist.

As Johnny approached the door he narrowed his eyes and set his jaw, then turned the handle and tugged. He backed into the shadows while the door swung inwards.

“The hell?” He heard a voice mutter outside, the shadow of a pony guard appeared in the light cast on the floor from the open doorway. Johnny tightened his grip on the candlestick as the guard’s shadow began moving further into the room. Johnny watched as a guard pony in gold armor entered his field of view. Unlike him, the pony’s eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light yet. Johnny made a note that the guard had some sort of crossbow across his back, he found it odd since most of the other guards didn’t seem to have anything. Then again, most other guards weren’t guarding him.

The guard paused and looked around slowly from side to side, Johnny raised the candlestick silently as he psyched himself up. The guard’s head turned in his direction, after a few minutes he saw the guard’s eyes go wide. At that moment Johnny leaped forwards, swinging the candlestick directly for the guard’s gut. He collided with great force, using his greater size to easily knock the guard to the floor. The clatter of armor gained the attention of the other guard outside, Johnny turned on his heel and went to swing the now bent candlestick at the second one. The guard grunted as he stuck out a hoof, his armor clanging as the candlestick deflected to the side, forcing Johnny to toss it away.

Johnny opted to tackle the guard instead, launching himself forwards and connecting with the guard’s torso. The guard fell like a house of cards, struggling like mad and delivering several jabs to Johnny’s gut. The man felt around for some form of weapon as he held the guard down, as his hand rested on the candlestick from earlier he felt someone grab him from behind across his windpipe. Johnny delivered an elbow to the gut of the first guard, then another, and another, until the guard had let go. Johnny gasped and staggered to his feet, looking around he caught sight of the crossbow from earlier, still strapped across his first opponents back. Johnny decided he wanted it, and with that, he delivered several punches to the first guard’s face, his knuckles became bloody as he pummeled the guard.

Behind him he heard the scrape of armor that indicated the second guard was getting to his feet, Johnny wasted no time in yanking the crossbow free, essentially ripping it from the straps and turning to face the second guard with his newly acquired weapon. The guard collided with him just as he brought the weapon to bare, tackling him to the floor. Johnny was met with several blows to the face and his nose began to bleed, as did his mouth. The man growled and brought his knee up between the guard’s legs with as much force as he could. The guard howled in pain, giving Johnny ample time to toss him off and get to his feet. The crossbow from the first guard was in his grasp within seconds before turned and delivered a kick to the second guard’s stomach.

“F-Fuckin’ pig…” He muttered as he spat on the floor, a glob of blood flying with it. He reached down and relieved the second guard of his weapon, slinging that one over his shoulder. “Don’t get up…” Johnny grunted and walked out into the hallway, looking around for a moment before he began to jog down a hallway. Stealth was his only option, but dripping blood would make it hard for him to hide. As it stood, he’d need to wait for his nose and mouth to stop bleeding on their own. That meant he was in for plenty of other fights, he was sure, but that didn’t matter in his head. He was tired of high society and princesses, he wanted Jen, and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do to stop him.

“STOP HIM!” Shouted a voice behind him, Johnny turned and saw at least three guards with spears charging towards him. The man turned on his heel, knowing that he’d never outrun the quadrupeds, and instead dropped to a knee with the crossbow in his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment.

”Loosen up a bit, not too much… Good.” Jen’s voice ran through his head as he brought the weapon to a firing position. ”Alright, exhale slowly as you take aim…” Johnny’s breath slowly left his nostrils, he could practically feel Jen’s hands on his arms, guiding him into proper position. The guards took note of his new stance and were already starting to fan out, Johnny kept his eyes deadlocked on the center guard. ”And… Squeeze. Hey! The trigger! Not me!” Johnny’s finger began depressing the trigger on the crossbow, it was far different from the one on a rifle, but it still worked like a trigger should.

The bolt of blue energy flew forth from the bow with more recoil than Johnny expected, he was nearly knocked onto his back as he watched the projectile fly towards the center guard in slow motion. The guard’s face was cringing and he was starting to turn to the side, then, in a flash of blue, the guard cried out in pain and crumpled to the floor, writhing back and forth, as if he’d been hit with a taser. The guards were more concerned about their comrade as Johnny had hoped they’d be, giving him the opportunity to take off running. He dropped the crossbow to the ground, sending it skittering across the floor in the process.

All the golden garnished halls started to look the same as his feet thundered over the marble floor, Johnny could taste the blood in his mouth as he panted and ran. Occasionally he’d pass by an intersection where he’d hear the hooves of guards rushing to find him. For three minutes he evaded their searches as best he could, sweat was formed on his forehead as he made his way towards a stairwell that would begin leading him down to the lower levels. Inside was a spiral staircase of stone, leaving enough room in the center for someone to look down to the bottom.

Johnny could see a least a dozen guards rushing up the steps, yelling orders at each other as they came up. Johnny turned on his foot once more and took off running towards Luna’s bedroom, figuring that’d be the last place they’d look for him. The man heard voices behind him now, he could tell they were starting to close in and he had doubts that his one crossbow would do much to get rid of them now. The intersection ahead of him suddenly exploded with life as twelve heavily armored Lunar thestrals rushed into position with crossbows at the ready. Johnny skidded to a stop, gritting his teeth and looking over his shoulder, a mix of Lunar and Solar guards were coming at him from behind. To his left and right there were alcoves for artifacts and vases as well as a couple stain glass paintings. Johnny looked at the crossbow in his hands and turned to face one of the windows.

He quickly depressed the trigger, sending a bolt of blue light at the glass and shattering it. Johnny could see there was a roof or some sort of ledge outside.

“Don’t move!” Shouted one of the lunar guards ahead, Johnny looked at them for a moment then the window. He gave them a quick one fingered salute before bolting towards the window. Several bolts of energy flew past him as he vaulted out onto the balcony and took off running along the side of the castle. “Go! Go! Go! Detain him!” Johnny looked over his shoulder and growled as he saw the thestrals were now taking to the air and flying through the window. Bolts of energy rained down next to him, growing ever closer as he neared a ledge. Without much thought the man took a turn that led him out of the thestrals direct line of sight. On his right the lights of Canterlot were enough to illuminate the way ahead, it was only now that Johnny remembered he still had the crossbow that he’d fired earlier.

That crossbow found itself discarded on the roof balcony as Johnny kept running, the man had an odd smile on his face, this was the first time he’d actually been outside in a city that wouldn’t try to eat him. His smile faded as he saw several guards round a corner in front of him with their crossbows brought to bear. Johnny growled loudly in annoyance and frustration, lowering his stance and charging forwards as the bolts whizzed past him. The guard’s eyes widened as they saw him getting closer and prepared for some form of close combat. Johnny had a much simpler idea.

He put his hands on the helmets of two guards and used them as a foundation to jump over the short pony guards. With them behind him Johnny turned down the balcony again. This one he saw brought him close to a domed roof on the castle like an observatory, easily in jumping distance. It was relatively easy getting there as well, even as the guards behind him continued firing. The firing began to taper off as he got closer, and Johnny noticed as he reached the ledge the shooting stopped, he turned and looked towards the guards against his better judgement. They all had their weapons ready and pointed towards him, by all rights they could’ve opened fire. Johnny turned back to the dome as he heard the flapping of wings around him, leathery and feathered alike.

There was an odd moment of silence as Johnny looked between the circling guards overhead and the domed roof in front of him. He took a breath and prepared to make the leap, the cold night air was starting to make him shiver and his face was beginning to ache through the adrenaline. There was a swoosh of wings from his right and he turned to see a familiar indigo alicorn folding her wings, then to his left he heard another, when he turned he saw Celestia was also folding her wings as they started walking towards him.

“What are you doing?!” Celestia asked loudly, Johnny inched closer to the ledge, looking between the alabaster alicorn and the domed roof.

“I’m getting out of here! I’m going to find her!” Johnny shouted back, he did his best to suppress the growing pain in his nose, it was obvious there was probably something out of place there, but he didn’t have time to worry about it. Celestia’s expression remained upset, though Johnny could see a minute change in her stance. “I don’t deserve to sit here while she’s out there!”

“So you beat up our guards and run out onto a rooftop?” Luna asked, forcing Johnny to turn and look at her.

“It’s not like you’d let me go if I asked you nicely.” The man’s tone was cold and bitter, his boots ever closer to the ledge. Luna’s expression began to fall as his words sunk in, she didn’t have the words to rebuke what he’d said. “That’s what I thought. I know when I’m in a cage, Princess, you can’t pull the wool up over my eyes. I’m going to find her, there’s not a DAMN thing you can do about it.”

“Wait!” Celestia yelled from his left, her voice was much closer than before. Johnny didn’t waste another second, he leaped off the ledge towards the domed roof. To his surprise the roof fractured when he landed, moments later it fell inwards with him on it. He landed with a groan on something soft, when he looked around he found he was in some sort of bedroom. Covered in dust and debris it was difficult for him to tell whose it was, but the surprised group of six ponies in front of the door made it relatively obvious.

Johnny bolted out of the bed as fast as he could, sprinting towards the bed as a pain began to run up his left leg. The six ponies, unsure of what was happening, got out of his way and allowed him to barrel through the door. He slammed the door behind him just as Luna and Celestia flew through the hole in the roof and landed to look around.

“Where did he go!?” Celestia demanded, looking extremely upset. Twilight Sparkle, the pony to whom the room belonged, pointed at the door. The other alicorns didn’t waste any time rushing through the door afterwards, leaving Twilight and company very confused. Beyond the door Luna and Celestia were running down the large hallway that would take them towards the front of the castle, they passed by the numerous pieces of art without a second glance. Vases and statues in alcoves were left unquestioned. Johnny peeked out around one such statue, and upon seeing the coast was clear, he stepped out into the hallway and began looking for a way out. He limped towards the door he’d just come out of, then looked to one of the paintings on the wall. With a grunt he pulled it free and set it on the floor, wedging it into the door to keep it from opening.

The man turned around and began limping down the hallway that the princesses had sprinted down, the castle was eerily quiet, the guards were all outside looking for him. Occasionally he’d duck into an alcove or hug the wall as a maid went past, but his trip through the halls of Canterlot Castle went pretty much unobstructed. He still had no idea of where he was going, but at least he had the guards and Princesses off his back for the moment.

He closed his eyes and rubbed at them for a moment, feeling exhausted from the ordeal so far. His limping steps started to slow down for a few brief moments as he came to an intersection of the the halls. He looked up and down the halls for some form of identifying mark, one seemed to begin to lose its illustrious look. Perhaps it was a service hall. Johnny turned right down that hallway, limping along as drips of blood continued leaving a trail behind him. He froze as he heard clip-clopping hooves echoing off the marble floors before he quickly ducked into another alcove and hid behind a fancy looking pot.

“...can’t believe he’d try and keep us locked in your room, Twilight. Doesn’t he understand we’re trying to help him?” A posh sounding voice joined the echoing hoofsteps, Johnny recognized it as belonging to that white pony that he couldn’t remember the name of, if he’d even learned her name. “It’s not like it worked, with teleportation I mean…”

“He’s probably flashing back or something. The princesses didn’t really explain why they were chasing him, or why he crashed through my ceiling.” The voice of the lavender alicorn responded. Johnny tensed up as he hid behind the large pot, hearing the clip-clopping starting to slow down as they got closer to the pot. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

“H-Here I am.” A voice called from down the hall, very quietly. The hooves had stopped now, Johnny looked around him for anything he could use if the ponies decided to check out the pot. As it stood there was very little in the way of a weapon in the dark dusty alcove, as he heard hoofsteps getting closer and quiet whispering he realized there was something very wrong.

“I guess we’ll never find him. We should just turn around now.” Said a very obviously faking Twilight.

“We shou-? Oh! Yes! We should!” The posh voice remarked, Johnny’s fists clenched as he stood to his full height while the hooves clip clopped away from the pot. Johnny stalked out of the alcove and looked around, his first pan over the area revealed nothing, the second revealed a shimmer in the air, like something out of the Predator films. Johnny wiped some of the dripping blood from his nose and flicked it at the shimmer. As soon as it hit it there was a shattering noise as the shimmer disappeared and revealed three very surprised ponies standing in its place.

“Fluttershy! Go!” Twilight Sparkle yelled, the butter yellow mare Johnny assumed was Fluttershy hesitantly opened her wings and flew towards him. Johnny readied himself for a fight, fists clenching as he got into a proper stance. To his surprise the mare stopped and just hovered in front of him, her eyes got very intense look to them. Johnny stared her directly in the eyes, he could feel the world around him beginning to shift, something wasn’t right with those eyes.

Flashes between the pony’s face and the face of an infected woman’s began to clash, the eyes were the same. Intense, almost lifeless. Those eyes were the first infected he’d ever seen, the one that he’d run from instead of fought. The flashes grew more intense, pain began to grow in his head, the pegasus opened her mouth to speak, the infected woman opened her mouth to bite. Johnny let out a panicked scream and started to back up, pounding on his head furiously to try and get the images to stop.

The pegasus’ face shifted away from the intense glare and morphed into one of fear, the flashes tapered off leaving Johnny soaking in sweat with a headache to add to his growing list of injuries. The other ponies were staring at him with uncertainty, Fluttershy was shaking as she hovered in front of him. Johnny turned around and began running down the hallway as fast as he could with a limp, his heart pounding in his chest. He took a few more deep breaths as he ran, like Jen had taught him, it helped him focus on the task at hand.

The hallway gradually shifted into what looked like a service hallway, leading to a spiral stairway that went down very far. Johnny didn’t have time to debate what could happen and instead began going down the steps as fast as he could, he could hear hoofsteps from behind him once again. Down the center of the stairway he saw a yellow blur fly down past him, and after a few more steps he realized that the pegasus had cut him off.

“Get out of my way.” Johnny said coldly.

“I-I can’t d-do that.” Fluttershy responded shakily, Johnny’s fist clenched and he took another step towards her.

“I’m getting out of here one way or another.” Johnny growled as he got closer to the pegasus, she flinched and began to back away. “They won’t keep me caged.” Johnny continued past her and down the steps. Unlike Johnny, Twilight and her friends knew that these steps would lead out into the gardens, and from there, Johnny would have open ground to run and hide, it would only make finding him that much more difficult.

Johnny continued down the steps for ten more minutes, the ponies still hot on his heels, until finally he reached a door at the bottom. With a grunt he forced it open and looked around, he was surrounded by plants and grass on all sides. There was a wooden cart filled with what looked like weeds parked off to the side near a large wooden gate. Johnny wasted no time in running to that cart and jumping in, he quickly covered himself in the weeds. Hurried hoofsteps came soon after he’d hidden in the cart, with it came hurried talking.

“Where’d he go!?” Shouted the posh white pony, Johnny carefully maneuvered so that he could see out through a crack in the wood. The ponies were looking around in vain.

“Fan out! We’ll find him!” Twilight commanded, the three ponies split off, with the two horned ponies rushing off in random directions. Fluttershy stayed put, looking at the ground, noting the blood trail that lead to the cart. She quietly approached the cart, looking it up and down, before pressing her eye up to a crack in the wood. She froze as she saw an eye staring back at her.

“I have to get out of here. I have to find someone I care about.” Johnny said through the wood, figuring the game was over. Fluttershy watched him for a few more moments before backing away from the cart.

“I hope you do…” She said quietly, her tone seeming very understanding, before trotting off in a random direction. Johnny waited there for twenty minutes before a donkey emerged from the service door and began trotting towards the cart. He was whistling a little tune and Johnny felt the cart shift as the donkey hooked himself up to it. The cart gave a lurch as it began moving, the donkey pulling it towards the gate.

“Darn, weighs a lot more than it looks. Heh.” The donkey said to himself before he knocked on the gate, Johnny heard the heavy doors open and the cart moved outside. “Evenin’ boys, what’s with the armor?”

“Hey, ol’ timer. We just had a security alert go up, not sure why though.” A voice replied, Johnny saw through the crack that there was at least one guard on his side of the cart, inspecting the weeds he hid beneath. “They want us to search everything comin’ out of the castle thoroughly.”

“Ah, shoot. I was hopin’ to get on the road as soon as possible, wanted to be in Ponyville by morning.” The donkey replied, there was a shrug from the guard that Johnny could see.

“It’s weeds. Do we really need to dig around in weeds?”

“Normally yeah, but I doubt our friend is gonna be smuggling anything illegal out of here… Alright, you’re clear. Give my regards to the misses.” The guard Johnny couldn’t see said, there was a chuckle from Donkey before the cart began moving again. Johnny did his best to get comfortable in the weeds, they were somewhat prickly and smelled awful but they were also soft and his body heat had warmed them up to the perfect temperature. The adrenaline gradually began to wear off as the cart moved through the city and Johnny eventually fell into an uneasy light sleep. His mind was racing with what could happen in the next few days and worries about what could be happening to Jen.

Author's Notes:

Ugh, writers block is difficult to deal with. I've been trying to add a bit more action lately, not sure if that's a good thing, but it helps with the block. Hope you guy's enjoy this chapter, I put a lot of work into trying to get it up to snuff. As always, rate, comment, and favorite if you want.