The forest was so dark and freaky, tonight. Hurricane had never been afraid of anything having to do with his surroundings before, but this was something completely different. This was having the fear you might trip over the dead body of somepony of your own species. But now he had to admit, he was scared.
An owl hooted, making him jump.
Get a hold of yourself, he thought. You're here all the time, as a royal guard, for pony's sake! You should not be-
His hoof hit something life-like, and he leaped back in horror.
"AAH!" he shrieked.
Instinctively looking down at the thing he had hit, his heart nearly stopped. It was Silver Wind, but she looked really mangled up. Her armor had half-fallen off, her mane was ruffled out of control, and there was a terrible slash mark across her revealed chest. The strap of her chest plate must have been slashed loose during the fall. What a terrible sight she was.
"Silver Wind!" Hurricane yelped. "Please say you're okay!"
As if in response, her lungs drew in a deep breath and let it out. Relief washed over Hurricane, but he still wanted to be completely sure. Putting a hoof over her heart, he felt a slow but steady beat. She was still okay. For now, at least. There could be broken bones, or her slash could be infected. Bat ponies didn't know much about Solar Empire weaponry, so it was a mystery if they were special, or not.
Thankfully, he was also good friends with a medicine pony named Curled Fern. She had taught him a little bit about healing herbs, and he knew of a few plants in the forest that could help.
"Hold tight," he told Silver Wind. "I'll be right back with something to help you." Then he raced off into the dark trees, in aim of finding the certain plant to heal wounds.
As he galloped on, he kept his eye out for the green curly leaves. Healing weed, that's what it was called. He remembered it having a sort of minty scent, and an even stronger one when it was torn. As he was thinking about this, he almost missed a waft of the tangy fragrance as it floated past his nose. He screeched to a stop, opening his wings to catch the wind. As he stopped moving, he sniffed the air again in search of the scent. To his relief, its entrails still wafted through the air. Redirecting himself to face toward it, he headed off again.
He walked slowly, trying to pinpoint exactly where the herb was. Before long, he found a spot where the scent filled his nose the most. Prodding away some overgrowth, the curly leaves of the Healing Weed were revealed.
"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Thank Luna!"
He bent down to the ground and bit off as many stalks as he could carry.
Standing back up, he took in his surroundings, then galloped off in the direction of Silver Wind. His heart beat fast with the fright of hitting her again. But he knew he had to get her the healing herbs as soon as possible.
Hurricane soon spotted her in the dent which she had created as she had collided with the ground. The sight pierced his heart, but he knew that she would soon be healed. The magical herbs that he carried would quickly and easily do the trick. The Everfree Forest seemed to have a cure for everything.
He stood beside her, hating to look at her wound, and set the herbs down. He crushed them gently with the flat teeth in his mouth to let the juices out, then tilted his head down over her and let the liquid run onto the gash. Not to his surprise, the gash began to shimmer, and then sewed itself up soon after. Her armor was still mangled up, but otherwise, she looked completely unharmed. If only Curled Fern were here to see his work.
Silver Wind soon stirred.
"W… where…? What…?" she asked hoarsely.
"Silver Wind!" exclaimed Hurricane happily.
She looked up at him with blurry eyes.
"H...Hurricane? Is that you?" she asked hopefully. "Where are we? What happened? Did we win?"
Hurricane dipped his head.
"No," he said. "Not yet."
"What do you mean?" Silver Wind asked inquisitively.
"I mean the battle is still going on. You got slashed, and you fell unconscious into the forest." He turned to the side, trying to look regal. "Thankfully, I remembered some of Curled Fern's training and happened to find some Healing Weed for your wound. It was pretty bad before I got to it."
Silver Wind lowered her head in disappointment.
"I hoped it might have been over." she sighed, and looked up to the treetops. "I knew that we were never truly at peace with the Solar Empire, but I never expected it to come to this."
"I know," Hurricane responded. "I never liked the thought of war, either."
"And now… And now our castle – our home – is being destroyed." Silver Wind murmured as she bent her head to pull off her shredded armor. "Nnngh, get this stuff off of me! I hate the feud!"
Hurricane shook his head sadly. "Yes, I think most of the less bloodthirsty bat ponies do. It doesn't seem right to not even try to talk to them. I'm not trying to go against Luna, or anything… but I think she can be sort of…"
"Aggressive?" Silver Wind finished. Hurricane let his breath out in silent agreement. Silver Wind turned to the side. "Yeah, I agree. She can be at times. Especially with her sister."
Hurricane and Silver Wind stood pondering their situation.
"Where should we go if we don't want to be a part of this? We should be honoring our princess, but… I don't think I have the gut to hurt other ponies." said Hurricane.
"Hmm…" Silver Wind thought. "Well… we probably won't be going home any time soon… So what could we do in the Everfree? I know it feels like home to us… but it's much too close to the battle site to be safe… Maybe we should just head in some direction and see where we end up. I don't know a lot about the area outside the Everfree…"
"I know a bit." said Hurricane. "If we head East, we won't have to cross much flat land… There's a large area of forest between here and Horseshoe Bay. We could check it out."
Silver Wind looked up at the treetops again, directing both their attentions back to the sounds or war. "It's just so sad to have to leave the place we've known our whole lives." Then her ears perked up. "What will happen to all the mothers and children? What about my children?! They could be dead!"
Hurricane nodded. "Then we shall go around the castle, close to the walls, but still stay under the tree canopies? If we spot any other survivors, we will invite them to travel with us. How about that?"
"But how about the ponies still trapped in the castle? How could we save them?" Silver Wind protested.
Hurricane sighed. "I don't think that's possible for just the two of us. With the war going on in the air, how could we possibly get into the castle? The entrance is above ground!"
"Yes, but… but my poor little fillies…" whined Silver Wind with tears brimming in her eyes. "What will happen to them if the Solar Empire's guards get to them?"
Hurricane put a hoof on her shoulder. "We can't do anything to change their fate. And there could already be enemy guards inside the castle. We may not survive. And if we don't, then we may as well have not tried in the first place. Let's not risk our lives for something that we can not accomplish."
Silver Wind took a few seconds to recover and expel her tears. "Alright," she said with a nod. "Which way do we go? We can't see the stars through the treetops. Which way is East?"
Hurricane nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to feel the world with his sensitive ears. This was his talent, and it was how he could listen in to important conversations as a spy from long distances. He looked past the battle, past the castle, and out through the trees of the forest. His powerful echoes bounced among the trunks, and, a few miles away, broke out into open land. Okay, he had gotten this far. Now he just needed to see if he could find the direction in which there were many more trees. He found Ghastly Gorge, Rambling Rock Ridge, Unicorn Range, Canterlot Mountain, Dodge City, then a large expanse of forest. And judging from the maps he had read, that was East! He turned in the direction from which he had heard the forest. "It's this way." he said.
Silver Wind shook her head with a faint smile. "Your talent has always amazed me, Hurricane."
Hurricane blushed. "Well, yours is pretty cool, too. Creating wind gusts is awesome."
Silver Wind began to giggle again, but then stopped. "We should get going. Somepony from the Solar Empire might find us if we stay here too long."
Hurricane nodded. "Let's attempt to make our way to the base of the castle and see if anypony from our side are there." he said, and re-armed himself with his right battle claw. "And let's stay quiet; we never know who could be nearby."
