Chapter 7
Alright, I'll walk halfway back and then I'll decide. No, I'll spy on them and see how Sweetie Belle reacts, then I'll decide. No, I know exactly how she'll react and I didn't want to see it. I don't know what I'm going to do because I was already walking back as if I decided to stay. Alright, I'll think of the pros. If I stay I might have a life again with friends and people to protect. Cons, I might fail them like I did with him. Besides, odds are we will be killed off so building a friendship isn't a good idea. Then again, they might be strong enough to build some kind of fortress. A fortress of friendship, which sounded dumb.
"There you are!" I heard a voice say. I jumped a little and looked down. Oh great.
"Sweetie Belle?" I asked.
"I've been looking everywhere for you!" She yelled as she grabbed my hoof and started leading me.
"Why are you out here?" I asked, noticing we weren't even close to Ponyville.
"I went to go looking for you" She said.
"What about Spike?" I asked.
"He's back at our camp" she said. Wait, camp?
"Uh huh, I meant why did you leave him alone, did his leg finally heal?" I lied.
"Not yet, but he insisted that I go looking for you" Sweetie Belle said. Oh no.
"So, where are we headed?" I asked. I got to get out of here.
"We found a new spot to hide out, we thought we saw thieves" she said. This is bad, did they find Sweetie Belle and Spike?
"Wait, shouldn't we get Frost too?" I asked.
"Where is he?" She asked. Any doubt I had was thrown out the window.
"He's in that direction picking out some berries he found, I told him I'd go scout for enemies. Point me to the direction of the new camp and you go get him." I lied as I pointed away from Ponyville.
"Alright! Just head that way and I'll meet you there." Sweetie Belle said as she pointed a direction.
"Alright, see ya" I said as I saw her run off. As soon she left, I placed a 'life detection barrier' around me so I could sense ponies. When I was sure I was alone, I quickly ran towards Ponyville. It doesn't matter right now if I decide to leave or not, they're in danger!
"Everypony! We are in danger!" I yelled as I shoved the door open, making everypony in the room jump.
"Frost?" Sweetie Belle asked as she turned from Applebloom.
"Oh hey, where've you been?" Scootaloo asked. Spike was just smiling.
"No time to explain, we need to leave. NOW." I quickly said.
"Huh? Why?" Scootaloo asked.
"I ran into an agent! I lead them away but I'm sure they'll scout us out, we need to leave!" I yelled as I ran to Applebloom and lifted her up onto my back.
"Agents?" Everypony asked.
"I'll explain later. Spike, pack as much food as you can and let's get out of here." I instructed.
"Alright" he said as he ran downstairs.
"Where the hay are we going?" Applebloom asked me, I pretended not to hear because I didn't want to answer. In all honesty I didn't know where I was leading them.
"Can you slow down a bit? I can barely keep up." Sweetie Belle whined. Again I ignored.
"Did we really need to leave, we could've hidden in the basement" Spike thought, he was fast enough to keep up with me but I still had to slow down for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
"It's pointless, agents hunt their target for months and that's only when they aren't unicorns" I told them, using my magic to push away branches as we ran past them.
"Can't you teleport us? I thought all unicorns could teleport ponies." Scootaloo suggested.
"I could, but they're trained to sense magic so unless I teleported us all the way to Saddle Arabia, they would immediately surround us" I told him, still running. I knew this was pointless.
"So if we run, it'll be harder for them to track us down?" Spike asked, wiping away leafs sticking to him.
"It'll be harder for them to track ALL of us" I corrected as I stopped to let them catch their breaths. They only had one hope.
"What do you mean?" Applebloom asked as I gently placed her down. In my panic I realized that using my magic to move the branches was a bad idea, if they were trailing us already then they were already doomed. I had doomed them.
"They're expert trailers, just like hunters, but they can't track 2 trails at once" I told them.
"Well that's great, except we're making only one trail" Scootaloo pointed out. No, I haven't doomed them yet.
"That's why we are going to split up" I told them. I had to word this carefully.
"Split up?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yeah, you guys run off ahead of me and I'll lead them off your course" I explained.
"Oh" Spike went. He understood.
"What about you?" Applebloom asked.
"Don't worry about me, this isn't the first time I was trailed by an agent" I told her, that wasn't a lie at all. Sweetie Belle looked worried.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Sweetie Belle asked me.
"I'll be ok" I said. I didn't say 'fine' or 'alright'.
"Alright, be careful" Sweetie Belle said with a smile. Maybe the thought that I'm probably alive somewhere will be enough to keep her happy.
"You can stand?" I asked Applebloom.
"Ah' can muster 'nough strength for a while" Applebloom responded with a confident smile as she slowly stood up.
"Alright, goodbye" I said. I didn't say 'see you soon' or 'later'. I turned and started running back to Ponyville.
"Goodbye" I heard Spike whisper.
"Cya!" I heard them yell. All except for Spike. I ran for a while, then I stopped and looked back. They were so far from me, but that was good. They were away from me, and that meant they were safe. Safe from me.
I kept running then after a while, I turned sharp left so I wouldn't actually reach Ponyville. If I could see through trees, I'd probably see it coming. I had to make it look like I was trying to escape so I used a lot of my magic to move the branches. Maybe I just wanted my fate to arrive sooner. Wait, what if they were trailing the others? What if they missed me entirely? I would've preferred they kill me rather than them, they had so much hope for each other.
"There, I think I lost them" I intentionally said out loud.
"Yeah, that was a close call" I heard a voice say from behind. There it was, they loved making entrances. "So how did you figure me out?" I heard it say in Sweetie Belle's voice.
"Well I assumed the filly I killed wouldn't come back from the dead to say hello" I lied. I had to make them think I was alone.
"Dang, that's the problem with us changelings, we can see enough to know who you recently saw but we don't actually know your relationship with them" I heard the voice say, this time it was a different voice. I turned and saw the changeling agent in its true form, which was just a changeling with a blue robe.
"So, what's my verdict?" I joked. The changeling laughed.
"Well if you're lucky, you'll become our worker slave" it laughed as he approached me. I knew resistance was futile.
"Do I get paid?" I joked. Why was I joking around when facing death?
"You're pretty calm for a pony who is about to die" it taunted.
"Well, that's how I want to die" I told it, which was the truth. That's how my best friend would've went out, laughing. The only difference is, he would've been laughing with me, not at me.
"Don't worry, this'll only hurt for a second" the changeling said with a smirky face. The changeling's horn started glowing and he took aim at me. Spike, I leave them to you now.
"He left!?" they all yelled. I just nodded my head.
"I tried stopping him, but he took off" I told them.
"You let him go ALONE!?" Twilight yelled and groaned. I shrugged with a sheepish smile.
"We could've at least taken me with him" Lucy groaned.
"There is no way he could find it without my expertise" Jake added.
"I think you're both missing the point" I sighed.
"Yeah, like the fact that he might not come back at all!" Twilight yelled.
"C'mon Twilight, you're acting as if it's the first time he's been in danger" Lucy responded.
"He does have the tendency of doing that" I joked.
"But without our help, can we be sure he will be fine?" Jake asked.
"I sure hope so" Twilight responded as she turned and headed for the door. "Just in case, I got a message to write" she then said.
"I'm sure he won't let us help him, assuming he responds at all" I told her.
"I'm not writing a letter to him" Twilight said as she left. Who was she writing too?
No this isn't the last chapter in case you're wondering. I got them pesky changelings involved now, there had to be villains in this story right?
