So sorry about the huge hiatus on this! I had uni and I was catching up on Supernatural, then I got dragged into that fandom. But this should update every day now, or at least one of my stories should.
Felix brushed a bug away from his face with a blue wing. While the Everfree Forest had been filled with random bugs, weeds, and vines, at least there hadn't been this many bugs. Some of them even looked vaguely pony-shaped.
And then a unicorn teleported in front of him. He made a very foalish whinny and ducked behind Twilight, hoping that she would shield him from this stranger. But the new unicorn barely noticed them. She simply fired a green spell, twisting her body in that graceful way all unicorns had.
"That's right, you'd better fly away! Dirty bugs," she muttered. She turned to face them, and Felix gasped. Her blonde mane, while short, perfectly framed her face and looked simply gorgeous against her black coat. Distantly, someone was snickering, but Felix didn't notice- he was too busy staring in awe at this beautiful new unicorn.
"Who are you?" he finally asked, stepping out from behind the purple unicorn.
"Name's Tamora but I go by the name of Calhoun," she replied, and stuck out a hoof. "What's your name, soldier?"
"Felix," he replied, feeling his cheeks warm. "And I'm no soldier, ma'am. Just your average, run of the mill, pegasus pony." As he spoke, he stepped on a broken stick and it reformed.
Calhoun's blue eyes widened. "How'd you do that?"
"Oh," Felix blushed, "that. Well, y'see, when I was a little colt, I found a golden hammer while… exploring in the Everfree Forest. Actually, I was visiting my brother. He always lived there."
"Uh huh." Calhoun's blue eyes seemed to sparkle. Felix could feel himself getting lost in them.
"And now I'm going looking for him with the help of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash," he continued. The words just seemed to tumble out in her presence.
"You mean two of the Elements of Harmony?" Calhoun frowned. She stepped towards Twilight and Felix shook his head as he came back to Equestria. What had just happened?
"Yes, I am Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic," Twilight introduced herself. "I take it you've heard of us?"
"Heard of you?" Calhoun growled. Felix turned to see her glaring at Twilight. "Where were you when the changelings invaded Canterlot?"
"Trapped by the changelings," Twilight admitted sheepishly. "My friends were all trapped and I was sent to the caves where the Queen was keeping Cadance."
Calhoun snorted. "A likely story. And where were the elements themselves?"
"The changelings had them," Twilight explained, growing defensive. "We were just as helpless as everypony else. Not even the Princess could stop her!"
"Princess Celestia, perhaps," Calhoun allowed. "But what about Luna? Where was she?"
"Doing her duty as Princess and patrolling Equestria to keep it safe for the night, I assume," Twilight replied. "Or maybe she was sleeping from doing just that the night before."
"Maybe," she figured. "Or maybe Chrysalis set a trap for her to draw her away. Surely somepony who was once Nightmare Moon could have defeated the Queen and all her changelings as easily as this." She stepped on a bug to emphasise her point. She turned away again, ears twitching at a noise, and Felix finally caught a glimpse of her cutie mark. It was a changeling caught in crosshairs. Understanding dawned on him.
"You were at the Canterlot invasion," he realised, trotting after her as she set off.
"Yep, I was," she confirmed, looking around as her horn glowed a steady green. Something in the trees lit up that same colour, but Felix barely noticed.
"Is that where you got your cutie maAArk?" Felix jumped back as Calhoun fired a bolt of magic and a dark shape fell from a tree with a thud.
"Yep," she confirmed without even flinching at what had just happened. "I started fighting back, but my mark only appeared when I killed the changeling who'd replaced my coltfriend." She looked away, but not before he'd caught the sadness in her eyes. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."
"Maybe because you feel the same way," Felix suggested, flapping his wings gently to fly behind her.
"Cool your hooves, Casanova," she laughed. Felix blushed but continued fluttering after her.
Rainbow Dash soon caught up and smirked at the sight of Felix.
"Thought nothin'd get you off the ground," she chuckled. "Tryna get a better view from here?"
"What?" Felix blushed, and nearly fell out of the air. "No!"
"Sure, you keep tellin' yourself that," Rainbow laughed, and flew ahead of them.
Soon, it was just Felix and Calhoun again with Twilight bringing up the rear.
"So, what's this about going to find you brother?" Calhoun asked.
"He went missing a while ago so I decided to go looking for him," he explained. "And along the way, I met these two lovely mares who offered to help me."
"We saved him from a Timberwolf when he was walking around the forest like a foal!" Rainbow called back.
"And where do you think he's gone?" Calhoun prompted. "I might be going that way. Although, knowing your luck, you'd run into a swarm of changelings and have no way to fight back."
"We've just been following the map," Felix replied, gesturing to Twilight who walked with a map in front of her. "We ask at every town if they've seen a giant red earth pony. By the way, have you seen one?"
"Nope," Calhoun shook her head. "I'd remember if I had."
"Darn," he sighed. "I guess we'll just have to keep looking, then."
"Hey, we'll find him. Can't be too hard to find a giant pony, huh?" she chuckled.
"So, you mean…?" Felix asked, wingtips trembling with excitement as her words reached him.
"Yeah, I'll go along with you guys. I'm not really on a contract at the moment, anyway," she shrugged.
"Oh, thank you, ma'am!" Felix cried, and swooped down. He took her in his hooves and hugged her, remaining in the air.
"You're welcome," Calhoun laughed. "Now put me down!" Felix complied, his cheeks still warm and glowing.