An Everfree Extraction (Private, jadensong) [Dead]

[ashl3yfox]

"Lotus Summer. Her name is Lotus Summer. Please has anypony seen her? She went missing in the everfree forest about two days ago!" Radiant Summer said desperately trying to learn anything about her daughter. Her pleas did not go unheard however as a certain filly's ears who immediately raced home to tell her sister. "Hey Krystal wake up!" Vixen yelled before poking the sleeping dragon. "GAH!!!!" The young dragoness yelled. "Whats Wrong? Zombies? Changelings? Zombie Changelings?!?" The dragoness rapidly responded. "What? No. " Vixen responded. "Oh. then what is it you need to tell me?" Krystal asked. "I got us a rescue mission!" Vixen said excitedly. "A rescue mission? Who are we rescuing and where are we going?" Krystal asked. "Her name is Lotus Summer I think and the Everfree forest is once again our playground!" Vixen said. "All right lets go." The young dragoness said. The two sisters then prepped themselves for what was sure to be a dangerous adventure. Vixen jumped up to the roof of her home and grabbed one of the few remaining 'Timber' armors and began to don the wooden armor. When Vixen was fully suited up she grabbed ten of her specially crafted explosive cylinders and her serpent scale sword And then proceeded to grab a few apples and oranges for later. Krystal also got armored up in her own version of her sisters armor and packed other essentials for their adventure. Once the two sisters were ready they snuck outside and bolted as fast as they could to the forest. "Well this should be fun." Vixen said. "Hopefully we can find her fast and without being noticed." Krystal said. "I hope so. I only have a few of these armors that are undamaged." Vixen complained. The two sisters then entered the forest alert for any danger that they could avoid.    

[Jadensong]

"A pony named Lotus Summer has gone missing. It seems that she hasn't been seen in Ponyville for at least two days and her mother, Radiant Summer has called for help." A white and blue maned stallion spoke, his golden armor equipped as well as his helm. "Lotus Summer was last seen going into the Everfree forest, from what we're told. So I assume that she is still in there."


-You think?- Thought a dark brown mare, flicking her dark green and light blue tail once as they trotted from the train station into Ponyville. The young unicorn was also in golden armor and wearing her helm, but unlike the guard beside her, was equipped with a sheathed sword that had an emerald on its hilt. On her back was a light blue saddle bag with a few supplies of apples and a container of water. Jaden Song had been briefed on the train about the missing pony, but as always, Swift Shield wanted to make sure she remembered what she had to do.

"So you know what you have to do, right Jaden Song?" Swift asked, his voice low as they neared the mayor's office. Jaden glanced at Swift with slightly annoyed look and nodded. "Yes, I understand. This is a rescue mission. Find a lost pony named Lotus and return her to her mother, safe and sound." Jaden answered, her voice both a sure and half annoyed tone. The guard nodded, smiling a bit. Before he could response however, a desperate voice was heard among the groups of ponies and Swift's attention turned toward the sound. "Looks like we have no time to lose." He spoke, losing his smile and turned his attention briefly back to Jaden. "Go on and find Lotus. Be careful." Swift added, before trotted off toward the voice.

Jaden watched the guard trot off before turning and making her own way to the everfree, her thoughts about how to go about finding Lotus Summer clear on her face. -Need to find her as quick as possible, though I doubt that will be easy since it is the everfree.- She sighed in her mind, nearing the Everfree forest before stopping suddenly. Her light blue gaze caught the sight of a young filly and a your dragon with their own set of armor, running into the forest. Her eyes widen slightly before shaking her head and bolted forward herself after them. "Hey! Wait!" She called out, entering the forest with a look of worry on her face.

[ashl3yfox]

Vixen and Krystal both heard a voice and looked back to see a unicorn in golden armor bolting after them. "Looks like we already threw stealth out of the window." Vixen joked. "You think mom sent the guard?" Krystal asked. Vixen thought it over in her mind and was convinced that the guard approaching was not sent by their mother. "Nah, mom would come and find us herself." Vixen responded. The two sisters then closed the distance enough that the guard could make out their conversation. "Hey maybe we can get this guard to help us in locating the Missing filly." the silver and maroon dragoness suggested. "Absolutely not." Vixen coldly and quickly responded. "What's wrong with having someone who has been trained to fight at your back in the everfree forest?" Krystal asked confused by her sisters rapid response. "Last time a guard helped me and my brother he didn't believe my brother when he told him about that sugar crazed unicorn and only when I blew up said unicorn did he come." Vixen said. "Well yeah but that was one guard not the entire royal guard." Krystal pointed out. "Oh...Well crud you got me there." Vixen admitted. "Your right having a guard help us would be pretty helpful." Vixen said. The two finally got closer to the guard and were the first to speak up. "Uh hello there. My names Vixen Tetra Tremortin and this is my sister Krystal Tremortin. Were Atlas! An exploration and rescue team!" The filly happily exclaimed.

[Jadensong]

Jaden kept her pace, trying to catch up to the two small figures with her gaze occasionally checking the trees around her. Luckily for the young unicorn, the two figures stopped just ahead of her and decided to break her pace to a trot. As she got closer to the two, she confirmed in her mind that one was indeed a small filly and the other was a young Dragoness.

-But what are they doing out here? Don't those two know how dangerous this place is?- Jaden thought, pausing as she reached ear shot of them. Her green-tipped ears flicked forward, listening as the two spoke and after a moment, tilted her head a bit. -Missing filly? Do they mean Lotus? And what about this 'Crazed Unicorn'? Is that why Cadets weren't allowed during that night?- Jaden wondered, her light blue gaze drifted away from the two toward the ground. Then again, these two were younger then her by the looks of it, so how would that even be true? The young unicorn let out a sigh, half closing her eyes and shook her once.

"Let's worry about that later." She spoke under her breath, her attention now focused on the two that now approached her and blinked. -Vixen and Krystal are a exploration and rescue team??- Jaden thought, resisting the urge to face-hoof herself and chose to smile instead. "Well then. Hello Vixen and Krystal." She spoke calmly, turning her head slightly to glance at the trees around them. Even though there was nothing else around, the young unicorn wanted to be sure that nothing could sneak up on them. After a brief pause, her attention returned to the filly and dragoness with a nod. "Sorry about that, just checking the area. My name is Jaden Song, Cadet of the Royal guard." Jaden said, her voice hiding a bit of pride. "Though I can't help but ask, aren't you both a little young to be out here?" Jaden asked, before raising her right fore-hoof with a slight apologetic look in her eyes. "Of course, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to! I'm just curious as to why you both are out here in the Everfree." Jaden quickly added, smiling.

[ashl3yfox]

"Well then Jaden Song cadet of the royal guard ill tell you why me and my sister are here in the everfree." Vixen said while mimicking the voice of princess Celestia. "We are here to rescue the lost filly Lotus Summer and return her safely to her mother." Vixen said. "We also are in no real danger we enter the everfree forest all the time to adventure." Vixen said. "Yeah we always go into the forest although sometimes Vixen here goes in here alone." Krystal said. Vixen then noticed the royal cadets sword and became interested. "Hey that's a nice sword you have. Bet its not cheap huh. I have a sword too see." Vixen said as she unsheathed her serpent scale crafted sword. Vixen then swung it around at a tree a couple of times and then proceeded to resheath the blade. "See cool blade right? I had it made in canterlot. I'm still learning how to use it effectively though." Vixen said. "Hey vixen what ever happened to that chest of stolen bits you took from those thieves?" Krystal asked remembering the chest. "Oh that? I left it in canterlot so Tessa could use them to fix the Lance Held High. We haven't even made a dent in that money by the way." Vixen said proudly. "Now back to you. I don't think I'm too young to go in the forest and besides I have my sister with me." Vixen said happily. Suddenly a pack of timberwolves jumped out of the darkness of the forest and surrounded the trio. "Well looks like we have some friends." Krystal said. Vixen unsheathed her sword and swung at the nearest wooden wolf.

[Jadensong]

Jaden song's light blue eyes slightly widened at the sudden voice that came from the young filly's mouth, sounding like the princess herself and frowned while lowering her right hoof. -So she can mimic Princess Celestia. Just who is this little filly?- She thought while listening to Vixen explain why they were here. Like Jaden, they were here to rescue the young filly known as Lotus Summer and also mentioned that they're not in danger here.
"I beg to differ." Jaden spoke dryly, her eyes once again looking over to the trees around them.

As much as she wanted to believe Vixen and Krystal, the young unicorn still had to be ready for anything. Even if it was only minor. Sighing again, she turned her gaze back to Vixen as the filly mentioned her sword and nodded. "Yeah, its not cheap." Jaden spoke, watching the young filly unsheathe her own sword and swing it around at a tree. She couldn't quite tell what type of sword it was, but instead thought of it as a rare item. "So, made in Cantorlot? Then that sword must be of a rare type of metal." Jaden said, smiling slightly. The smile vanished from her muzzle however, as her attention once again turned to the trees and narrowed her eyes. Something was around, watching the small group and still was well outta sight. The young unicorn couldn't quite tell what it was but yet felt the strange feeling that something was off.

Jaden's hearing barely caught vixen's words, her light blue eyes glancing to the young filly and huffed once. "Of course." Jaden said, her focus now on sudden movement that quickly surrounded them and couldn't help but chuckle at Krystal's words. Timberwolves. -Wolf-like trees with bad breath.- The young unicorn summed up in her mind and with narrowed eyes, unsheathed her own sword with her magic.
"How about we welcome them, then?" Jaden spoke calmly before turning around and aiming her blade at the one behind her.

*Crack*

Her blade had landed in between the eyes of it's head, causing the timberwolf to back up with a growl. Not wanting to waste another moment, the young unicorn darted forward with her sword and moved to the left side of it. Then with a swift motion of her blade, cut into the side of the timberwolf. The timberwolf howled in pain, turning to bite Jaden but missed her tail and fell onto its right side.
Narrowing her light blue eyes, Jaden moved slowly away from the the fallen Timberwolf and glanced to Vixen and Krystal with her sword levitating at her side. -Wonder how Vixen and Krystal holding up?- Jaden thought, her eyes quickly switching back to the timberwolf that had managed to get up and smiled.
"Oh, ready for another round?" Jaden asked it, only to hear her answer be nothing but a snarl.
The young unicorn's smiled disappeared and prepared herself for another attack.

[ashl3yfox]

The timberwolf was sliced right in half from Vixens swing. Vixen then swung the blade into another timber wolf and the blade once again went straight through the wooden wolf as the serpent scale that made the blade was sharp enough to achieve this and once the blade went through the wooden wolf and got stuck half way in the nearby tree. Vixen grabbed one of her explosive cylinders and tossed it with her magic at the farthest timberwolf and watched with a smile as the targeted timberwolf and three nearby timberwolves exploded into splinters and five others were knocked off their wooden paws from the shockwave. Krystal turned the timberwolf attacking her into ashes with her flames and turned her head in time to see the cylinder explode and was satisfied with what her sister had done. "Nice one Vixen!" Krystal said. Krystal pulled Vixens sword free and in the same motion swung it behind her and cut down a timberwolf that had tried to be sneaky. Krystal then tossed the sword at a timberwolf near Vixen who then using her magic grabbed the sword and pulled it out and swung it at another timberwolf. Vixen then sheathed her blade and ran to a nearby tree and grabbed a branch and swung herself forward and let go. Vixen landed on the nearest timberwolf and grabbed its back and didn't let go. Vixen unsheathed her hidden carving knife concealed in her front right hoof guard and drove it into the timberwolf which then fell apart into several pieces of lifeless wood afterwards. The rest of the timberwolves then ran away when Vixen threw another of her explosive cylinders at them. One of the broken timberwolves began to reform but stopped once Vixen stood up on her back hooves and began to stomp on it repeatedly. "YAH GUH YUH!" Vixen said as she stomped the wooden wolf trying to reassemble itself. "Vixen calm down we won." Krystal said. "Sorry. Cant be too careful with timberwolves." Vixen said as she calmed down after the battle. "So Jaden shall we get moving?" Vixen asked in Princess Luna's voice.

[Jadensong]

As the Timberwolf ran forward toward the young cadet, a loud explosion could be heard nearby and caused the timberwolf to pause mid run. -Nice timing.- Jaden thought, quickly darting forward with her sword hovering beside her. As the timberwolf turned, Jaden turned slightly to one side and with a swing of her blade, met the target's neck. Within a few moments after, the timberwolf fell apart, its head cut from its body and fell lifeless to the ground. Jaden soon glanced up to look at her surroundings, taking note of the scene. Krystal and Vixen were quick at work to take out most of timberwolves and as another explosion came, it was quite clear who was winning. As the rest of them ran away, Jaden turned her head slightly with a twitch of one ear. -Really...- Jaden huffed, lifting her sword up that was still in her magic grip and slammed it down blade first into the head of timberwolf.

The green glow of it ceased and the young cadet sighed. "Still have a lot to learn." Jaden mused to herself, lifting the blade from its head and brought it close to inspect it. As she did, Jade heard Vixen as her a question with a Princess Luna voice and blinked once. "I think that would be good. The sooner we find Lotus Summer, the better." Jaden said, her eyes moving from the sword to Vixen and Krystal. However her eyes slightly widened a bit, seeing something just behind them start to reassemble again. "One sec." Jaden spoke quickly, moving a few hoof-steps to the side before throwing her blade at the target. Once the blade landed on one piece of the wooden wolf, it once again fell apart. "Ok then." Jaden said, trotting over to the now lifeless wood and pulled her sword from a piece of it.
"Now we can go." Jaden said, chuckling slightly. Sheathing her sword, Jaden checked to make sure her saddle bag was ok before remembering something. "Vixen? If I may ask, how in the world can you talk like the Princesses?" Jaden asked, turning her gaze back to Vixen and Krystal.

[ashl3yfox]

Vixen looked around to make sure that the area was safe and once she was satisfied she answered the royal cadets question. "I can mimic more than just the princess's voices." Vixen said in Jaden's voice. "Its one of my talents I can do. Its really helped me out of a lot of sticky situations especially with my parents." Vixen explained. "Its also gotten you into trouble as well Vixen." Krystal pointed out. "Hey it works most of the time. Remember back in canterlot when my Celestia mimicry made those guards let us go to all those first class places for free?" Vixen said. "I remember the awesome meals we had that day." Krystal said with a giggle. a loud growl was then suddenly heard in the distance. "Well at least its not near us. We should probably get moving before something worse than timberwolves attacks us." Vixen suggeste. "What can be worse?" Krystal asked. "Something bigger than us with a lot of teeth or something bigger than us with a lot of teeth that has friends." Vixen said. "Well we have faced the worst this forest could throw at us already." Krystal said. "Your not talking about that plant again are you?" Vixen asked. "Hey that was weird day. We fought zombie timberwolves, manticores , and the giant plant controlling them all." the dragoness said. "I even fought you when you got infected." Krystal said in a sad tone. "Yeah but we took care of that remember? Hummingbird Heartbeat pretty much obliterated it." Vixen said. "Yeah that's true." Krystal said. "Well lets get moving. Hey cadet you want to carry the explosive cylinders?" Vixen said.

[Jadensong]

The young cadet's face blinked once before face-hoofing herself, folding her ears back as she did so. -She's mimicing my voice now...great.- Jaden thought, lowering her hoof with a clearly amused look on her face. While listening to Vixen and Krystal talk, the young unicorn noted what the young filly said in her mind. -So one of her talents is to mimic other voices. Which like she said, uses it to get out of trouble if need be.- Jaden nodded slowly, closing her eyes with a small sigh. -Must be nice..-

Jaden's eyes snapped open however, turning her head toward the loud growling sound that was somewhere off in the distance and narrowed them. It was clear that they needed to move soon, or else face something that may be worse then what they fought so far. "The sooner, the better." Jaden said, her voice a bit low. Turning her attention back to Vixen and Krystal, her head tilted as she caught the last few sentences Krystal said. "So...Zombie tree wolves, manticores and a giant plant?" Jaden spoke in a half amused tone, trotting over to them and stopped next to Vixen. "Must have been fun. Minus Vixen getting mind controlled." Jaden added, looking down the path ahead of them with a small smile on her muzzle. The young cadet was glad that they were able to cure something like that since from what Jaden had read in a book about this place, a plant called Mind Control was a pretty rare but deadly plant. Not much was known about it, only that it could control its foes by using a deadly poison.
Jaden shook her head, turning her gaze to Vixen when she asked her a question and tilted her head to one side.

"Well...I don't know how they work, giving I know very little on them. But sure why not?" Jaden spoke, turning herself to face Vixen fully.  "Also, Just call me J-D. Its what my friends call me." Jaden said, nodding once while slightly frowning. 

[ashl3yfox]

"Alright then JD lets get moving." vixen said after giving her the bag containing the explosive cylinders. "There should be a clearing that way. That seems like it would be a good place to start looking for Lotus. The downside is that we will exposed greatly to predators that are out looking for a snack." Vixen said. "Well it isn't our only option." the young dragoness said. "What about checking the heart of timberwolf territory? A lot of ponies don't know that it belongs primarily to timberwolves until they get attacked and there is a lot of places a filly can hide from them in that area." Krystal pointed out. "Well that's true but that also put us and JD here in a lot of unnecessary danger. We will search the clearing first and if she's not there well search the timberwolf territory." Vixen said. Vixen then noticed a box covered in moss and approached it. Vixen then brushed some of the moss off and saw a half faded Atlas symbol on the box. "Hey Krystal is this ours?" Vixen asked knowing what the answer would be. "Uh Yeah it sure is. What's it doing here?" The young dragoness asked. "I don't know but judging by its condition its been here while. Hey didn't Tessa lose some crates when she had the airship's new frame tested?" Vixen asked. "Yeah she did and that was awhile ago." Krystal responded. Vixen then broke open the crate and was surprised by the crates contents. Inside the box was a set of royal guard armor and a few now rusty swords and a few spoiled foods and fruits. "Well I was wondering what happened to these." Vixen said while prodding one of the spoiled fruits with a hoof. "Oh well looks like there's not much we can use here." Vixen said turning around and beginning to walk towards the clearing. "JD grab anything you think we can use and lets go." Vixen said.

[Jadensong]

Jaden's horn lit up, receiving the bag of explosive cylinders in her magic grasp and placed them in her left saddle-bag. "Lead the way." Jaden said, closing the bag and begin to follow the two. As Vixen and Krystal talked, the young cadet summed up their options and thought them over. -A clearing would be a good place to start, since it would have the least problems.- Jaden glanced over to the nearby clearing they were heading for, smiling a bit. -Yet at the same time, going into the heart of timberwolf territory sounds dangerous. Yet there is always a chance...- Jaden thought, stopping as she noticed vixen approach an odd box.

"A box?" Jaden wondered out loud, a look of confusion on her face. "That's odd. Why would there be one out here?" Jaden said, approaching the box as well. The box Vixen found had indeed aged, the top of the box seemed familiar but she couldn't remember of what the symbol referred to. Hearing about another pony's name however, the young cadet quickly looked at Vixen with an eyebrow raised. -Tessa? who's that?- Jaden thought, blinking once as Vixen opened the box and turned her gaze to look at items inside. A set of royal guard armor, which by the looks of it was a bit bigger then what she was wearing. A few rusty swords that were worn out and a few rotten foods that would be better to leave behind. "Not much here we can use." Jaden said, levitating one of the rusted swords closer to inspect it. After looking it over a few times, Jaden sighed and placed it back into the box with a shake of her head. "Nope." Jaden said, turning around and started to follow Vixen and Krystal toward the clearing.

[ashl3yfox]

"All right here we are." Vixen said as the group arrived at the clearing. "See anything Krystal?" Vixen asked. "Not much looks like she isn't here and- oh look." Krystal said as she started to move ahead to a couple of boxes. Vixen approached the boxes and turned one over to discover the Atlas symbol, her symbol on the boxes. "Krystal is this more of the gear we lost?" Vixen asked knowing what the answer would be. "Yeah looks like it but look over here this box was broken into." The young dragoness said. Vixen took a look and discovered that Krystal was correct the box had been broken into but it wasn't broken it had been expertly opened as if whatever opened it had packed the crate itself. "Looks like whatever got into this box took some the important survival stuff." Krystal stated. "Huh so looks like our missing filly found our missing gear got one of the boxes open and scattered." Vixen said. Vixen then opened the rest of the crates and discovered a plethora of items. Of the many items a few shone against the rest such as five full sets of canterlot guard armor, a few more swords that weren't rusted, some first aide kits and other various medical supplies, two more explosive cylinders that seemed to be ready to go off at any moment, and a few food items that weren't spoiled. "Krystal where did Tessa get most of this stuff? Cause I don't remember asking her to buy royal guard armor I remember telling her to just buy armor." Vixen asked. "She bought the sets of armor from a black market guy but for the most part she buys the majority of the items you task her with getting from local merchants." Krystal answered. "Oh. JD same drill take anything useful and lets get moving." Vixen said as she started to attach some of the royal guard armor to her own armor.

[Jadensong]

As the group reached the clearing, Jaden song paused in her steps to look around. Nothing much could be said about the open area that was surrounded by trees, bushes and grass. Plenty of room to move around but yet at the same time, provided zero cover. Seeing little sign of Lotus however, Jaden lowered her ears back a bit and sighed. "Great." Jaden said dryly, turning her attention to Krystal as she spoke and moved toward something. The young cadet followed with her gaze until she spotted what the young dragoness spoke of and blinked a few times in shock. -What?- Jaden thought, staring at the boxes.
As if that wasn't enough shock, one of the boxes were indeed opened and from what the two were saying, had made off with very important items. Vixen's mentioning of the missing filly however, snapped Jaden out of her shocked expression and was replaced by a look of relief.

"If so, then we're on the right track." Jaden spoke calmly, walking until she stopped next to Krystal to glance at the items inside the boxes. It didn't take long for Jaden to eye one of the few swords that seemed in fit condition, taking it out with her magic and unsheathe the sword to look at it. It was sharp, not as sharp as her sword was now, but still able to cut anything. After looking it over a few more times, her gaze shifted to Vixen as she mentioned the name Tessa again and raised one eyebrow in wonder. As Jaden listened however, her wonder switched to one of slight anger as the words 'black market' were spoken. Glancing once to the sword she was holding, she sheathed it and placed it on the ground next to her. After doing so, sighed. "Ok." Jaden said, her voice slightly mirroring her anger.
Looking at the other supplies, Jaden opened the right side of her saddle-bag before levitating some of the first aid kits with her magic. She then placed them inside next to the two apples and container of water she had stored for the search. Jaden continued to take a few more of the medical supplies and placed them in the bag as well before looking at the guard armor next.

-Tessa...Who is this pony.- The young cadet thought, turning her gaze to a few smaller pieces of armor before seeing something on the ground. -Tracks!- Jaden spoke in her mind, spotting small hoof prints in the dirt and by the looks of them, were headed off in a different direction. Her attention turned to Vixen and Krystal, all the while giving them a slight angry look in her eyes. "I think you two might wanna see this." Jaden said calmly, tilting her head a bit toward the tracks before turning her attention back to the task at hoof and began to strap one of the few swords to her back. -I'll question them about all this, later. Right now, just focus on the mission.- Jaden thought to herself, getting the now strapped sword on and looked at the guard armor again. One thing was for sure, the young cadet was more curious about who this Tessa was and even more so about those two. Yet with each question she formed, she knew this was not the time to ask.

[ashl3yfox]

"What is it JD?" Vixen asked curious about what the cadet had found. "Looks like she found some tracks Sister." Krystal said after examining what she had found. Indeed the tracks were a good sign but Vixen was more worried about what this meant. (First the filly gets lost in the everfree forest and then gets lost looking for a way out. Then she finds this clearing after some time and manages to get into one of our crates and took the supplies inside but took only the essentials and nothing else...) Vixen thought silently to herself. Vixen then looked at the crates again and saw something interesting claw marks that were present on a box near the one Lots managed to open. (Too large to be a timberwolf's and too small to be a hydra or ursa's thank luna so that leaves us with either a manticore or some other kind of large creature.) Vixen though to herself trying to figure out what had happened. "I think I figured out why she only looted one crate." Vixen said. "Oh really?" Krystal asked with interest. "Yeah I think so anyway. Look see that claw mark over there? Well I think a manticore may have created it. So I think our missing filly came to this clearing and found our missing crates, managed to get one open and was in the process of taking some items when a manticore or two show up and attack out of the blue. Lotus panics and flees and one of the manticores tries to swipe at her and misses and hits the crate. But that only a guess I'm making something entirely different could have happened." Vixen said. "Well its a pretty good guess if you ask me sister but we'll know for sure when we find Lotus and ask." Krystal said. "Your right we'll know more after we save her and ask ourselves. Now lets get moving." Vixen said as she and her sister Krystal began to follow the trail. "Hey JD know any good traveling stories? Cause I get the feeling that were going to be in this forest awhile." Vixen asked.