MickeyAdaptus

"I think both, I had taught others before but she puts my previous students to shame with what she is capable of. Also perhaps my first student where I get this big feeling of pride, which is pretty rare for me." Caerson said with a smile. He then looked at Shining Armour. "We really need to step up our game with defences, if I hadn't defended myself I would have been killed by getting caught off guard. For all we know there might be a sniper aiming at us in this very moment, waiting to make a move and shot one of us through the head. Our soldiers need to on guard at all times, perhaps take defensive positions, but they really need to take action, at first we thought Zecora was someone else, perhaps an enemy, and if it weren't for Moonshadow, Rainbow Dash and Applejack then she would have gotten away, We can't make that mistake again, it will only take one mistake and we could be ambushed from all sides, and meet our deaths head on." Caerson reminded Shining Armour, knowing they where incredibly exposed as of now,

"Hmmm, we should investigate that town thoroughly, those burn marks combined with the oil scent was an indicator that they attacked not just by infected or conversion soldiers, it was done by sentient beings." Caerson stated. "We sh-" Suddenly a cloaked infected jumped straight at Caerson from behind, but in a split of a second, Caerson made a violent 180-degree spin with his axe that cleaved straight through the head of the cloaked enemy. "Things are getting dangerous, if there is one around, there will be alot more around us." Caerson said as he cleaned the blood of his axe by using the fur of the enemy he had just killed.

"I could consider myself pure, but my previous sins would not be washed away by deeds. My name is Caerson and I have been aiding the inhabitants of Equestria for a while now. You must be Zecora, Twilight had told me about you developing a cure for the virus, I am wondering how much luck you had so far, my own research has only been effective to an extent." Caerson said. "We have been travelling towards Hollow Shades and we found it completely abandoned, dead bodies still being there. Do you know what happened here?" He asked her.

"Rainbow, Applejack, go after that hooded person and try to restrain it!" Caerson called out. He then turned to a group of 5 armed griffons with crossbows. "You 5, take the air and try to cut off that hooded person so it won't escape!" Caerson said. He then started activating some of the drones.

Caerson looked up from the ground and stared at the town, he quickly went from his sad memories straight to the situation at hand. "Something is not right, I smell this too, but take a good look at those bodies, they have burned all over them. It smells like they had been bathed with some form of oil and then those victims had been set in flames, only some of the bodies have these burns." Caerson noted. "Stay on guard, there might still be enemies nearby." Caerson said as he drew his axe.

"yes.. They are gone, forever... Once the virus has progressed too far, it starts to destroy the organs, and eventually reaches the brain. For them, the situation was grave, they had been bitten in area's that could not be removed, which means they were going to turn eventually. And with no longer making them suffer... I meant I had to kill them, my wife is begging me to do it because she didn't our other daughter to turn into one of those... Things... So I made it quick for the 3 of them after I had to restrain my already turned daughter. After that, i couldn't bear to seem like this, burying them with those still infected bodies felt like one of the worst things i could possibly do to them, so i cremated them, that way they could rest in peace without having to be reminded to everything that has been going. Call me a monster, but i did what i had to do, there was no such thing as magic, healing, transferring souls, once the virus got into the body, it was over. That is what it means to be a Terran, you fight to protect everything you hold dear, but once that is gone, all you can do is fight and fight, hoping that you would get killed at some point to see your family once again. Some may call it radical, but those who think that do not know what suffering truly means." Caerson said as he closed his eyes.

"She..." Caerson paused a bit on his words. "She was was 5 years old, it was during the time when there was an evacuation, my family was among the group as around 10.000 civilians were trying to escape from an enemy invasion that was besieging one of our planets. Eventually, i met up with them, I was so relieved, but my daughter started acting violently at first, screaming and shouting occasionally, but before I knew it, my 5-year-old daughter had turned into an infected, she had been bitten long before we were even aware. Before i could do anything she had already infected my wife and my other daughter. One simple mistake costed my entire family in that row. Knowing that they could no longer return to the way to where, i... Made sure they no longer suffered. But even before this happenend i was a soldier, and my kids where always happy when i returned from duty, those days where golden, so many memories." Caerson said as he looked into the sky.

"Well, I did what felt right. I have been helping out resistance groups in secret before I even met you guys. I do have to admit, beyond all the wasted life out there, when I met you guys I started to get a change of heart, from something more bleaker, into something... hopeful, a hope that I had lost for so long. This planet has a beauty you don't see much often anymore. My daughter would have loved it here, not being crowded in bunkers and shelters, or in ruins, but in a paradise where we don't have to be reminded of the mistakes we made." Caerson said.

Caerson looked at Moonshadow with a hint of grief. "You cannot fix something that is dead Moonshadow, her body has been completely infected, and the virus would have already converted all her organs, rendering them broken. Putting her soul in her old body would keep her trapped in a lifeless husk. While i don't like giving bad news, i feel like i need to tell you without sugar coating, lest that someone would end up trying it anyway and find out the hard way." Caerson was about to walk away but gave him a quick glance. "Magic can only do so much, but it can't fix all our problems, it is hard but its the bitter truth." He said before he followed the others.

Caerson looked at him with a glimmer of hope. "In all my years I have never been able to come up with this idea, it might just work, but it might not either. The virus itself has a very vague and mysterious way of evolving itself, I have been studying it for very long. One time i tried to help someone who got infected, but to my greatest shock, this person had some sort of resistance against it. Instead of it throwing to take over the body, the virus saw the DNA of this person like its own, but how that would be impossible is not something i could find out. I still have the blood samples of that person, but i am not sure if it would be of any use." Caerson said. "We should perhaps go look for Zecora at some point, perhaps when we visited Hollow Shades we should go look for her if there really is a cure for this virus... Imagine how much lives it could save." Caerson said.

Caerson was thinking for a moment. "The enemy soldiers? No, but infected? They might. You have to remember that while the infected have become non-sentient, they still tend to act like wild animals, sometimes even retaining some of its older survival instincts with things like sheltering, while the infected might not be entirely made up of beings of Equestria, there might be a chance that some have started to adapt to this environment. While they do not sleep, there is a chance they create hives or shelters to drag their victims back in there so consume them later on." Caerson said. "The virus itself is more advanced then any of us can imagine since it has actually mutated in the past, being able to evolve beyond cures that would have worked before. Come to think of it, Wasn't the one named *Zecora* trying to find a cure for quite some time now? I wonder if she would have gotten any progress, though chances are unlikely, i spent so long trying to find a cure for this virus, but it evolves in ways that i cannot explain, nor can i understand." Caerson mentions.

Caerson quickly pulled his hood back over his head before anyone would see, he then collected his lost drones and started following the others. "We should get in position again, like we discussed, even with the fog gone we can still be ambushed, but now the Flyers have a great method of spotting some of the cloaked enemies from afar." Caerson said after a while as he looked around.

Caerson stood his ground, although he was starting to slide back a bit after a while. "Now we wait for the tornado to expire, and then we move out!" He called out through the wind. Some of the drones got blown away, in which he cursed silently.

Caerson nodded as he sends out a signal from his bionic eye, which sends a signal back to the drones which then started to create the hole via red lasers that were coming from its body. "Good, now we wait a bit." Caerson said as he watched the process. After around 5 minutes the drones had created a pretty large hole. "Alright, now for the next phase." Caerson said, mentioning to Rainbow and the other pegasi.

"Twilight is right, a few hours is all we will need, besides, it is only a temporary advantage, even if the mist where to return, it wouldn't mean we would be doomed, we would just have to be more careful should it return when we haven't reached or left the place yet." Caerson said. It was eventually a few hours later that they were getting close to the edge of the forest. "We are getting close to the forest, once anyone spots the mist, shout out the code word *Mark 5*, and then you all know what to do." Caerson reminded them.

"But what if we contained the tornado? I could use my drones to dig a massive hole into the ground, the others create that tornado inside the hole. The tornado might not move around but the force that the tornado creates should be enough to drive the fog away, we would just have to stand away at a reasonable distance when the tornado is created until all the fog is gone." Caerson said with a smile. "Sometimes you need to be creative in order to prevent casualties, and i have to admit, Equestrians excel at using creative situations, that much i have l learned." He admitted.

"I might have a solution for that. Pegasi are able to create tornado's right? Rainbow Dash and some other pegasi could, in theory, blow away all that fog surrounding us. Your dragon part is a good idea though, and when the fog is gone the camouflaged soldiers will still be invisible to our eyes yes, but here is one flaw in their tactics, from afar againts enemies they don't fully cloak just yet, the pegasi and griffons in their could potentially spot those cloaked enemies who are afar, not all of them, but some, wich is better then nothing." Caerson mentioned.

"Good work. For now, we don't have to apply it yet. But if i may suggest, Use the earth ponies and dragons on the outer layer of the defence, keep the changelings and the unicorns on the inner layer while the pegasi and the griffon's fly overhead to scout ahead and keep a steady sight above us for spotting targets. Keep that formation when we are in the forest, when i shout the signal *Mark 5*, then it would be the moment to perform, how does that sound?" Caerson suggested to Shining Armour.

"I would have to mention that there is a big chance they will have soldiers who are able to cloak and camouflage themselves from the visible eye. It is in a forest with mostly fog, wich would make a excellent place for such ambushes, when we are getting close to that town, i would suggest we would move in a pattern where soldiers guard us from every angle around us, and no one walks to far behind or to much afar from us." Caerson suggested.

Before he started walking, Caerson still had an importmant question in mind that had not been answered yet. "Shining Armour, where will we be heading to first? What about Hollow Shades? That place seems very secluded, a perfect place for our enemies to hide." Caerson mentioned.

"Yes, i did, and while i am not very happy with your decision, it has a good intention behind it, but one that might backfire in the end. I just hope you know what the consequences behind your decision will be." Caerson said. "Anyway, we should get moving now, we can't keep them waiting any longer." Caerson mentioned

"Agreed, and should it be discovered that it was Moonshadow all along, we will have to fight without that morale boost. Because one thing is certain, if our armies won't fight, then who will? Hope not always comes from a hero, but for fact that they fight the very survival of their species, they are aware that if they won't fight, everything that we have strived for would go to waste and Equestria would be no more." "If need be, i will act as their new inspiring hero, i will fight at the frontlines and show those who lack hope how to create that hope, the seniors of this army won't be lacking hope, but the juniors will in most cases, and when that times comes, they need someone to set an example of Determination and Valor." Caerson said.

"That might a good idea, but there is something you should see..." Caerson said as he pointed to the fake Maple. "That is Moonshadow disguised since Maple has a robot body now. I am aware he is trying to uphold the armies hope and morale, but he is playing a dangerous game. Now he has to keep up this facade for the rest of time, and that is going to prove difficult because he will have to focus on the battle and this entire thing at the same time. I am telling you, this is going to backfire, for his sake, he should eventually tell the truth before it becomes too late, the other races might not care, but the ponies would have a big loss of morale if they find out." "I just wish to avoid problems, and this very thing could become our end should it happen during our quest. This is and advice from one soldier to atnother, lies will never hold on forever." Caerson said with a sigh, not approving of what Moonshadow was doing.

"I already got 3 members, but i will have to get more members along the way i am afraid, but we are ready." Caerson said. "There is something that i am wondering about, where will we be heading first? I am not sure if that has been told me yet." Caerson asked him.