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Heart of War- Act XIII

By ThingPaste
Created: 2024-02-28 03:13:59
Expiry: Never
heart of war

  1. >…
  2. >The storm did not subside until well into the night.
  3. >For hours you were rocked back and forth, the sea churning as it attempted to swallow this little ship.
  4. >Frankly you’re amazed that all of the masts remain unbroken.
  5. >But eventually the rain died down, and the waves calmed.
  6. >And although the waters are still fairly violent, comparatively it feels like there isn’t a single ripple hitting the ship.
  7. >While it was previously pitch black, only to be broken by the periodic lighting that would coat the clouds, now the constant shine of the moon is glistening over the stern.
  8. >Even though as you look forward, you can still see lighting crawl over the horizon as the storm keeps moving further away.
  9. >Based on the moon, it must be around three in the morning.
  10. >But there’s just enough light to do a quick headcount.
  11. >Amazingly, it looks like all of the crew are still accounted for.
  12. >You’re all soaked with salt and brine, but everyone’s still standing.
  13. >Tiara seems to notice too, as she quickly addresses the crew:
  14. >”Good job men. Now get some rest, you’ve all earned it.”
  15. >The crew begins to open up the hatches, so that another group of sailors can take over.
  16. >But while they do that, you approached Tiara.
  17. “Well done Lady Tiara, it seems you chose your crew well.”
  18. >You reach down and give a single pat to her shoulder.
  19. “I didn’t even have to jump overboard to rescue anyone.”
  20. >“Shut up, I’m too tired to deal with you.”
  21. “Can’t stay up a single night? I thought you were a professional.”
  22. >”I was busy steering this ship all night, you stood around most of the time.”
  23.  
  24. “Well why don’t you get that much needed beauty rest?”
  25. >”Based on looks, I’d say that you needed it more.”
  26. >Your body does ache from two days of fighting monsters and a night of helping to secure rigging.
  27. >But you can’t let on that you’re not at peak capacity.
  28. >Reaching down to her mane, you pull out a small piece of seaweed that lodged itself behind her left ear.
  29. “I’d check a mirror before making that bet.”
  30. >That’s as good a place as any, so you nod and take your leave as you toss the seaweed to the side.
  31. >As you walk down the steps to the main deck, you’re taken down the rabbit hole.
  32. >-
  33. >In a blink, you’re no longer on the dark and dreary ship.
  34. >Instead, you find yourself in the middle of a pine forest.
  35. >A forest covered in snow.
  36. >It’s lightly snowing, but all of the snow on the ground makes everything rather bright.
  37. >As you walk down a path in the snow, you are soon flanked by rows of three foot high candy canes that line the path.
  38. >The pine trees start to have different colored lights spiraling up to their tops.
  39. >At the end of the path, you see a large red velvet throne.
  40. >Discord is sitting in it.
  41. >In human form.
  42. >Dressed in a Santa outfit, complete with hat.
  43. >He’s even got a fake bushy white beard that’s hanging a few inches from his chin.
  44. >And on either side of the throne are stacks of wrapped Christmas presents.
  45. >”Hello Anon.”
  46. “Harv... It’s not even fall.”
  47. >”Yes, but have I got a present for you!”
  48.  
  49. “If you expect me to sit on your lap, you are sadly mistaken.”
  50. >”Ah, but you are the one to bring it up. So, why don’t you saunter on over here and tell good ole Saint Harv what you want this year?”
  51. “There are so many things wrong with that, I don’t know where to start.”
  52. >”How about with: ‘Dear Harvey Claus, this year I would really like…’ and then see how things go from there.”
  53. >You reach to one of the oversized candy canes.
  54. >Flipping it up into the air, you grab the bottom of the cane and start walking towards Discord.
  55. >As you approach, you strike the crook of the can into your left palm a couple times.
  56. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
  57. >”Let’s not be too hasty!”
  58. >He quickly says as he retreats around to the other side of the throne, using it as a shield.
  59. “What’s the matter? Not enjoying your winter wonderland?”
  60. >”Next time I’m choosing Arbor day, your Christmas spirit is sorely lacking.”
  61. “Is it too much to ask for just a bit of straightforward conversation instead of all this?”
  62. >”You’re a mean one Mister Anon.”
  63. >Taking a step to one side of the chair, Discord mirrors your movement.
  64. >You then step back, and he moves back too.
  65. >”Anon, please. Let’s be civil.”
  66. >He has a smug grin on his face…
  67. >This isn’t real.
  68. >It’s all in your head.
  69. >Tossing the candy cane to the side, you eye Discord.
  70. “What do you want Harvey?”
  71.  
  72. >”So much hostility in your voice…”
  73. “Harv!”
  74. >”Well, I was going to say that I’ve noticed a few things about your brain chemistry while you fought.”
  75. “What does that even mean?”
  76. >”I’ll translate into Neanderthal for you. I think I can make your brain send signals to produce adrenaline and similar chemicals. If I’m right, it would allow you to fight stronger and for a longer time… give me a bit of work, and I think I can make it so you won’t even have to sleep.”
  77. “… You want to be steroids?”
  78. >”More similar to an amphetamine, but yes.”
  79. “You can’t possibly think that hopping me up on go-juice is a good plan.”
  80. >”Case in point.”
  81. >-
  82. >And you’re back on the Avalon.
  83. >To avoid appearing insane, you continue to walk and head down the stairs to your room.
  84. >As you reach the steps, you start feeling… different.
  85. >A tingling sensation runs through your body, and the hair on the back of your neck stands up.
  86. >But as you walk, you start to feel the aching in your muscles subside.
  87. >By the time you reach the lowest deck, your body feels well rested and almost brand new.
  88. >Although your knees still have their aging ache.
  89. >But aside from that you utterly feel rejuvenated.
  90. >You feel like you could run a marathon.
  91. >Or two.
  92. >As you pass into your room, you see Discord sitting on your cot.
  93. >He’s still dressed as Santa…
  94. >You point up to your temple and quietly bark an order to him.
  95. “In my head, now!”
  96.  
  97. >-
  98. >This time he takes you to a simple white void.
  99. “You drugged me!”
  100. >”I enhanced your capabilities.”
  101. “Damnit Harv!”
  102. >”First you’re upset that I’m ‘not doing anything to help’ and now you’re upset that I’m doing something tangible to help. Make up your mind.”
  103. “Look, I’m no expert on this kind of thing, but what happens when you need to take a break? If you overload my head with chemicals, and they suddenly go away, I’ll crash. Hard.”
  104. >”I… hadn’t thought of that.”
  105. “Look, if the past two days have proven anything- it’s that I’ve still got it. I don’t need you drugging up my head.”
  106. >”I suppose you have a point.”
  107. >He reluctantly replies.
  108. >”Just… please don’t get me killed.”
  109. >Did Discord just say please?
  110. “Hey Harvey, one thing while I have you.”
  111. >”Si?”
  112. “Those creatures. You said they were from the lowest levels of Tartarus. How did they get up here?”
  113. >”The Fipplenops?”
  114. “We’re not calling them that.”
  115. >”Well no, it still makes no sense. As far as I know, I’m the only intelligent being to ever encounter them before the day before yesterday. And I don’t think an earthquake or some natural phenomena could have broken from Tartarus to the seabed. Maybe they found some cave that let out into the ocean.”
  116. “Well they do call it the Lake of Tartarus.”
  117. >”True…”
  118. “Alright Harv, end this. I need some sleep.”
  119.  
  120. >…
  121. “Afternoon Captain.”
  122. >You say as you climb the steps to the poop deck, having gotten a decent amount of sleep.
  123. >And as you got your sleep, it looks like Tiara got hers.
  124. >She also managed to clean up, her body is no longer showing signs of being battered by the storm.
  125. >”Is there something specific you want, or are you just here to waste my time.”
  126. “Now see that’s something you need to understand: I was born to waste your time.”
  127. >”What’s got you in such a good mood?”
  128. “We’re not under attack, and it’s not currently raining. What other reason do I need?”
  129. >”Fair enough.”
  130. “Speaking of which… it looks like we’re still heading due east. I thought we were swinging south.”
  131. >”With the distance the storm took us, we’ll be out of these waters in a day or two. And it would take us two days to reach safer waters to the south…”
  132. “Then by all means, carry on.”
  133. >Tiara continues to steer the ship.
  134. >And you do not like the sudden silence.
  135. “You know Tiara, it seems like we’ve been on this ship for years.”
  136. >”It’s only been a few weeks.”
  137. “I know that, but there’s just something in the air.”
  138. >”What do you mean?”
  139. “I don’t know, but I just have the feeling that this trip is soon over.”
  140. >”That excited to be left alone on the far side of the world?”
  141. “I think it had to do with the recent battles. It’s been a while since I actually pushed myself like that, and I feel at least ten years younger.”
  142. >”Congratulations on coming out of the midlife crisis.”
  143. >She replies dryly.
  144. “Lady Tiara! Is that supposed to insult my age?”
  145. >You counter.
  146.  
  147. >”Of course not… we should respect elders after all.”
  148. “Then either you don’t think I’m old, or you haven’t been following your own rule.”
  149. >”Should does not mean will.”
  150. “Don’t let the greying hair fool you-“
  151. >She cuts you off.
  152. >”Greying? I’d guess that sixty percent of it has gone grey. If the majority is gone, it’s not greyING.”
  153. >Back at the start of the year, before all this started, you barely had a few grey hairs here and there.
  154. >The year has not been kind.
  155. “Well it only tipped into being the majority after I met you. Somepony has not been good on my stress levels.”
  156. >”Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
  157. >Leaning in a bit, you inspect her mane.
  158. “Hmm.”
  159. >Tiara glances at you.
  160. >”What?”
  161. “Just noting a grey strand.”
  162. >”That’s white, part of my mane is white.”
  163. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
  164. >”You can’t possibly think I’m stupid enough to fall for that.”
  165. “Well, it’s right there surrounded by purple strands, so I don’t think it’s just a white hair.”
  166. >”S-shut up.”
  167. >She stutters slightly.
  168. >Of course you’re being completely facetious, her hair looks fine.
  169. >Unlike Tiara, you have no vanity at all when it comes to your appearances.
  170. >You think as you scratch at your scruff, missing your beard.
  171. >Not vain in the slightest.
  172. >As the conversation goes silent once again, you stare at the horizon.
  173. >What you said was the truth.
  174. >You have a feeling that the hardest parts of this voyage are over.
  175. >At least until you reach land…
  176.  
  177. >…
  178. >Despite his age, the minotaur Sage has been managing to keep pace as your small column trots down the cobblestone road.
  179. >Your much further north than Canterlot, so the summer days aren’t quite as hot.
  180. >Though it is nearing the end of summer.
  181. >By the time this is all finished, the first leaves might start turning.
  182. >The winter should be… interesting.
  183. >The recent war took its toll.
  184. >The Saddle Arabian invasion of the southeast led to a lot of good crops being ruined for the season.
  185. >The yaks trampled over about half of the arable land in the Crystal Empire.
  186. >The griffon front wasn’t that bad on the land, but it still made a dent.
  187. >And a lot of ponies who would have been working fields joined back up to fight.
  188. >Rationing might be necessary, depending on how well this season’s harvest goes.
  189. >But food wouldn’t be a problem if the fighting didn’t stretch back for over two decades…
  190. >For every year that Equestria produced a surplus of food, two would pass where there’s been a deficit.
  191. >That being said, aside from some rationing, there’s never been an actual crisis.
  192. >This is the first season where a shortage is a possibility, even with heavy rationing.
  193. >But for that to happen, an absurd amount of crops will have to fail.
  194. >It’s only like a one or two percent possibility, but the potential is there, no matter how unlikely it is.
  195. >”Ma’am?”
  196. >Offense brings you out of your thoughts.
  197. “Yes General?”
  198. >”There’s only an hour or so left before sunset. That is, an hour or so before you set the sun. We’re still hours away from the nearest town, should we set camp?”
  199. >On either side of the road are thick woods.
  200. “Let’s stop at the next clearing.”
  201.  
  202. >…
  203. >”Oi!”
  204. “What!”
  205. >You moan while keeping your eyes shut.
  206. >”Get up, mate. Got another night of flying.”
  207. >You roll over on the cloud, pushing your chest into the fluffy pillow.
  208. “Don’t remind me.”
  209. >Call goes silent for a moment.
  210. >Looks like you’re getting your five more minutes.
  211. >Excellent.
  212. >You hear wings flapping, and a small puff.
  213. >AND YOU’RE FALLING!
  214. >As your eyes open to the wind, you quickly use your limbs to stabilize yourself before unfurling your wings.
  215. >Bastard kicked the cloud out from under you.
  216. >Corporal Call then flies down to your position, with a smug grin across his face.
  217. “What was that!”
  218. >He pats your shoulder before continuing to fly southward.
  219. >”Needed to get you moving!”
  220. >Flapping to catch up with him, you let him take lead position to slipstream.
  221. “Don’t ever do that again!”
  222. >”As long as you wake up on time, I won’t.”
  223. “You do know that I could have you court martialed for that.”
  224. >”Fat bloody chance, this mission is off the record.”
  225. >He does have a point…
  226. >But he really better not do that again.
  227. >It’s an understatement to say that you don’t like waking up while plummeting to the ground.
  228. >At least there is some good news.
  229. >The wind has been with you, and at this pace you should reach your destination tomorrow night.
  230. >That’s when the real job begins.
  231. >Two pegasi infiltrating a top secret Saddle Arabian mine, and one of them doesn’t even know the language.
  232. >You can’t tell if this is something out of a spy thriller, or a comedy.
  233. >Maybe a bit of both.
  234.  
  235. >…
  236. >You sit on the stern railing of the Avalon, letting the cool night’s breeze run through your hair.
  237. >Most of the crew is sleeping, and only a few men are patrolling the deck.
  238. >But you don’t feel particularly tired right now.
  239. >A few feet away from you, Discord is sitting on a barrel.
  240. >A barrel that exists only in your head…
  241. >He knows you won’t talk to him up here, so why is he visible?
  242. >You glance over to him, and see a violin appear in his hands.
  243. >Using the bow, he tries a few notes.
  244. >They’re horribly off tuned, so he bashes the side of the violin once or twice.
  245. >When he tries again, it comes out on key.
  246. >You guess that’s just how fake violins work.
  247. >But that’s a tune you know well…
  248. >He’s taking it slow though.
  249. >It’s coming around to the…
  250. >You’ll entertain him just this once.
  251. >It’s fitting for the situation, and you won’t look crazy singing it alone.
  252. “A British tar is a soaring soul, as free as a mountain bird. His energetic fist should be ready to resist a dictatorial word.”
  253. >Harvey keeps the chorus just as slow.
  254. “His nose should pant and his lips should curl. His cheeks should flame and his brow should furl. His bosom should heave and his heart should glow. And his fist be ever ready for a knock down blow.”
  255. >He then repeats the tune at a much quicker pace before dying down for the next verse.
  256. “His eyes should flash with an inborn fire. His brow with scorn be wrung. He never should bow down to a domineering frown, or the tang of a tyrant tongue.”
  257. >Pace is picking up a bit.
  258.  
  259. “His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl.”
  260. >You stamp your foot as you reach that line.
  261. “His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl. His eyes should flash and his breast protrude, and this should be his customary attitude.”
  262. >You keep with him for the repeat this time, stamping your foot even louder when you reach that line again.
  263. >And you can hear the crew, having been taught this tune, echo from the main deck as they stand watch.
  264. “His foot should stamp and his throat should growl. His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl. His eyes should flash and his breast protrude.”
  265. >And now the finale.
  266. “And this should be his customary attitude. His at-tit-ude, his at-tit-ude, his aaat-tiiiiiii-”
  267. >”SHUT UP!”
  268. >You hear Discord snap a string on his violin as Tiara climbs the steps to the poop deck and continues yelling at you.
  269. >”You’re singing and stamping RIGHT ABOVE MY BED!”
  270. >Harvey then points out something.
  271. >”She has you cornered, only one way out.”
  272. >He then promptly swan dives off the ship.
  273. “Can I survive this overbearing?”
  274. >You ask of Tiara.
  275. >The continued reference lost upon her.
  276. >”That depends entirely on you! I don’t know about you, but some ponies on this ship enjoy their sleep.”
  277. “You must be a light sleeper.”
  278.  
  279. >”Right. Above. My. Bed.”
  280. “Pausing. For. Emphasis. Oh come on Tirra, it’s only one song, not an opera.”
  281. >You haven’t called her that for quite some time, but it had the intended effect.
  282. >“Don’t call me that!”
  283. “Would you have preferred a patter song?”
  284. >”What?”
  285. >Perfect, you start singing:
  286. “My name is John Wellington Wells. I’m a de-“
  287. >”NO.”
  288. “I though you ponies were all about singing.”
  289. >”Not at midnight.”
  290. “Lies.”
  291. >You stretch out your arms and stand up.
  292. “Well, thanks Tiara.”
  293. >”What?”
  294. >She’s taken completely off guard.
  295. “It’s past midnight, that means we’ve got the obligatory argument of the day out of the way.”
  296. >”Oh I’m sure you can go above and beyond obligation.”
  297. >Walking past her, you pat her shoulder and start heading down the stairs.
  298. “What are you still doing up Tiara, doesn’t the ship’s captain need her rest?”
  299. >”I loathe you.”
  300. “That’s ‘I loathe you, SIR’.”
  301. >She calls out as you leave the deck.
  302. >”I thought you said to drop the formalities!”
  303. “Not past midnight, I’m like a gremlin!”
  304. >God that felt… out of character.
  305. >”Are you drunk?”
  306. >No, you just have the disembodied spirit of chaos inhabiting your body, and it’s slowly driving you insane.
  307. “Goodnight Tiara!”
  308.  
  309. >…
  310. >As you reach your cot, you find Harvey sitting on it.
  311. >He’s soaking wet, and holding one of his shoes as he knocks the water out of it.
  312. >”Ah there you are! That was quite fun, wasn’t it? At least until Miss Spoil Sport decided to ruin it.”
  313. “Discord, what the hell is going on!”
  314. >”Discord? You haven’t called me that for so long.”
  315. “Some of the things I’ve been saying, and how I’ve been acting are just- wait, did you just complain about being called Discord?”
  316. >”I know, it just sounds so… strange. What am I saying?”
  317. “Harvey, what are the side effects of multiple minds sharing the same body?”
  318. >”Well if your memories of science fiction have taught me anything, it’s rarely good.”
  319. “And the way you speak is different.”
  320. >”How so?”
  321. “You’ve been more forward with what you mean, less circular logic and absurdist tangents.”
  322. >”Well my psyche was split roughly in half.”
  323. “No it’s beyond that, it’s been changing over time.”
  324. >What’s happening to both of you?
  325. “Do something random.”
  326. >”What?”
  327. “Just do something completely unprovoked and off the hinges.”
  328. >”Why should I?”
  329. “See!”
  330. >”Oh my…”
  331. “You just asked why you should do something that makes no sense whatsoever.”
  332. >”I know, and you’ve been showing more emotion than in the past fifteen years combined.”
  333. “I show emotion just fine.”
  334. >”Oh come now, you used to only have slight snark or father-to-your-men authority figure, never any in between.”
  335. “I did not!”
  336. >”No no no. Hold on a second.”
  337. “What?”
  338. >”Let me think!”
  339. “What is it!”
  340. >”That’s it!”
  341. “What’s it?”
  342. >”That is!”
  343. “What is?”
  344.  
  345. >”This is just nerves. We’ve both been cooped up on this ship for some time now, and the monotony is draining us. We’re both just getting restless, and dealing with it in our own ways.”
  346. “I really hope that’s right.”
  347. >”Think about it! If our minds were to influence the other’s, then you would have been driven stark raving mad almost immediately. Your brain wasn’t meant to understand the cosmic truths I’m aware of.”
  348. “So you’re just bored in there, and losing interest in annoying me?”
  349. >”Your memories of television and cinema are quite… occupying.”
  350. “What happens when you run out of TV shows I’ve seen?”
  351. >”I only glanced, but your High School was quite the soap opera, so I think I’ll enjoy those four years of memories.”
  352. “Didn’t you describe it as ‘gibberish’ a while back?”
  353. >”Gibberish is my first language.”
  354. “Fair enough.”
  355. >”Ah, and I’ve been meaning to ask you something!”
  356. “What?”
  357. >Harvey jumps up from your cot, and snaps his fingers.
  358. >-
  359. >”While we’re on the topic of change, I want you to explain yourself.”
  360. >You’re in the Canterlot throne room.
  361. >The décor looks like it was decades ago.
  362. >”See, I thought I had you pegged as a creature of pure repetition and order. An antithesis to myself, but as I look deeper I think we’re very much alike, Anon.”
  363. “Don’t compare us.”
  364. >”Just watch and hear me out.”
  365.  
  366. >If this will help distance thoughts of your minds influencing each other, then you’ll hear him out.
  367. “Go on.”
  368. >”Excellent, I think we need some people in here, don’t you?”
  369. >Harvey snaps his fingers to summon Celestia, who sits in her throne, and…
  370. >You.
  371. >Standing at attention below the throne.
  372. >But it certainly doesn’t look like you.
  373. >The image Harvey concocted looks to be from twenty five years ago.
  374. >Your face is clean shaven, no scars decorate your visible skin, and you have no real muscle mass.
  375. >In fact, you look like you could stand to lose ten or fifteen pounds.
  376. >Harv then speaks again:
  377. >”I’ll play the highlight reel.”
  378. >The younger you then speaks a single word:
  379. >”Understood.”
  380. >Harv then shouts out:
  381. >”NEXT!”
  382. >The younger you then morphs, scruff appearing on his face and having lost the extra pounds.
  383. >Again he speaks the same word:
  384. >”Understood.”
  385. >After he says it, he morphs again.
  386. >And again.
  387. >And again.
  388. >Each time, his beard grows and his muscles start to appear.
  389. >Occasionally he gains a scar.
  390. >But what also changes is his tone of voice.
  391. >At first the ‘understood’ replies came out eager and quickly.
  392. >But as time passes, he pauses occasionally, as if to object.
  393. >One or two of them came out through clenched teeth.
  394. >Then, around the same time as when his muscles start to decline from age, another vocal shift occurs.
  395. >Every reply comes out distanced and professional.
  396. >That makes an eventuality all the more surprising, even though you knew what was coming.
  397. >”NO.”
  398. >He says, not quite yelling, but incredibly firmly.
  399. >And he is incredibly devoted to the word.
  400.  
  401. >Back before you were shipped off to Appleoosa, Flurry was working to end the wartime measures the crown had taken.
  402. >She brought over a hundred mayors and local figureheads together to present a unified voice against what the wars had done to Equestria’s home front.
  403. >When Celestia caught wind of the meeting where they would write their declaration, she ordered you to take the royal guard and arrest them all for treason.
  404. >The treason of criticism.
  405. >So, you uttered a single word, and left Celestia’s presence.
  406. >Soon after, you signed your name on the bottom of Flurry’s paper and let it be presented.
  407. >The other signatories were arrested and sent to a labor camp, while you were demoted and sent with Flurry to Siberia- err, Appleoosa.
  408. >And the rest is history.
  409. “Do you have a point?”
  410. >Harv makes the others disappear.
  411. >”That is how I know that at your most basic, you are a fellow creature of chaos.”
  412. “Oh really?”
  413.  
  414. >”Well, a form of chaos. When you said ‘no’ to Celestia, having no knowledge about the parasite that was influencing her, you had to have known that it would have ended in civil war eventually. You knew that you would return from Elba, and unlike Napoleon, you had no plan to fail your Waterloo.”
  415. “You know what Harvey-”
  416. >You stop yourself.
  417. >Currently, you see know way you’re coming back from this trip, even despite what you tell Harv.
  418. >He’s trapped in your head, and he’ll die with you.
  419. >What’s so wrong with the truth?
  420. “You can everything I’ve ever done, but have no idea why I did it unless I expressly told someone why I’ve done something. Do you really want to know the truth about why I told Celestia no?”
  421. >“Very much.”
  422. “Then say please.”
  423. >”Pretty please.”
  424. “Well there were two reasons. First, because it’s what Flurry wanted. She had no idea what would have happened, and she believed with her entire heart that it would have worked. Before getting shipped off to Appleoosa she was so innocent… not naïve, but innocent.”
  425. >You pause a moment.
  426. “I wasn’t so innocent. I thought that at worst, Celestia would have let Flurry be, and give the others some jail time. Me on the other hand, I was sure she would have given me an ultimatum of retirement. After two dozen years of fighting, I was tired. For over eight years I would annually ask for retirement, and each time I was denied. The reason I signed that and started this all was because I was tired and wanted out.”
  427.  
  428. >It’s only in retrospect that you realize that.
  429. “I only realize that now, but I didn’t sign it for some abstract concept of helping others. It was purely selfish, so yes maybe we are alike. And you know what, I enjoyed my time in Appleoosa. I hated that Flurry was exiled, so I did everything I could to make her happy there. But I was able to retire with the only family I have, and we were away from all the politics and fighting.”
  430. >You continue before he can butt in.
  431. “But you know what separates you and me? When things got worse: when Equestria was invaded and Celestia went fully off the deep end, I didn’t just stand there. I did my duty to protect my family, and to protect each and every Equestrian from the hell that engulfed their world. So maybe I can be as selfish and petty as you are, but when I comes down to it I accept that my life- my duty- is to suffer on some blood soaked battlefield so that others don’t have to.”
  432. >And one final point you want to nail into him.
  433. “Because I personally may or may not have attributed to the wars that have plagued the past decades. But something that certainly attributed to them was the parasite that you brought into this world. So lo and behold, I’m out here suffering to clean up your mess. And if there’s even a shred of decency left in this world, or if I have even the tiniest amount of luck, there might just be peace after this is all over.”
  434. >-
  435. >He didn’t even move, much less say anything.
  436. >You just appeared back in your room.
  437. >With Discord nowhere to be seen.
  438.  
  439. >…
  440. >Your conversation with Harvey ruined any chance of sleeping tonight.
  441. >It’s incredibly rare that you find yourself unable to sleep.
  442. >So you got a cigar from one of the sailors in exchange for an IOU.
  443. >And now you’re enjoying it while standing at the bow of the ship.
  444. >Closing your eyes, you think to where you’d be if there was no parasite or extra-dimensional creature you have to fight.
  445. >What it’d be like if it was all over once you took Canterlot and ended the war.
  446. >You’d have a cabin in the woods somewhere, something you made by hand.
  447. >You’d clear some trees to make a small garden.
  448. >There might be an apple tree or two.
  449. >It would be next to a lake.
  450. >And every afternoon, you’d go sit on your dock and cast a fishing line out into the water.
  451. >You’d be sipping on a beer, or maybe some gin.
  452. >Letting yourself get lost in the cool end of summer breeze.
  453. >After a few days of monotony, you’d be bored out of your mind.
  454. >And you’d love it.
  455. >No rushing from one battle to the next.
  456. >No daily meetings with your command staff.
  457. >No people.
  458. >And on some days, you would even be able to forget the past twenty-six years.
  459. >You wouldn’t be on some foreign planet, even though you’ve spent the majority of your life here, and if you ever returned to Earth you’d be horribly out of your element.
  460. >But that isn’t your life.
  461. >To think that all this happened because twenty-six years ago, you told a lie.
  462. >What were you supposed to do?
  463. >One minute you were just sitting against a tree, and then a disembodied voice yelled ‘fore!’ right before you were hit on the head and brought-
  464. >No sense second guessing the past…
  465. >It’ll be morning soon.
  466. >Your cigar is nearing the end of its life, so you flick it into the ocean.
  467.  
  468. >…
  469. “Aright, so if we’ve been following the maps correctly, we should be reaching the mine sometime around midnight.”
  470. >You speak to Call on top of a cloud, having finished the night’s flight.
  471. “The town is in the middle of the desert, so we’ll be able to see any lights that are on. Once we locate it, I think we should set down a few miles north of the town and walk the rest of the distance in the morning.”
  472. >”If we’re supposed to be trekking the desert, we should show signs of it.”
  473. “And it’ll look better if we walk in during the day rather than just appearing in the night.”
  474. >”So we get in, and rent a room for a night or two to rest in civilization. Recuperate from the desert and all that.”
  475. “Which gives us time to find our spy.”
  476. >”Right.”
  477. “You have the file in your bag, right?”
  478. >Call checks through his saddle bags, and pulls out a folder.
  479. >”The dossier of one Sandy Shores, MID.”
  480. >He passes you the file.
  481. “Wasn’t it Shore?”
  482. >”No, Shores.”
  483. “Want to bet on that?”
  484. >”Ten bits.”
  485. “Deal.”
  486. >You turn the file back over to him.
  487. >He opens it and then promptly closes it.
  488. “You see an ‘s’?”
  489. >”Bugger.”
  490. “Ten bits.”
  491. >You reach over and grab the folder back.
  492. >”I’ve only got Arabian coins on me.”
  493. “I’ll remember that.”
  494. >Opening the folder, you read some highlights aloud.
  495. “Sandy Shore, age: twenty-three.”
  496. >”How old did you say you were?”
  497. “Me? I’m twenty-three.”
  498. >”Well how about that?”
  499. “It’s just age.”
  500. >”When you get to my age, you might feel differently.”
  501. “You’re only three years older than me.”
  502. >”And in those three years I have lived more than you have in your entire life.”
  503. “Do you have a point?”
  504. >”Not really.”
  505.  
  506. >Continuing…
  507. “Her parents moved to Manehattan some thirty-odd years ago, and Miss Shore was born after they lived in Equestria for over a decade. They even named her in Equestrian style, and it looks like the family assimilated quickly to their home. The mother worked full time, and the father had two full time jobs so they could send their daughter to some fancy private school in Manehattan.”
  508. >”Ah the Equestrian dream.”
  509. “When she was at that school, the MID flagged her as a potential asset. If I recall correctly from the files we found, that’s mainly how they picked agents. They had people watching schools for potential. Anyway, the MID wrote that she displayed ‘above average aptitude for learning and physical fitness’ and that as a ‘culturally assimilated ethnic Saddle Arabian’ she would be more likely to remain loyal to Equestria and the MID.”
  510. >You continue skimming.
  511. “After a year at the private school, the MID sent somepony to contact her parents and offer her a scholarship at a private school in Canterlot which was run by the Ministry with the specific goal of cultivating the talents that they wanted. Nothing overt, it operated mostly as just a private academy for young ponies, but each student was fully evaluated for potential recruitment. Her parents had no idea about the MID, they weren’t that big back then, and were overjoyed but left the decision to their daughter. And she accepted.”
  512. >”They were just bloody children.”
  513. “I don’t like it either.”
  514. >You go back to skimming.
  515.  
  516. “Long story short, she ended up getting recruited. Passed early tests with flying colors, and was put into the field five years ago. Her résumé then includes extraction of sensitive documents, inciting unrest, assassination, sabotage, some more assassination, and general subterfuge. The usual spy stuff.”
  517. >”They sent her to kill people at eighteen?”
  518. >You flip through the records.
  519. “Her first hit didn’t happen until she was twenty.”
  520. >”Oh well that’s different.”
  521. >Call remarks with more than a bit of sarcasm.
  522. “Her parents are still alive, but it looks like she broke contact with them shortly after her field work began.”
  523. >”Might be able to use that if they didn’t part on hostile terms.”
  524. “Her current assignment was to assess the mining of ‘rare crystals’ that the Saddle Arabian government took interest in, and disrupt the operation if possible. Her current working alias and codename is Yalanci. I think that about covers everything.”
  525. >You then notice a few pictures attached to the file by paperclip.
  526. “Her natural coat color is a light brown, some would say sand colored, and her mane is a light blue. Blue hair is rather rare for Saddle Arabians, so she currently has her mane dyed black. Here.”
  527. >You offer the pictures to Call.
  528. >”She looks better with blue, black clashes too much with her eyes.”
  529. “You’re not going to hit on her, are you?”
  530. >”Of course not, I could do MUCH better.”
  531. “What?”
  532. >”What?”
  533. “I’ve never seen you NOT hit on a mare.”
  534. >”I don’t hit on every mare!”
  535. “I saw you flirting with one of the maids back at the Royal Palace.”
  536. >”And?”
  537. “She was at least in her late forties.”
  538. >”But her body was holding up well, and that’s decades of experience.”
  539. “Call, I’m serious. Both as your commanding officer and your friend: please don’t flirt with the MID agent.”
  540. >”I’m not going to!”
  541.  
  542. >…
  543. >Another night over the desert.
  544. >While the cool air passes through your mane, you mind started wandering.
  545. >Thinking of home.
  546. >Your wife mainly.
  547. >And the little one you have on the way.
  548. >Should they stay in the Crystal Empire, or maybe move down to be closer to the capitol?
  549. >It’s a full day’s trip on a non-stop express train, and tickets for those are pretty expensive.
  550. >It would be nice to go home every night to your family.
  551. >Especially for when your kid is born.
  552. >The military gives a huge amount of paid leave for new parents, but even that will run out.
  553. >You want to properly raise your child, not be there for a year and then only pop in every now and then.
  554. >But if they’re going to move down to Canterlot, that would take Winter away from her family.
  555. >And she is very close to her mother.
  556. >And Snow Blossom REALLY insists on grandchildren, so you doubt that she’d like taking Winter away from the Crystal Empire.
  557. >Honestly you didn’t really get along with Snow Blossom.
  558. >She’s a great pony and a great mother, but she can be a bit… overbearing.
  559. >And by a bit, you mean completely.
  560. >You much preferred your father-in-law.
  561. >Morning Brew served in the First War of the Saddle Arabian Coast, and you really connected with your own experiences in the Second War.
  562. >He knows what it’s like to have to be isolated from family for so long.
  563. >And sure, the rest of their family knows what it’s like, but he knows what it feels like to actually be the one risking their life on a daily basis.
  564. >They built a café together in the Crystal Empire.
  565. >He does most of the serving and brewing, and she cultivates some northern herbs to spice drinks.
  566. >They have too much invested in the shop to leave just so they could come with Winter.
  567. >Oh the things you have to juggle now that you’re a married colt.
  568.  
  569. >…
  570. >”And you’re sure that was it?”
  571. “We’re in the middle of the desert, what else would it be?”
  572. >You set down into the sand.
  573. “Good thing we saw those lights when we did, the sun should be coming up any minute now.”
  574. >The first light is just starting to peak over the horizon.
  575. >You reach to unhook your saddle bags, and toss them to the ground.
  576. >Time to get dressed.
  577. >…
  578. >With your wings tightly pressed against your body, eventually you’re fully bundled up in the robes.
  579. >Your both dressed up in white and light brown attire that covers most of your body.
  580. >Of your faces, which is the greatest giveaway aside from your wings, only your eyes are visible.
  581. >At least the clothes breathe.
  582. >”You ready?”
  583. “Yeah, you?”
  584. >”Lead the way.”
  585. >Tossing the saddle bag over your back once again, you then set out into the desert.
  586. >Even though it’s only morning, the heat is already setting in.
  587. >And it’ll only get worse.
  588. >But what bothers you the most, is the sand you’ve got rubbing against your chest.
  589. >The wind picked up as you were dressing, and when you’re in the desert, it’s virtually impossible to keep it out.
  590. >At least you’re not wearing armor.
  591. >Back in the war, even the smallest amount of armor would just become a tomb of heat and sand.
  592. >And because there would be skirmishes ever couple of days, you never wanted to be caught without armor.
  593. >The mining town isn’t even visible on the horizon yet.
  594. >Part of you regrets landing so far away from it, but you couldn’t take the risk of being seen getting dressed just outside of town.
  595. >You let out a sigh.
  596. >It’s going to be a long walk through these dunes.
  597.  
  598. >…
  599. >By the time you reached the town, you were only few minutes ahead of an incoming sandstorm.
  600. >While the locals all rushed to prepare for the onslaught, you were able to slip by without anypony paying you much mind.
  601. >Call led you to a building, that you assume to be an inn of sorts.
  602. >You weren’t able to read the writing over the door.
  603. >As you enter the building, Call had to rush to close it.
  604. >A second more and the storm would have made its way inside.
  605. >Well here you are.
  606. >The room is dimly lit, but it definitely looks like a bar.
  607. >Tables, booths on one side, a counter with a Saddle Arabian cleaning a glass.
  608. >And everypony is keeping to themselves.
  609. >Remembering Call’s training, you start playing your part.
  610. >After all, you’re a shocked veteran who’s lost most of his mind.
  611. >You would start cycling between a few different tics.
  612. >Sometimes you would start blinking at a much quicker pace, only ended when you would shake your head.
  613. >Other times you would tremble your shoulders.
  614. >Mumble a few battle phrases to yourself in Arabian: attack, hold, retreat.
  615. >And move you head in sharp motions when you need to look at something.
  616. >So from here on out, it’s up to Call to lead.
  617. >You’re doomed…
  618.  
  619. >Following the Corporal to the counter, he strikes a conversation with the barkeep.
  620. >The Saddle Arabian’s tone is somewhat dismissive.
  621. >After Call asks a question, or at least you think it’s a question from his tone of voice, the barkeep replies with a one word answer.
  622. >Call then acts a bit outraged, and the Arabian remains composed.
  623. >Call asks a question, but the barkeep shakes his head and gives a quick reply.
  624. >And then the Corporal grumbles before pulling out some coin that he places on the counter.
  625. >After the barkeep takes the coin, he pulls a key out from under the counter and gives it to Call.
  626. >Was he haggling the price?
  627. >Call then tosses a few more coins on the counter, and says something.
  628. >And a bottle of liquor is soon given in exchange.
  629. >The Corporal takes it, then grabs your shoulder and starts leading you to a door to the right of the counter.
  630. >The door leads to a staircase, at the top is a hallway.
  631. >You count six closed doors up here, and Call leads you to the furthest door on the left.
  632. >After unlocking it, you both enter.
  633. >There’s a pair of beds and a couple of chairs around a small table in the corner.
  634. >You turn to see Call lock the door behind you.
  635. >He then spins to face you, and speaks in a low tone of voice:
  636. >”Even with all of the wind outside, we shouldn’t speak that loudly.”
  637. “What did I miss?”
  638.  
  639. >”What were you able to gather yourself?”
  640. “No pony really gave us much though. Either they get lots of through traffic, which I doubt due to this place’s isolation, or they get lots of workers coming and going.”
  641. >”First thing the innkeeper asked was if we were coming in to work the mines.”
  642. “How did you answer?”
  643. >”Just passing through. Took a long route through the desert to avoid the war.”
  644. “Does something about this place seem off to you? I’ve seen plenty of Saddle Arabian town before, but this one seems… different.”
  645. >”Everything is new. Look at the wall here.”
  646. >You glance at sandstone brick walls surrounding you.
  647. “Guess that must be it. This town was built pretty recently after they discovered the crystals.”
  648. >Maybe.
  649. >But you feel that it’s more than that.
  650. >Almost like there’s an aura that makes your skin crawl slightly.
  651. >”I booked the room for three nights, seeing as we’ll need the rest for the remainder of our journey. That’ll give us plenty of time to find out girl.”
  652. “We should stake out the bar today, maybe she’ll pass through.”
  653. >”And by the time this storm dies down, it’ll be close to sundown. They might not pay us a second look in the day, but they might not take too kindly to strangers walking through their streets at night.”
  654. “Good point. But first let’s get out of these costumes for a while. I think I’m getting a rash from all of the sand.”
  655. >”And tone down the crazy a tad. You’re being too obvious.”
  656. “Everypony’s a critic.”
  657. >”And don’t I know it.”
  658.  
  659. >…
  660. >After getting dressed again, although this time you didn’t crush your wings as much as before, you went back downstairs.
  661. >As you slid into the corner booth, Call went to the counter to get a pair of glasses for the bottle he got earlier.
  662. >When he slides in opposite of you, he starts pouring the drinks.
  663. >You talked about how you need to drink to blend in, but not enough to impact your jobs.
  664. >Thankfully in your dark corner, nopony will be able to get a good enough look at your faces to piece together the truth.
  665. >Even if they did, you might be able to pass due to the low light.
  666. >Saddle Arabians have a distinctly different facial structure compared to Equestrians, but some from the north can look a bit closer to Equestrians.
  667. >Not all of them are as tall and thin as their old royals, but in the broad daylight there’s no way you could pass.
  668. >Well, now comes the wait.
  669. >You reach forward and grab the glass, taking a sip of the liquor.
  670. >Rum.
  671. >Bad rum.
  672. >Setting the glass back down, you lean into your seat.
  673. >You can hear the storm winds continuing to batter the building.
  674. >The sandstorms get real bad here.
  675. >You’ve been through two or three, and those are some of the worst experiences you’ve ever endured.
  676. >Say what you will about the Saddle Arabians, but they’re good architects.
  677. >Everything they build has to stand up against whatever the desert can throw at it.
  678. >After a quick scan of the other ponies in the bar, you shift your eyes to Call.
  679. >He gives slight shake of his head, indicating that he doesn’t see your target in here either.
  680. >Wishful thinking, but since when have things ever been that easy?
  681. >Now you wait.
  682.  
  683. >…
  684. >Today was the first day on the road that you saw any minotaur towns.
  685. >Although ‘town’ is somewhat overstating it.
  686. >There’s a dozen or so small houses made of cobblestone with thatched roofs, and a larger hall made of similar materials.
  687. >You reached the small village an hour or so before nightfall.
  688. >As you stroll down the road, the old minotaur spoke to you.
  689. >”There should be a room at the tavern should you desire a more… sturdy resting place for the night.”
  690. “I’ll take a roof over my head once everypony else has one… but I’m sure your back could use that bed.”
  691. >”Humph. You would make a good minotaur.”
  692. “Thank you… I think.”
  693. >”Most of my people are not ‘good’ minotaurs.”
  694. “You have a problem with your people?”
  695. >”Most of the younger generations are too preoccupied with individual indulgences.”
  696. “I thought minotaurs were all about personal glory.”
  697. >”There’s a difference between seeking glory and prestige in battle, and seeking material pleasures and gains. Take this succession as an example: most of the claimants want the position solely for the power it holds, not because they wish to serve their people.”
  698. “So you’re upset that your people are placing emphasis on political and social status rather than cultivating their own abilities.”
  699. >”There is a fine line between reveling in one’s experiences and narcissism, and that line has become blurred in the eyes of the young.”
  700. >You’re not exactly an expert on minotaur culture, so you’ll take his word for it.
  701.  
  702. >”And what’s worse is they consider the battlefield a proper test of a warrior’s skill.”
  703. “It isn’t?”
  704. >”For one, two, or perhaps three champions, it is. But for the hundreds of others a war is merely a test of luck.”
  705. “Well I can at least see where you’re coming from.”
  706. >”My people value refining our abilities, but a cannon shot will destroy both hardened veteran and mewling pup. And when the lines are packed shoulder to shoulder, most of a warriors intuition and ability is lost in the formation. There’s no honor in war. A hunt, single combat or small group skirmishes- even an open field brawl- that’s where the warrior’s essence lies.”
  707. “That’s… very… enlightening.”
  708. >”No need to patronize me, Young One. I’m just far too old to be preoccupied with censoring my thoughts. You might understand in a century.”
  709. “I’ll take your word for that…”
  710. >Well it’s time to set up camp for the night.
  711. >…
  712. >It’s been a couple of hours.
  713. >The sandstorm subsided a few minutes ago.
  714. >It’s been a pretty quiet evening so far.
  715. >Aside from when a drunk local came over to your booth an hour or so ago.
  716. >He was so far gone that you’d doubt he’d be able to call you out if you were a yak.
  717. >Call eventually managed to get him to head back to the counter though.
  718. >After that you noticed a couple groups of Arabians enter the bar.
  719. >But everypony you’ve noticed has been male.
  720. >So far, at least.
  721. >And of course, right as you think about it, a breeze enters the room as the front door swings open.
  722.  
  723. >A dozen or so Arabians enter the bar.
  724. >A work shift must have just ended.
  725. >The commotion makes it hard to track individuals, but as they split up you can get a good look at the new arrivals.
  726. >A group of soldiers, still in armor and bearing weapons, go to sit at a round table near the center of the room.
  727. >A few Arabians go over to the bar, you’d guess that they’re miners due to how dirty their coats look.
  728. >Other miners make their way over to the booths.
  729. >Finally, there are some mares that entered the room.
  730. >According to the MID reports, their spy latched onto the mining operation by becoming a clerk.
  731. >With so many male Saddle Arabian casualties over the recent decades, and from current war needs, the both sides of the conflict have broken with cultural tradition and have begun taking on females in non-combat roles.
  732. >’Yalanci’ is just one of thousands of patriotic Saddle Araian mares that’s doing what they can to help their country.
  733. >The only problem is that all four of the mares that just came in could be her.
  734. >In this lighting, any of their coats and manes could be a match.
  735. >They speak to each other as they walk, and as three go to a booth, one breaks off to head for the counter.
  736. >After getting the barkeep’s attention and speaking for a moment, she turns around in the stool while the barkeep prepares some drinks.
  737. >Call then whispers over to you.
  738. >”Look at me, like it’s small talk.”
  739. >You do as he says.
  740. “What is it?”
  741. >You whisper back, with the increased commotion nopony should be able to overhear you.
  742. >”That’s her.”
  743. “How can you tell?”
  744. >”Her eyes.”
  745. >As you go to glance back at her, Call stops you.
  746. >”Don’t. She’s scanning the room just like we were.”
  747.  
  748. >A moment later, the Arabian mare enters your peripheral vision.
  749. >She’s at a booth further over, speaking to the other mares who sat down.
  750. >A moment later, they all respond with words that sound similar, and the standing mare leaves your field of view.
  751. >You then see Call’s eyes track her as she walks.
  752. >”She’s leaving.”
  753. >A moment later, you hear the door open.”
  754. >Call waits for a beat before saying something more loudly in Arabian.
  755. >He then rises from the booth, and nods towards the door.
  756. >As he walks he procures a pack of cigarettes with Arabian text printed upon it.
  757. >With the sun down, the air has already started to cool.
  758. >And it looks like the streets are pretty empty.
  759. >Passing through the door, you stand outside of it until the door closes.
  760. >”We just needed a smoke.”
  761. >He then stashes the pack back into his pocket.
  762. “There she is.”
  763. >You say as you point to the mare, who takes a turn down the street next over.
  764. “How much you want to bet she’s on to us?”
  765. >”I’m not taking that bet.”
  766. “Come on.”
  767. >As you jog down to the street, you hug the corner of the building.
  768. >You glance around the corner, and you feel Call’s hoof on your shoulder as he peeks around too.
  769. >The mare ducks into a building, the eight door down on the right.
  770. >And as she passes through the threshold of the door, she glances back down the street…
  771. >”Looks like somepony knows she’s being followed.”
  772. “Maybe she just forgot her purse…”
  773. >This is going to be unpleasant.
  774. “Come on. We’re here to make contact.”
  775.  
  776. >…
  777. >You knock at her door.
  778. >As your hoof hits it, the door opens.
  779. >It’s almost pitch black inside…
  780. >You hear Call flip open a lighter, and strike it.
  781. >This is going to be very unpleasant.
  782. >Entering the building, Call follows and closes the door behind you.
  783. >He then leans over and lights a couple of candles that was resting on a nearby table.
  784. >The room is clear.
  785. >Some tables, a couch, a chair or two.
  786. >A sparse, but ordinary foyer.
  787. >As Call lights more candles, you speak to whomever it may concern.
  788. “Yalanci… Sandy Shore. We know who you are, but we’re not here to hurt you.”
  789. >”That’s exactly what we’d say if we were here to kill her.”
  790. >Call adds, not helping the situation.
  791. “Yes, but if we WERE sent here to kill you, do you think they’d sent ponies stupid enough to bring that up?”
  792. >”Oi!.”
  793. >No reply from anypony else…
  794. >Alright, there are two other exits from this room.
  795. >A staircase leading up to a closed door, and an archway leading further into this floor.
  796. “Come on, we’re not splitting up.”
  797. >You nod over to the archway.
  798. >”I’ll take point.”
  799. >As Call passes under the archway to the rest of the house, you hear a metallic clang ring through the air.
  800. >”Ahh!”
  801. >As Call exclaims in pain, he is then pushed off of his hooves, and sent tumbling into you.
  802.  
  803. >While on the ground, you see a set of legs running past you.
  804. >Reaching out and grabbing at one of them, you send the Arabian crashing to the ground.
  805. >As Call gets off of you and stands again, you see the Saddle Arabian roll over her side and stand as well.
  806. >”What are you bloody doin-“
  807. >Call is cut off as the mare gives a right hook to his jaw.
  808. >He puts his arm up to block the next attempt at a right hook.
  809. >And as you stand, she head butts Calls muzzle.
  810. >Charging you put your shoulder out and tackle the mare.
  811. >You manage to pin one of her arms, but with her free one, she reaches under the couch you’re next to.
  812. >Pushing off from the ground, you narrowly avoid getting hit by the knife she grabbed onto and swings towards you.
  813. >She’s quick to get back on her hooves, and you have to jump back as she slashes towards you again.
  814. >When she follows up with a jab, you sidestep as you grab her arm with your right hoof.
  815. >As you wrap your left arm around hers, you attempt you wrestle the knife from her hoof.
  816. >She responds by sharply jabbing her free hoof into your nose.
  817. >The strike stuns you as the world starts to wobble.
  818. >As you stumble back, she reverses grip on the knife and prepares to jab t down into you.
  819. >Metal then rings out again, as Call swiftly hits her in the back of the head with… a frying pan?
  820. >The hit must of knocked her out cold, as she promptly slumps over onto the ground; the knife falling harmlessly to the floor.
  821. >Call then quips as you shake to ground yourself.
  822. >“She hit me with a bloody frying pan.”
  823. “You hit her with a bloody frying pan.”
  824. >”She had it coming. You okay?”
  825. “Just a bit rattled, you?”
  826. >”I’ll be fine. Could use a drink, but I’ll be fine.”
  827. “Help me toss her on the couch. I’ll watch her while you check out the rest of this place.”
  828.  
  829. >…
  830. “I’m sure there’s something you’ve missed.”
  831. >”I was thorough.”
  832. “Did you check under carpets and behind bookshelves?”
  833. >”Why wouldn’t I?”
  834. “And you didn’t find anything here connecting back to the MID, or Equestria in general?”
  835. >”No.”
  836. “Well, that means you’ve got a proper safe house somewhere, isn’t that right Yalanci? Or should we cut the pretense Miss Shore?”
  837. >You then hear the ‘knocked out’ spy speak in perfect Equestrian- with no hint of an Arabian accent.
  838. >She keeps her eyes shut though.
  839. >”How did you know?”
  840. “Your breathing became hushed but your body tensed up slightly.”
  841. >Your wife does the same when she feigns being asleep.
  842. >Honestly you just took a shot in the dark.
  843. >That’s probably not scientific though, you’re lucky she didn’t just call your bluff.
  844. “Please, just hear us out. If we wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have woken up.”
  845. >”And why should I listen to the military?”
  846. >She sits up in the couch.
  847. >Her body is relaxed, but ready to spring up at a moment’s notice.
  848. >”How’d you know we’re military?”
  849. >Call asks.
  850. >”The Ministry would never send ponies down here.”
  851. “And I assume we didn’t exactly go through the normal procedure for contacting you.”
  852. >”What do you want?”
  853. “Well, you should know that the Ministry of Interior Defense has been virtually eradicated.”
  854. >”Hahaha, sure it has.”
  855. “How else would we be here?”
  856. >”What do you mean?”
  857.  
  858. “You were sent down here by the Director herself, and she was the only pony who knew about it, and the all the files related to your assignment were locked up in her office.”
  859. >”Any number of things could have happened back in Canterlot.”
  860. “You don’t even know that the Director was replaced by a changeling queen.”
  861. >”HAHAHAHA.”
  862. >She wipes a tear away from her eye.
  863. >”And some say the Director doesn’t have a sense of humor.”
  864. >Call then tries:
  865. >”When was the last scheduled contact you were supposed to have?”
  866. >”They were supposed to pick a dead drop two weeks ago…”
  867. “And why would they miss it?”
  868. >You walk over to Call and open a flap on his saddle bag.
  869. >You take out all of the MID files you have on the spy and her mission, and give them to her.
  870. >She quickly flip through them.
  871. >”These aren’t copies… nothing’s been redacted… and none of them have been stamped for transfer…”
  872. “The headquarters in Canterlot was stormed, over the following week the military used the records found there to hit every regional HQ, safe house, and cell located inside of Equestria. Every member of the MID in Equestria is either dead or imprisoned.”
  873. >She leans back into the couch and folds her arms.
  874. >”So you’re here to bring me in.”
  875. “On the contrary.”
  876.  
  877. >You reach back into Call’s bag and pull out Lancer’s letter and pardon.
  878. “We’re here to make sure your mission is successful.”
  879. >After you turn the papers over, she takes a moment to read them.
  880. >”… no questions asked.”
  881. “You go home and get to live a normal life. Will you help us?”
  882. >”No.”
  883. >”Wot?”
  884. >Call asks in confusion.
  885. “What?”
  886. >She then explains herself.
  887. >”You can help me. My last standing orders were to destroy this mine, so you can help if you’d like to.”
  888. “I’ll take it.”
  889. >”Come back here at noon tomorrow, if anypony asks one of you is my cousin.”
  890. >Which is code for ‘leave so I can properly assess the situation.’
  891. “Alright.”
  892. >Call then speaks:
  893. >”Sorry ‘bout the head, luv.”
  894. “Corporal…”
  895. >As you nod to him to get moving, you make for the front door.
  896. >But the agent speaks to you one last time.
  897. >”And when you get dressed tomorrow, pin your cloak over a shoulder, not in the center of your chest. It hasn’t been in style for over two centuries, and if anypony was paying close enough attention it would raise an eyebrow or two.”
  898. “Thanks…”
  899. >As you exit the building, you scan the streets for any activity.
  900. >Looks clear.
  901. “She’s probably going to try and either kill us or ditch us after the job is over.”
  902. >Most likely she only even heard you out because she didn’t see an easy way out of the room.
  903. >”Ten bits says that happens before the job is over.”
  904.  
  905. >…
  906. >”I mean, right now she’s probably planning to kill us.”
  907. “Call, you’re being melodramatic.”
  908. >”With the MID gone, who’s to say she won’t just defect? There could be dozens of soldiers waiting for us!”
  909. “Everything we had on her said her loyalty was unquestionable.”
  910. >”Loyalty to the MID, not Equestria. What if she goes rogue and tries to bring down the government?”
  911. “Calm down.”
  912. >”I’m telling you, the only good ending to this is the one that leaves her face down in the desert.”
  913. “What’s gotten into you, Corporal?”
  914. >”What’s gotten into me? A highly trained MID operative just learned that we destroyed the entire organization. She’s probably already thought of a dozen ways to deal with us, and we haven’t even discussed a single way to deal with her inevitable betrayal.”
  915. “What do you even think she’s going to do?”
  916. >”Well after leaving us dead or for dead, she’ll either sell national secrets to the highest bidder, or work to systematically destroy our entire government and release the imprisoned princesses.”
  917. “Two problems with that plan. One, she was specifically chosen for her loyalty to Equestria, I highly doubt that she’d suddenly join up with the griffons or yaks. “
  918. >”It’s not the griffons or yaks I’m worried about.”
  919. “And two, I think the whole changeling infiltration thing is enough to make her doubt her loyalty to the MID.”
  920. >”So overnight you think she’ll be cheering for Flurry Heart instead of Celestia?”
  921. “I’m just saying that if we play our cards right, she might end up coming around to all of the nasty stuff the MID has done recently.”
  922. >”Well if you want to pull out the buffalo peace pipe so soon, go right ahead. I’ll be right there to pull the knife out of your back.”
  923. “Call?”
  924. >”Yeah?”
  925. “It’s three in the morning. Go to sleep.”
  926. >You roll onto your side and pull your sheet further over your body.
  927.  
  928. >…
  929. >Walking through the streets of the small unmanned mining town, the streets are alive with merchants, guards, and off-duty soldiers or miners.
  930. >But because you’re away from the mine itself, you’re just another face in the crowd.
  931. >When you reach the spy’s house, Call knocks on it.
  932. >The door opens and she speaks in Arabian to you both.
  933. >She puts on a wide smile, speaks quickly at a slightly higher pace, and goes to hug Call.
  934. >Call responds by speaking with similar enthusiasm.
  935. >After they break their embrace, she goes to greet you while continuing to speak to the Corporal.
  936. >You can only guess what they’re saying:
  937. >’Cousin, it’s so good to see you again!”
  938. >’Well we were in the neighborhood…’
  939. >’I thought that with the war…’
  940. >’Don’t worry (insert nickname), we’re both fine… mostly.’
  941. >Well, pretty soon she pulls you both inside, and away from the heat of the open sun.
  942. >As soon as the door closes behind you, she drops the pretenses and speaks bluntly:
  943. >”Upstairs, now!”
  944. “Come on, with all this off-topic small talk, we’ll never get anything done.”
  945. >She pauses on her way.
  946. >Call then comments:
  947. >”That was out loud, mate.”
  948. >”Are all of you military ponies so…”
  949. >”Sarcasm is one of the first things you learn in boot camp.
  950. “Upstairs, go on.”
  951. >”Ugh…”
  952. >She groans and continues back up the stairs.
  953.  
  954. >At the top, you find a single room- her bedroom.
  955. >A single bed with a pair of bedside tables, desk with a wooden chair in front of it, a small bookshelf against the wall, and a wardrobe.
  956. >Very sparse.
  957. >She walks over to the desk and pulls the center drawer all the way out, placing it over on her bed.
  958. >Then she returns to the desk reaches into the empty slot she just made, and pushes the top off of the desk.
  959. >It looks like the top normally fits flush with the molding around it.
  960. >Letting it rest on an angle atop the molding, you see that there is a hidden, and very narrow drawer inside of it.
  961. “I thought you searched this room.”
  962. >”Look boss, I’ve never heard of that one.”
  963. >”Were you expecting a secret room behind the bookshelf?”
  964. >”It would have been cooler.”
  965. >The spy sighs as she removes folders and papers from the hidden drawer, laying them out on her bed.
  966. “So we’re all on the same page, should we refer to you by your codename or real one?”
  967. >”My proper name will do behind closed doors.”
  968. “So what exactly is all this.”
  969. >”These.”
  970. >She says as she passes a few files over.
  971. >”Are yours. You’ll find that I didn’t alter or damage any of them.”
  972. “Call.”
  973. >He takes them and stashes them back into his saddle bag.
  974. “And these others?”
  975. >”Everything I have on the mine.”
  976. “Are those maps?”
  977. >She unfolds two larger pieces of paper.
  978. >One looks like a top down drawing of the mine exterior.
  979. >”Here you can see the entrance at the south, the administration building just off of it, guard barracks here, here and here. Each of those have their own armory. This building near the entrance to the mine proper is for refining, where they crush the raw crystals down into fine Sahar sand. From there, it gets put directly into military convoys that arrive every other day. They currently produce eight full size barrels of it in a single work day.”
  980.  
  981. “What about that building just west of that barracks?”
  982. >”Supply warehouse that contains most of the mining equipment.”
  983. “So what was your plan to put this mine out of commission, I’d assume it has something to do with using Sahar’s explosive potential.”
  984. >”It’s highly combustible, but only when crushed into a fine sand, the crystals themselves aren’t explosive.”
  985. “I’ll assume that it’s not as simple as tossing a few barrels of the stuff down the mine shaft.”
  986. >”Refined Sahar is kept under lockdown, behind two locked doors made of solid steel. The key to the first belongs to the on duty guards they have posted around the clock, and the only key to the second door belongs to the mine’s foreman.”
  987. “And access to the mine itself.”
  988. >”At the entrance there is a military checkpoint, and at the bottom of the elevator located just inside has another checkpoint. No non-approved materials are allowed in, not even a picture of your family.”
  989. >Call then buts in:
  990. >”And I assume that the checkpoints are manned twenty-four seven.”
  991. >”Correct.”
  992. “What’s this second map?”
  993. >”The interior of the mine, I was only inside a few times, but due to expansion they are now useless.”
  994. “How’d they even find this stuff in the middle of the desert?”
  995. >”One day after a brutal sandstorm, the crystal was revealed by the winds. A patrol was lost in the desert from that storm, and saw what looked like a small dead tree of crystal sticking out of the desert. Even though Saddle Arabians lack magical powers, they could feel the arcane force emanating from the wiry branches. Military higher-ups believed that it could be weaponized, and they began studying it.
  996. “Of course they did.”
  997.  
  998. >“But they found that the ‘trunk’ of the tree, only a few inches in diameter, went straight down into the ground for over a hundred feet. There wasn’t enough to drive any war machines until they found a large deposit of it deep below the surface.”
  999. >”How large of a deposit?”
  1000. >“Deposits bout as large as this house connected by smaller veins about a foot in diameter. It winds throughout the sandstone in a single vein.”
  1001. >”Wait, if it’s just one long strand, then why would we need a map?”
  1002. >”Because the smaller veins wind and move at rigid angles for hundreds of feet at a time, and separate paths have to be made to get people and equipment to the next deposit. And large veins of extremely pure iron have been found, so they’ve expanded to start mining that. When I was down there last, it was a maze. Now it will be a labyrinth.”
  1003. “How are we even getting into the complex, we looked around earlier and saw all the barbed wire surrounding it.”
  1004. >”You can fly…”
  1005. “People wouldn’t see?”
  1006. >”Not if you time it right. Those dotted lines on the first map are guard patrols that they stick to like clockwork. If you quickly get from here to here, there to there, or there to there you wouldn’t be spotted under the cover of night.”
  1007. “How’d you even get all of these routes?”
  1008. >”My office has a window overlooking most of the compound.”
  1009. >”Exactly how many soldiers are posted here?”
  1010. >”One hundred and eight.”
  1011. >She knew that right off the top of her head.
  1012. >”And that includes the mine’s foreman, an army Captain.”
  1013. “So… what’s the plan?”
  1014.  
  1015. >…
  1016. >Rolling up the papers that you made with a bit of Discord’s memory recollection, you make your way to the ship’s master gunner.
  1017. >The unicorn in charge of keeping the ship’s cannons up and running.
  1018. >He’s currently chewing out a pair of sailors.
  1019. >”When you strike a match, you throw it OFF the ship! And you do NOT bring a lit cigarette down here! You know what? You can’t even bring an unlit cigarette down here, because you CLEARLY cannot RESTRAIN YOURSELVES! Do you enjoy the idea of being instantly obliterated by an explosion?”
  1020. >”No Sir!”
  1021. >”THEN START ACTING LIKE IT! Now get out of here!”
  1022. >As the sailors waste no time leaving, you’re left in the powder hold with the unicorn.
  1023. >”What do you want?”
  1024. >He asks curtly.
  1025. “Busy day?”
  1026. >”I swear that common sense is now a forgotten art.”
  1027. “Trust me, it’s always been a forgotten art.”
  1028. >”Sorry ‘bout the attitude, Sir.”
  1029. “No, that’s fine. I know what it’s like.”
  1030. >”Name’s Gunny. Wasn’t born with it, but that’s what everypony calls me, so that’s my name.”
  1031. “Last time I was on a ship, I saw the ship’s gunner use magic to superheat cannons to fix them.”
  1032. >”Yup, unicorns with the talent in it can work as a mobile forge.”
  1033. “I have a job for you.”
  1034. >”And that would be?”
  1035. “First I need your word that after you finish it, everything gets wiped from the record. No reproductions of it, and if I ever catch wind that you kept working or told others how to do it, then I will track you down, and… you can use your imagination.”
  1036. >”Sounds ominous, but I’m not stupid. You have my word as a sailor.”
  1037. “Good.”
  1038. >You unroll your paper and place it on a crate that serves as an impromptu table.
  1039.  
  1040. “Everything is fairly straightforward, but for this right here you might want to ask the ship’s doctor to see if he has the necessary chemicals. If none of those options pan out, then tell me and I’ll find something that works.”
  1041. >He looks down at the schematic.
  1042. >”That’s… why didn’t anypony think of that? Or that? Or that?”
  1043. “That’s exactly why this stays between us. Bring it to me when it’s done.”
  1044. >”Yes Sir.”
  1045. >…
  1046. >”I’m telling you, this plan, and I use that word lightly, will get us both killed.”
  1047. “What is it now Call?”
  1048. >”It’s a series of events, each having a one in ten chance of success, and that’s being generous. Followed by a few one in a hundred shots that can only happen if the stars somehow align for us. Followed by the hope and dream that she can accurately predict exactly how dozens of ponies will react.”
  1049. “Sure it’s risky, but do you have anything better?”
  1050. >”Something that wasn’t specifically made to get us killed or caught and then killed later.”
  1051. “Since when are you a naysayer.”
  1052. >”I’m just being realistic here.”
  1053. “Weren’t you right behind me when we had to retake that gatehouse all by ourselves?”
  1054.  
  1055. >”That was different, we were up against a barely trained rabble. The soldiers here are proper soldiers, and one slip up means that we’re outnumbered over fifty to one.”
  1056. “Still better chances that you have with mares, but the odds don’t stop you there.”
  1057. >”That’s a low blow mate.”
  1058. “Really though, what’s gotten into you recently?”
  1059. >”What’d ya mean?”
  1060. “Ever since we got here it’s been nothing but doom and gloom from you.”
  1061. >”Ever since we got here it’s been nothing but complacency from you.”
  1062. “I am not complacent.”
  1063. >”When we were in there with her, you agreed with everything she had planned without a single doubt.”
  1064. “I questioned the plan.”
  1065. >”No, you asked questions ABOUT the plan, you never disagreed with anything.”
  1066. >You rub the back of your neck as you feel the slightest of headaches starting.
  1067. “Hey Call, does something about this place seem off to you?”
  1068. >”Off?”
  1069. “I don’t know, but it seems like the hair on the back of my neck has been standing up since we got here.”
  1070. >”Now that you mention it there is something thick about the air here. My stomach’s been a bit upset the past day or so.”
  1071. “Huh…”
  1072. >“It was probably just all of the flying we did, enough to get anypony feeling a bit lagged.
  1073. “Yeah… you’re probably right.”
  1074.  
  1075. >…
  1076. “You ready?”
  1077. >”No.”
  1078. “Make it an order.”
  1079. >”Figured you’d say something like that.”
  1080. >You’re outside the complex on the northwestern side of the barbed wire fencing.
  1081. >Currently you’re ducked behind a sand dune.
  1082. >Even though it’s well into the night, you don’t want to be spotted.
  1083. >In the distance, you see a lantern being carried by a patrol.
  1084. “It’s passing, move.”
  1085. >Pushing your loose robe aside, you outstretch your wings and take flight.
  1086. >You each stay at a very low altitude, basically hugging the ground.
  1087. >As you reach the fence, you fly as high as you need to before landing.
  1088. >The sand is so well traveled that a single set of hoofsteps won’t be able to be made out.
  1089. >You make a quick dash over to the nearest building, and begin to hug the wall.
  1090. >A patrol should be passing by the front of it right about… now.
  1091. >You remain motionless as the armed guards pass by, you can hear some idle chatter as they walk.
  1092. >Continuing to the corner of the building, you peek your head around it.
  1093. >Guards patrol catwalks around a different building that overlooks the clearing you need to get through.
  1094. >One of them is currently looking right your way.
  1095.  
  1096. >But he doesn’t notice you, and in a moment he turns to continue around the catwalk.
  1097. >Running to the next building over, a barracks, you find the door and enter.
  1098. >Taking care to do it as quietly as possible.
  1099. >Because you’re met with rows of beds, all filled with sleeping soldiers.
  1100. >You need the double doors in the southeast corner of the room.
  1101. >Walking slowly through the rows of bunk beds, you pause when you hit a creaky floorboard.
  1102. >Glancing around, you don’t see anypony disturbed by it.
  1103. >Lightly taking your hoof off of it, you glance over your shoulder and point it out to Call.
  1104. >Continuing forward, you don’t hear it creak again, so he made sure to avoid it.
  1105. >Reaching the thick wooden doors, you look to Call and nod.
  1106. >You each reach into a pocket to retrieve garrote wire.
  1107. >Reaching down, you slowly open the door and enter the next room.
  1108. >The armory.
  1109. >It’s L shaped, and the side you’re in is lined with weapon racks, the other side has their armor.
  1110. >As Call gently closes the door, you head for the corner of the room.
  1111. >You can hear two voices speaking to each other.
  1112. >Call fishes out a small mirror and gives it to you.
  1113. >Angling it just around the corner, you see that the Arabian’s backs are facing you as they strap armor on.
  1114.  
  1115. >You toss the mirror in your pocket, and lean in to Call’s ear.
  1116. “I’ve got the left.”
  1117. >He nods.
  1118. >Rounding the corner, you each creep up to the targets.
  1119. >You move to the left side of the leftmost one, Call goes to the right of the rightmost one.
  1120. >Just as you would enter the corners of their eyes, you each string out your wires and throw them over their necks.
  1121. >When it’s taught against their necks, you spin it around to seal the choke.
  1122. >Pushing the Arabian towards Call’s, you pin them between your bodies as they choke out and try to punch back at you.
  1123. >You take a good kick to your abdomen, but he doesn’t have a good enough angle on you.
  1124. >Pulling even tighter, you don’t let do until a few moments after the body goes still as it slumps down to the ground.
  1125. >”Over here.”
  1126. >Call whispers, nodding towards a large crate with Arabian text pressed against the wall.
  1127. >”Says it’s for damaged armor that needs repair.”
  1128. >He opens the lid to the crate, and as you go over to peer inside, you see that it’s mostly empty.
  1129. >It’ll do.
  1130. >After dumping the bodies in the crate, you each then begin to get equipped.
  1131. >You pick out gear that will hide your wings, and full helmets that disguise your faces.
  1132. >Before leaving the armory, you then make sure to equip a scimitar and a knife to complete the look.
  1133. >When you leave, you have no choice but to be semi-overt.
  1134. >The armor isn’t exactly quiet.
  1135. >There are a few grumbles, to which Call responds with a word or two each.
  1136. >You’d guess he’s either saying ‘sorry’ or ‘shut up’.
  1137. >Now to the refinery…
  1138. >You just wish that your headache would die down.
  1139. >The past couple days it hasn’t been that bad, but since you started staking out the mine to wait for the right time, it’s just gotten worse.
  1140.  
  1141. >…
  1142. >The completed product is kept in a solid steel vault placed right on the side of the refinery.
  1143. >According to Shore, it’s in three segments.
  1144. >The first room is where the guards are posted, and it has air vents so that they don’t suffocate.
  1145. >After that there’s the room between the locked doors, and finally the vault past that.
  1146. >Neither of those rooms have ventilation, so anypony trapped inside would slowly die from the heat as the desert sun cooks whoever is inside.
  1147. >Heat alone doesn’t seem enough to ignite the Sahar, so as long as there aren’t any sparks it’s safe.
  1148. >In the distance you hear a bell start to ring out.
  1149. >Midnight- the changing of the guard.
  1150. >If she was right with her info, you killed the Arabians meant to take over guarding the vault.
  1151. >And these two should be going to a different barracks, so there shouldn’t be any risk of the bodies being found.
  1152. >Time to let Call do all the talking.
  1153. >Before you reach the steel door, it opens and an Arabian peeks his head out.
  1154. >He then turns back into the room and says something to the one who should be inside.
  1155. >Call then begins to speak in Arabian to them.
  1156. >The Arabian swings the heavy door all the way open, and invites you in.
  1157. >He then asks something to you and Call.
  1158. >To which Call responds.
  1159.  
  1160. >Right about now he should be explaining how we got called into the shift as the ones meant for it got sick.
  1161. >Stepping into the room, you find the other sitting at a small wooden table that has two chairs.
  1162. >He’s packing up a deck of cards, that he then leaves in a nice deck on the table.
  1163. >You groan slightly and rub the back of your neck, trying to act as drowsy as possible.
  1164. >The Arabian from the table chuckles slightly as he retrieves a key ring from his belt and gives it to you.
  1165. >It only has a single key on it, the first one for the vault.
  1166. >As you take it he pats you on the shoulder twice.
  1167. >Call says a couple more words to the guards, and they soon take their leave.
  1168. >As he swings the bulky door shut, you’d guess that it’s about three inches of solid steel.
  1169. >The Corporal then waits a moment before speaking.
  1170. >”Now we wait.”
  1171. “She should be getting here soon, after all the new guards settle into their posts.”
  1172. >”I just hope nopony dented any of their gear on that shift.”
  1173. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
  1174. >…
  1175. >“Alright, where is she? It’s been at least half an hour.”
  1176. >You pull out a pocket watch and check the time.
  1177. “Forty-three minutes.”
  1178. >”Just bloody great.”
  1179. >…
  1180. “An hour.”
  1181. >”I for one don’t like our new lives as guards.”
  1182. “You’re joking at a time like this?”
  1183. >”When we get caught, it’s your fault for trusting her.”
  1184.  
  1185. >…
  1186. >You check the watch again.
  1187. “One thirty in the morning. What’s taking her so long?”
  1188. >”Captured?”
  1189. “Alarms would have gone off.”
  1190. >”Then she’s probably running through the desert, leaving this place long behind.”
  1191. “Maybe-“
  1192. >You stop yourself as you hear three quick knocks on the door.
  1193. >Springing out of the chair, you approach it.
  1194. >As Call rises, he rests a hoof on his sword.
  1195. >Opening the lock on the door, you begin to push it open.
  1196. “Finally.”
  1197. >As it opens just wide enough for Shore to enter, she quickly ducks into the room.
  1198. >Call speaks as you close and latch the door.
  1199. >”What took you so bloody long?”
  1200. >”The Captain was in a meeting, a griffon came in to discuss expanding the operation.”
  1201. “Black and white, wearing and officer’s cap?”
  1202. >”You know him?”
  1203. “Something like that, it’s a long story. You have the key?”
  1204. >She pulls out a key ring identical to the one you have.
  1205. >Although you can see something on her key…
  1206. “Is that blood?”
  1207. >”He slept with it under his pillow.”
  1208. “Did you have to kill him?”
  1209. >She looks at you with a raised eyebrow.
  1210. “Stupid question, okay let’s open this up.”
  1211.  
  1212. >”Firsts things first, we need to deal with the guards at the first checkpoint.”
  1213. >Shore reminds you.
  1214. >Right, the mouth of the mine is only a few yards away from the door to the vault.
  1215. “Call, head outside to smoke, make sure it’s clear.”
  1216. >He nods before heading outside.
  1217. >The guard checkpoint is down a ways from the entrance to the mine, so it isn’t visible to the patrols.
  1218. >There are four guards up top, and four below.
  1219. >Plus a few more in the mine to oversee the forced labor that continues working through the night.
  1220. >The plan is to clear the top of the elevator, load up all the barrels of Sahar, take the elevator down, deal with the guards there, set the barrels up to explode, then let the slaves back up through the elevator.
  1221. >Once they riot or try to flee, it’ll cover your own escape.
  1222. >You don’t like leaving them out to dry like that, but at least they’ll have a fighting chance.
  1223. >Call peeks his head back inside.
  1224. >”Clear, patrol just passed.”
  1225. >”We have ninety seconds to move.”
  1226. “After you.”
  1227. >As you jog across the clearing, Call speaks to Shore.
  1228. >”Got it?”
  1229. >”Front right compartment.”
  1230. >When you reach the mouth of the mine, you feel a slight breeze coming from it.
  1231. >There’s a sandstone brick passageway sticking up out of the desert.
  1232. >The path goes downwards at a ten degree decline for a hundred feet or so.
  1233. >Then you reach the elevator.
  1234. >Call finishes fishing around Shore’s bag, and puts the flap back down.
  1235. >He then tosses a sling around his neck with a foot long wooden case hanging from it.
  1236. “Ready?”
  1237. >”As I’ll ever be.”
  1238. “Take point.”
  1239. >He nods and begins running down the shaft.
  1240. >Following close behind, you let him work his magic.
  1241. >Coming into view of the guards, you see them stand to attention, expecting you ‘soldiers’ to be bringing bad news.
  1242. >Call stops about thirty feet from them, and the lead guard barks something at him.
  1243. >The Corporal grabs the box around his neck, and opens it up.
  1244.  
  1245. >”Hello boys.”
  1246. >He then pulls a throwing knife from the box, tossing it at the lead guard.
  1247. >By the time it lodges into his neck, the next knife is already in the air.
  1248. >And as the second one enters the second neck, the third is in the air.
  1249. >The third hits the third neck, and Call prepares the last one.
  1250. >He steps forward as the throws it, and it soars over into the final guards left eye.
  1251. “Now you’re just showing off.”
  1252. >”That’s what happens when you don’t wear a helmet in a mine… besides, I told you I could shave the leg off of a fly at fifty feet.”
  1253. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
  1254. >Shore isn’t amused.
  1255. >”Hurry up!”
  1256. “Right.”
  1257. >Now you begin shedding the armor over your torsos.
  1258. >As you help each other with the straps, soon your wings are freed.
  1259. >You toss of the stuffy helmet as well.
  1260. >Call does similarly.
  1261. “Feels good to breathe again.”
  1262. >Moving down to the elevator, you push a body out of it.
  1263. >It’s bigger than you expected.
  1264. >Must be about twenty by twenty feet.
  1265. >Powered by its own Sahar engine.
  1266. >Plenty of room for a few barrels of the stuff.
  1267. >”Back up, I’ll watch for patrols while you two fly them over.”
  1268. >She then offers you the other key to the vault.
  1269. >Climbing back up to the mouth of the mine, she glances outside for patrols.
  1270. >”Hold.”
  1271. >Okay…
  1272. >”Go!”
  1273. >Hugging the ground, you fly back to the vault.
  1274. >Call lands inside just after you do.
  1275. >Approaching the first door, you pull out the large key and twist it.
  1276. >Hearing the locks tick open on the large steel door, you push in to open it up.
  1277. >In front of you is a dark room, just a cube with solid steel walls and two doors opposite each other.
  1278. >Call fetches the lantern from the guard post, and uses it to light the room as you fetch the bloodstained key.
  1279. “You better not drop that thing.”
  1280.  
  1281. >”I won’t.”
  1282. >As the second set of locks tumble open, you pull at the bar to swing the heavy door towards you.
  1283. >When light enters the equally as dark room, you count nine full size kegs of the stuff.
  1284. “Set that down over in that corner. Far away from the barrels.”
  1285. >As Call places the lantern away from the Sahar kegs, he then approaches the one you picked out.
  1286. >”On three?”
  1287. “One, two, three.”
  1288. >With both your arms around the barrel, you begin to lift.
  1289. “Damn that’s heavy.”
  1290. >”Wings.”
  1291. “One, two, three.”
  1292. >With both of you flapping, you manage to lift the barrel off of the ground and take it back to the front room.
  1293. >Peeking out the door, you see Shore waving you along.
  1294. >You’ll have to avoid the guards for nine of these trips…
  1295. >Just great.
  1296. >…
  1297. >Setting the last barrel on the elevator, you pause a moment to rub your back.
  1298. >You’re gonna feel it in the morning.
  1299. “Alright, so four guards right at the bottom, and a dozen or so in the rest of the mine?”
  1300. >”Correct.”
  1301. “We can handle that, you any good with a sword?”
  1302. >She looks at you and raises an eyebrow.
  1303. “Right, another stupid question. Let’s head down.”
  1304. >You pause as you step up to the control levers.
  1305. >They’re marked in Arabian.
  1306. >Call casually quips:
  1307. >”The one on the right.”
  1308. >Flipping the switch down, the floor lurches as you being your descent.
  1309. >Two sides of the elevator are open to the ground, so you watch as sandstone turns into greyer rocks.
  1310. >Or something.
  1311. >Damnit, you’re a Major not a geologist.
  1312.  
  1313. “There’s plenty of air down there, right?”
  1314. >Shore takes up the question:
  1315. >”On either side of the elevator are a pair of ventilation ducts. There’s plenty of air.”
  1316. “Right, they wouldn’t build a mine their people couldn’t breathe in… right?”
  1317. >”You say ‘right’ a lot.”
  1318. “Do I?”
  1319. >Call, in his own world, comments:
  1320. >”Could use some elevator music. Nothing fancy, just a quick repeating tune.”
  1321. “Now there’s the pony I know, quipping in the face of death.”
  1322. >”If we die, I’m still blaming you. If I die, I’m haunting you. If you die, I’m drinking on a beach. If she kills us, I’m killing you.”
  1323. >”I’m standing right here!”
  1324. >”If you haven’t picked it up by now, you’re a bad spy. I don’t trust you.”
  1325. >”The feeling is mutual.”
  1326. >”See, told you we shouldn’t trust her.”
  1327. “Play nice children.”
  1328. >Shore then yells at Call:
  1329. >”What have I even done to lose trust!”
  1330. >”You’re a SPY! Being distrustful is your thing.”
  1331. >”That sentence doesn’t even make sense.”
  1332. “She has a point, you grasp of language isn’t that great.”
  1333. >”Don’t take her bloody side!”
  1334. “I’m not taking sides!”
  1335. >”It’s not my fault that plebeians like yourselves never learned proper Equestrian.”
  1336. >”My Equestrian is perfect.”
  1337. >”Says little Miss Private School.”
  1338. “Damnit, I will turn this elevator around!”
  1339. >”I’ll believe it when I bloody see it.”
  1340. >That’s enough.
  1341. “Alright listen here you bloody accented bastard, shut up right this instant! That’s an order.”
  1342. >You then turn to Shore.
  1343. “And you, quit antagonizing him, it’s NOT helping. We are going to spend the rest of this elevator ride in COMPLETE SILENCE.”
  1344. >You sigh heavily, and enjoy the quiet.
  1345. >However, a moment later the rock on one side of the elevator turns into an open space.
  1346. >Four guards are waiting with swords and spears at the ready.
  1347. “MOVE!”
  1348.  
  1349. >Before the elevator settles on the ground, you’ve already drawn your scimitar.
  1350. >Jumping down towards the nearest guard, you knock his spear away and stab your blade down into his shoulder.
  1351. >To your left, Call trades a few blows with another soldier before slashing deep into his neck.
  1352. >On your right, Shore rips the spear from a guard, spins it around and impales it deep into his torso.
  1353. >Pulling your own blade out of the first guard, you block an incoming slash from the final soldier.
  1354. >You parry a few more blows until Call stabs his sword into the Arabian’s flank, letting you get an opening to his chest.
  1355. >The sound of steel ringing soon dies down, and the mine is left completely silent.
  1356. >Looking to your surroundings, you see lanterns on the walls illuminating the mine.
  1357. >You’re in a bit of a clearing, but there’s a single set of rails heading down the main corridor.
  1358. >And you can see three other paths without rails going deeper into the ground.
  1359. >Rubbing you temple with your free hoof, you grunt.
  1360. >Your headache has turned into a migraine.
  1361. >”Ahhh.”
  1362. >You look over to Call, who is doing the same.
  1363. >And is that?
  1364. “Hey Call, you get hit in the fight?”
  1365. >”What? No.”
  1366. >He’s got a few drops of blood coming from a nostril.
  1367. “Your nose.”
  1368. >He puts a hoof to his nose, and looks at the blood that gets on it.
  1369. >”What is this place?”
  1370. >He barks at Shore.
  1371. >”What do you mean? Are you two alright?”
  1372. >”Ever since we came to this bloody town, we’ve had damn headaches! And now look!”
  1373. >”I don’t understand, I feel fine. The mine is perfectly safe, dozens of Saddle Arabians are in here for hours on end.”
  1374. “GAH!”
  1375. >You shake your head.
  1376. “You don’t have to yell so loud!”
  1377. >”I’m not yelling…”
  1378. >Call’s right.
  1379. >What is this place?
  1380. “I don’t know what these crystals are, but the sooner we destroy this mine and get far away, the better. Let’s get those barrels off the elevator.”
  1381.  
  1382. >…
  1383. >Packing the kegs of Sahar around the entrance to the elevator, you look to Shore.
  1384. >She’s been keeping watch, but she looks… cautious.
  1385. >”There’s no sound.”
  1386. >You pause to listen.
  1387. “Yeah, it’s quiet. And?”
  1388. >”There should be workers down here…”
  1389. “You said the Sahar deposit is far away, they’re probably all there.”
  1390. >Call then puts his two bits in:
  1391. >”Look, why don’t we just set this to blow, and call it a night?”
  1392. >”Because we need a fuse from their mining gear, and without a crowd to draw attention, we’ll probably be caught.”
  1393. >”You didn’t bring a spare fuse!”
  1394. >”Well, actually I keep fifty feet of cannon fuse in my purse, but it’s back at my house, so no I didn’t bring any!”
  1395. “Was that a joke?”
  1396. >”You ponies are insufferable.”
  1397. >”He has that effect.”
  1398. “Shut up Call!”
  1399. >”Killing you two doesn’t sound so bad right about now.”
  1400. >”BLOODY TRY IT BITCH!”
  1401. “It was a JOKE, Call!”
  1402. >You reach over and give Call a light-ish right hook to the jaw.
  1403. >”What was that for!”
  1404. “We’re not thinking straight! And I’ll bet it’s because of the crystal down here!”
  1405. >”What about her?”
  1406. >You look to Shore.
  1407. “I think she’s just really annoyed with us. Congratulations, we made a highly trained spy lose her composure.”
  1408. >”I am perfectly composed.”
  1409. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, he has that effect on everypony.”
  1410. >”Hey, I just used that line!”
  1411. “Call! Focus! We need to get to where they’re mining.”
  1412. >Shore then comments:
  1413. >”In lieu of a map, I think it’s safe to say that the mine cart rails will take us there.”
  1414. “Better than nothing. Let’s go.”
  1415.  
  1416. >…
  1417. >The rails declined, inclined, twisted, turned, declined again, and twisted some more.
  1418. >And as you descended into further into the mine, your headache only got worse and your ears started to ring.
  1419. >How do the Saddle Arabians deal with it down here?
  1420. >Turning with the track, you see a light at the end of the tunnel.
  1421. >Literally.
  1422. >You enter into a cavern, at least twenty feet high and another twenty wide.
  1423. >After about fifteen feet back, the entire wall is solid blue glowing crystal.
  1424. >As the light pulsates every few seconds, the room gets brighter and darker.
  1425. >Your ears are ringing even louder now, and you can feel a drop of blood come from your nose.
  1426. >”Uhhhh.”
  1427. >Call groans.
  1428. >”I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
  1429. >Looking into the crystal, you can’t help but step closer to it.
  1430. >The way the light seems to swirl around is mesmerizing.
  1431. >You begin to reach a hoof out to touch it, but stop.
  1432. >Not because you realized it’s probably not a good idea to tough the glowing rock that’s disorientating you, but because you hear hoofsteps.
  1433. >Lots of them.
  1434.  
  1435. >As the three of you turn around, you’re met with dozens of fully armored and armed guards storming into the room, forming a wall between you and the one way out.
  1436. “Damnit.”
  1437. >”Damnit.”
  1438. >”Damnit.
  1439. >The three of you say in unison.
  1440. >The soldiers hold their position, and you hear a single set of claps come from behind them.
  1441. >In the center of the formation, the guards part to allow a single soldier through.
  1442. >A griffon.
  1443. >Black and white feathers, and wearing an officers cap and a matching grey uniform accented with gold.
  1444. >”Well done on getting so far. A shame about the Captain, but I suppose it’s luck that I forgot to some documents signed after our meeting… I should have guessed that it would be Equestrians to attack here.”
  1445. “Well this is a cliché.”
  1446. >“Why yes it is, the spies stopped right before they put the final piece of their plan into action. I suppose now I should imprison you so you can stage a daring escape and somehow manage to complete the mission… but I think I’ll defy that step. Kill them.”
  1447.  
  1448. “Either of you see an easy way out?”
  1449. >”No.”
  1450. >”No.”
  1451. “At least we’ve been in worse situations before, eh Call?”
  1452. >”No we haven’t.”
  1453. “Well after this we can say that we have.”
  1454. >The Saddle Arabians form a spear wall and begin to approach, taking one step at a time.
  1455. >And their spears have the reach to hit you if you simply tried to fly over them.
  1456. >When the light next pulsates from the wall behind you, you hear an immense screeching as your ears start ringing.
  1457. >As you grunt in pain, you drop your sword and press your hooves against them.
  1458. >You can see that Call did the same, but you can see blood dripping from his.
  1459. >Looking at your hooves, you see that yours did to.
  1460. >What is this crystal?
  1461. >And why do only you and Call seem effected by it?
  1462. >Reaching down to grab the sword, you try to prepare yourself for the next pulse.
  1463. >Stepping back from the oncoming wall, your flank bumps into the wall.
  1464.  
  1465. >-
  1466. >”HLIeGoo ienohgtekah y,ttt, e,o I I bnb’jliemuund see htb,no e omwrtweare .nynk t,.iB daawR,d hE fyAidi DtavwY’yeo s uO aplRlted a r NtwcyOeoeoT rnu,akt n? pHd ruE TatRyhi Eoesi u etI n, I iCnginOehs Met mEd ty! Sh yhaboitiuf rrttt ohruodes asumytau lcclhay k teio?s .ask?”
  1467. >Why is everything flashing?
  1468. >What is that sound!
  1469. >”Well You’ve I I’m But at done thought gonna Dad, least nothing you find I you’re but loved you couldn’t home slack blueberry, guys, sleep, with off or is I your these was anypony had family past that in… a now three raspberry? HERE! nightmare. years.”
  1470. >The world’s spinning, or are you spinning?
  1471. >Everything’s a strobe going a million flicks a second.
  1472. >Sounds and sights flash past, lifetimes pass in the time it would take you to blink an eye.
  1473. >Happy place, go to a happy place.
  1474. >Think of your wife.
  1475. >You can see her, alone in bed, curled up with a hoof over her belly.
  1476. >It’s your child.
  1477. >But you don’t see it, you feel it’s developing life as it forms inside Winter’s womb.
  1478. >This isn’t some mental image…
  1479. >”Yeah, at least there’s that. I love you, honey.”
  1480. >”I’ve worked the graveyard shift without so much as a word of complaint!”
  1481. >”Yes Mom, it was raspberry…”
  1482. >”You all can come out now… I give up!”
  1483. >”Alright kid, let me tell you a story.”
  1484. >A husband and wife, both exhausted but happy to see each other.
  1485. >A unicorn begging his boss for a raise.
  1486. >A disappointed griffon child who got a birthday cake she didn’t like.
  1487. >A minotaur child playing hide and go seek with his friends.
  1488. >And a frightened Saddle Arabian, whose father is trying to make him relax after a bad dream.
  1489. >But it’s not just these five groups of people.
  1490.  
  1491.  
  1492. >You can see everything.
  1493. >No, not see: feel.
  1494. >Every pony, griffon, yak, and every other person in the world.
  1495. >Every dog sleeping with its owners.
  1496. >Every owl hunting in the night’s sky, and every mouse about to become food.
  1497. >Every tree and blade of grass swaying in the wind.
  1498. >Every strange creature deep below the ground.
  1499. >Every fish and whale in the ocean.
  1500. >What’s that?
  1501. >Sailors on a ship, out further than any other right now.
  1502. >But there’s something else.
  1503. >A blank void at the bottom of its hold.
  1504. >Something else grabs you attention.
  1505. >A town, sticking out from the sand of the desert.
  1506. >It’s people asleep, or scurrying somewhere.
  1507. >You recognize the buildings.
  1508. >Deep below the ground, fifty-three Saddle Arabians, one griffon, and two pegasi.
  1509. >Soldiers advancing on their target, their hooves frozen as time stops.
  1510. >Behind them, it’s blinding.
  1511. >A wall of light, far brighter than the sun in the sky.
  1512. >It goes on, and on.
  1513. >Further and deeper, across everything… in everything.
  1514. >It’s in pain…
  1515. >And it needs it’s strength…
  1516. >But there’s somepony else!
  1517. >[Focus and relax soldier.]
  1518. >A voice?
  1519. >A guide… or a shield…
  1520. >[The here and now.]
  1521. >Below the desert, in front of the wall…
  1522. >You?
  1523. >Your eyes… they’re as bright as the wall you’re in front of.
  1524.  
  1525. >-
  1526. >You’re hovering in the air, your back pressed against the crystal as your arms are outstretched to the sides.
  1527. >Something’s inside of you and it hurts.
  1528. >Like a thousand bolts of lightning are being bottled up…
  1529. >Then it releases.
  1530. >You see a blue wave of energy release from you and expand in every direction.
  1531. >In an instant if fills the cavern and goes through the mine.
  1532. >As it passes the Saddle Arabian soldiers and the griffon leading them, they…
  1533. >They just turn to dust, their weapons and armor falling to the ground.
  1534. >You then fall to the ground, too weak to stand.
  1535. >Your mind races as ponies try to help you up.
  1536. >Call and Shore.
  1537. “What… what happened?”
  1538. >One of them responds, you can’t tell which.
  1539. >”They’re dead. All of them.”
  1540. >You shake your head and it all goes away.
  1541. >Your mind isn’t racing to catch up anymore… it’s slow…
  1542. >And your headache is gone.
  1543. >And you’re not bleeding from the nose or ears.
  1544. >Looking towards the wall of crystal, you scurry away from it as quickly as you can.
  1545. “Call, is your head…”
  1546. >”No, it’s fine now.”
  1547. >What.
  1548. >The.
  1549. “We’re leaving… now.”
  1550. >”Wait, what just happened!”
  1551. >Shore yells at you.
  1552. “There’s fuses in that satchel against the wall, get them.
  1553. >”How do you know that?”
  1554. “I don’t know, I just do. We’re blowing this mine, and leaving this… thing be.”
  1555.  
  1556. >…
  1557. >”Alright boss, I think that’s about ten minutes once we light it.”
  1558. “Then light it.”
  1559. >As Call goes to set the fuse, you head back onto the elevator and sit against the last barrel of Sahar.
  1560. >That one is for the top of the shaft.
  1561. >Placing your head in your hooves, you try to comprehend what happened.
  1562. >You bumped into the crystal, then…
  1563. >All you can remember is voices and flashes of images.
  1564. >Lots of them.
  1565. >Like you were in a crowded room, but you could hear and see everypony in it at the same time.
  1566. >Now that it’s gone, everything is just so quiet and slow.
  1567. >Empty.
  1568. >As the elevator lurches into action, you hear Shore speak.
  1569. >”Are we not going to talk about what happened?”
  1570. “I don’t know what happened!”
  1571. >That came out more aggressively than you meant it to.
  1572. >”They all disintegrated!”
  1573. >”Why are you still here?”
  1574. >Call asks.
  1575. >”Disappointed?”
  1576. >”Me and him are ponies, and were feeling different from the start. But all the Saddle Arabians were killed except you.”
  1577. >You sit up and lean against the barrel.
  1578. “I think… I think it knew who was an enemy or not.”
  1579. >”You people were using it to create artificial magic, right?”
  1580. >Shore nods.
  1581. >”Well maybe Thunder used the raw energy to.. you know, poof.”
  1582. “I’m not a unicorn.”
  1583. >Shore then makes an attempt:
  1584. >”But you’re closer to unicorns than Saddle Arabians are.”
  1585. >”Hey, maybe you’ll grow a horn and become a princess.”
  1586. >”DO YOU EVER STOP JOKING?”
  1587. >”Actually, I’ve got a scheduled break for maintenance coming up next week.”
  1588. “At least he’s not being grim anymore.”
  1589. >”You’re right, past couple days seem… out of character for me. You feel any different?”
  1590. “I, I don’t know.”
  1591. >Every muscle in your body has been starting to ache.
  1592. >And your stomach feels-
  1593. >You lean over and puke, coughing after it’s all come out.
  1594. >”You alright, mate?”
  1595. “Feels like I just ran a marathon with a bad hangover.”
  1596.  
  1597. >…
  1598. >When the elevator grinds to a halt at the top of the shaft, Shore checks a watch.
  1599. >”Five minutes.”
  1600. >But you’re busy looking up the mine.
  1601. >”Major.”
  1602. >The bodies of the guards are still there, but-
  1603. >”Major!”
  1604. >You’d guess that she decided to look as well.
  1605. >”Oh.”
  1606. >There are more dusty piles of weapons and armor.
  1607. “Set the last barrel to blow around the same time that the others will.”
  1608. >You need to see something.
  1609. >Getting on your hooves, you begin to run up to the surface.
  1610. >When you get out under the cool night’s sky, you can’t see any movement.
  1611. >There are a few more dust piles here and there.
  1612. >How far did that thing go?
  1613. “HELLO!”
  1614. >Silence.
  1615. >You take to the sky, looking for any sign of life.
  1616. >Getting past the mining compound, you fly over the town.
  1617. >The streets are empty, but it’s late and the sun hasn’t risen yet.
  1618. >You set down in front of the inn you were staying at, not even thinking about how anypony will react to a pegasi walking in the front door.
  1619. >As you press the door open, no sounds come from the room.
  1620. >When your eyes adjust to the light as you enter, you don’t see any Saddle Arabians.
  1621. >Just dust.
  1622. >Some piles are just of dust, other have robes or dropped glasses of whatever they were drinking.
  1623. >These people weren’t soldiers.
  1624. >But it killed them too.
  1625. >You killed them too?
  1626. >You jump as a hoof touches your shoulder.
  1627. >”Easy mate, it’s me.”
  1628. >Damnit Call.
  1629. “They’re all de-“
  1630. >”I don’t think there’s anything you could have done.”
  1631. “It used me as a… conduit. It only left the ponies that I knew.”
  1632. >”No use thinking like that.”
  1633. “I- You’re right… go tell her to get her things ready. We’re leaving this… ghost town as soon as possible.”
  1634. >In the distance you hear a loud explosion.
  1635. >Some dust falls from the ceiling as the ground shakes a bit.
  1636. >You’re going to-
  1637. >Turning around, you rush outside to the sand and puke again.
  1638.  
  1639. >…
  1640. >With a heavy thunderstorm outside, you lay down in your bed as you listen to the rain.
  1641. >Huh.
  1642. >Could have sworn that you just heard something hit your window.
  1643. >Probably nothing.
  1644. >There it is again!
  1645. >Is it hailing too?
  1646. >A rock the breaks through the window and lands on your lap.
  1647. >”Sorry!”
  1648. >You’d be more upset at the window, but this is a dream.
  1649. >Getting up to look out the window, you see Harvey standing in the rain.
  1650. >He’s holding a sign that says ‘sorry’ in running ink.
  1651. >You sigh.
  1652. “Go to the front door.”
  1653. >Leaving your bedroom, you grab a robe and toss it on before heading downstairs.
  1654. >At least you dreamed yourself a decent house.
  1655. >Probably got good insurance to cover the window.
  1656. >When you reach the door, you open it to find Discord standing there in his suit, sopping wet.
  1657. “You’ve been quiet the past couple days.”
  1658. >”Look, I just wanted to say- No, I’m not doing this in the rain.”
  1659. >Using the powers of lucid dreaming, you make the rain stop abruptly.
  1660. >”Can you dry me off too?”
  1661. “The next thing I’m doing is imagining a shotgun.”
  1662. >”Okay, okay! Look, I know you don’t particularly like me, but we’re stuck together.”
  1663. “You’re not helping yourself.”
  1664. >”I want to live, you probably want to live, so why don’t we just work toget- that’s not working either, is it?”
  1665. “No.”
  1666. >You close the door on him.
  1667. >Before turning to go watch TV, you make the rain start up again.
  1668.  
  1669. >You walk over to your couch, and grab the remote as you sit down and relax.
  1670. >Ah, the long forgotten art of channel surfing.
  1671. >Weather, looks like that storm is only getting worse.
  1672. >Commercial.
  1673. >Commercial.
  1674. >Telenovela.
  1675. >Baseball… you don’t care for either of the teams.
  1676. >Commercial.
  1677. >Generic law enforcement show.
  1678. >Static.
  1679. >Black and white footage of a Stuka dive-bombing a tank.
  1680. >Good enough.
  1681. >As you watch the documentary, you hear glass breaking.
  1682. >Damnit Harv.
  1683. >Discord then shambles into the room, a few cuts through his suit and across his hands.
  1684. >”I’m here to make peace, Anon.”
  1685. “You just broke into my house.”
  1686. >”But for the right reasons.”
  1687. “You’re giving me a headache.”
  1688. >”Look. Like it or not we’re stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.”
  1689. “I wonder how much alcohol I’d have to drink to kill you?”
  1690. >”I don’t like it any more than you do.”
  1691. “Cause, you know. You’re in my brain, and it kills brain cells.”
  1692. >”So, I promise that I will work with you. One hundred percent, no questions asked.”
  1693. “I think I could do it. I’d really have to work at it, and I wouldn’t enjoy the hangover. But I think it’s feasible.”
  1694. >”Whatever it takes to get out of this meat bag. If you want me to shut up, then I’ll shut up.”
  1695. “I wonder what would happen if I was to become brain dead. Would you take over my body? Now that’s something that scares me. And trust me, not much scares me.”
  1696.  
  1697. >”I can pull up your memories, help you in fights, whatever is possible from in here.”
  1698. “Although I think you’d be able to annoy Tiara far more effectively that I can. That alone is almost worth it.”
  1699. >”Okay, look. I was utterly alone for over a thousand years as I was a statue. By best friend was the pigeon that defecated on my shoulder.”
  1700. “But then again, you have shown no ability over my body. So maybe you’d just waste away with me.”
  1701. >”It was torture. I never want that again, and you’re the only person I can look to for company right now.”
  1702. “Really though, I wonder what your body has been getting up to all this time…”
  1703. >”I know that you’ve never thought of me as a friend. In fact, you probably loathe me quite deeply for bringing you here in that cosmic accident.”
  1704. “What will you do if he’s redecorated your house, and you HATE the design choices?”
  1705. >”I’m trying to make up for it, in the only way I know how.”
  1706. “Like, part of you would despise your new drapes, but the other part won’t let you take them down. So you’ll be trapped in an everlasting debate with yourself.”
  1707. >”I can’t expect us to ever become friends. But at the very least, I want to… I don’t know, I just don’t want to be hated for the entirety of this trip.”
  1708. “No, purple obviously clashes with the carpet. But’s that how we used to have it! Well you weren’t here, and last I checked: this is my house too!”
  1709. >”Anon, are you even listening to me?”
  1710. “What? Oh yeah, I stopped caring the other day. Like you said, we’re stick with each other whether we like it or not. Might as well make the best of it.”
  1711. >”I just aired my darkest secrets to you, and you don’t care?”
  1712. “Not really, you gonna sit down, or what?”
  1713. >He takes a seat on the opposite side of the couch.
  1714. >”Can you at least dry me off?”
  1715. “Done.”
  1716. >”And can we watch a telenovela?”
  1717. “Don’t push your luck, Harv.”
  1718.  
  1719. >…
  1720. >You’ve been sitting in the sand, leaning against the inn’s wall for a while now.
  1721. >Part of you even wonders…
  1722. >Is this all some dream?
  1723. >”Oi!”
  1724. >Call calls out to you.
  1725. >You glance over to see Shore behind him.
  1726. >And another Saddle Arabian on the other side.
  1727. >”Look who we found!”
  1728. “Who is that?”
  1729. >”Found him screaming in one of the slave barracks. All the ash piles around him were a bit… unexpected.”
  1730. “Who is he?”
  1731. >Shore then responds:
  1732. >”He said his name is Sadiq. Do you know him?”
  1733. “Sadiq… that’s who the Musir told me to get!”
  1734. >Call then stops you:
  1735. >”Sorry, the Mushir said what?”
  1736. “I could have sworn that I told you.”
  1737. >”No you didn’t.”
  1738. “This is- he’s the brother of one of the Mushir’s commanders. He wanted me to make sure that Jagir’s faction couldn’t figure it out and use it against him.”
  1739. >Shore then fills in the gaps:
  1740. >”He wanted you to kill him?”
  1741. “No! Well, yes. But I’m not an assassin. Does he speak Equestrian?”
  1742. >Call and Shore respond in unison:
  1743. >”No.”
  1744. >You take a look at Sadiq.
  1745. >Light brown coat, darker brown mane.
  1746. >Looks a bit younger than you: late teens maybe.
  1747. “Tell him we’re getting him to safety. We’re taking him to his brother.”
  1748. >After Call translates, you look to Shore:
  1749. “Anything else you need from here?”
  1750. >”Everything I couldn’t carry is already burnt.”
  1751. “You got all of our stuff Call?”
  1752. >”Affirmative.”
  1753. “Then let’s go. You and I can dress once we’re far away from this town. Who knows when they’ll come for the next shipment.”
  1754.  
  1755. >…
  1756. >It’s been a long few days on the road.
  1757. >That doesn’t mean it’s been tiring for you, but the monotony of walking on a simple road through the woods has been…
  1758. >Well it’s been boring.
  1759. >The short times you would walk through a town were much needed changes of scenery.
  1760. >On night you even got to stay in a city.
  1761. >Nothing near as grand as the even one of the smaller Equestrian ones, but it was fun.
  1762. >In one of the taverns, a loud drunk was making a scene, so you may have encouraged Offense to take him up on the offer of a drinking contest.
  1763. >They went for over two hours.
  1764. >But it wasn’t ended by one of them passing out.
  1765. >As Offense got more unhinged from the alcohol, he started returning the drunk’s bad talking.
  1766. >Long story short, they got into a fight.
  1767. >But they were both so far gone, that neither of them could walk straight.
  1768. >Offense stumbled into the minotaur and knocked him over.
  1769. >Flat on his flank.
  1770. >He then went in for a head butt.
  1771. >And that knocked them both out for the night.
  1772. >You wish that you could have gotten a picture of those two collapsed on the floor next to each other.
  1773. >But you thought that they didn’t deserve to spend the entire night on the hard ground, so you had some of your men reposition them.
  1774. >And that’s how Offense woke up on the ground of a bar, wrapped under a drunk minotaur’s arm and using his chest as a pillow.
  1775. >You’re a bad influence on the troops.
  1776. >You giggle at the memory.
  1777. >Offense, who’s walking to your left notices.
  1778. >And he just sighs.
  1779. >He knows exactly what you’re laughing at.
  1780.  
  1781. >Currently you’re going through mountainous terrain.
  1782. >The hills are coated with trees, but in the distance you can see a range of mountains that are pure rock.
  1783. >To your right, the old minotaur speaks:
  1784. >”The coliseum should be just beyond this turn.”
  1785. “Should?”
  1786. >”I’m old, not senile.”
  1787. >As you turn round the bend, it comes into view.
  1788. >He wasn’t lying.
  1789. >It really is a coliseum.
  1790. >Made of solid grey stone, you’d guess that it’s at least a hundred feet high.
  1791. >The Sage then comments as you look at the dozens of colored banners that have been draped across its walls.
  1792. >”The arena is perfectly circular, with a diameter of exactly one hundred and fifty feet.”
  1793. “It’s… definitely impressive.”
  1794. >Tents have been put up around the exterior of the massive building.
  1795. >Banners that match the larger ones on the coliseum walls are clustered around groups of tents.
  1796. >Each claimant and their entourages most likely.
  1797. >And representatives of all the clans if you remember the Sage’s road trip history lessons.
  1798. >”We have arrived, and midday has yet to pass. That means the Grand Melee will take place today.”
  1799. “Today?”
  1800. >”That is what custom dictates. You will take your place at the Arbitrators seat, and anoint each of the fifty claimants with the ash of the old Archon’s body. His urn is waiting for you on a ceremonial pillar next to your seat.”
  1801. “I don’t get time to meet any of the claimants?”
  1802. >”Forty-two of them will be eliminated before the Melee has finished, best not to get attached.”
  1803. “So just sit back, relax, and enjoy their view as a few dozen minotaurs fight to the death?”
  1804. >”Yes.”
  1805. >Offense then comments:
  1806. >”Sounds like a good afternoon.”
  1807.  
  1808. >…
  1809. >The desert.
  1810. >You hate the desert.
  1811. >The sand, the heat, the endless expanse of a view, the heat, the venomous creatures that come out at night.
  1812. >And the heat.
  1813. >You pause to take a drink from your canteen.
  1814. >It’s terrible.
  1815. >How anypony could live in this is beyond you.
  1816. >Things would have been much simpler if you could have flown back.
  1817. >If shore was the only pony with you, you and Call could have probably carried her.
  1818. >If not for the entire way, it would at least cut down your travel time.
  1819. >Now you’re out here alone, probably being tracked by Jagir’s soldiers.
  1820. >At least they won’t be able to move through these dunes any faster than you can.
  1821. >So here you are on day whatever.
  1822. >Your only company being the dunes, the heat, a pair of ponies who won’t stop arguing, and another pony that you can’t understand.
  1823. >But for all your grievances with the desert, you aren’t that bothered.
  1824. >Every waking minute you’ve been out here, away from everything else, has been complete serenity.
  1825. >What bothers you are the minutes you aren’t awake for.
  1826. >Each time you’ve laid down for rest, you keep dreaming about the same thing.
  1827. >All of those people.
  1828. >Sure, a lot were soldiers.
  1829. >But there were more civilians in that town than soldiers.
  1830. >And even if each and every one of them was an absolute fanatic to their cause, which the slave labor most certainly wasn’t, they were still noncombatants.
  1831. >Two hundred, maybe three hundred, wiped out in an instant just because at some subconscious level you saw them as enemies.
  1832. >Because that was the easiest way to cover your trail when you would have left that town.
  1833. >What frightens you more, is the possibility that it was a conscious choice and the experience just made you forget about it.
  1834. >Everything else from when you were in contact with the crystal is cloudy to you memory, so who’s to say that you didn’t willingly kill all of them.
  1835.  
  1836. >”Oi!”
  1837. >Call yells as he catches up with you.
  1838. >”I forgot, here.”
  1839. >He pulls something from a saddle bag.
  1840. >A grey officer’s cap.
  1841. >”Swiped it from the dust pile before we left the mine.”
  1842. >You take the hat and inspect it.
  1843. >Part of you wants to throw away and let it be buried by the desert.
  1844. >No, you should keep it.
  1845. >To always remind yourself about what happened.
  1846. >You reach back and put it in one of your bags before continuing through the desert.
  1847. >You can then hear Call speak behind you.
  1848. >”Didn’t even say thank you.”
  1849. >Shore then speaks to him.
  1850. >”Ten whole minutes without a quip. Congratulations, I think that’s the new record.”
  1851. >”Actually, I’ll have you know that fifteen whole minutes is my record.”
  1852. >”The first thing I’m doing when we get back to Equestria is getting as far away from you as possible.”
  1853. >”I wonder if Lancer would let me be the pony you have to check in with regularly to make sure you aren’t getting back up to spy things.”
  1854. >”You wouldn’t dare…”
  1855. >”Oh, but that-“
  1856. “Shut up!”
  1857. >”Come on, she started it.”
  1858. “No, I mean shut up and look over there. You see that too, or is it just a mirage?”
  1859. >”I see it too.”
  1860. >”So do I.”
  1861. >Green.
  1862. >Trees.
  1863. >You reached an oasis.
  1864. “Come on, we’re camping there today.”
  1865. >It’s still early, but that’s something you can’t pass up.
  1866. >…
  1867. >”So.”
  1868. >Call begins as your group sits under the shade of the trees next to the water.
  1869. >”What’s the first thing you’re all doing once we get back to Equestria?”
  1870. >”Getting away from you.”
  1871. >”Knew that already luv, what about you?”
  1872. >You watch as a fennec drinks from the water on the side opposite you.
  1873. >”Thunder!”
  1874. >The startled fox runs away from the noise.
  1875. “What?”
  1876. >”What are you doing when we get home?”
  1877.  
  1878. “I don’t know.”
  1879. >”You mean the three of us aren’t all going for a nice cold pint?”
  1880. >”Most definitely not.”
  1881. >”You’d be invited too Sadiq, but I don’t think you’re old enough to drink… also you’re not going to Equestria with us. But don’t worry, I’ll have one in your honor.”
  1882. >The Saddle Arabian tilts his head in confusion.
  1883. >Call then says something to him in Arabian.
  1884. >That seems to settle his curiosity, and he goes back to nibbling on a loaf of bread.
  1885. >Silence then falls over the oasis.
  1886. >Until Call breaks it again.
  1887. >”The sun, the sun. Tis bringer of life, and harbinger of death. The kind yet harsh mistress of any pony who would toil under its light.”
  1888. >Shore then speaks to him.
  1889. >”Was that One Hundred Weeks of Day, by Violet Pages?”
  1890. >”Not my best work, I’ll give you that. But honestly she’s a bit rubbish. Her work is a shoddy knock off of the much earlier Poetic Prose, now she knew how to write a play. Pages just took the stories, ‘modernized’ the language, removed any nuance from the characters, and got rid of all the symbolism. But I’ll tell you something: I dragged that horrible script to the top. At least until I realized that if I stopped then the show would close and I could move on to greener pastures.”
  1891. >”Wait, wait, wait. YOU’RE Curtain Call?”
  1892. >”The one and only.”
  1893. >”You started acting in Manehattan at twelve?”
  1894. >”A fan, I take it.”
  1895. >”I saw every one of your shows.”
  1896. >”Finally, somepony who appreciates the arts.”
  1897. >”That just killed my childhood.”
  1898. >”Oh come on.”
  1899. >”Completely killed it.”
  1900. >She sounds like a kid who just watched her puppy get kicked.
  1901. >”Well…”
  1902. >Call starts.
  1903. >”If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go write my name in the sand, if you know what I mean.”
  1904.  
  1905. >…
  1906. >Everypony- err, everybody has had the old Archon’s ash anointed on their foreheads and have taken their positions in the area.
  1907. >They all stand at the edge, equidistant from the next minotaur over.
  1908. >Beside each of them is a weapon rack.
  1909. >Best you can tell, they have dozens of different arms on them.
  1910. >Swords, axes, bows, shields, armored gauntlets, spiked gauntlets, flails, maces, javelins.
  1911. >That type of thing.
  1912. >In the seats, you see that the spectators are packed shoulder to shoulder.
  1913. >A lot of minotaurs are here to see this fight.
  1914. >You have your own chair in the front row.
  1915. >Beside you is a waist high pillar containing the brass urn that holds the rest of the old Archon’s ashes.
  1916. >Well, it’s waist high for a minotaur, so about eye level for you.
  1917. >On the opposite side of the pillar, the Sage has his own seat.
  1918. >You’re the two people that are required to stand witness.
  1919. >The chairs are simple and made of carved stone.
  1920. >No real inscriptions or ornamentation.
  1921. >Very utilitarian.
  1922. >Behind you there is a small private section for you men and the Sage’s attendants.
  1923. >Vendors are going through the walkways selling food and drink (mainly alcoholic).
  1924. >”Hey, give me two!”
  1925. >You hear Offense yell from behind you.
  1926. >You glance back to see him set down his popcorn to get two glasses of ale from one of the minotaurs.
  1927. >He’s certainly enjoying himself.
  1928. >This is as much a political event as it is a spectator sport…
  1929. >The Sage then stands and approaches the low wall to overlook the arena.
  1930. >The crowds hush as he begins to speak.
  1931.  
  1932. >”Friends and kin. Today we have gathered to see which among us is worthy of our loyalty. Fifty would-be claimants, the champions of our people, stand ready for the Grand Melee. Should they yield and quit the field, their life will not be protected until they have left the arena, and their honor will be forever stained. If any among them wish to retract their claim now, they may be allowed to leave: honor intact.”
  1933. >He then pauses a moment, but none of the contenders leave the arena.
  1934. >”If any claimant wishes to question the legitimacy of this succession, let them speak now.”
  1935. >On the opposite side of the arena, a black minotaur steps forward.
  1936. >He then points towards you.
  1937. >You hear his voice echo through the coliseum.
  1938. >”This pathetic pony has no business serving as Arbitrator. This MARE cannot be trusted to respect minotaur tradition. And I say that-“
  1939. >”ENOUGH! Need I remind you that in over eight hundred of these rights, a female has served as Arbitrator for two hundred and fifty-seven successions, and a pony been Arbitrator on six other occasions. And do I need to remind you that it was this ‘pathetic pony’ who killed your father in single combat?”
  1940. >The vast majority of the crowd cheers at the Sage.
  1941. >On the arena, the minotaur clenches his fist as he angrily stops back to his position.
  1942. >At least now you have somebody to root against.
  1943. >The Sage then hushes the crowd and continues:
  1944. >”With the validity of this rite untarnished, does the Arbitrator stand in witness of this event?”
  1945. >You rise out of your seat, and loudly proclaim:
  1946. “The Arbitrator stands in witness.”
  1947. >”Then let the Grand Melee begin!”
  1948. >Around the top most levels of the coliseum, horns blast to signify the start.
  1949. >The Sage then moves back to his seat, and you take yours again.
  1950. >He then leans over to speak to you.
  1951.  
  1952. >”Do not forgive Black Rage, as the eldest of the previous Archon, he does not value our ways. If he had his way, he would already have taken the position.”
  1953. >Watching the arena, you weren’t sure what to expect.
  1954. >Part of you assumed they’d all charge into a giant mosh pit.
  1955. >Instead, they’re taking their time to equip themselves.
  1956. >Some have split off and are beginning one on one combat.
  1957. >You see some groups of three, four, or five, but for the most part that’s as large as it gets.
  1958. >The crowd yells out an “ooh!” of disgust and interest as you see a minotaur’s head get completely crushed by a flail.
  1959. >The one who swung it then focuses on the next target.
  1960. >Only to get run through with a spear.
  1961. >Quickly the arena becomes alive with the sounds of steel hitting steel and the occasional bone snapping.
  1962. >And the stands are filled with cheers and boos as groups see their favored competitors survive or die.
  1963. >In the center of the arena, you see two of them in a fist fight.
  1964. >Neither of them look like they picked up any weapons at all.
  1965. >They grapple with each other and end up in the dirt, each trying to best the other.
  1966. >Away from them, you see one claimant pull his axe’s head out of another’s gut, and then swing it into his chest.
  1967. >Another minotaur charges another with a mace held high, only to be stopped by a javelin impacting about where his heart should be.
  1968. >Two of them are walking in a circle, weapons at the ready but each unwilling to strike.
  1969. >An arrow hits one of them in the head, and shortly after, the second gets the same treatment.
  1970.  
  1971. >You look to the archer, who then has his bow arm sliced cleanly off as the black minotaur swings his greatsword down.
  1972. >He then follows through by sticking it into the archer’s side.
  1973. >When Rage pulls the sword clean, he then uses it to block a strike from a minotaur with a sword and shield.
  1974. >With one hefty swing, he brings the sword down and shatters the other minotaur’s wooden shield.
  1975. >And then sticks it through his gut, lifting him slightly off the ground.
  1976. >Back in the center of the arena, you still see the unarmed minotaurs wrestling each other.
  1977. >Closer towards you, you see a minotaur punch another in the jaw with an armored fist.
  1978. >You think you heard bone break.
  1979. >But both of them soon get killed by a third with a sword in one hand and axe in the other.
  1980. >This is absolutely barbaric.
  1981. >An uncivilized display of brutality.
  1982. >Senseless fighting.
  1983. >You love it.
  1984. >One of the minotaurs attempts to climb out of the arena.
  1985. >Only to get stabbed in the back of the spine with a spear.
  1986. >Nearby, two of them are locked in a heated battle as they swing one handed swords at one another.
  1987. >Each blow is caught by the other’s steel.
  1988. >A third approaches with a large axe, and the two swordsmen shift their attention to him.
  1989. >One blocks the axe as it swings, and the other stabs the minotaur holding it.
  1990. >They then both look to each other, take a step back, and begin their fight once again.
  1991. >The competitors’ numbers are certainly dwindling.
  1992.  
  1993. >…
  1994. >You watch from across the oasis as a gerbil of some kind drinks.
  1995. >Behind it, you see a fox stalking it.
  1996. >The fennec has it’s ears pressed back, and is pressed low to the ground as it approaches the drinking rodent.
  1997. >The gerbil raises its head from the water, realizing something is wrong.
  1998. >The fox lunges out, but the rat runs.
  1999. >It chases it a while, almost catching up before the gerbil ducks into a small burrow.
  2000. >The fox paws at the sand, but soon gives up.
  2001. >Looking over to the right, you see Shore leaning against a tree as she naps.
  2002. >Sadiq is drinking from a canteen.
  2003. >Where’s Call?
  2004. >”Hey!”
  2005. >Call sits down next to you to the left.
  2006. “Call.”
  2007. >”I think something’s wrong with you.”
  2008. “What?”
  2009. >”You’ve barely been returning any of my snarky comments.”
  2010. “Maybe I just don’t want to.”
  2011. >”Nah.”
  2012. “Look, physically I feel fine. But my mind… I don’t know, it’s just kind of blank.”
  2013. >”It’s about those townsfolk, innit? Look, we’re soldiers. We try our best, but despite the effort sometimes civilians get caught in the crossfire. It’s happened to a lot of us.”
  2014. “But they weren’t in the way.”
  2015. >”That crystal, you think it was alive somehow?”
  2016. “Maybe.”
  2017. >”Cause that’s what killed those ponies, not you. I guess it was self-defense. Those people had been picking away at it for however long.”
  2018. “I think I felt some of the pain it went through.”
  2019. >”I don’t think I can even imagine what that felt like.”
  2020. “No, you can’t.”
  2021. >”Look mate, it really buggered you up. If you need to talk about it, I’m right here.”
  2022. “I’ll be fine.”
  2023. >”If you say so.”
  2024.  
  2025. >He remains silent for a moment before speaking again.
  2026. >”Hey, I’d be careful with your canteens. Any day now I’d bet she’ll try to poison us.”
  2027. “I thought it was the crystal that made you suspicious of her occupation.”
  2028. >”Nah, has nothing to do with her being a spy. I just think she doesn’t like us.”
  2029. “You’re an easy pony to hate.”
  2030. >”There’s the Thunder I know.”
  2031. >You rise from the sand.
  2032. “Come on.”
  2033. >You offer a hoof and pull Call up.
  2034. >Neither of you are currently bundled up in robes.
  2035. “Let’s get some air. See if anything is around here.”
  2036. >”Right by me.”
  2037. >You then take flight.
  2038. >Aiming high as you enjoy the wind pass through your mane.
  2039. >Soon every grain of sand has fallen from your coat.
  2040. >You go higher and higher.
  2041. >Up to cloud level, if there were any clouds in the sky.
  2042. >When you do stop, you hover in the air and look to the horizon.
  2043. >Sand as far as the eye can see.
  2044. >Just endless dunes.
  2045. >No people.
  2046. >No buildings.
  2047. >Nothing.
  2048. >Other than the tiny oasis in midst of it all.
  2049. >”How long do you think it’ll take?”
  2050. >Call asks you over the wind.
  2051. “At this pace? A week if we’re lucky, two if we aren’t.”
  2052. >”We’d have been back at the port already if we could have flown.”
  2053. >Maybe, or at least a day or two away from it depending on the wind.
  2054. “Call?”
  2055. >”Yeah?”
  2056. “I have an idea.”
  2057.  
  2058. >…
  2059. >As a minotaur falls to the ground after having his stomach sliced open, he succumbs to his wounds.
  2060. >However he did manage to kill the one who let out his entrails.
  2061. >Now there’s only ten minotaurs remaining… and the stench of battle is starting to kick in.
  2062. >Near your seat, you can see two wrestling with a spear, each trying to get it from the other’s grasp.
  2063. >They don’t dare leave themselves open by grabbing a different weapon from a rack or the ground.
  2064. >To the left side of the arena (from your perspective), three competitors are locked in a battle.
  2065. >One with a one handed sword, one with a two handed axe, and the last with a mace and shield.
  2066. >That fight is rather mobile, as they duck, roll, or jump back from incoming strikes.
  2067. >Directly opposite you, Black Rage is leaning against the wall, his sword planted into the ground.
  2068. >None of the others are trying their luck with him, and he’s content to wait out the rest of the fight.
  2069. >Over to the right, the two swordsmen are still locked in their duel.
  2070. >They teamed up to stop three others that tried to get in the way, and after that they’ve been left alone.
  2071. >And in the center of the field, the unarmed brawlers are still struggling with each other.
  2072. >Not a single other claimant has paid them any mind.
  2073. >These battles are the last ones left, and betting has really skyrocketed in the stands.
  2074. >You glance over to see huge crowds around the stands that are taking bets.
  2075. >Is that Offense?
  2076. >He’s certainly not in his seat…
  2077. >”Right now, they’re betting on who will be the last deaths.”
  2078. >You glance over to the Sage as he speaks.
  2079. >”Not who will survive.”
  2080. “That’s grim.”
  2081. >”That’s politics.”
  2082.  
  2083. “So who are these guys anyway?”
  2084. >”You should know enough about Rage already. The two swordsmen are Brass Nerve and Steel Fortitude- their families have been in blood feud for over twelve generations.”
  2085. “What started it?”
  2086. >”An argument between friends over who had the most courage.”
  2087. “Can’t they just kiss and make up?”
  2088. >”This is not Equestria… no offense meant.”
  2089. “None taken. How about these two?”
  2090. >You nod towards the two wrestling over the spear.
  2091. >”Blue Virtue- a member of one of the oldest and most respected families. And Yellow son of Yellow- no family name due to his status as a peasant.”
  2092. “Well isn’t that clichéd?”
  2093. >”Over there, the one with the axe is Rust Blood, the mace wielder is Blunt Force, and the swordsman is Iron Resolve.”
  2094. “And I really have to know, who are those two in the center?”
  2095. >”Copper Wind and Copper Wind. Never mispronounce their names: one is like the air when it blows, the other is what you do to a clock. They just despise that their names are the same on paper.”
  2096. “It really doesn’t help that they look pretty similar.”
  2097. >”One of them is half an inch taller… I forget which.”
  2098. “They must be fun at parties.”
  2099. >”It usually ends in many broken bones.”
  2100. “So who do you think is next to go?”
  2101. >”Rust does not have the endurance to continue for much longer, after he falls then Resolve will fall to Force once he can put his undivided attention to a single opponent.”
  2102. “How do you think each of them would rule?”
  2103.  
  2104. >”Rage would set us into civil war to give himself more authority, and then look to expansion. If Nerve or Fortitude were to win, they would continue the feud and begin a civil war, but leave other nations alone. Wind and Wind don’t have the patience for ruling, they’re only using this event to settle their personal grudges.”
  2105. >He pauses to watch Nerve and Fortitude lock blades, only to back off slightly.
  2106. >”Blood wants only what his family took its name for- he wants conflict, be it with the largest dragon he can find or the largest army he can find… and there’s only one large army that borders our lands. Force is in it for the personal glory and indulgences, he would most likely sit around and get fat. Resolve just wants a degree of stability, but his family is not well liked.”
  2107. >The Sage then pauses to take a drink of water.
  2108. >”Yellow could go one of two ways: he could be content with raising his family up, or seek reforms that would not go over well with the other more established tribes. If that route is taken then civil war is likely.”
  2109. “I don’t really like any of these options.”
  2110. >Maybe this whole ‘running your nation by finding the strongest fighter’ has one or two teensy-tiny little humongous flaws.
  2111. >”Your preferred choice would be Virtue. His family has a great deal of support, and if anyone can keep some degree of peace, it’s him. However if Yellow could be a close second if he doesn’t rock the boat too much- that’s what you young ones say, right?”
  2112. “Yeah, we said that… more than a few decades ago.”
  2113. >”Hmm.”
  2114.  
  2115. >Looking back to the fights, you see that not much has changed.
  2116. >Metal still hits against metal.
  2117. >In the center of the arena, you see that Wind is on the ground and Wind stands above him.
  2118. >Wind jumps and prepares to bring his shoulder down onto Wind, with the entire force of his body.
  2119. >However Wind rolls out of the way, and Wind crashes down into the dirt.
  2120. >Ouch.
  2121. >Closer to you, you hear wood snap.
  2122. >Glancing down, you see that the spear between Yellow and Virtue has snapped down the center.
  2123. >Virtue holds the front half, and Yellow has a broken haft.
  2124. >After a split-second of disbelief, they both thrust.
  2125. >The spear head goes up into Yellow’s chest, and the broken wood pierces up into Virtue’s chest.
  2126. >Both of the strikes look like they hit near to the heart.
  2127. >They stand while still gripping their weapons before each take a step back.
  2128. >The stands go silent as the two combatants fall onto their backs.
  2129. >Well there goes the good option, and the possibly good option.
  2130. >There is a huge amount of upset in the crowd, as many voice their anger.
  2131. >But behind you, you can pick out Offense’s voice:
  2132. “TWENTY TO ONE RETURNS, BABY!”
  2133. >After the bodies remain still for a moment, the horns blurt out again.
  2134. >The three locked in their battle step away and stop fighting.
  2135. >The blood feud buddies stick their blades into the dirt and let them rest there.
  2136. >Rage looks smug.
  2137. >Wind and Wind wipe some dirt off of themselves, and glare angrily at each other.
  2138.  
  2139. >As the combatants hold, several minotaurs wearing grey leather vests enter the field with some wooden poles.
  2140. >They then go around and poke bodies…
  2141. >The Sage leans over to explain:
  2142. >”They are confirming that only eight survive. The vests are to clearly identify that they are… referees I suppose would be a decent word for it.”
  2143. “By poking them? Is that some time honored and symbolic tradition?”
  2144. >”Because it is simple.”
  2145. >Soon, one of the corpse checkers approaches the center of the arena and speaks:
  2146. >”Eight claimants remain!”
  2147. >At that, the crowd cheers, and the Sage stands to speak.
  2148. >When he approaches up to the wall, the crowd becomes quiet.
  2149. >”The Grand Melee has been concluded, and the enduring claimants will soon face their final trial. Now, as it has been said eight hundred and twenty times previous to this day: Get out!”
  2150. >He then turns and returns to his seat.
  2151. “Get out?”
  2152. >”If they celebrate inside of the coliseum, it won’t be clean enough to house another event for months. The drunken disorder at the first succession took place inside of the coliseum, and by daybreak only the foundation of the building remained… granted, that one WAS made of wood.”
  2153. “Does the get out thing apply to us?”
  2154. >”Of course not. The coliseum is open to the Sage, Arbitrator, surviving claimants, and their retinues- provided that their celebrations take place outside… and just don’t get in the way as they burn the bodies.”
  2155.  
  2156. >…
  2157. >Sitting against one of the trees, you watch the oasis.
  2158. >The fennec you’ve been watching is back again.
  2159. >You know it’s the same one because the tip of its large ear is missing.
  2160. >It just killed a large beetle.
  2161. >The insect looks about as large as a coconut.
  2162. >As the fox begins to take a bite, a second fennec appears from a burrow.
  2163. >The new one looks a bit larger, and has more meat on its bones.
  2164. >The first fox springs around as the new one approaches- it’s head down and teeth glaring.
  2165. >The hunter stands there a moment, entertaining it’s options.
  2166. >But then it steps back from the larger fennec.
  2167. >The second fox then picks up the dead beetle with its mouth and walks back to the burrow.
  2168. >Without a meal, the first fox then begins to walk away.
  2169. >You glance as you see Shore approach in the corner of your eye.
  2170. “Yes?”
  2171. >You ask as you watch the fox curl up next to a tree.
  2172. >”Where’s your friend?”
  2173. “I sent him away.”
  2174. >”Well… where to?”
  2175. “He’s flying ahead.”
  2176. >”Why?”
  2177. “To bring the airship.”
  2178. >”Then we’ll be staying here?”
  2179. “We will. If we’re lucky the Prydwen will be here in three or four days.”
  2180. >”The what?”
  2181. “Prydwen, it’s the name of the ship.”
  2182. >”What kind of name is that?”
  2183. “The Field Marshal chose it.”
  2184. >”Figures.”
  2185. >Does the fox not even have a burrow?
  2186.  
  2187. >”You know, I can understand why you work with him, he has his uses. But how is he your friend?”
  2188. >Was the tip of its ear taken off by the bigger one?
  2189. >”Major?”
  2190. “What? Oh, I don’t know. He’s a decent pony. A bit of a pig… okay, a complete pig.”
  2191. >”How did you even meet him?”
  2192. “Beat each other within an inch of our lives.”
  2193. >”How…”
  2194. “Men are like that. We laughed about it over a beer… Then I think he went off to flirt with some mare. It’s in his nature.”
  2195. >The fox is fully curled up as it sleeps.
  2196. “Frankly, I’m a pretty surprised that he didn’t try to flirt with you. There may have been one double-entendre, but usually he’s very forward.”
  2197. >”Frankly, I’m glad that he didn’t.”
  2198. “It’s like instinct, the first sight he gets of a mare and he’s on the hunt. He either just doesn’t like you, or he’s hiding it and showing more restraint then I’d imagined possible.”
  2199. >”That’s… good?”
  2200. “When I get home, I’m going to see my wife.”
  2201. >”What does that have to do with…”
  2202. “You should go to your family.”
  2203. >”You’re talking about my file, aren’t you?”
  2204. “I know that you cut them out of your life to better desensitize yourself to the world.”
  2205. >”Look, I-“
  2206. “And I know that it still pains you. You miss going to the theater with your mother, and the walks through the park with your father. They meant the world to him, even as his hip started acting up.”
  2207. >”How do you know that!”
  2208. “I saw it… or felt it?”
  2209. >”What?”
  2210.  
  2211. “You hate it, all of it. The stealing, murders, the bombs you planted. They taught you that it would be the right thing, that it was all for the greater good. For each time a pony died that deserved it, a dozen innocents would be caught in the crossfire. For years you wanted out, but there is no out in the Ministry.”
  2212. >”Stop.”
  2213. “It was Haqim that made you change your mind. The governor you assassinated. When his carriage blew up, his wife and all three of their children were caught in the blast. His son remained alive, his back legs both blown off… But he died in the street when help wasn’t able to get there soon enough. But the worst part is that when you got the documents from his office, it turns out that Haqim was actually a supporter of peace with Equestira, not war like the Ministry thought.”
  2214. >”STOP!”
  2215. “Go home. To your family. Put all of… this behind you.”
  2216. >You hear her run off as you continue to watch the fennec.
  2217. >As it sleeps, you see its ear flick.
  2218. >You wonder what it’s dreaming about.

Heart of War- Prologue

by ThingPaste

Heart of War- Act I

by ThingPaste

Heart of War- Act II

by ThingPaste

Heart of War- Act III

by ThingPaste

Heart of War- Act IV

by ThingPaste