Heroes of Vice

by Vectoro

Chapter 2

For the first few miles I was surrounded by the outlying fields of Farmville. I saw crops ranging from cotton to corn to tomatoes. Every so often I would see a farmer working in them. Sometimes they would smile and wave. Other times the would give me suspicious or dirty looks. I kept walking.
After a while, farmland gave way to flat plains with only some small hills. I could see for miles and miles, but there was nothing to look at, except some barely visible woods to the north. I floated out the map and tracked where I was. I was walking through the Galloping Plains on one of the largest roads in the Earth Republic. I expected that I would happen across at least a few caravans. In the meantime, I had plenty to think about to keep my mind occupied.
I first focused on deciphering my dream. I was convinced that it had to do with my past, but how was not clear. They could have been things I witnessed, or had heard about. They could be things I had predicted happening. They could be happening right now. They could have even just been historical events that I had read about. But of all of these, the most likely scenario was that I had completely fabricated those scenes. I could not be sure, but I knew one way or another, I was connected to them.
I turned my attention to the twin stars at the beginning of my dream. It was a hint, but the stars themselves, I was sure, were not important. The were merely representations leading me to something, or, more accurately, two somethings. Twin somethings. I was confident that I would find my answer in Castor.
My mind snapped back to the real world as I heard the approaching sounds of marching. I was approaching the crest of a hill and as I passed over it, I could see a squad of earth pony soldiers approaching. They marched perfectly in time, not one of them missing a beat. There were about two dozen, and four of them were carrying poles bearing the banner of the Earth Republic. One corner held a sun in a bright blue sky, one showed a green hill, one contained five sunflowers, and one was filled with farmland. I recognized it from the map, which had one to show it was made by earth ponies.
As I got closer, I could see their armor more clearly. Each one was nearly fully covered in dull, grey iron. The only exposed parts were their eyes, stomachs, and lower jaw, as well as their manes and tails. It was simple, not having excessive decorations or flares like spikes or jewels. I somehow knew that they would take a direct hit from anything nonmagical pretty well; earth pony craftsmanship.
Two were leading them, one stallion and one mare. The stallion noticed me and halted the rest of his company. I kept walking, not wanting to get involved. He walked right towards me. I guess ignoring them just isn't an option, is it? I thought to myself.
"Halt, unicorn," the lead stallion bellowed.
That sentence really ticked me off. He sounded like he thought he owned me. And the way he said unicorn made it sound like an insult. Somehow, he had already managed to make me want to kill him.
I held my anger. "Yes? Is there a problem?" I asked, trying to sound as pleasant as possible.
"State your name and your business in the Earth Republic."
"Why do you need to know? And more importantly, why do I need to take orders from you?" I asked, this time trying to bother him.
He looked surprised for a moment, but his serious demeanor returned swiftly. I suspected that he wasn't used to having his authority challenged.
"Because if you fail to cooperate, you will be arrested as a prisoner of war," he stated bluntly.
That was unexpected. A prisoner of war? Just for not telling him who I was? Something told me that it had something to do with being a unicorn. Another bit added to the War pile in the back of my mind.
"Fine. My name is Firebrand and I am on my way to Castor."
"May I see your Order of Allowance?"
"My what?"
He smiled smugly. "If you do not have an Order, than somepony will have to escort you to Glen for questioning. Cadet!"
A young looking mare dashed from the back of the squad to the stallion's side. "Captain Bridge, sir," she said with obedient monotony.
"I want you to escort this unicorn to Glen and bring him directly to Senator Marsh. He will take it from there."
Another stallion approached, carrying a scroll with some writing on it. He dropped it in front of the Captain and pulled out a quill, placing it next to the scroll. Bridge picked it up and signed on a line at the bottom. He then gave it to Cadet, who rolled it up and put it in her saddlebag. I was able to get a glimpse at it; it was an official order excusing Cadet for leaving the squad and explaining that I needed to be questioned.
"Present this to the Senator on arrival. And defend him with your life."
The whole time I had stood there in silence. I was sort of glad to have somepony else traveling with me, if only to Glen. It meant one more thing to do, as well as a pony I could count on to have my back. Unfortunately, it seemed that this was the first time she had been in the field, so she was likely not going to be much help in a fight.
"Yes, sir!" she said dutifully. She raised a hoof in a salute, and the rest of the squad continued on their way. After a minute, it was just me and her standing side by side.
"Alright, let's go soldier mare," I said annoyed, turning back in the direction I had been going before I was interrupted.
"Wait!" she said, sounding distressed."Y-you need to turn over your weapon to me before we go anywhere."
I turned back around and looked at her. There was no way I was giving her that sword.
"If you do not comply, I am authorized to use force."
I thought about that. I did not want things to get violent. I was already in enough trouble as it was; I didn't need the blood of another pony on my hooves also. Besides, if something did happen, I still had the hunting knife strapped under my saddlebag. She hadn't seen that. So I unstrapped the sword from my back and floated it over to her. She strapped it onto her harness, right next to her own sword.
"Alright, now that that's over with, can we get going? Glen is still three days away and not getting any closer. "
******
More walking. But this time with company. I decided to make the most of my time with Cadet and learn as much as I could about this war while we walked.
"So, is Cadet your name, or your title?" I asked casually.
"Both. The Captain just says it once for me because 'Cadet Cadet' sounds pretty silly," she told me, as if I were a friend rather than a prisoner.
"I would have to agree with him. Did you always want to be a soldier?"
"Of course. Ever since I was a filly..." The way her voice trailed off made me not believe her. I made a snap decision to change the subject before she started getting emotional. "So, why exactly am I going to be questioned?"
She seemed to perk up at the less personal question. "Because you are a unicorn," she stated simply, as if that were enough of an answer. To anypony else, it probably would have been. She was walking behind me, so she couldn't see the confused look on my face.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to elaborate." I could tell by the pause that it was her turn to be confused. "I may have failed to mention back there that I have a minor case of total amnesia. I can't seem to remember anything before waking up last night in the middle of nowhere."
I assume she understood that, so she continued,"The three pony tribes are at war: the Unicornian Sovereignty, the Pegasopolian Empire, and the Earth Republic. Each has to be cautious about members of the other tribes in their territory." She didn't say more; she didn't need to. I had plenty to digest and think about already.
I realized that the encounter with the squad of soldiers was the first thing I had seen about the war. Ten minutes later, I'm already being brought in for questioning. There were all kinds of politics at work here, and I didn't have time for that. But that could wait until we got to Glen.
I turned my attention to the three tribes. I had heard of the Republic and the Sovereignty before, but the Empire was new. A sovereignty is like a monarchy, so it is ruled by a royal family. A republic is run by a group that votes to make decisions. An empire is a militaristic government, so it would be nearly a dictatorship. I did not like the sound of any them.
I turned to thinking what the war could be about. Was it resources? Land? Power? You'll find out in Glen, my inner voice told me.
Ahead I saw a covered wagon on the side of the road. It was faced in the same direction as us, and see few brown ponies were throwing stuff off to the side of the road. I couldn't quite make out what they were, but we were approaching fast and they weren't moving. The ponies had yet to notice us; they were too busy disposing of things.
AS we came to the side of the wagon, I could see that they had been throwing corpses off the road. Fresh corpses. I knew Cadet had seen them too because of what she said next.
"What the hell is going on here!?" She looked both horrified and furious at the same time.
"Oh, sorry ma'am," one of the brown ponies said,"We were attacked by some bandits, but were able to fend them off."
I looked back to the bodies. There were only two.
"Where are their weapons?" I asked cautiously. Something was off about these ponies.
"We took 'em, o' course! Why would we waste perfectly fine weapons?" another of them replied.
"Show me your certificates," Cadet said with uncharacteristic authority.
"Of course," the first one said and walked to the back of his wagon. As he turned, I noticed that the skin just above his hooves had been rubbed raw. I suspected it wasn't from jewelry.
I leaned in close to Cadet to try to warn her about my suspicions, but another sight caught my eye. I saw the silhouettes of two ponies, plus the one that had gone back there, through the canvas covering of the wagon. Then I saw them pick up weapons and position themselves facing us.
I pushed Cadet all the way to the other side of the road as three ponies wielding swords and axes tore through the canvas and jumped at me. The two in front drew their own weapons and joined their friends. One would have landed right on top of her.
I unsheathed my knife and floated it in front of me. Three swords and two axes against a knife. I didn't like my chances. Then Cadet drew her sword and tossed my own to me. I liked my chances a little better.
Apparently deciding that I was a bigger threat, a fair assumption, two swords and an axe lunged at me, leaving the other two to fight Cadet. I slashed my sword at the knees of one of them and his legs gave out. He wasn't dead, but he was out of the fight. I was not so quick with the other two.
The one with the axe slammed into my side, nearly knocking me down. He took the chance to swing at my head. I deflected it with my knife, but it still took an inch of the top of my mane. I would have struck then, but the other one had snuck behind me and slashed at me. I jumped away, but he still caught my side a little. I winced at the pain, but knew it wasn't serious. The one with the axe had recovered and was circling me, waiting for me to strike.
I took the risk and glanced back at Cadet. She had managed to take down one, but the other had knocked her down and was going in for the final blow. My heart stopped, the world around me became a blur, and time seemed to move agonizingly slowly. My mind kicked into high gear and I threw my knife all my might. I watched as time returned to normal and the knife sunk into the pony's neck. He was pushed to the side, falling on the ground with a thud.
I didn't have to think about my next move. The two ponies that were circling me saw my moment of weakness and ran at me, weapons swinging wildly. I blocked the axe-pony and spun around, pushing him in the other direction and tripping him. Then, as the sword-pony got to me, my sword ran its blade across his neck. He fell to the ground, limp and gasping.
The axe pony had gotten up and was running at me again. Do they ever learn? I thought to myself as I prepared to parry his swing. I realized I wouldn't need to as Cadet tackled him, plunging her sword deep into his side. Maybe Cadet would be a better asset than previously thought.
"I could have taken him," I told her with a fake bitterness.
"But I couldn't have taken him." She nodded to the pony with my knife protruding from his neck. "You saved my life."
That hit me. Hard. I hadn't even had to think about it. I had felt it, something from within me, but not my mind. Something had made me do it, but what?
"It was nothing," I tried to tell her.
She gave me a look that told me she didn't believe me, but she didn't push the issue, fortunately. "There is still one alive right?" she asked. I nodded and pointed a hoof at the one whose knees I had cut at the beginning of the fight.
"Let's take him to Glen with us," she told me. I looked at her incredulously.
"And who do you expect to carry him?" I asked sarcastically.
"Nopony. We have a wagon."
We stripped the bodies of weapons and put them in the wagon along with the wounded bandit, whom we had bound with rope found in the wagon. We threw the bodies of the other bandits in a pile on the road and set it on fire. We didn't need the road littered with corpses.
I looked at the bodies of the traders on the side of the road. The bandits, at least two of them, had taken their clothes. The others had either found an extra set in the wagon or hid there.
"We can't just leave them here," I announced.
"Do you want to burn them too?" Cadet asked solemnly.
"No. They were innocent; they deserve better than that. We should burry them."
She looked at me and, after a moment, nodded. I went to work digging the holes with my magic. Cadet went to the wagon.
As she left, I noticed she was limping on her front left leg. I realized we had yet to address our wounds. She's fine. You're fine. If anypony was seriously hurt, we would know by now, I told myself, trying to shake the feeling of guilt that was building in me. We'll care for ourselves after we burry them.
It was not long until I had two sufficiently sized holes. Magic is far more efficient at digging than shovels. Cadet came out of the wagon with a bandage wrapped poorly around her leg. I winced and thought that I would have to look at it later. For now, we have a funeral.
I floated the bodies into the graves and set them down gently. Even if I hadn't physically touched them, I still felt dirty about touching another innocent pony's body. I refilled the holes and turned my head down. My eyes watered, and a tear dropped from my face. "I'm sorry," I muttered under my breath. It wasn't much, but it was the best I could give them.
I turned to Cadet and saw her bowing her head as well, but she was not crying. She was merely solemn. This was the first time I had gotten a chance at a good look at her. She was young, probably about my age. She had a blue coat somewhere between the sky and the ocean, but her long, flowing mane was as deep and blue as the latter. She wore a different set of armor than I had seen on the other soldiers. She still had plate armor on her back and a metal helm, which she had taken off, but her legs, with the exception of the injured one, were covered by hardened leather shin guards from the knee down. I assumed she was meant to be a lighter, faster troop, possibly to scout or deliver messages.
She looked back up and saw me staring at her. "What are you looking at?"
I snapped back. "Sorry, just lost in thought." It wasn't a complete lie. "We better get going. I want to get to Glen so we can get this questioning over with."
She nodded, and we left.
******
Cadet had hitched herself to the wagon, and I had insisted on walking rather than riding. Being crowded in there with the bandit and supplies felt wrong. Plus, I wanted to keep Cadet from tiring out for as long as possible. I didn't want her exhausted and begging to stop during the night.
"You're a pretty good fighter," I said conversationally.
"Well, I guess that's what happens when you have a cutie mark of a sword," she replied.
I froze. Had I heard her right? There was no way that two ponies could have the same cutie mark. Even if it was a sword, there would be some sort of difference, right? I had to be sure.
"Really? Me too!"
"You're joking."
I pulled off my cloak and showed her. Her eyes widened. Then she started to pull off her armor to show me hers. Sure enough, she had the image of a sword emblazoned on her flank. The only difference was that hers was pointed down and mine was pointed up.
I sighed a little. A cutie mark makes a pony unique, and the fact that she didn't have one identical to mine seemed to preserve my individuality. But this was still too much of a coincidence to be so. Our eyes met, and we silently agreed that this would not be the only time we discussed this. For now, we redressed and continued walking.
My attention turned to her injured leg. I still hadn't gotten the chance to look at it, or even ask what happened to it. The bandage was soaked with blood and needed to be replaced desperately. She also needed to get off it so that it wouldn't swell. I voiced my concerns to her.
"I'll let you look at it and rewrap it, but I won't sit back and make you do all the work," she told me firmly.
"I'm a unicorn. I can lighten the load with my magic, and if you don't rest that leg, it won't get better," I tried to explain.
She paused to think about it. I admired her determination and work ethic.
"Fine, but only for tonight and tomorrow. After that, I am pulling again," she said adamantly. Even that much seemed to disgruntle her. She unhitched from the wagon and I laid out my cloak for her to lay on. I waked back to the wagon to grab the bandages and some food. The sun had just set and I hadn't eaten since leaving Farmville.
As I stepped into the wagon, I saw the bandit again.
"Hey, asshole. When are you going to let me go?" He seemed upset for some reason.
"We'll let you go once we get to Glen. The town authorities will take it from there," I answered him.
"Can I at least have some food?" he asked with a still angry voice. I pulled out three carrots and sat them next to his face so he could reach them. I brought the rest of the food as well as the bandages back out to Cadet. I made a small light with my horn to see what I was doing.
"So what exactly happened?" I asked, setting the stuff onto my cloak.
"One of them caught my leg with his sword. What more is there to tell?"
"Not much really. I just wanted to know exactly what we are dealing with."
I unraveled her bandage and grimaced at the gruesome scene beneath. He had definitely caught her pretty well. It was a deep gash, but there was no fracture or infection. As long as she rested like I told her too, she would heal within the next few days. I pulled one of the skins of water from my bag and began to wash the wound. She winced as the cold water washed away both blood and dirt. After washing, I wrapped a bandage around her lag tightly to keep the wound closed while it healed. If I hadn't, it would have scarred.
"How do you know so much about treating injuries?" Cadet asked. I was wondering the same thing. It wasn't anything advanced, just simple first aid, but it was still more than she knew.
"I don't know," I told her simply. She accepted that without question. I began pulling out the food: apples, carrots, radishes, hay, and even some flowers. It was a veritable feast.
We ate slowly, wanting to enjoy this rest while we could. It was inevitable that conversation would start.
"You know, this is my first assignment. I'm glad it was you," Cadet told me. I looked at her. "I mean, you really are making it easy for me. You aren't resisting, you're pleasant to be around, heck, you even dressed my wound for me. I'm not supposed to be friends with the enemy, but you're making it hard as hell not to."
"The enemy?"
"Sorry. That's what everypony calls unicorns and pegasi. I just got into the habit of it."
I waved it aside. I wasn't against the other tribes, so I had no reason to be offended. That didn't mean I wasn't.
"Well, you sure are nice for soldier. A lot more so than that Captain of yours," I told her, returning the favor. "You don't even seem like a soldier, other than your fighting ability."
"Remember when I told you I had always wanted to be a soldier? I lied," she replied.
"I figured that much."
"What I really wanted to be was a singer. Before I got my cutie mark, I would sing as I walked around town. Everypony was sure that I would get a musical note or something for a cutie mark. Then one day a couple of older colts cornered me and started teasing me. I fought back and won. Easily. Then this appeared and I was drafted into the army. The rest is history."
I nodded and let that sink in. We had finished eating, and I was ready to leave. I floated the rest of the food, as well as Cadet, into the back of the cart. She did not seem to like floating, obviously proffering to keep her hooves firmly on the ground. I couldn't allow that. I set her down gently and put my cloak back on, only to realize I had to take it off to hitch myself onto the wagon. I begrudgingly folded up my cloak and put it in the wagon with the rest of the stuff. After I was hitched up, we began moving again. Barely.
The wagon was heavy. It was designed to take as much of the strain off of you after it began moving, but that took some doing. After a few hard tugs and pushes with my magic, it lurched forward. A little more and it was moving at my normal walking speed.
"Woah, there. Slow down before you hurt yourself," Cadet snickered.
"Ha ha, very funny. Are you sure you didn't want to be a comedian?" I said back sarcastically. Then I turned around and gave her a wry smile, which she returned. "Do you still sing?"
"Not really. I'm sure I could if I wanted to, but I haven't had the chance. I've been too busy with training and patrols," she told me.
"Could you sing now? To help pass the time?" Her face brightened up at my question. I was happy to see her smile.
"Any requests?" she asked delightedly.
"Surprise me."
"Alright, here's something my mother used to sing."
Then, with a voice whose beauty could rival that of any piece of art, she began to sing:

"The wise mountain fights with its mind
The swift sky fights with its height
The sturdy earth fights with its strength
Three battle in a war of great length
And though the storm rages with magic and metal
And though blood and dust seem not to settle
There are still ones who will take a stand
There are still heroes in this once great land"
******
It was almost morning, and we were coming up on a large bridge spanning the river. There were two guards on either side of it, and one stopped us when we approached. Cadet stuck her head out the front of the wagon.
"Let me handle this," she said as the guard approached.
"Halt. State your name and business, unicorn," he said in a gruff voice.
"He's with me," Cadet stated from the wagon.
"State you name and your business with this unicorn," he replied.
"Cadet Cadet and I have orders from Captain Bridge to bring this pony to Glen and turn him over to the Senator for questioning." She brought out the order and showed it to he guard. He nodded.
"There is a behemoth approaching. We will let you cross as soon as it passes," he explained. I turned back to Cadet for more information.
"Behemoths are enormous beasts that roam the Plains. They are not inherently aggressive, but they will attack if they feel threatened. And you do not want to threaten a behemoth," she told me gravely. "They have been known to destroy ill prepared towns in less than an hour."
I gulped. If they were as dangerous as they sound, I would be more than happy to wait for it to pass. I decided to take this chance to get out of the wagon hitch and off of my hooves. I detached myself and entered the wagon, sitting down next to Cadet. We looked out over the bridge and watched as a beast larger than I had imagined lumbered from our right. It was at least fifty feet both tall and long. It had the head and horns of a bull, but its body was covered in a thick light brown coat, like that of a bear. Its legs were like trees that had overgrown themselves and were ended with giant paws with sword-like claws. Its mouth was filled with sharp teeth the size of a pony. It looked forward, not noticing the small ponies at its feet. It could have crushed an entire wagon and barely notice, I would have bet.
It seemed to walk painfully slowly. It took at least half an hour for the guards to deem it safe to cross. I left the wagon and hitched myself up again. I was still exhausted; half an hour isn't long enough for somepony to get their strength back. But I still had some left in me and I wanted to get as far as possible before stopping. Glen was still at least a day and a half away if we travelled quickly. We crossed the bridge and went about another mile before I spoke.
"So why haven't we seen any of those before?" Something that big would be pretty hard to miss.
"There are only a couple dozen roaming the Plains, and they are solitary. Few and far between and all," she replied.
"Any other deadly creatures I need to be wary about?"
"As far as the Plains go, the kelpies near the lakes, razor hawks, manticores...."
"So not much?" I smiled back at her.
"No, not really. What you really want to avoid is Whispering Woods. I could point out at least a dozen different dangers from a glance in there," she said.
Those were the woods I had seen to the north yesterday. I looked that way and made a mental note to avoid them.
******
Somehow, I had drawn from endurance I didn't actually have to keep traveling until nightfall. Then I collapsed in exhaustion. I couldn't go on without rest. My muscles felt like they had been trampled by a stampede. Using my magic all day hurt my head, as if somepony had put a vice on my brain and was constantly tightening it until I stopped.
"Cadet," I called back, "We're stopping here for the night."
She poked her head out of the wagon. "I thought you weren't sleeping until we got to Glen?" she replied. Then she seemed to notice me lying on the ground. "Oh, I forgot unicorns weren't built for heavy lifting like earth ponies." I shot her a snarky look.
"Let me pull then. And don't you say a thing about my leg," she said, turning to exit the wagon. I heard her land onto the ground with a soft thud, and soon, she was standing next to me. She clicked the harness connecting me to the wagon off and began to put it on herself.
"No. I need to look at your leg, and we all need to eat. And then we rest," I said assertively. I don't know how or when, but I had made myself the leader for the time being.
Cadet sighed deeply. "Alright. I'll start a fire." She walked to the side of the road and began collecting dried grass and clearing a spot for the fire. I watched closely as she dug about two inches into the ground in a circle to get all the roots away so they would not burn and start a wildfire. I got up and walked, very slowly, to the wagon to get the fire wood. I saw the bandit there again. Fortunately, he was asleep. After attempting to float the bundled wood to me, and failing painfully, I opted to just carry it by the string.
When I got back outside, Cadet had gathered enough stones to make a ring in the center of the cleared out space. I set the wood down for her to start the fire with. She set them up in a teepee shape and lace dried grass underneath as a starter. I plopped onto the ground and fell asleep.
I woke up a few minutes later to the smell of stewing vegetables. Cadet had found a pot and food for the night. It was actually pretty good. We ate in silence, and I stared into the fire. I felt drawn to it, as if it were an old friend. I stared until I couldn't bear to stay awake a moment longer.
"Do you mind taking the first watch, Cadet?" I called to her.
"Not at all," she responded."I've been resting all day." I thanked her and dozed off.
******
I dreamt of fire. It surrounded me, engulfing tents and trees in the blaze. Both armored and unarmored unicorns dashed out of tents and away from the it. There were blood curdling screams coming from all directions. It was so hot, but I didn't care. A few times I saw ponies slay some of the fleeing unicorns. I took in the destruction around me unenthusiastically. I turned around and saw a few ponies waiting patiently behind me. There were two unicorns, two earth ponies, and two pegasi. I nodded at them, and they left, chasing and killing more unicorns.
This had been my doing.
I was horrified. This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. I would never do something as awful as this. I would never slaughter ponies en masse like this. The only time I had killed was out of self defense, and that was only twice. I tried to move, to call this off, but I had no control. I may have been aware that it was a dream, but obviously I was not meant to mess with it. I saw one of the ponies I had commanded, a pegasus stallion. My vision was stained red and blurry from the flames and smoke, so I could not make out small details or colors, but I noticed something about his armor. Where his cutie mark lay underneath it, a flame was pictured. They all had it. The only ponies with different armor were the victimized unicorns. I figured it had significance in whatever army we were in. Whatever army they were in. I would not make myself part of this horrific affair.
I tried to think about what could have caused this dream, but my thoughts were ripped away when a choking unicorn burst out of a tent in front of me and started running in my direction, eyes closed tightly. She ran right into me, fell back onto her haunches, and looked at me pleadingly. I looked into her eyes and saw her fear, her absolute terror, pass through my body. I, my host, hesitated for a moment. Then, he drew his sword. No, no no! Stop! I tried yelling, but nothing worked. Her eyes widened even more, until they looked like they would pop out. I kept protesting. It kept not working. I, he, raised his sword above his head. Then he swung.
Fortunately, he was decent enough to close his eyes as his blow struck home. I was spared from having to witness a murder from the murderer's perspective. My host turned around solemnly before opening them again. She had been sitting there, at my mercy, fearing me, hoping I would spare her. And I had killed her in cold blood. No, he had killed her. I refused to put myself in the place of this monster. Emotions stormed inside me. Sorrow, fear, hopelessness, confusion, and most of all, pure rage. I wanted to find the horrible monster that had done this and destroy him, even if I had most likely fabricated him in my dream. I wanted to destroy something. I didn't care what it was.
I was still in the dream, just staring at the charred ground as ponies assembled in front of me. I looked up and noticed all of the ones I had sent off before, plus about two dozen more. The fires were dying out, for which I was thankful. One of the pegasi stepped away from the crowd.
"Commander Paramount, sir, permission to speak?" he said obediently. I, my host, nodded at him. "All camp inhabitants have been eliminated. The mission was a success. Shall we extiguish the remaining flames?" Again, my host nodded. The pegasus turned to the crowd and looked at each of the other pegasi, then they all lifted into the sky. My host turned back around, keeping the dead unicorn just out of sight, looking at the ashes around him. Ruined tents and flame-scarred trees were all around. Another voice spoke up from behind him. This time, it was a mare's.
"Sir, what are your orders?" she asked somewhat reluctantly.
Rather than respond, my host closed his eyes. And it began to rain.
******
When I awoke, I was, again, not where I had fallen asleep. I stared up at the cloth and wood top of the wagon's interior. Yep, I thought, this is definitely going to be a recurring thing.
"Cadet! Why am I in the wagon?" I called, annoyed. We hit a small bump.
"Well good morning to you too," she replied.
I stuck my head out of the front of the wagon. "I'm not joking. What the hell am I doing in the wagon?" She was hitched to it, like I had assumed.
"Settle down. I couldn't stand to just sit there and not move. You'll be happy to hear that Glen is only a few hours away."
"Do I look happy?" I was certain that I didn't. "Your..."
"Don't worry about my leg. As soon as we get to Glen, I will see a doctor." I looked at her; she looked back.
"Promise me," I said seriously.
"What?"
"Promise me that as soon as we get to town, you will see a doctor." I looked into her eyes, ready to gauge her answer. I would not allow an innocent pony be harmed. She gave a long pause.
"I promise," she said, not loosing eye contact.
I nodded and gave her a light-hearted grin. Then I ducked back into the wagon.
I turned back to the dream. My anger had given way to fear. I figured it must have been caused by lack of sleep, but it didn't make it any less scary. I didn't want that monster trotting around in my head. Could he represent something? If so, is it something within me, or something in the world? I stopped, finding myself on the verge of tears. My emotions couldn't stand thinking about it for more than a little at a time.
I occupied myself with floating random objects around the wagon. Food, wood, clothes, even the bandit. He didn't enjoy that. I noticed that I had trouble lifting him; he was heavy. However, I could control many small objects precisely and with ease. I entertained myself by coordinating elaborate displays of arcane dexterity. The bandit was either unimpressed, or still upset about being lifted. Eventually, I got tired of that and decided to walk with Cadet. I threw my cloak onto my back, and jumped out of the wagon.
The sun was high, but it was still yet to be noon. I had slept all night and most of the morning, and I felt well refreshed, though my knees ached a little. It was a beautiful day so far, but I saw thick clouds in front of us, and I suspected we would hit them before we arrived at Glen. Otherwise, the world seemed bright and happy, not at war. I suppose, in reality, everything is not as it seems.
When the storm hit us, it hit us hard. Fast winds blew leaves around and whipped at my cloak. Rain soaked us in moments, and we could barely see ahead of us. Lightning flashed every so often, and was unfailingly followed by the boom of thunder. I looked up once, and saw about five pegasi silhouetted against the clouds. I mentioned it to Cadet loudly, trying to be heard over the storm.
"Pegasus scouting party," she explained. "They're using the storm as cover."
So we are going to be paid a visit by pegasi, I thought to myself. That sounds wonderful.
I kept my face to the ground so I wouldn't get anything in my eyes. Cadet was having trouble pulling the wagon against the wind, so I wrapped it with my magic and pushed it forward. I don't think I helped much, but it was better than doing nothing. We kept going like that for an hour, and as we got farther, we began to hear something. It was quieter and lower than the occasional thunder, and it was constant, sort of like a gigantic horn.
"That's Glen's attack warning system, called the the Horn. We must be close," Cadet explained.
After an hour of it constantly getting louder, we looked up and were faced by the great wooden gates of Glen.
And they were closed.

Comments

[MagicianOfManehatten]

Great story, not the typical OC fic.

[Vectoro]

2214002
Thanks! In the middle of chapter 3, so you can expect that by the end of next week.
Maybe.