Fateless

As Luna’s moon rose into the sky Applebloom could feel the temperature start to drop. She was huddled together with the other ponies she had been chained with. No one had said a word since the lieutenant left, instead they were all cowering under the gaze of the giant pony.

The large brown stallion continued to watch them before, giving them all one last look up and down, he turned and lay down next to the fire, his back towards the group.

“I am NOT going over there,” A female voice rang out from the group. Applebloom looked towards the source, it was a dark blue pegasus, with a purple mane.

“I- I don’t know its getting pretty cold… we could just go sit on the otherside of the fire,” The soft voice that Applebloom recognized as Boomer spoke up. Finding the source she saw it was a dark purple unicorn with a long light green mane.

“Fuck that I don’t want to be eaten,” the yellow stallion spoke up sitting down and crossing his front hooves. “I say we run, if we all go they wont be able to catch us all.”

All the ponies looked over towards the gate, Through it they could see very large dark trees.

Boomer spoke again, “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”

“Who asked you?” the yellow stallion turned on her, Boomer cowered underneath his gaze.

Applebloom spoke up for her, “Everypony just calm down, I think Boomers right we can all go and sit on the otherside of the fire.” She cast a glance at the giant pony who was now completely on his side his side slowly rising and falling. “It looks like hes asleep so if we are quiet we can-“

The yellow stallion cut her off, “ and who put you in charge, hell we had a chance of escaping in the cart and you didn’t even help me then!”

Applebloom turned and looked him right in the face, “That’s because you're plan was stupid! It ended up getting us both beaten!”

“Only because you didn’t go along with my plan!” The stallion sat back down and once again crossed his front hooves, “look that lieutenat guy said we could run if we wanted, and if that means we can get the hell out of here then im going to take it.”

The yellow stallion rose to his hooves and started towards the bonfire. “If anyone else wants to be free, then you're welcome to come along, they wont be able to catch all of us!” He stopped and looked back at the group, when no one stepped forward his confident expression wavered for a moment. “Well fine! Ill be better off without anyone!”

With that he walked past the group and headed in the direction of the gate, he gave the sleeping pony and the bonfire a wide berth. Stopping once more at the gate, he turned and gave the group one last glance before dissapearing into the darkness.

“good riddance,” the Dark blue pegasus said, walking over and sitting down next to Applebloom. “The names Stormbane, yours?”

“Applebloom.”

“Well Applebloom, should we move over to the fire?” she asked, she jerked her head towards the other ponies behind her. Applebloom turned and looked at the group noticing them all watching her expectantly. She turned and looked towards the fire. The massive pony was still slumbering next to it.

“Umm yeah sure, lets all move over to the fire… quietly.”

The group rose to their hooves and the seven ponies began a slow walk over towards the fire. The closer they got the louder the crackling of the fire grew, Applebloom soon realized that there was really no need to move silently as the fire masked any sound they made.

When they had gathered around the fire Applebloom turned back to the group, noticing all their eyes upon her. She sat down and all the others followed suit. Great, how did she become the leader.

Silence fell over the group once again, eventually a few of the ponies lay down and closed their eyes trying to get some sleep. Boomer came over and sat down next to Applebloom.

“um… thanks for sticking up for me… I mean you didn’t have to,” she said quietly.

Applebloom smiled at the mare, “it was no problem the guy was an idiot.”

“Do you think he will be ok?”

Applebloom turned and looked towards the open gate, the darkness stared back. The shadows in the trees seemed to come alive and move as the wind blew the branches back and forth.

“I really don’t know,” she said.

“I hope he never comes back,” she heard Stormbanes voice say.

Applebloom turned back to the group to see the purple pegasus walking towards them.

“Most of these ponies are scared for their lives, and a stallion like him wouldn’t help any of them.”

“Y- you're not scared?” Boomer said.

“Of course I am, don’t be rediculous but right now we need to be as strong as we can, if not for ourselves for them” she pointed a hoof at a few of the other ponies who were sitting together talking quietly amongst eachother. “Right now all we have is eachother.”

Applebloom nodded.

“What do you think is out there?” Boomer asked, she was staring at the open gate.

Both Stormbane and Applebloom looked over to the gate, all three of them stared into the blackness. A voice from behind them snapped them all back to reality.

“I might be able to answer that,” A male voice that was almost as soft as Boomers spoke out.

The three mares turned to see a dark red unicorn with a light pink mane and yellow eyes looking at them.

“Enlighten us,” Stormbane said skeptically.

“Well you see… my father he used to tell me these stories he heard from his father and so on and so forth.” The pony took a seat in front of the three mares. “We used to laugh at them, the stories he told, they seemed so rediculous and silly.” He paused and looked at the ground. “But now…. Now they have taken on a new meaning, each one of them a fresh nightmare in my mind.”

He looked up at the three mares and they could see the fear in his eyes.

“He told me stories about Celestia and how she fought for our homeland agains changelings, dragons, griffons, any mythical creature you name it Celestia would not rest untill any threat to ponykind was either cast out or extinguished. Of course when I was younger I thought how could these stories be true, Celestia was a kind and loving pony, she wouldn’t do those things…. But this place.”

He looked up at the walls and shuddered.

“This place just makes the stories all to real.”

“S-s-so theres dragons and manticors out there!” Boomer squeaked she was now lying on the ground her hooves over her head, shaking slightly.

“Nonsense,” Stormbane said before the red unicorn could continue, “Like he said those were just stories his father told.”

Applebloom looked down at Boomer,”Even if there was, were inside a fortress with guards, you have nothing to worry about.”

Their reassuring remarks did little to stop the small unicorn from shaking, Stormbane and Applebloom glanced at eachother, both of them could see the fear in eachothers own eyes. They had both seen the helmet that the lieutenant had placed at the yellow stallions feet.

Silence fell over the group for a few moments again before Applebloom turned back towards the red unicorn, “whats your name?”

“Slate.”

“Mines Applebloom, and this here is Stormbane and Boomer, its nice to meet you.”

Slate chuckled, though his face remained grim, “yeah sure is nice.”

Behind them the gigantic pony stirred slightly, they all froze. The pony however rolled over onto his other side, let out a snort, and continued sleeping.

“Alright well I think its best if we get some shut eye,” Stormbane said, eyeing the sleeping pony across the fire. “before someone wakes the beast.”

Applebloom heard the other two murmur in agreement as they all lied down to sleep. Applebloom lied down but she couldn’t sleep her mind was still full of so many unanswered questions.

She couldn’t help but think about the yellow stallion and if, in his own idiotic way, had been right. Would they have been able to catch them all?

She rolled onto her back and looked at the sky, while you could see many stars in Ponyville the amount that littered the sky here must have doubled the amount, she wondered if luna had something to do with that.

She glanced to either side of her, Boomer had already fallen asleep, she didn’t know what to make of this pony. Boomer reminder her of Fluttershy, the way she acted, and spoke. Applebloom didn’t know if keeping her around would be a good idea, she would end up having to protect her and- No what was she thinking! That would be cruel, Boomer didn’t ask for this fate none of them deserve to be alone here. Applebloom decided that she would watch over Boomer, maybe if anything being together could make this place a little less worse.

She turned her gaze to Stormbane, She liked her. She didn’t know what it was about her but she was a strong pony, not physically, but she wasn’t going to let anyone break her. She would be good to have around, Applebloom figured she should make as many allies as she could.

Lastly she looked at Slate, She didn’t know what to make of this stallion. They had only said a few words to eachother, but he did seem to know stories about this place. Maybe tomorrow she could work him over for more details, She would have to do it away from Boomer though, that mare had looked like she was going to faint when he talked about dragons and manticores.

She sighed, again turning her head towards the heavens. She wondered about her family, she couldn’t supress the awful feeling that both her siblings were dead, but she still could hope. She imagined what they would be doing, they were looking for her, and they would find her… she sighed, no, no one was coming to get her, no one even knew where this place was.

She rolled over onto her front and put her head on her hooves. She wondered how Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle would take the news. It would probably crush them, she felt tears coming to her eyes. Would they miss her? She cursed herself for thinking such stupid questions, of course they would, they had been best friends! She felt a wave of memories coming on.

She shook her head, no, she couldn’t keep doing this to herself. She had to stay strong, she had to focus on the present, as far as everyone else in the whole of equestria was concerned she was dead… she felt a tear roll down her cheek. She looked up at the towers and walls that surrounded her.

Suddenly she felt a fire burn up inside her, no she could find a way… she could take this place apart from the inside out. She grinned to herself, she could do it, she just needed to work hard and do it secretly, she looked at the ponies around her, she would need people she could trust.

She made up her mind, for her families sake and for the other ponies here and their families too she would destroy this place, she would find the pony they called Commander Steel Gaze… and she… she would kill him. The thought felt strange in her head, she felt her mind trying to wrap around that idea, she had never thought of death before, let alone being the one to cause it.

Sure when Applejack had gone on adventures with Twilight she had worried, but only that AJ would get hurt, she didn’t think anything could ever kill a pony, in fact she had never even heard of a pony being killed. She sighed and once again rolled onto her back and stared at the sky, she would have to change. If she wanted to survive she would have to reinvent herself.

She lay there staring at the sky and closed her eyes, she must have lain there for a couple hours for when she opened her eyes the moon was low on the horizon. She let out a frustrated huff and closed her eyes, she wanted to fall asleep, and new she would regret it if she didn’t. However she just couldn’t, she rolled onto her side and looked across the fire, the massive pony was still slumbering peacefully. She felt slightly envious of his easy slumber.

She wondered how he had gotten so large, was their some sort of giant species of pony that lived out here beyond this fortresses walls? Curiosity got the best of her.

Appleblooom got to her hooves and slowly inched around the fire, which was down to burning embers, trying to get a closer look at the giant pony, she got around about halfway around the fire before she felt something tug on her tail.

“What are you doing?” Stormbane hissed, she apparently couldn’t sleep too and had seen Applebloom get up.

Applebloom turned and put a hoof to her lips shushing her. “I just wanna get a closer look.”

Applebloom felt Stormbane release her tail.

“your funeral,” she heard her hiss.

Applebloom continued around the fire, which was silently crackling and popping, untill she was only a few feet away from the giant brown pony. She looked at his legs which were covered in long winding scars, some of them looked fresh. She looked at his flank and was surprised to see the three black dots on his flank, so he was once in their position.

She slowly inched around him wanting to get a better look at his face. As she crept around him he gave a snort, she froze up, half expecting him to get up and squash her underhoof. Instead he once again shifted into a more comfortable position and continued sleeping. She let out a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. She inched past a pile of the bladed helmets she had seen him removing from the bags earlier, most of them were in similar condition to the one that had been dropped before the yellow stallion.

Finally she was standing near his head, his face was worn and tired looking. His mouth was twitching and his eyes were moving beneath his lids. She stared at his face, suprisingly he looked familiar, she couldn’t quite place it though. She leaned closer deep in thought.

Suddenly the fire let out a loud crack, the massive pony’s eye flung open and Applebloom let out a squeak. She quickly retreated backwards and stumbled over her own hooves. She fell backwards and noticed she was falling towards the pile of bladed helmets that the large pony had stacked. She closed her eyes and waited for the pain that never came, instead she felt something clamp softly around the scruff of her neck.

She opened her eyes, her face was inches away from one of the blades. Twisting her head around she could see the large pony had softly bitten the back of her neck and was keeping her from falling into the pile of helmets. She was amazed that he had been able to get to his feet so fast, he must be extremely agile for a pony so large. He lifted her slowly into the air away from the helmets and set her down in front of  him. She sat before him staring up at his face, She felt like a filly again, he towered over her.

The pony didn’t say anything, only stared at her for a long time. She could only stare back, she opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t seem to find any words. Slowly he stepped past her and looked towards the group, Stormbane she noticed had lain back down and was snoring loudly.

The large Stallion looked from sleeping pony to sleeping pony before stopping and raising a hoof pointing it at each pony in turn. It looked like he was silently counting to himself.

Suddenly he turned and walked towards the wall that had the weapon racks lined up on it. He walked down the line of racks before coming to a halt infront of a large metal door, it was the only door that looked big enough for him to fit into. She wondered how she had missed it before. There was a large dial on the front of the door and she saw him fumble with it for a few seconds before hearing a click.

The door swung open and he dissapeared inside, he emerged seconds later, fully armored in a suit of the darkest black metal she had ever seen. The light didn’t even reflect off of it, it seemed to absorb every single ray of light that touched it. On his back a heavy warhammer was strapped across his back. He looked back at her from underneat the black helm, and stared for a moment.

For just a brief second his face softened out of is permanent stony expression, before once again hardening. He then turned and walked out the gate, disappearing into the dark trees beyond it.

She sat on the ground where he had placed her her mouth hanging open just slightly.

“What… what was that” Applebloom turned to see Stormbane looking out the gate where the large pony had dissapeared before. “I though for sure you were going to get pancaked after he put you down.”

“I- I don’t think hes evil… I think… I think hes one of us.”

“Bullshit, theres no way he could have fit on a cart.”

“That’s not what I mean… I think, I think he feels sympathetic towards us.”

Stormbane stared at Applebloom for a moment, carefully chosing her next words, “And what… what makes you so sure.”

“The way he looked at me, just before he left, he almost seemed… sad?”

“I think your sleep deprived girl.”

Applebloom looked over at her, “im serious!”

“Ok! Ok! I believe you… sheesh”, the purple pegasus rolled her eyes, “so whats the plan…”

Applebloom stared at her, “What do you mean?”

“Oh come on, you cant be this oblivious. Last night the others looked to you for guidance, you’re the leader so whats the plan?”

Applebloom thought back to earlier in the night, she had been working on a plan, but she didn’t know how this place worked, what happened here, she only had an end goal in mind. “I’m… I’m working on one.”

“Sounds good to me captain,” Stormbane said giving her a mock salute.

“Don-“

A Scream peirced the air. Both mares whipped their heads around towards the sound, it had come from out past the gate. The other ponies had all woken up with a start, Boomer had stood up abruptly and started to run, however she quickly stumbled over her own hooves and was now face first in the dirt.

Applebloom walked over to her and helped her up, the Moon was beginning to lower on the horizon and they could see the sun beginning to rise.

“Oh… um thanks Applebloom,” Boomer said.

“No need to thank me Boomer”, Applebloom smiled back at her.

“What in Celestias name was that?” She heard Stormbane exclaim from behind her. “What the hell could make a pony scream like that.”

The other ponies around her were asking similar questions, looks of fear plastered upon their faces. Applebloom closed her eyes and tried to put on her best brave face.

“Listen up everypony that scream came from pretty far away, so what ever it is cant be that-“

Another scream stopped her speech, this time it was much louder and the pony screaming sounded as if they were in excruciating agony. Boomer started to cry. The other ponies were backing away from the gate, the guards on top however seemed to pay no notice to the screams.

One of the ponies in the group yelled out, “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” the Unicorn, a dark blue stallion with light blue hair, proceeded to run towards the back wall and shrink against it. The other ponies in the group besides Applebloom, Stormbane and Slate ran to the back wall with him. Boomer stayed too but only because she seemed to have forgotten how to use her legs.

The three standing ponies stood in front of boomer and stared into the blackness past the gate, they braced themselves for whatever horror that might come from it. Was this part of their training were they going to eliminate the weak on the first day?

The moments stretch into minutes, every so often they would hear another ear splitting scream, they were getting louder, which meant that the pony and whatever was causing them to scream was getting closer.

Stormbane flared her wings, the guards on the top of the wall took notice of this however and suddenly there were crossbows suspended by magic next to each of them.

Applebloom took notice of this, “hey storm I don’t think wings are such a good idea.”

Stormbane looked over at her and she nodded towards the top of the wall, Stormbane took notice and slowly lowered her wings back to her side. “great…” Applebloom heard the mare mutter to herself.

“Do we  have a plan?” It was Slate asking.

Another scream rang out from the forest, they could hear something now moving in the trees.

“im working on one” Applebloom said looking around, she spotted the fire and looked back at Slate. “Slate! When it comes through the gate and I give the signal I want you to use your magic to send the fire at it, try to drive it into one of the corners, Stormbane I need you to keep it distracted for as long as you can, I figure its time I tested out my applebucking on something besides trees” she shook out her back legs.

Another Scream this time she could hear a loud crash as somthing collided with a tree.

Both the other ponies nodded in affirmation. “Got it!” they said together.

The three of them stood in front of the fire and prepared themselves for whatever came through the gate. They waited for what seemed like an eternity before they saw it.

“There!” Stormbane yelled.

Applebloom tensed, running out of the forest was the yellow stallion from last night, he had multiple cuts along his arms and face and he was bleeding profusely from the wounds.

He let out another earsplitting scream as he flung himself through the gate, losing his footing he fell onto the ground, he rolled over and continued to scoot away.

“STOP PLEASE STOP! Look im back! I came back!” the yellow pony screamed into the dark trees, then the three ponies in front of the fire saw him.

The massive pony emerged slowly from the shadows, his massive hammer was clenched in his teeth and the blades of his helmet dripped with blood, he slowly walked towards the yellow pony.

“NO! please look! LOOK! Im back inside the walls! Im back inside the walls!” the yellow stallion was now sobbing.

The giant pony walked slowly up to the yellow pony who had reduced to a small shaking pile.

The yellow pony looked up at the behemoth, having lost his voice he weakly croaked, “p-please, I came back, look please just fucking look were back inside the wa-“ the sentence was never finished. The armored pony had raised the hammer and brought it down, there was a sickening crunch as the steel of the hammer met with the skull of the yellow stallion, Applebloom heard a squeak as Boomer fainted. A silence fell over the courtyard.

The three ponies in front of the fire were stunned, The giant pony lifted his hammer out of the bloody mess with a loud squelch. He then leaned his head down and bit onto the yellow stallion’s tail. The massive pony began dragging the corpse towards the ponies, They quickly moved aside, Applebloom draggin Boomer by her tail much like the  dragged the stallion.

Paying no attention to Applebloom and the others he walked past them and stopped before the fire, he then lifted the corpse up, and dropped it onto the coals. Slowly the body began to ignite and the large pony turned and locked eyes with applebloom. His face was expressionless, he stood looking at her for a few more moments before he walked back to the large silver door and opened it again.

When he came back out his armor was off, he walked back over to the fire which was now burning fiercly, lay back down, and fell asleep.

The silence stretch for what felt like the second eternity that day, Applebloom looked over her shoulder at Stormbane and Slate.

Stormbane looked at her with a serious expression, “Still think hes sympathetic…”

Applebloom let her gaze fall to the ground, escape had just gotten a lot harder.