The Land Before Us

Chapter 7 – Sight for sad eyes

The morning sun has just barely started to seep through the forest, and its gold orange like glow hangs to the underbrush of the tangled trees. Even though the sun has just barely started to rise the hot light still starts to create the morning fog from the underlying plants.

The older dark haired man has remained huddled to the tree trunk; after last nights exhausting run and the bitter thoughts of his blonde haired friend, the tough Damien could not find the energy or the will to walk further in the forest.

His eyes remain at a emotionally drained blank stare as he smacks his thirsty lips to the ground below him. His body has only allowed him mer-moments of sleep, too haunted by the thoughts of his brother and friend. Along with the mental pain he is left to deal with his right leg has suffered a slight gash after trying to climb further up into the tree late last night, in search of a feeling of safety from the unknow forest. The nice polo shirt that he had on now is dirt ridden and ripped slightly, his nursing skills helped him wrap the wound up as best as he could with the shirt piece to keep the wound clean from any dirt.

Yesterday has left this once fit and energy filled man a mere shadow of his former self.

He holds his blue eyes to the ground with slow blinks as his night up in a foreign forest starts to fully sink in...With another slow blink the sad true thought comes to mind...nothing will be the same, even if he leaves this place.

The man's cold thoughts are brought to an end as the sound of bushes and leaves crunching hits against his ears.

His eyes open up a little more as he shifts his head to the sound, there is no fear left in his body thanks to his worn out mind he feels almost nothing as the sound gets a little louder.

Only a few seconds of the crunching continues through the forest floor before the source is brought into view below him.

Damien blinks silently as he stares to the scared looking colt below his tree.

The colt has brown almost red mane and tail, his coat has a chocolate like color with a darker shade of brown in a circle around his left eye and base of his tail.

The pony also has a small wool like brown cap on his head covering his ears and a little bit of his face from Damien's view. But even at the awkward position Damien can see the fear on the small animal's face.

Unlike the unicorn's he saw yesterday this small colt doesn't make him feel threatened or slightly scared, instead the colt's fear like face brings out a protective feel in the dark haired man as he calls down in a low tired voice, "...Are you lost?"

The colt jumps back a little as he turns his gold brown eyes up to the voice, "Whoa!"

Damien gives a slight smile as he watches the pony cocking its head in confusion.

"Are you a dragon?" The pony's voice is childlike and almost has a slight Scottish tone.

The man shakes his head as he stares to the pony still mesmerized by the voice.

The colt's child like voice calls back to him in a slight whine as the pony stomps it's front hooves to the ground, "But you gotta be a dragon you just gotta!" The colt gives a soft sob as he follows the stomping motion again, "...please..."

Damien's voice takes on a low deep tone as he looks over the sad pony, "Hey, hey...What you need a dragon for anyways?"

The colt whips at its large eyes as it talks in a whiney voice, "Mommy is sick...a-and Daddy always says that dragons will help good little colts." The pony gives a loud crying call his gold brown eyes beg at the strange creature in the tree, "I've been a good colt! I have I have!"

Damien's mind sparks up to the child like cry as he brings his body to the side of the large tree branch, "Whoa whoa, calm down calm down...." The dark haired man looks over the small animal's quivering lips as he swallows back before talking, "I'm a dragon ya i'm a dragon."

"R-really?" The colt still holds its teary eyes up to Damien as he talks, "C-can you please help Mommy?"

Damien brings his legs over the edge of the tree slowly before he jumps off, he's only a few feet from the ground but his hurt leg sends a little twinge of pain as he looks over the small pony that only comes up to about his knees. Damien's mind is a little confused and still very tired but the pony's sad eyes bring a response in him as he talks, "I-I might be able..."

The colt gives a sniffle as his voice picks up from the sad tone, "I-i'm Martty Grapes." The brown pony gives a smile as he turns back in a happy trot, "Thank you mister dragon!"

Damien gives a slight chuckle as he follows after the pony. But before he follows after the colt he gives a look back to the tree he's leaving.

The small colt leads Damien through the brush of the forest for a few moments before the man's deep voice calls back to him, "Where are we going?"

"It's just down past Platinum trail." The colt's child like voice has picked back up to a happy tone as the pony gives a slightly faster pace gallop, "Come on Mr.Dragon..."

Damien picks his pace up giving a little slack to his leg as he follows after the pony.

But the fast pace doesn't stay long as Damien comes to a stop at a familiar sight, he holds his gaze to the very thin gold light wall in front of himself as he stops.

The pony doesn't slow down as Martty passes through the slight chiming light, the colt stops as he looks back to the frozen gazed man, "Come on Mr.Dragon, Celestia's spell only keeps out the bad ponies."

Damien looks over the small pony's child like innocent face as he nods and takes his first step into it, as he passes through the light the low chime rings in his heart with a reminder to what happened yesterday. But he holds his thoughts back as he listens to the colt. "It's just down here!"

Martty brings his tiny legs to a hopping gallop as the colt leaves the treeline to the dirt road, Damien follows behind him in silence.

The area around the cleared dirt road is thick with the jagged trees that Damien has been around for all of yesterday, the dirt road's smooth ground feels a little different after walking on the ups and downs of the forest floor. But its a good feeling as some of the pressure is taken from the wound on his leg. Damien's mind also starts to give a little relief as he realizes he's walking towards where Matt was taken.

The fast pace walk starts to come to an end as a few wooden buildings start to come into view down the winding road, the buildings are not small but they're definitely not a normal sized house. Each building is made of dark very weathered wood and is topped with dark equally as weathered hay. The worn out houses all seem to have a farm that’s connected behind them. Bright green plants and trees litter the cleared out forest area behind the houses with various foods growing on them. The bright pumpkins, watermelons, grapes and apples trees and plants sit in contrast with their bright colors against the weathered houses.

But Damien's view of this poorly constructed town is cut off as his eyes drop back to a few of the ponies that stare at him. Every pony that he can see either is hitched to a large wheelbarrow with some kind of food in it or have some kind of bag around them. Most of the mares and stallions he walks past are a dull brown but a few almost look orange or light red-pink.

The tall man walks a little closer to the small colt as the pony's confused faces look back to him.

"Martty!"

Damien stops his walk as a loud male voice calls down the dirt road. The stallion's voice seems to have the same Scottish tone as the colt but a much older tone. A face to the voice is quickly brought to sight as a chocolate brown earth stallion with gold brown mane gallops towards where Damien and the colt has stopped.

"Dad!" Martty gives a quick gallop before the running stallion brings the colt up with his front hooves in a hug.

The stallion's voice is a little shaky as Damien watched the pony holding the colt in a human like hug, "Where did you go?! I thought you got lost in the forest!" The pony slightly tightens the hug as his deep voice comes back, “Don’t ever do that again.”

The stallion finally lets go of the colt as his child like voice talks over his dad's sob like squeal, "I went to find a dragon daddy."

Damien listens to the colt's words as he watches the older pony bringing his dark yellow eyes to face him, the stallion's face looks tired but the voice that echoes from his lips is still heavy and audible, "Martty go in side would you?"

The small colt hesitates for a few moments before walking down the dirt road towards a house.

"I have seen dragons before, you-you are no dragon, are you lad?" The older stallion's eyes look over the man as he nods his head.

Damien's voice is low as he watches the colt down the road still hanging his gaze to their spot in the road, "I know bu-..."

The stallion cuts him off as he talks, "Then why would you lie to a young colt? No...pony should lie."

Damien gives a slight sarcastic laugh as he talks, "He said something about his mother."

"He did..." The pony drifts his eyes toward the ground a little as his voice drops, "...its nothing."

"Maybe I can help."

The stallion brings his eyes up in a hope like stare as his mouth quivered a little, "W-what did you say?"

Damien swallows as he tries to pick his voice up with all of the other ponies around him starting to get a little closer, "I, I am a nurse where I come from...I might be able to do something..."

His yellow eyes shift a little as he talks in a low voice, "D-do you think I would let some strange creature anywhere near my family?"

Damien is silent as he slightly lowers his head.

The stallion straightens up but he can't bring himself to talk as his voice gets cut off from the small colt that has galloped back over to where they stand, "Is Mr.Dragon going to help Mommy?"

Martty's father brings both his eyes to the colt as he talks, " Martty I don't thi...-"

Damien quickly cuts him off as he looks over the colt’s expression change from even the first few words, "I'm going to try."

As his words run over the stallion the pony brings his head back to face him, his face shows a large sum of doubt but it also shows a deep wanting to believe, "....F-Follow us...dragon."

The dark haired man follows behind the two ponies, the onlookers that started to gather around them follow a little behind the strange tall creature as Damien is brought to the wooden house.

As they dip into the building the stallion holds the door for a moment as the tall man bends his head down slightly, after a moment the stallion looks out at the group of ponies that have gathered outside of the house before closing the door.

The inside of the house is small and really is nothing more than a kitchen like area with a wooden table and three wooden chairs, the other kitchen like items are primitive furnishings. There are three doors towards the back of the house where the colt seems to be walking towards.

"This way, this way." The small colt gives a anxious tug on Damien's pants as the child like voice beckons him.

Damien shoots his head back to the stallion for a moment before following the colt into one of the rooms. As the threshold to the room is crossed, Damien's blue eyed gaze is sent to the bed where he looks over a light cream colored pegasus. The mare's eyes are closed and her cream coat seems to be a almost black color around her neck and bottom hooves. She rest in a almost curled up position with her front and bottom hooves near the edge of the bed.

The colt's mouth quivers as he brings his big eyes to Damien, but the man stares at the pony without the slightest idea as to what's wrong. The man walks a little closer to the sleeping mare as he looks over her coat, her chest moves as her long breaths are taken in and out which seems to be the only thing that still shows shes alive.

Martty puts his head to rest looking at the sleeping mare with wanting eyes as the sound of hooves comes into the room behind where Damien and the colt stand..

"A lot of ponies are getting this problem, there coats turn as dark as night and they will not wake..."

Danien bring his head back to the older voice as he looks over the stallion as he continues, "...Some think its because the land is angry at the loss of tolerance being shown...others think its because of doing bad deeds." The stallion's stern voice shakes a little as he talks, "...But my Lilly is no bad pony..."

Damien blinks his eyes to the pony's emotion, the ponies that he has seen today are more human than he thought...and even though these are animals and this is not his world he still feels for this family. He brings his eyes back to the darkening fur as he tries to think of something, "Maybe its a rash?"

He points his finger to a small purple jeweled silver necklace that hangs around the mare's neck, "It could be some kind of reaction to metal?"

The stallion blinks at where his fingers point as he walks a little closer.

Damien's voice continues as he talks, "How long has she had this on?"

"Uh..." The stallion stutters as he looks over the silver line around the mare's neck, "...A few weeks ago some of the Princess's royal guards gave out these amulets to show a sense a trust between earth ponies and unicorns...she's worn it since then."

At the end of the stallion's words Damien wraps his hand around the necklace as he tries to move it from the mare's neck, but as he wraps his first finger around the silver chain the purple jew changes to a green gem and his hand is jerked back snapping the chain as he drops it to the ground.The shock feeling that shot through his hand ends as it drops to the ground. He looks to the broken chain on the ground as he snaps back to the stallion, "I'm sorry but tha...-"

"M-Martty?"

Damien brings his head back to the very weak sounding feminine voice as he stops his words.

"Mommy!" The colt warps his tiny front legs to the mare as she gives a very drained light laugh, her pale pink eyes search around the room as the colt gives a loud sob.

Damien backs up a little as the stallion rushes over to the mare's side, the stallion breaks into a light sob as he hugs at the mare still resting her head to the bed.

"Lilly!" The stallion turns his head back to the tall man as he tries to keep from choking up, "W-We must spread this news!"

The stallion leaves the room in a gallop as he runs out of the room in a happy holler. Damien doesn't follow as he looks over his hand as he clenches them open and close trying to figure out what shocked him.

"...Mommy this is the dragon!"

He stops his motion as he brings his head up to the child like voice.

The mare gives a smile to Damien as she brushes her hoof to the colt's mane, "Thank you..."

He gives a smile as he walks out of the room and towards the door, his motion quickly brings himself to the morning sun pouring in from the door. But as he tries to go outside he stops as he looks over the dispersing group of ponies in front of the house as the stallion’s words end there call to them.

The brown pony turns back to the door with a teary eyed smile as he talks, "Are you off?"

Damien nods his head as he talks, "I am looking for two people..."

"No, no, stay! A unicorn patrol comes as the sun rises, you can get help from them!"

The man shakes his head as he grinds his teeth a little to the thought, "I don't want any help from them...they took my brother."

The stallion shakes his head with a smile as he talks, "This is a good thing! The unicorn's never harm anypony, and they would have surely taken a healer like you to the capital up the road! I will take you there when the sun is high!"

Damien blinks at his words as his voice shakes up, "J-just up the road?"

"Yes."

The man turns his anxious body down the road but before he can walk the pony speaks up, "Wait, you can't make it there now?"

"Why not?" Damien turns back to the stallion with a slightly raised voice.

"Because, the barrier spell that keeps the creatures from the road is very weak until Celestia's sun is high, its too dangerous to go now."

Damien's mouth quivers at the thought, his body is still too weak to have to run and his mind is fatigued from not eating...he knows he would not be able to run if anything attacks him in the forest and he also knows he would run the risk of getting lost again. His voice is beaten as he talks, "How long do we wait?"

The stallion holds his hoof out to the mans hand as he talks, "We wait until the sun is high, my name is Trotting Grapes."

Damien looks over the ponies extended hoof before wrapping his hand around it in a slight hand-hoof shake, "Damien."

Trotting gives him a smile as he nods back to the house, "Well Day-me-in, let me repay you with a hearty meal yes?"

Damien's stomach slightly groans a little at the mention of food and he follows after the pony as he gives a nod, "Do you guys have any bacon?"

End of chapter 7