Digging snow out of his goggles with a cold hoof, only to have it blown back into his face seconds later, he made haste towards the head of the legion, a group consisting of traders, cultural gurus and diplomats all heading north.
The EverCold Wastes of the northern ice cap were one of the most harsh and inhospitable environments to traverse, if you didn't freeze to death on the way to Vulcan Keep, you'd be caught up in a blizzard and tossed off the path, then freeze to death.
"Sergeant!" He yelled through the storm, even though now he was only at a meter's distance to his leader "Sir, I need to ask you something!"
In a gruff tone, his sergeant replied "What is it now, Private? Can you not see I'm fighting to get this ungrateful lot to safety?"
Private Spearmint cleared his dry throat "I am well aware, sir, but I don't believe we're going in the right direction!" He held out his compass for the sergeant to view, clearly pointing west. "Perhaps we should've taken the other path!"
Pushing the navigational tool away, the sergeant stated with great gusto "Private, I don't need any flimsy boy-scout equipment, I have instinct!"
"But-" He began, but a blast of wind interrupted him and nearly ripped the skin off his face.
"Trust me, private, when we get out of this hellhole with our ears intact, it'll show you why they promoted me! Now get back to your position, I can feel the storm is about to change!"
Slowing his pace, Spearmint returned to his post beside the line with a number of other militia troops, and in less than a minute he could feel the blizzard calming down, he could see the blue of the snow dunes surrounding him and the rocky path he'd walked on, but what amazed him more than anything else was the gigantic iron structure only a pocketful of stone throws away. The darkened metal shell that was this skyscraper of a fortress had to be none other than Vulcan Keep, the domain of the Blind Lord Vulcan, obviously. But in the foreground of the fortress there was a tiny city, sunlight broke through the clouds to show its marble walls and dark-green flora defying the laws of nature.
"The Embassy…" Spearmint mouthed, struck by it's beauty, or perhaps the charisma it shone in comparison to The Keep.
This Keep housed the strongest military force in all the lands, somewhat pointless in a world with currency and trade in it's veins. This military however consisted of many brutes and beasts from across the continent with more brawn than brains, the default military recruitment necessity. It was the hope of three other superpowers in the world to persuade Lord Vulcan to stop the growth of his armies, lest there be a war. Two of the factions, apart from Vulcan's, were already at the embassy.
The first faction, the Eagles, who usually stay isolated within their kingdom, only watching travellers and outsiders from afar, made their way from the Everhigh Forest due east, led by The Great Roc, Khonsu, emerging with his kin for necessary events such as this, sometimes he would stay hidden for generations only to appear for a meeting.
The other faction was the serpents of the Everdeep Oceans due west, leading them was Rán, a serpent like most others of her kind, with the strongest serpents that would survive the frozen temperatures on her back to The Embassy. Despite their strong scales and even stronger sense of pride, they were traders at heart, as the ability to slither up any river or lake gave them the advantage of traversing almost every landscape with little-to-no visibility spent for bandits to see them, and what better way than to exploit it than for economic gain?
Now the Equestrian Kingdom of the Evergreen Fields had arrived, leaving behind their lush pastures and plantations as far as the haze would allow them to see. Their King Helios, though a mere demigod compared to the four other rulers, he had not yet arrived due to a drought in his lands south-east, bordering the Everhigh Forest and the Everrich Mountains of the south, abode of the dwarves and their mines, true capitalists of the world, however they passed the invitation to Vulcan Keep.
"Whadid I tell ya', Private? It's all in the instinct!" The sergeant yelled back with a hearty chuckle, and a grin forced it's way onto Spearmint's face. Shaking the snowflakes off his back, he whipped his tail to get the last specks out and accidentally smacked the pony behind him.
"Hey, watch it Minty!" A familiar voice exclaimed behind him.
"What? You're still here?" Spearmint threw back, his tone oozing with sarcasm "I was hoping we lost you in the storm, Scrolls. What a shame."
"Oh, screw you too." Scrolls replied in equal sarcasm, wiping all the ice off his muzzle in a single swipe. "It's refreshing to see someone here with an actual personality though."
"And who would that be?"
"Harty-har-har. You're making me choke with that comedy."
"You're welcome." With that, Spearmint grinned the biggest grin a stallion could.
"Actually, if you don't mind me asking," his diplomatic friend enquired "Why did you want to come to the north so eagerly? I saw that your name was one of the first put down on the enrollment list."
Spearmint thought for a moment, then shrugged "I dunno really, I suppose I just… wanted a change of scenery. There's only so much one can see from a ranch. You?"
"I'd say half of my reason is the same as yours, even though I've been here three times already it's still so gorgeous, however I was hoof picked by the King to give a brief opening speech, so there's that too. The other reason was because you were going to be on the team, I mean, we've hardly spoken to each other since you joined the militia."
"Since you persuaded me to join," Spearmint corrected "you were practically the snowball that started me tumbling down this path. I can't thank you enough."
"Did you seriously make a snow pun just now?"
"Maybe~" Spearmint held back the bag of giggles building up inside him, but his friend put the conversation back on topic.
"Aaaanyway, I'm glad you joined up, we needed more navigators and from the looks of your reports you've got the strength of a small army in your bones, heck, you could say it was your destiny."
"Why, thank you Sergeant for seeing that under this rather playful, mint-coloured mane and furn-coloured coat there lies a grim, stone-faced creature that seeks only justice and liberty to all of his kind-"
"How 'bout you can that ego so I can hear you yap on some other time, we're almost at the gates."
The legion stopped, the Sergeant and a couple troops at the front of the line stood at the foot of the Embassy's wooden doors, they slowly opened with loud enough creaks that Spearmint could hear them halfway down the line. Their leader was greeted by a tall, muscular, single-eyed being, arms crossed and most likely expecting the Sergeant to explain why King Helios wasn't with him.
"Who's the big ugly bloke?" Spearmint whispered to his friend.
"That," Scrolls began, clearing his throat "is Axle, Lord Vulcan's second in command, the type of cyclops that would pleasantly skin you and use you as a pair of slippers if he ever heard you call him that."
"Better keep my honesty to myself then." Spearmint told himself.
They saw Axle step to one side, the Sergeant shouted back "Get moving, slugs!" leading the group into the Embassy, Spearmint eyeing the cyclops with caution, the duo felt a gust of warm air cuddle their faces as they passed through the gates.
"What-?" The minty horse began, but his question was answered before he could finish it by a heavy voice.
"The Warlocks of Vulcan Keep, soldier, they keep our home warm." Axle said to the two of them as they passed the giant, leaning against the gate.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Axle." Scrolls nodded politely.
The cyclopes gave a respectful gesture in return "Arbiter Scrolls."
When Axle turned his view back to the end of the legion, Spearmint stared at his friend with wide eyes, remarking "He didn't mush us into paste, that's interesting."
"Don't worry," Scrolls reassured "I've met him before, we're not really at the point where I'd say we trust each other, but we're acquaintances."
"So is that the reason you came up here three times? To get on their good side?"
"Well if I told you the real reason, then I may have to kill you." The ginger pony grinned.
"Hey, I'm the one around here that makes the shitty jokes, not you." Spearmint stated with a chuckle.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Before them was the heart of the Embassy, with cultures and dialects more different than shades of a rainbow painting the marble-white walls. Vines hung from beams over the walkways, draping over each homely house and the bazaar, baskets of fruit from all corners of the continent out the front for purchase.
The aura of glee from serpents, eagles and wanderers was infectious to say the least, from humming tunes to themselves to the lively miscellaneous chatter of the streets, down to the chanting of meditational words by worshipers of higher powers on the sidewalk, every second was just as joyous as the last.
"Right'o, well, I think I ought to head off to the Embassy's inner-sanctum. Do you know where to go?" Scrolls asked, scratching at the skin under his leather coat.
"Pretty sure it was the barracks, somewhere in the north-east area I think."
"You don't have to stay there you know, you're allowed to wander around 'til nightfall."
"I know, I know, I just haven't a clue where I should go explore first. D'you have any suggestions?" Spearmint knew his friend had been here plenty of times, so he must've gotten to know the place well.
"I'd recommend…" Scrolls squinted off into the distance, playing with the hairs on his chin "well, if you're looking for somewhere to catch a meal, there's a good noodle place just over there, and not to mention Uther's Emporium, a good shop if you're looking for a weapon or something, I know the guy that runs it pretty well. Actually if you tell them I sent you he may give you a discount, if you're lucky."
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. So I'll see you… wait, no I won't be seeing you tonight at the speech, I've got the night off, sweet! Good luck with it though."
"Cheers, kiddo. Catch you later." With that, Scrolls gave a lax salute as he trotted off down the main road toward the inner-sanctum, unintentionally leaving a toxic thought in Spearmint's head, to which he grunted
"'Kiddo'? Scrolls… I'm not a child anymore, you know that."
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
With a happy belly full of noodles, Spearmint watched the sun on the horizon gently lower, like an orange egg yolk dribbling down a plate through the gaps between buildings.
One of these buildings he noticed had the banner "Uther's Emporium" above it, only just readable in its silhouette. Out the front was a serpent, and like most of their kind used to living on land, stood mimicking a bipedal creature with it's long tail curled up on the ground to keep it from falling, brushing out a pile of dust from the store with a crooked broom.
Spearmint approached the shopkeep and asked "Uhm, you wouldn't be Mister Uther by any chance?"
The serpent looked up at him and adjusted his glasses "A sssoldier'ey?" He hissed, squinting through old, aqua eyes "And how would a sssimple horssse like you know my name, hm?"
"I… I assumed the store was named after you." The slightly confused pony stated, nodding his head up to the sign above them.
"Oh yesss! My apologiesss, I ssseldom leave my store and I forget what it looksss like from the outside. Uther, at your service, young militia horse."
"Spearmint, at yours." the mint horse bowed.
"Now," the serpent combed his long, wispy beard with blunt claws "what would a ssstallion from the southern hemisphere want with my ssstore?
"I have a friend named Ssscr-" Spearmint caught his tongue "I mean, a friend named Scrolls, he suggested your store to me."
"Ahh, Ssscrolls, it has been a while since we've conversssed. I remember him arriving here for his firssst time, so full of wonder and excsssitment. Oh where are my mannersss, would you care to observe my humble inventory, young Ssspearmint?"
He winced at the word 'young', but brushed it off politely "Yes please, if you don't mind."
"By all means. I wasss just about to clossse up for the day, but I sssuppose I could stay open for a little longer. A friend of Ssscrolls is a friend of mine."
The two walked (and slithered) into the store, the light from the lanterns shimmered in delight on Uther's worn, deep blue scales. Shelf after shelf of weapons, tools, apparel and miscellaneous goods lined the shop, all so neatly organised and in row with each other it looked like some items hadn't been touched in months, perhaps years. As the mint stallion was weaving through the store, a rod in the back corner caught his eye, a pair of glistening green leaves tied to one end gave off an enticing sparkle.
"What's this over here?" he asked Uther, walking closer to get a better look.
"That is a ssspear, militia horse, it was given to me by a traveller sssome years ago, a pleasant chap with a rather prissstine leather satchel. He said he didn't need the spear anymore ssso I took it off his hoovesss for a pair of coins, I offered to take the sssatchel from him for a pretty price too, but he declined. A pity, it would've gone well on the market."
Spearmint inspected the spear closely, recoiling from a light touch of the blade, drawing blood instantly.
"Still sharp…"
Even though the weapon looked considerably old, at the least a decade by the layer of dust, it still possessed the sting most weapons only have after being forged. Something felt new about it however, something he couldn't quite pinpoint, but with a curious whiff of the flora, he discovered they were…
"Fresh mint leaves?"
"What do you know of the guy that gave you this?" was the first thing that came to his mind and the first thing he spoke.
"Ooh…" Uther thought hard about this, pulling up memories from years ago. "well he wasss a very polite gentlecolt, I can't recall his coat colour, but his eyesss, the colour of a hearth they were." Uther dreamily whispered.
Spearmint looked back to the weapon, delicately dusting off the leaves.
"Can't remember him ssstating his name, though."
He heard Uther ponder behind him, the scratching at scales clearly audible.
"Did sssay those leaves were meant to bring luck of sssome kind, but I sure as heck haven't ssseen a drop of it."
"Is this still for sale?" The pony queried, lifting the light rod with a single hoof.
"Of course, and I've had it for ssso long I could probably lower the price for you. Let's sssay a couple pennies, ssshall we?"
Sliding the money onto the counter, Spearmint strapped the spear to his body like he was at a jousting tournament, bowing to the serpent "Thank you, Uther, it's been a pleasure to meet you."
"I can gladly say the sssame about you, young stallion, and tell Ssscrolls I said 'hello', could you kindly?"
"Sure thing... but," Spearmint paused briefly, pondering how he should word his next sentence "if it's alright with you, could you please not call me young? I know it's what I am, but I don't particularly want to be put under the same spotlight as colts."
"Why ever not? Youth isss a commodity to be cherished, believe you me, it's sssomething you'll misss it when you're my age." Uther lifted his glasses, showing bags of skin around his slitted eyes.
"Eh," The stallion shrugged, turning to leave the store "perhaps you're right, in some aspects at least. Anyhow, I'll see you some other time." Leaving with a bow, he stepped out into the darkness of dusk, his vision only lit by street lanterns leading up to the barracks.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Tiny beads of sweat trickled down Scroll's brow, he wiped them off onto his sleeves, focussing on the sheet of paper before him held by a mechanical limb, like a music sheet stand.
"Calm yourself, Arbiter Scrolls, you're beginning to make me nervous too." The deep voice of a large, golden stallion stated beside him.
"It's just, I thought I'd be more prepared than this, and it's been so long since I've done a speech in front of so many creatures, I-"
"All I have asked for you is to give a brief opening speech for the diplomatic talks, nothing more, and you are treating this like a rallying call in the heat of battle, please, relax, it'll take no more than a few seconds."
Scrolls stopped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, folding away the notes into a satchel as he felt a warm breath of stress leave his mouth. "I'm trying, it's just the journey to get here was so long, and now that I'm finally here… it feels like going through the Evergreen University all over again, counting down the days, hours, minutes until exams…"
"Exams that you excelled in, Arbiter, and don't you forget that." The King reassured.
The ginger pony took the words to heart, yet looking around at the red tapestries and white walls against the flickering of each candle, he felt a shadow creep it's way into his mind. "It's all going to change after today though, isn't it?"
King Helios, leader of his equestrian-folk and of the Evergreen fields sat on the carpet of the empty hallway beside Scrolls, a horse practically biting his nails, if he had any, thinking of what he can do to boost the arbiter's morale.
"You know, before I became this," The King gestured to himself reminiscing in his fatherly voice, "I was a simple farming colt, just like you and everyone else in the land when they were young. One day it started to rain, and it didn't stop raining, in fact the whole town was nearly flooded off the map. I remember scampering to the top of a hill to hide in a barn, cold and alone, away from the lightening and the wails of everyone losing their livelihood. I can't be sure of how long I spent there, but at one point a stranger walked through the barn door not bothered by the storm in the least, looked almost like he was embracing it. He was some kind of alien in a leather jacket, unlike anything else I had ever seen or dreamt of before. He held a small box with both of his… I suppose you could call them hooves, and beside him was a brown, metal animal with a single green eye that glowed in the dark. The alien said he had to deliver a royal item to a scared little horse in a barn, and that horse's name was Helios."
The King rubbed the medallion around his neck affectionately as the muscles on his face moulded into a smile. "Inside that box was this, a gold medal speckled with jade as green as the grass we walk on. I never did catch the alien's name, he sort of vanished when I wasn't paying any attention. I then remember stepping out onto the muddy hill, I could see a morning sun trying to seep through the clouds, and I realised that with no more than a thought I could change the weather, the grey landscape was forced to the horizon in a matter of seconds leaving a beautiful, empty, blue sky. It was exhilarating to say the least."
Scrolls looked at the face of his King, it was the face of content, like the feeling somebody would have if they slept on a soft mattress after trekking through the wild for a week.
"I get the feeling you've got some moral behind this story you're going to tell me."
"Bah," the King scoffed "why do you have to spoil my stories? But yes, I do in a sense."
Helios paused to collect his words, Scrolls waiting patiently at his side.
"There are times in everyone's lives where we feel alone, but if we're lucky, someone will come and help us, if we don't take it upon ourselves to look for them first… the point I'm trying to get across is that you're not alone, just as I had help from that alien, you have help from me."
"So… that whole story… was just to tell me that you're here to help me?"
"You hurt my feelings by putting such an age-old tale so bluntly. But yes, however don't you feel calmer now after I told you all that?"
"Well now that you mention it," Scrolls wiped a dry forehead in search of sweat, he seemed to have forgotten that he was about to give a brief speech to hundreds. "I kinda do feel calmer. Thank you, Milord." He bowed.
"The pleasure is all mine, Arbiter, I never pass by a chance to tell that story again. Now I think you have an opening oration to give."
The duo walked down the rest of the hallway, a pair of orcish guards in scruffy armour stood beside a perfectly-sized arch, saluting the horses as they passed through. The colosseum of a room that lay before them was filled with almost every race around the globe, save the dwarves. A chandelier dangled with charm from the centre of the ceiling, banners and tapestries coated the walls deciding the borders of each factions' seating. One side of the chamber was seated by the serpents, their leader Rán behind a podium at the front, the same with Khonsu of the eagles and Vulcan with his brutes.
"Strange…" Scrolls thought as he stepped up to his podium "Axle isn't by Vulcan's side. I... have a grim feeling about this. Best get my words over with then."
Clearing his throat, the ginger pony took a sharp breath and began.
"Citizens of the known world," he bellowed, his voice bouncing off the walls of the room "It is our greatest honour to be here in the house of Lord Vulcan for this momentous occasion, to whom we extend our deepest gratitude. This will be the day that defines our future, the future of our children and of theirs. My Lord, Helios, has been designated as the first speaker, when he begins, the diplomacy will commence. Milord?"
Scrolls turned to his king, stepping down from the podium so that the royal stallion could take his place. The horse with the golden coat ran his eyes across the audience, nodding politely to each leader as the ears of the crowd leant towards him, but when he opened his mouth…
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"You're a tad late, Private, what kept you?" the gruff voice of Spearmint's Sergeant inquired "Hey, what's this here spear you've got?"
"Apologies for my tardiness, sir, I was just browsing the shops and I happened to come across this. I believe it falls sync with our guidelines on personal weapons."
His Sergeant inspected the stick thoroughly. "Yes, yes, everything appears to be satisfactory, now get to bed, and be glad you're not on night duty tonight."
"Thank you, sir." Spearmint left the grumbling and tired Sergeant by the front porch of the barracks, following the candle light up the wooden stairs to his dorm with his militia colleagues already fast asleep, somehow able to block out each other's snoring.
Resting his helmet on his bedside table, he untied the armour he wore and placed it at the end of the bed, and with the spear lent against a bedpost he flopped onto the bed, not even bothering to cover himself with it's sheets, just laying on the bed until he dozed off.
An explosion shook the ground with ferocity, bouncing him off the bed face-first onto the cold floorboards. His eyes shot open as everyone leapt up and rushed sloppily for their gear, believing they might be under attack from rioters that didn't want the peace talks to go through, telling each other to hurry up and get to their posts. Spearmint pressed his face against the window the explosion sounded from, he looked to see lights in the town come on, but saw no inferno from any type of incendiary device within the city walls. When he was about to pull away, something on a mountain caught his eye; a giant plume of steam rose from it's side, and the screams of citizens below the barracks repeated the same message over and over at the top of their lungs:
A star had fallen.
