Chapter four: Waiting

A lone stallion hiked across the empty, white, featureless plain. He had a message to deliver, though he did not know what it was. All he knew was that it was of dire urgency that he get the letter in his saddlebag delivered as quickly as possible.

The snow fell densely, driven by the fierce and driving wind. The powdery flakes clung to him on one side, being glued in to his black fur by the howling winds. What stuck to him melted, bringing the cold ever deeper into his body with each gust. He knew that he could not continue like this for much longer.

A rocky outcropping appeared ahead, promising shelter from the blasting winds that relentlessly wore on the tired Pegasus. He broke his steady pace and galloped ahead to finally feel some relief.

A small alcove in the jutting rock face provided the shelter he needed. The draft zone it made caused the snow to not accumulate there. The snow instead formed a deep drift surrounding the hollow space. When he reached it, he dropped to his knees and slumped against the cold, brown stone.

Though the relief from the storm was heavenly, he knew that he must press on to reach the Empire. The Empire that lay somewhere out in this barren wilderness.

A few minutes passed like seconds, and he rose to his feet reluctantly. The blowing snow sprayed into his face as he turned to leave. He shuddered, braced himself and launched back into the cold white hell. He had to wade through the drift to reach shallower snow that was passable. When he reached the shallower snow, he broke into a trot, trying to speed up his heart rate to stay warm and speed up his journey as well.

He looked ahead, dreading the moment when he would break from this hill and be back into the full mercy of the wind. Before he reached the end of the rock face, he was snapped from his thoughts by a deafening screech. A Changeling had jumped out from behind a boulder just ahead. Its cerulean eyes were ablaze, almost seeming to fling fire out of the pupils. Blood coated its legs and chest.

The Changeling hissed and bore its fangs. Above, on the escarpment, six more changelings sat poised to strike. Ten more came running up from the behind, and seven on the left. Several others joined rank with the one in front of him.

The first Changeling charged up its horn and fired, but he was able to avoid it. A second beam whizzed by his head and a third grazed his flank.

Something grabbed at his legs, requiring a solid kick to dislodge it. It now was clear to him that the only way to have a chance at survival was to go airborne. The black Pegasus spread his wings and flapped as hard as he could, leaving the ground like a missile. He wasn't ten feet off of the ground before another beam came in, striking him in the wing. He fell like a stone, landing on his side. His wing that wasn't hit was pinned beneath him, and it hurt so badly that it must have been broken.

In an instant he was being tackled by a large group of the little monsters. Two Changelings held each limb to immobilize the Pegasus. The leader of the monsters drew a knife, gave a grisly smile, and brought the blade to the stallion's throat. The last thing the doomed soldier felt was the blade slicing through his neck.

***

The bench was warm and hard beneath Coal Dust's back. Cold sweat ran down his neck, and his heart raced. He brought a hoof to his neck, almost still able to feel the blade plunging into his neck. Though it was only a dream, it had felt like he had just been out on that icy plain, fighting for his life.

He squinted at the bright lights in the empty waiting room. The clock read three thirty-two in the morning. He groaned as he sat up and stretched his aching back. Though better, his wings still felt strained and were sharply sore.

The vivid nature of his dream had shaken all fatigue from his head. His heart was still racing, nearly pounding a hole into his chest. Looking for a way to calm himself down, he picked up a wrinkled old magazine from a nearby table.

The magazine was one of the many tabloids that circulated around. For some strange reason he could never discern, mares just ate this stuff up. He eyed the cover warily.

"Twenty secrets to better please your very special somepony?" he read aloud. "What in the world are they letting them print these days?"

Curiosity got the better of him, and he cracked the magazine open. To his surprise, there were a few interesting articles hidden among the trash that flowed profusely from its pages. He found himself reading an article about new astronomical discoveries in recent years, including a planet named Earth that scientists believed may harbor intelligent species. "Sure, I bet there are some reallysmart things there," he muttered with a scoff.

The door swung open. "Coal Dust, you had better be in here if I came all the way down at this hour!" yelled a deep, powerful, and somewhat annoyed voice. It was unmistakable who was here.

Coal Dust tossed the magazine aside and jumped to his feet, "Ten-hut!"

"Oh, don't bother with that useless crap now. At ease!" Sombra grumbled as he walked through the door. At three in the morning, King Sombra did not look much like the King Sombra everyone knew. His mane was amiss, his eyes looked heavy, and a scowl decorated his face. He still looked like a formidable pony, but in a psychotic-killer way rather than a powerful ruler.

Coal Dust dropped his rigid stance, took a breath, and walked over to the obviously exhausted king. "King Sombra, sir, I have an important piece of news for you."

"Well, if it was important enough to wake me at this hour it must have been something big!

"It is, sir, and," Coal Dust looked around nervously, "I don't think that we should chance anypony overhearing us. We need to find a secluded place to talk."

"Sure, be my guest! The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get back to bed!" Sombra really could get cranky when he was tired.

     The King and the soldier walked to the back of the waiting room, over near the closed cafeteria line. A refrigerator humming behind the closed window screen was the only sound in the room.

"Sombra," Coal Dust began, "this news I bring is very grim. It appears that our worst fears have been realized. My patrol that left last evening, well, we...uh... found a Changeling swarm."

With the end of that sentence, Sombra went from being annoyed and grouchy to looking almost worried. "What? Are you sure?

"Yes, I'm sure."

"How big was it?"

"Lets just say, you couldn't see one end of the swarm from the other. I don't know of any in recent years that could match it."

Sombra seemed to linger on those last few words. "I see." He took a long pause, running things through his head.  "Okay, at daybreak we need to hold a council meeting. Hopefully there we can get a better course for action. I need you and your unit present at that meeting, will you all be ready for it?"

Coal Dust was thrown a major reality check by a simple question. "Well, uh... Sombra, sir. About that." It was very difficult to say these words, "We lost three stallions in our escape. The fourth is, as far as I know, fighting for his life right now."

Sombra was clearly not in the same mindset that he was when he had arrived. Now, learning that three of his soldiers were dead, did he finally understand what was developing. However badly he wanted to find out more, he needed to stay calm and collected.

"I think we need to get some rest now, no sense in making mistakes because we are exhausted. We can go back to the castle, there's a spare chamber you can use for tonight-"

"No," Coal Dust cut Sombra off, "I'm going to wait here for him. I think I owe it to him and to myself to stay."

     Sombra frowned. "If that's what you want, so be it. I'm going back to my bed, but I will come back to get you for the meeting first thing in the morning." He walked to the door, pausing just before he exited. "Are you sure you want to stay here? You look like you really need a good night's sleep."

"I'm sure. I need to be there when he gets out of surgery, whenever that is."

Sombra smiled. "You know, I have yet to see any pony that can match you in how stubborn you can be. Goodnight, lieutenant."

"Goodnight, sir!" Coal Dust called out as Sombra walked through the door. The door swung closed and several sets of hoof steps walked away from the door. Sombra's royal guard had been there after all.

The black Pegasus climbed back up onto the same bench he had been on and closed his heavy eyes. I an instant the soft hands of sleep whisked him away to a slumber. This time, his sleep was dreamless.

***

"Sir? Sir, wake up!" Rose said, shaking his shoulder with her hoof.

     "Huh, move the barrel over," He mumbled, still asleep.

     "Sir, Gust is ready to see you," She said. The mention of Gust's name woke Coal Dust sharply.

     "Nurse?" He said, sitting up quickly. He looked at the clock. Twenty-eight past seven. Coal Dust then looked at the nurse. She had obviously been crying. Her makeup was running a little, and her eyes were slightly red.

     "He is doing well. Back to his old self almost." She began tearing up a bit.

"We can go and visit now?" Coal Dust rubbed his eyes and blinked hard a few times. He was stiff from sleeping on the hard bench, but all in all he felt much better than he did last night.

"Yes, we can. Follow me, I'll take you up to him," Rose said as she blinked the tears from her eyes. She led the way out of the door and into the reception area.

Rose and Coal Dust walked past the reception desk silently, and the two nurses working there didn't even look up from their work as they passed. Just beyond the desk was an open stairwell. Rose began her ascent with a quick step, nearly running up the stairwell. Coal Dust didn't need to move as quickly to keep up with her because of his longer legs. She passed the landing for the second floor and ascended the next flight a bit more slowly.

They reached the third floor and exited the stairwell, passing a few nurses and patients out in the wide main hallway. Rose passed a few doors and stopped at one only a short distance from the stairwell.

"He's in there. I'll leave you to it," Rose said shortly as she backed away from the door.

"Thank you, nurse."

"Yeah." She turned and trotted away quickly. She seemed wary of the room, almost anxious to get away from it. Something was obviously troubling her about Gust, but right now that wasn't the biggest problem he was faced with.

He looked up at the number 312, took a deep breath, pushed the latch down, and opened the door.