Broken wings and bloodied hooves

We had been walking for miles, my legs starting to tire from the long march. I tried to distract from the burning in my legs, "So, are there any other stories about-"

"Shut up, and besides, do you really want to hear them all right now? Then what will I tell you when we're walking for hours on end." She slowly grew more melancholy as she went on, "I could fly us faster...."

"Ah, so a fan of inciting a panic and possible catching an arrow through your chest? We stay grounded." I shouted, best we limit our chances of drawing attention as much as possible.

"Oh come on who's gonna se-" She was cut off by a sharp scream coming from the blurred out distance, "Oh come on!" She groaned as I darted past, "I had to say something!"

Our hooves kicked up snow as we charged down the path towards the scream, the dense fog limiting our vision to only a few meters ahead. The screams were slowly petering out, as well as being drowned out by the soft plodding as we marched through the snow. As we ran a dim orange slowly cleared away the fog, leaving a deepening blackness rising above it, "Fire!" I yelled, lowing my head and speeding to a full gallop. Daring fell behind, not used to forcing her body through the snow.

The source of the fire was a recently attacked caravan. Several broken carts and corpses littered the scene. The potent smell of blood cut only with the smell of burning timber, "What the hay- oh no...." Daring pulled through the snow, "What in Tatarus happened?"

I was slowly losing myself as I scanned the bodies. These ponies were from the temple, these carts were transports, this wasn't just a supply caravan. "Daring...there are ponies still out there." I scored the ground for prints. The entire scene was a mess of slush, blood, and mud, save a few bloody hoof prints leading away from the scene. I felt a surge of heat course through my body, more powerful than the fire slowly turning the wood to ashes, "We need to hurry!" I started slowly following the prints, each set of prints punctuated by a bloody right foreleg guiding my way.

I could hear Daring heaving as she tried to keep pace, "Skane- oh dear Celestia...how do you do this!?"

"Be quiet! We're not alone." I hissed, only giving her a moments rest before driving back into the snow. The smell of burning fat slowly drew closer, "Daring, follow close and be quiet." I lowered my body and began skulking around the path. A small group of ponies were slowly making their way through the snow. One lagging behind and limping. I quickly recognized her as one of the caravan guards. I felt my body tighten up as I felt my magic grip an axe, but I needed to wait...we needed to follow them first.

*^**^*

I watched as the group of bandits hurried down to their camp. A large collection of torn tents and fire pits dotted a large clearing. The captured guard was thrown down as several bandits formed a circle around her. My blood ran cold as she was violently tossed around, eventually being dragged off by the bandits, "Skane...Skane talk to me."

"Daring, I'm not going to leave a single one of them alive." I slowly started sneaking down to the camp. A single bandit breaking off from the group to relieve himself. I pulled a white fur over my mane and slowly crawled forward. The bandit was all alone, no one would hear. no one would see.

I felt something grab my leg as I closed in, "Skane, what is wrong with you!?" Daring whispered, pulling me back and trying to stop me, "Kid we need to think this out. Besides since when were you so blood-"

I yanked my leg free, "Don't think for a moment I have never drawn blood. I feared for my life at the prospect of the legion, but I will not bend to banditry! These caravans...the ponies were my friends, and these bastards will pay in blood!" Daring seemed to be in shock as I crawled on.

The bandit had is legs spread pissing shakily in the snow. "Gotta get me some soon...won't be anything left af-"

In an instant of rage I levitated an axe out of my bag. My realization of what would happen to the guard sped me along, "Harrikar na kar!" I whispered as I charged, swinging the axe into the bandits throat. With another quick yank the stallion gave a short scream before his throat filled with blood. I closed my eyes as the warm spray stained the ground.

The warm smell of ammonia quickly replaced by the metallic smell of blood. With the axe still embedded in the stallions throat I yanked him down and pulled him deeper into the snow. A final chop with the axe ceased his flailing, "Skane what in Celestia's name was that!?"

I quickly turned to Daring, she recoiled a few steps at my bloodied appearance, "I grew up hearing stories about these ponies...about how they would ransack our caravans, kill our people. I might not have been able to do something before- but no more!"

Daring shook her jet black mane, "Two days ago you were crying about not wanting to kill and now you're-"

"You were unarmed, we were facing a legion, and I had no motivation other than survival. These bastards...these beasts deserve nothing more than utter devastation!" I could feel my teeth starting to bleed from the extreme pressure I was putting on them, "Daring this is no more than killing an elk or caribou for fur...I have no interest in killing ponies, but these...to call them ponies is an outright lie!" I turned away from her abruptly, "Nothing more than clearing the ground...nothing more than what is needed."

I reduced my motions back to a crawl. Each step saw us deeper into the cesspool of the bandits camp. Bodies strewn around like grotesque trophy's, the smell of blood and fire heavy in the air, the soft whimpers as some unseen brutality occurred. But I could do nothing, I needed to single them out, kill them one by one. The zealots taught us that if we were ever alone, relay on cunning and tactics to win any battle.

With a quick thought I managed to tip a brazier over, setting fire to a number of tents. With the loose scattering of the tents it would do little more than serve as a distraction, but a distraction was all I needed. As several bandits took to stomping out the budding fire, I brought the axe head to bear across their throats. One by one they fell, adding fuel to the growing pyre. Most managing a small squeak before having their throats flooded with blood, but one, one small stallion no older than fourteen, managed to rear up and block my axe with his forelegs. The axe bit through his fur padding, nearly severing his leg. With another sideways swing I caught him around the base of his neck, his body going limp within seconds.

But before his death, his screams managed to alert the entire camp. I quickly ducked into a burning tent and buried myself in the snow. I watched as six ponies scored the area for me. Daring must have waited somewhere safe while I did my righteous work.

"Kill the prisoners!" A burly stallion yelled before running off.

Like a fire had been lit in my guy I sprang forth from the burning tent. Two thrown axes finding their mark, one fell into a screaming heap as it tried to dislodge the axe from its side, the other simply going limp and falling with an axe jutting from its broken skull.

Four more, there were four more. Over the pained screams of the dying pony I ran from tent to tent, most empty or filled with dead ponies. I managed to find two younger bandits cowering in a tent. In a moment, not unlike my breakdown with Daring I felt sympathy. They were young, foolish, they had no idea how to handle this other than hiding. The rest of my thoughts were stopped by the searing pain of cold steel ripping through my flank. My rear leg buckled and send me falling onto my side. A bandit ready to drop a sword into my chest.

I could only smile as I saw my death approaching, slain by a simple bandit in a fit of rage. How fitting...I wasn't some hero, just a hopped up foal pretending to play soldier.

The bandit turned her head and slowly lowered the tip of her sword towards my chest. I closed my eyes and waited, but the blade never came, only a soft yelp followed by some heavy thuds.

I slowly opened my eyes. Daring had tackled the mare and was stomping her face into a fine paste, "Don't you dare- fucking- touch him!" Once she was satisfied with her work she quickly turned to me, "Idiot," She rolled my onto my stomach, "Running in here like some lunatic, what the heck were you thinking!?"

I ignored the pain in my side and slowly stood, "More...there is more-" I nearly fell, Daring running and letting me lean against her as we walked out of the tent, "Wait...inside, we need to-" I kicked weakly at a nearby brazier, "We can't let them go."

Daring leaned me against a collection of pilfered boxes and looked inside the tent, "Skane...they're foals! You're trying to burn them alive!?"

"As I said- not one survives..." I slowly righted myself and tipped a brazier over, lighting the tent's edges on fire.

"Skane!" Daring quickly stomped out the fire, "They're foals!"

"They're bandits!" I screamed through my pain, "If you want them alive then watch them, there is one more of these animals here, and I intend to make him suffer." I levitated a bottle of fortified pine water out, pouring some over my wound and downing the rest. My body burned from the sudden surge of alcohol, spurring my forward through the dulling pain in my leg.

I could hear soft screams from the largest tent in the collection. I managed to run inside as the burly stallion severed the head of the caravan guard, "No!" I screamed, charging the stallion. I bounced off weakly before drawing two axes, one between my teeth, the other levitating next to me. The stallion tried to bash my head in with a hardy kick. A quick duck and sidestep later and I swung an axe into his neck, causing him to drop his axe. He gave a stout yell before rearing up and trying to stomp me. I managed to move most of my body out of the way, absorbing the heavy impact with my uninjured side, I whirled my head around, slicing the stallions throat.

Still standing, the stallion bobbed hazily from left to right. He managed to headbutt me, causing my legs to buckle. Another followed, and another, and another, each one weaker than the last. My head was splitting from the impact but eventually I felt his weight rest on my forehead, "Piece of shit..." He growled, "What gives you the right-" I felt him cough some blood onto the snow between us, "-to do this...?"

In my pained state I mumbled my words a few times before achieving coherence, "What gives you the right- to kill the innocent...?"

I could hear him laugh, followed by another torrent of bloody coughs, "There is no innocence here...only varying degrees of guilt." I could feel his head slide off of mine, "But I guess-" He landed in the mud with a heavy thud, "-I guess...the victory decides who was right in the end." With a few more coughs he was quickly reduced to gasping for air. A few moments later and the wheezing stopped.

"Skane!?" Daring yelled, darting inside and wrapping her hooves around my neck, "Skane talk to me!"

In my pained haze I mumbled out, "The others?"

"They're gone Skane, we won't see them again!" I felt her pull me upward by my mane.

As my mind cleared away the haze from the repeated impact I began to feel a deep pain. I managed to reach the body of the caravan guard, her head sitting a few feet away, "I- I wasn't-" I slowly felt my eyes burning, "Daring I wasn't...I couldn't-"

"Skane..."

I felt Daring press her body into my back, "Get off! Get off of me!" I screamed, trying to wiggle free, "I could have done more!" I cried, "I could have stopped him if I was quicker."

"Skane please...you tired...you-"

"Excuse me, not to be insensitive...but these bindings are starting to hurt." The both of us snapped up at the sound of the robust voice, "Over here...behind the uh...corpses...." I bit back the tears and slowly stood, wandering towards the voice. A small pile of bodies lining the way. At the end of the path sat a pegasus mare in stocks, her legs spread wide and head bound tight. She wore a soft blue coat with a pink mane. "Hello there...I would love to meet my rescuers face to face...but if you're thoroughly enjoying yourself with my plot I won't stop you...not that I could." She shifted her weight to show her bound nature.

I wanted to rip her throat out for her insolence, "Legion!?" I yelled.

I could feel the air rush past as the mare's tail flicked past, "Tenth legion, fourth century...might I ask who you are?"

"Do you value your life?" I hissed.

"Only that I might serve the legion...so I take it you're not an ally...well I must say I'm flattered one would destroy a bandit camp for the shear purpose of raping me. I can't really think of any other reason a tribal would attempt such a bold attack." She started to raise her tail, "I suppose I can think of worse fates...torture would be worse...being raped by a petty bandit too. All in all, perhaps I can convince you to let me go once the act is done."

"Insolent...fucking...fool." I limped my way to her face.

I was met with a pair of scanning blue eyes, "Oh...mercenary or priest? I can work with either but mercenaries are simpler."

"Acolyte..." I groaned, falling to my stomach.

"Ah...that does complicates things. Are you hurt?"

"No...I simply enjoy laying amongst the dead." I deadpanned.

"Well then fall on a sword and join them permanently, I deal with those that can see reason." She snarled, her eyes lighting up as she caught a whiff of the blood staining my coat, "I can help you if you let me go."

"Free a legionnaire? So that you might kill more of my friends?!"

"Listen colt: I will serve the legion till I die, but should our goals lie parallel I see no reason to withhold assistance. If you truly hold such ire for the legion then kill me and be done with it!"

"Oh...so eager for death now? Not five minutes ago did you lift your tail for me and now-"

"Will you two shut up!" Daring yelled, "You...pegasus, you're wings broken isn't it?"

The bound mare flapped her wings, her left wing sporting a plethora of broken feathers and singed hair, "Amazing the effectiveness of unicorn magic is it not?"

"Good." I could see Daring pick something off the burly stallion and walk over. She quickly jammed a key into the lock that bound the mare and freed her.

"Daring you idiot, you damned fool!" I screamed.

The blue pegasus quickly shook her body out, "Thank you- oh!" She quickly looked Daring over, "But...you said you were a priest...why would you-"

"Long story...no time. You're a soldier right?" Daring asked, guiding the mare to me, "Can you fix this?"

The mare looked over my flank, "Yes sister...but...I still don't understand why-"

"She's a slave." I said dryly.

I could feel the mare poke my wound, "A priest with a slave? I doubt it...secret lovers more likely. How salacious."

As much as I wanted to kill this mare my thoughts were put aside by a cold at my flank. The wound slowly numbing and causing the pain to subside, "Incredulous...whore..."

"Quite the gentlecolt...you'll have to let me borrow that cruel tongue some time sister." The mare laughed as she looked through my bag, "I could put it to good use after a hard day's fight!" The mare pulled some bandages over my wound and splashed some pine water over it.

"Why must you jest!? Can you not see the carnage these bastards have wrought!?" I screamed, her cavalier attitude stirring my rage.

"I'm a soldier,"- She pulled the bandages tight, -"They teach us to treat death as a fact of life, to dwell is to die as they say. There..." She finished with the bandages, "Now if I might make a suggestion...we should find a tent with fewer...bodies, in it."

"You help him, I'll find a tent." Daring called before running outside and leaving me with the unnamed mare.

The mare quickly yanked my upright and leaned my wounded side against her body, "So young colt...what is the name of my gracious savior and his lovely conquest?"

"Tawdry bitch...tell me yours first, then I shall decide if you are worthy of hearing mine."

The mare bumped her hip against mine, sending a jolt of pain through my bandaged cut, "Umbri, my bitter friend, and as much as you might despise me, your daring rescue has earned my friendship with or without your consent!"

"Oh joy...another to make light of my trauma."

"So bitter for a colt...so tell me mighty warrior, your name and your years?"

"My name is Skane, my years are seventeen. My companion can tell you her's if she so chooses."

"Hmm, one of seventeen years. Perhaps not such a colt as I thought. Served the legion twelve years, since my sixth. Tell me, what makes you so eager to kill and then so sullen at the loss of a simple guard?"

"I shall explain myself to you when you can explain your absolute disrespect at the loss of my friends!" I yelled in her ear.

She recoiled a bit from my verbal assault, "Well...perhaps I was a bit rude, but to mourn the loss is one thing. To dwell on it and cry will solve nothing." We eventually spotted Daring again. Our labored walking quickly ended as we fell onto a pile of furs as some makeshift bedding.

The two mares quickly began speaking. Nothing I paid any mind. I let them prattle on as I drifted off to sleep. My slight intoxication mixed with utter exhaustion sent me to bed like a sack of potatoes.

*^**^*

I awoke with a start. My vision was cut by a pair of hooves dangling over my head. A quick adjustment found Daring curled against my barrel, while Umbri hung her hooves over my head, "Off damn you...." I shook my head free and dragged my way out of the pile. I looked back over the duo, "Grow a winter coat and stop leeching off of me." I grumbled angrily.

I needed to take care of something, alone. I slowly walked out into the bitter night, a soft glow from my horn illuminating the scene. I slowly made my way back to the biggest tent, once inside I started my work. I collected the body of the guard, dragging her outside and piling a few sticks around her. A tent canvas quickly wrapped the body and head. I gave a final look around to see if I was clear before calling a few sparks from my horn, lighting the makeshift pyre ablaze, "May the goddess treat you better than we."

"That you might find everlasting peace...." A voice sang from behind. I didn't bother turning around, I knew who it was. Umbri quickly stood beside me, "So you knew her?"

"Aye...she was always with the same caravan, I talked to her before they left each time. She had a foal not three weeks ago, and now...why was she even out here..." I turned to Umbri, "For you I assume, because you were dumb enough to get captured instead of dying!" I snapped, "Why do you deserve to live while she dies!?"

The legionnaire looked hurt, "I never claimed I-"

"Shut up! Oppressor, heretic, monster! This entire day has been your fault, this entire war is your fault!" I turned to her, the fire illuminating the side of her face, "You should have died."

I expected retribution, hate, spite, anything but what came, "I'm sorry." She let her head fall, "I didn't really have a choice in the matter."

"Didn't have a choice!? You always have a choice!"

"The legions don't decide what to do! We take our orders and we execute them. I don't know how things work with you and your filthy tribal friends but we have a duty to follow orders!"

I inched my way forward, resting my forehead against hers and staring her down, "Does your duty compel you to kill the innocent, to take the sky from generations for your petty greed?"

"Does your ignorance run so deep that you can't see why we're trying to unify the land? It's not simple greed, it's all for a reason and if your people would just submit-"

"To rule under a flag that would see us slaves!?"

"No! Look at yourself, you have a horn, you could achieve a standing in the wor-"

"And what of those with no horn, no wings, what of them!?" I yelled, my words growing increasingly bitter in my mouth.

"They're inferior, what else can they do!?"

"Inferior, you call them inferior!? Those who ripped you from the sky and slayed your kin-"

"Your kind killed us...with the fire no less. I don't know why I thought you'd understand...your mind has been poisoned by them for far too long."

"And you are so narrow minded you could miss the forest for the trees." There was a long silence between us.

"I'm sorry." Umbri finally spoke, "I'll leave in the morning if you wish."

I rolled my lips back into my mouth, "No...I- we...we're both fools in different ways." I removed my head from hers, "Perhaps with some time we can remedy that..." With a soft smile from the blue mare we turned back to the fire.

As it crackled I felt something press against the side of my neck, "I'm truly sorry for this." Umbri spoke, her breath running along my chin.

I gave a deep sigh before pressing back, "I know...I am equally ashamed for my rash words." We spent the rest of the night watching the fire, I told stories about the caravans and she told stories about her century, both ripped away from us, both a rather hefty loss. The only easement was the warm body pressed against my side, an insulating wing trapping my body head and radiating it through her, "Umbri?"

"Aye?"

"We should make sure my companion doesn't freeze to death."

"Daring? I wrapped her in as many furs as I could find...and I don't really want to move right now..." She nestled against me, "Do you?"

"Not really...you're sure she's safe?"

"Well, you would be more certain, living in this icy hell for so long, but I think she should be fine."

I just gave a deep sigh in return, "Umbri...do your loins ache?"

"W-what?"

"The priesthood is forced into celibacy...I assumed the legion has a similar policy."

I could feel her breathing quicken, "Ah...aye, I suppose it has been a while, as in...never...are you suggesting-"

"A tumble in the snow...yes...." I spoke flatly. My demeanor fair much better than my actual nerves.

"But...your friend, your wound, my wound...is now really the best time?" Her voice was curious, a bit needy, but mostly curious.

"I just took the lives of ten bandits, I just watched my friend die in front of me, and I have been teased incessantly by a grown mare. I can think of no better time for stress relief than now."

"With...with an absolute stranger...with a mare you plucked from the jaws of death mere hours ago. This...would be rather sudden, and I'm still technically- in- ah- the- oh dear...legion." I had rustled free of her wing and mounted her while she spoke.

"You seemed eager as a filly when you were bound...you want to back out now?"

I could feel her heart beating wildly as I rested my weight on her back, "I- oh goddess...I have no intention of dying a virgin...and- ah-" I was already sliding out of my sheath, letting it bat against her.

"So needy are you that you were willing to be raped to satisfy that urge?" I laughed, bucking my hips slightly, letting my member press against her sex, the heat was amazing.

"I am a grown mare...and I will-" I prodded her once more, "Enough!" She rolled, sending me sideways into the snow, "Find a tent without the stench of death!"

She bolted off to find a tent, "Such need for the physical...truly I have found the one who can understand the best-" I slowly followed before being yanked into a tent.

"No love," She piled some furs and bent over.

"No passion," I answered.

"Just sex." As her words fell away I slowly mounted her.

"Just a tumble in the sno-"

Daring's voice cut me off just outside of her sex, "Guys...I smell fire!"

"Fucking fuck!" I screamed, stepping back, "Fucking bitch, fuck, ass, cock, fuck!" I threw a tantrum at my denied release, "Fuck you Daring, fuck you!"

"Indeed!" Umbri yelled, her breath still shaky.

"What did I do!?" Daring yelled from her tent.

"Just fuck you...fuck you in the ass!"

"With a lance!" Umbri added.

"Yeah!"

"Oh...ooooh, I see...did I interrupt something!?" Daring jeered, a soft rustling sounding from nearby, "That's cute...a bit sudden, but adorable." Umbri and I buried ourselves under a pile of furs, "You two will make such cute foals~" Daring cooed, entering our tent, "Yep...called it."

I answered by hurling an axe into a tent post by the exit, "Heretic..." Daring just whinnied and wandered off with my axe, "Hey!"

She spit my axe out, "Well then behave...just because I almost walked in on two budding foals about to get into the nitty gritty doesn't mean you should throw deadly weapons around like a lunatic. And you..." She stared at the pair of blue eyes, buried in a bundle of furs, "Remember what I told you about the balls..." With that Daring trotted out with my axe.

"What!?" I screamed, "You...this...premeditated!?" Umbri sunk deeper into her fur trappings, "Traitor...I mean...I'm flattered, but still, traitor."

Umbri started to crawl out of her fur fortress, "I know...but as I said-"

"Not dying a virgin, oh go mount a corpse...the moment is lost for now." I shook free of the piled furs and walked out, "Maybe another time...when certain intruders are busy being mauled by a bear...."

"Or being torn apart by timber wolves!" Umbri yelled, trotting out after me, "We could arrange that you know."

"Perhaps...perhaps when we reach town. I can drug her and we can rent some rooms." I snickered at my own deviousness.

"So does that mean-"

We started looking around the slowly brightening camp for Daring, "Aye, you can tag along. If you can avoid being spotted and branding me a traitor by the tribes. If ever you needed sex, being captured by a tribe would be your best bet. Set out for public use in a town square...not exactly as intimate as you might like but it is an option."

"Oh and I'm sure the empire would love a sarcastic caster like you, they might even use your horn to tip a spear!" Our rude jokes and petty jabs continued even after we found Daring and started back onto the road. It was nice to have something to draw my mind away from the brutality without the constant pain in my loins.