(Even the coldest heart can melt through the fire of friendship)
"Hurry up Razorblade, the boss said we could take this town for ourselves. He said something about some old holiday called Heartswarming Eve I don't know what that means but he did say something about presents. You don't want to be late do you?"
After an hour's trot we made it to the town and started with our fun, we made short work of the town guard and soon were in the middle of the town. The body count went up as we let ourselves go crazy.
"Do you like that bitch, I know you do you little whore you!" I grunted as I ravaged the near headless corpse. Tossing it aside I scanned the streets, everywhere around me I saw death and worse going on. Not caring one bit I took out my razorblade and slashed at a mare running past me, the sight that followed was; and no pun intended, but the sight was to die for.
...
The tiny filly sat at the still and lifeless body of her mother and held her neck as she sobbed into it. After a while of this she let her sobs dull to hiccups as she went over to the tiny tree with presents under it and went for the first one she saw; it was a brand new sweater that her mother had made for her.
...
As I trotted down the streets the screams of what was happening filled the night until they became nothing more than occasional yells or whoops. As I passed by one particular house I leaned in to see if my friends had already been there.
...
As the poor filly sat there hugging the brand new sweater and softly crying to herself she thought she heard something outside, she quickly wrapped herself in the sweater and hurriedly tried to hide under her bed.
...
Making my way to the front door I pressed my ear to it listening for any hint of a survivor. Straining my ear I thought I heard the pitter patter of hooves; "got ya” I thought out loud. Reaching out to open the door I stepped inside and found a sight that as a raider I had seen numerous times before. Stepping fully in to the house I looked around and then went to the nearest door.
...
To her credit the young filly did not make a sound as some pony entered her house, not knowing why this was happening she put her hooves to her mouth and tried to steady her breaths until she heard the intruder enter her room.
...
Gently opening the door I slowly and methodically went through the closet first, then the small bathroom attached to the room. Then I stopped by the small bed calling out; "I know you're here, you can't hide from me" as I looked under the bed.
...
As the intruder wandered through her bathroom and then back into her room she watched him stop in front of her bed and say, "I know you're here, you can't hide from me" as she watched him slowly lift the blanket on the bed.
...
"GOT YA!" I hissed as I looked under the tiny bed and into the widened and terrified eyes of a young filly. To her credit she neither moved nor filched as I dragged her out from under the bed and into the living room. Again she neither moved nor flinched as I stared at her holding what I assumed was a simple rag. Taking a closer look at what she was holding I saw that it was a newish looking sweater, it had numerous stains on it both from the blood that caked the living room and from her tears.
To be honest I really had no clue as to what to do, for the first time since becoming a raider I was at a loss of things to think of. She stared at me with hints of both sadness, and of fear as I looked back at her. We sat there in that room looking at each other for a good 5 minutes before she finally broke the stalemate by taking a tentative step towards me, then another and yet another until she was right in front of me.
"Y.....you aren't one of those mean ponies are you mister a.....are you"
I sat there dumbfounded at her question, sure I could lie and gain her trust; but for the life of me I couldn't bring myself to do so. So I did the only thing I could think to do.
'Y...yes I......am, it looks like my friends went a little crazier than usual here, and for what it is worth I am sorry"
"W.....Why would you ponies do something like this mister; W..we haven't done anything to you have we? Th....they killed my mommy and the rest of my family as I watched, W......WHY...WHY MISTER! Tomorrow is Heartswarming, we were going to open presents and go to the party in town......WHY MOMMY!"
I couldn't help but allow her to step closer to me and bury her muzzle into my side near my cutie mark; she stayed like this for about 20 minutes until her crying became slight hiccups. "What have I become” I thought to myself looking around at the carnage around me.
As soon as she had exhausted her tears she looked up at me with a look of what bordered on hate and forgiveness.
"I.....I miss my family already mister, I know you didn't make them go away and I know you are a good pony, that is why you aren't hurting me like the bad ponies"
With a lump in my throat I held back a single tear and noticed the slight shiver that ran through her.
"There, there little one, say you look cold; do you have anything warm to drink around here?" For the first time since we had met that night I saw a beam of happiness in her eyes as she said yes and showed me the way to the kitchen.
"Say... mister what is your name? Mine is Dusty"
"I..I'm Razorblade, nice to meet you Dusty"
As the smell of hot coca filled the room around us I was suddenly taken back to the days before becoming a raider, back to this very holiday and how I used to wait with my mother in the kitchen while our hot water boiled. Dusty looked up me as a single tear streamed down my cheek and asked me if I was ok. I Broke down and told her of my life in the wastes, how when I was young, just a bit older than her my town had been attacked by raiders. I told her about how during the whole thing I had managed to escape the town unseen. I told her that I just continued running until my body gave out on me and I laid there in the middle of the wastes for a full day before the very same raiders found me on the way back to their base. I thought I was dead, after seeing what these ponies had done in town but their leader took me in. Soon after I forgot about pain or sorrow and became a mindless heartless killing machine.
Looking at me with what I could only guess was surprise; she flung herself at me and hugged my front leg.
"It’s ok mister; my mommy used to tell me that ponies have a choice in being bad or good, what do you want to be"
Looking down at her I gave her a smile and for the first time in my life I wanted to be a good pony. I gave her a hug and told her my choice; she actually smiled at me as she continued to hug me.
"Oh wow Dusty look outside, it's snowing” quickly scampering to the window she let out a *squee* of joy and kept on saying that the princesses had heard her wish for a snowy Heartswarming Eve. Giving her a hug I trotted back into the kitchen to prepare the hot coca for the both of us as she continued to look awestruck outside at the gently falling flakes.
"Hey Dusty, hot coca is ready” *Squee* was all I heard as she trotted into the room. As we drank our hot beverages we sat and chatted for a while before I had a feeling growing in my heart, for the first time in my life I was truly happy, and was sharing said happiness with another who had a very traumatic experience as I had long ago.
...
After about 2 hours of laughing and enjoying the snow and our new found friendship we found ourselves burying her family. As we did I watched her take her very favorite toy and place it alongside her mother as she kissed her neck. I openly wept at the sight and at what had happened to this poor filly. When we were done with the funeral we sang her mother's favorite Heartswarming Eve song as the snow fell around us.
"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts, as long as it burns we cannot drift apart, though quarrels arise their numbers are few, laughter and singing will see us through; we are a circle of pony friends, a circle of friends we'll be till the very end"
As we sat and sang I had a sudden thought come to mind, never again would that poor filly suffer the same fate she just had, so long as I breathed I would protect her.
THE END:
Author's Note
Being both a fan of FOE, and with it being Christmas eve, I thought this was worth doing. The inspireation for this is the wonderfull Christmas music this amazing fan base has come up with. I have been listening to it since I started typeing, and I think it shows lol.
