Chapter 19
The Plains Pt.2

Lucky was sitting in my lap, straddling me and planting kiss after wonderful kiss on my lips. One of her hands gripped my shoulder and the other had found my mane, her fingers toying with it as our lips brushed together. My hands were at her hips and slowly making their way to the small of her back, pulling her body closer to mine as I wrapped her in an embrace. She giggled softly and sighed happily as my arms squeezed her.

By the Sisters she was soft. She felt lovely, she smelled wonderful, her voice sounded like music. She withdrew from the kiss and smiled at me, her burning red eyes had an eerie charm to them.

Then the world around me dissolved into sand. I wasn’t sitting anymore, I was standing in knee-deep Changeling corpses. Most of them were hatchlings. Their bodies had been burned to a crisp by the magical explosive charge I had set. Past this pile of bodies was a small mountain, the queen and all her eggs. The Changelings that never had a chance to live. I killed all of them.

“You did all of this?” Lucky asked angrily from the edge of the hole I was in. “You call them the monsters? They weren’t even born yet and you killed them!”

More bodies fell into the pit with me. They were piling up, the stench of burned flesh was overwhelming. I couldn’t move. I was being buried alive.

“Fuck,” I mumbled as I was startled awake. I slowly sat up and looked around, it was dark. Still the middle of the night, no light on the horizon anywhere. I wasn’t the only one awake though.

In the dim light of the embers from the fire pit I could see Sticks sitting on top of his sleeping bag stretching his legs. He braced his left leg and slowly twisted his knee until it let out a soft pop. He let out a sigh of relief and repeated the process with his right. He paused for a moment, he wasn’t facing me, but somehow he noticed me watching.

“Can’t sleep either?” He asked softly so as to not wake the others.

“For a different reason, but yeah,” I admitted.

“Pain is pain,” he responded without looking at me. “Yours might not be physical like mine is, but it’s pain that’s keeping you awake right?”

“How could you tell?” I asked.

“I could tell the moment I shook your hand that you were carrying some heavy baggage. It’s in your walk, your speech, your eyes. You’ve seen and done some shit and you walk like you’re carrying the fucking world on your shoulders,” he explained, keeping his voice low. “Plus you mumbled quite a bit about corpses and were begging someone not to bury you. That kinda stuff just reeks of guilty conscience,” he said with a little huff.

“You’re just as stressed,” he turned to face me at those words. “You feel responsible for everyone here and it shows at times. Not always, but a bit shows through.”

“I guess it’s easier to hide the heavy walk when you hobble a little,” he said with a soft chuckle. “I never did hear who you’re so worried about, feel like sharing with another sleepless Pegasus?” He whispered.

“I,” I hesitated, why was I opening up to this stranger so freely? I know he was a friend of Patches but I didn’t know him. He did seem genuinely good-natured. “I met a mare in Timberfold, and it was more than just a one night stand that you forget about and move on from. Something in the way we talked, the way we held each other, the way she felt,” I trailed off.

“Leaving that town was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do since I got back from the front,” I admitted. “I always thought people who talked about love at first sight were idiots, I never thought much of anyone who bought into the idea. I thought it wasn’t possible,” I paused a moment, looking up at the ‘eye’ of the storm above us. “But now I can’t stop thinking about her, I wonder if she’s comfortable, safe, happy… If,” I cringed a little at the thought. “If she’s with someone else already.”

“Sounds like you really miss her, you care about her. That’s good, means you won’t abandon her,” his voice picked up a little. “If she even feels remotely the same about you I’m certain she’s not going to seek comfort in someone else’s arms. I wouldn’t make her wait too long if I were you though. Don’t want her to think you’re dead or something,” he said playfully. “Did you leave her there to keep her safe?” He asked softly again.

“I guess that’s the most sensible reason,” I murmured.

“Huh, well I hope that choice is the right one,” he whispered as he shuffled back into his sleeping bag.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked as I settled back down myself.

“I just have a bad feeling about that place, like it’s just not somewhere I should stay,” he trailed off and let out a yawn. “Maybe it's because of how close Canterlot is. I don’t want to spend any more time in the plains out here than I have to,” he added during his yawn.

“Don’t want to be that close to ground zero?” I asked, a hint of amusement in my voice.

“I keep having this nightmare about the place, overflowing with vamps and their victims. Then it’s just burning, not like the city was sacked,” he trailed off, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s like the sun itself set down on Canterlot Mountain and set it on fire. Almost as if to cleanse it all, but it feels angry. This immeasurable wrath comes from this bright burning figure that strides into the city and burns it to ashes,” he finished, his voice shuddering a little.

“You keep having the dream about Canterlot burning? Have you had any other dreams like this?” I asked.

“A few others,” he started. “These very fields stained with blood, like the aftermath of some kind of battle. Sometimes I dream about a massive explosion over yonder,” he pointed and I could just make out his hand. He was pointing at Sanctuary! “But mostly I just dream of Canterlot burning and the country going to shit,” he sighed. “You’re the first person I told all that to,” he let out a soft chuckle. “Not sure why, but it felt good to finally tell someone.”

“Did you have dreams like that before? Any that came true?” Maybe this Pegasus was catching glimpses of the future?

“Nah, none that I can think of,” he punctuated the end of his statement with a yawn and a stretch of his body. I could hear his knees popping again. He let out what sounded like a very happy sigh and his head dropped immediately. “Night,” he mumbled.

“Goodnight,” I said as I pressed my head against the ground. Canterlot burning? That explosion? Could it really mean the activation of Sanctuary’s fail-safe? Just how bad were things going to get?

/ / / / / / / / / / / / /

The door to my home swung open without warning. A large, imposing figure stood in the doorway, the occupant’s features obscured by the afternoon sun’s light pouring in from behind them. Judging by their outline it was clear they were wearing one of the traditional sets of Rustwing family armor.

“Daddy!” Came the chorus of cries from his children as they charged toward him. I was in the middle of the pack, trying to elbow my way to the front and failing miserably. My older brother and sister easily held me back and I didn’t want to knock my little sister over.

He knelt in the doorway and threw his arms out to hold the four of us in an embrace. “Kids! How are my little rascals?!” I felt his hand tousle my mane as he greeted us.

He was wearing the lighter armor Pegasi favored for maneuverability and his dark grey coat showed through the places it didn’t cover. His eyes were the same green as mine.

“Where did you go this time dad?!” I exclaimed as I bounced with excitement.

“I went to the Griffon kingdom son,” he said as he rose to greet mother and my younger brother. He hugged and kissed the brown mare that towered over him. “I missed you May, I trust things have been well?” He asked as he then gave a gentle greeting to the one year old in mother’s arms.

“Yes Ferrous, all is well on the home front,” she joked with a soft laugh. “Charon has had a healthy appetite and is inquisitive as ever,” she smiled as the little foal grabbed at the air in front of my father’s face.

“Did you bring anything back like you promised?!” My older sister demanded as she joined my excited bouncing.

“Yes yes, you’ll get your souvenirs tomorrow,” he said with a little sigh. “Daddy’s been travelling all day to get home and needs some rest,” he gave a little dismissive wave to us and whispered something to mother before carefully stepping past us toward their room.

Our father’s departure was met with a wave of exaggerated disappointment and mixed complaints.

“Don’t worry kids, he’s just going to lie down for a short while and take a nap,” mother said reassuringly. “He will be back in time for dinner and you can hear all about his adventures,” she said with a smile that crinkled the edges of her dark brown eyes.

The news caused an eruption of cheers from myself and my siblings. We were quickly hushed by mother.

“Now now, father needs some quiet if he is to rest,” she said with a soft laugh. “Abel, would you kindly take your brother and sisters to the park so that I may get dinner ready?”

“Yes mother,” my older brother said with a nod and a smile as he reflexively took my hand. I joined my left hand with my little sister who in turn grabbed my older sister’s hand. the four of us formed a chain of held hands with the eldest siblings protecting the younger ones.

“Return by sundown at the latest!” She called as we hurried down the path toward the nearest park.

“We will mother!” Abel called back.

“You better be! You do NOT want me to come out there looking for you!” She threatened in a caring way only she could.

The park was a rapid blur, chasing my siblings as we flew through the air and hopped on the low clouds in the playground. Little did I realize they were there to help young Pegasi learn to use their magic, I just liked playing with them. My favorite thing to do was to punch the clouds and try to make lightning come out of them.

Of course the destruction I often wrought got me into trouble when another colt or filly failing to pay attention to the clouds wandered underneath whatever cloud I happened to be pummeling.

This was thankfully not one of those days, Abel was paying attention and noticed a pair of colts running under the clouds and stopped me. I felt his hand on my arm, holding it back.

“You’re going to hurt someone again Alex!” He scolded.

“They shouldn’t be running around under the clouds in the first place!” I complained, finding the situation fairly obvious.

“They’re foolish for running around down there. But you need to be better, remember what mother always told us?” He reminded me.

“Yes, I remember,” I mumbled softly.

“Don’t mumble either, dad will be upset if you don’t speak properly,” he continued.

“I know,” I gave an irritated huff as I hopped off the cloud and looked at my sisters playing in the sandbox. Janus, my older sister was building a sand castle while Aurora tromped around and kicked little clumps of sand into the air.

Aurora started growling and roaring, pretending to be a giant monster as she kicked over one of the walls Janus had so lovingly sculpted.

“Hey! Stoppit Aurora!” Janus cried out as my little sister let out as fearsome of a roar that a three year old filly could muster and dove onto the sand castle, completely demolishing it.

“Auroraaaaaaa!” Janus whined as she rose and pulled my little sister out of the sand. “You’re a mess!” She exclaimed as she began dusting the growling and rawring filly off, her mane was full of sand.

“Oh perfect,” my brother groaned. “Let’s go home and get her cleaned up for dinner,” he said with a resigned sigh.

After my little sister had gotten a thorough patting down and brushing off, the four of us joined hands and headed back home.

We arrived at least a half an hour before sunset, much to mother’s delight. Father was up and around again, opting to wear a black tunic for comfort’s sake.

After a round of baths for my siblings and myself we were herded into the dining room for dinner. Unfortunately for father, we were more interested in stories about the Griffon kingdom than dinner.

“I must apologize children, but I am not allowed to discuss the details of my mission,” father said patiently. “Sensitive information was involved and I am forbidden from discussing it with anyone.”

“Did the order come from Sisters themselves?” I asked, wonder in my eyes.

A little smile spread across his face and he let out a soft chuckle. “Yes, in fact it did.”

“Wow,” I said as I slowly sank back down into my chair and returned my attention to dinner. I was mulling the most important decision of my life over in my head.

We ate in relative silence for the next few minutes, just enjoying a meal as a whole family again.

“Father?” I asked, breaking the silence as I looked up from my plate at him.

“Yes Alex?” He responded, giving me his undivided attention. A small smile rested on his muzzle.

“I want to be a warrior like you,” I spoke with absolute certainty, not a doubt in my mind.

My older siblings exchanged confused looks and my mother’s eyes widened as she dropped her utensils onto her plate, her mouth hanging open in a silent gasp. Father’s expression was the one I was most concerned with, his eyebrows raised slightly and his smile faded.

“Are you certain that is what you want Alex? It is not an easy path,” he warned.

“I am certain,” I responded.

Mother’s eyes shone brightly as tears welled up in her eyes. She rose from her seat and walked over to me, scooped me from my chair, and nearly squeezed the life out of me.

“Very well then, Alex,” my father said over my mother’s quiet sobs. “Tomorrow we begin your preparations, for the road ahead is a long and difficult one,” he sighed a little as he rose as well, leaving the dining room. “One you might not survive.”

That was the last time my father ever smiled at me. Over the next three years he was not my father, he was my mentor, my instructor, my trainer, my enemy. He taught me to fight, he taught me to deal with exhaustion, hunger, thirst, pain. Everything he put me through was to prepare me for the Rustwing warrior training, the Crucible spanned an entire decade, from eight to eighteen. It killed the weak and prepared the strong for the unforgiving world the warrior lived in. I was not weak, but some of my siblings were.

The world was shaking and rolling around.

“Nooooo…” I groaned lazily.

The shaking continued.

“Wake up you lazy thing, this is so unlike you,” Patches commented as he rattled me.

I sat up and swatted at his arm. “Alright I’m up! Fuckn’ quit it already,” I grumbled as I looked around with half-open eyes. The sky had turned that off-blue it always took on before sunrise.

“Sleep well?” Patches teased as he walked away from me to roll his enormous sleeping bag up.

“For once,” I said before yawning and stretching. A series of pops ran down my back and I gave my wings an experimental flex. The right one ached slightly with the motion but was almost back to normal. I took a moment to preen the feathers that needed it and rolled my sleeping bag up. I knelt and made my morning prayer, Patches decided to just stand next to me and watch the sun rise.

“You ready to go?” He asked as he lifted his pack and put it on.

“Yeah, lets head out,” I replied as I looped my arms through my own pack.

“Don’t forget to say goodbye you assholes,” Sticks said as he sat up, I could tell he was grinning based on his tone. His entire body was still inside the sleeping bag after he sat up. He looked like some kind of giant brown worm, but something looked off. “Oh fuck, I’m stuck in here sideways again…”

“How’d you manage that?” Patches asked as he squatted next to the sleeping bag that was stretched at an odd angle.

“I think I curled up into a ball while I was asleep, I must’ve rolled over once or twice in my sleep and now I’m jammed in here,” he said with a little groan as he shuffled around. “Where’s the fucking way out?!” The whole bag flopped around and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hehehehaahahaha! Hahahang on, lemme hehehehelp you,” Patches struggled to speak through his own laughter as he grabbed one end of the sleeping bag and lifted it.

Sticks immediately sunk to the bottom of the bag, his backside poking out of the hole one would normally use to enter or leave the sleeping bag. Since he was falling out sideways his massive wingspan got stuck in the entrance.

“Fuck! Agh!” The whole bag writhed in Patches’ grip, reinforcing the giant worm appearance and earning a new wave of laughter from Patches and myself. Sticks was starting to laugh a little from the inside of the sleeping bag as well. “This looks fucking ridiculous doesn’t it?” The tips of his wings were poking out of the mouth of the sleeping bag and he was continuing his struggle to right himself.

“I’m not really sure what else I can do to help in this situation,” Patches said with a giggle. “Maybe shake it like a schoolyard bully looking for lunch money?” He asked as he started doing just that.

“Gah! No! Stop!” Sticks said as one of his legs popped out of the hole and he began sliding out.

“It’s working! Keep it up!” I cheered, uncaring if anyone got to witness the spectacle.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop! You guys are assholes!” Sticks said as he slipped farther out of the shaking bag, then I realized his positioning within the bag was forcing him to do the splits. He slipped the rest of the way out of the bag and flopped onto the ground with a thud and a groan.

“Yay! I helped!” Patches said as he unceremoniously dropped the sleeping bag on top of the Pegasus on the ground.

Sticks let out an annoyed huff. “I would’ve gotten out fine on my own,” he grumbled from beneath the sleeping bag.

“So you wanted to say goodbye to us?” Patches asked innocently.

“Yeah, see you guys around I guess, good luck out there,” he droned from the ground, still not moving.

“You going to be ok?” I asked.

“Mhmm, just need a moment or two,” he responded dully.

Patches and I waited for him, after a minute or so of silence he piped up again.

“Are you two still here? What are you waiting for, a hug and a kiss? I already said goodbye, now shoo,” he grumbled as he waved a hand at us dismissively.

“Awww, I really want those now that you mention it,” Patches pouted, flattening his ears and giving his biggest puppy eyes to the bag on the ground.

There was another groan as Sticks rose from the tangled mess of sleeping bag like some strange variant of phoenix. “Fiiiiiine,” he droned as he held out his arms for a hug.

Patches scooped Sticks up in a hug and squeezed him. “I’ll miss ya buddy,” he said with a chuckle as Sticks let out a wheeze.

“Ooookay you can put me down now,” he strained in the giant’s crushing grip.

“Sorry,” Patches said with a chuckle as he set the now smiling Pegasus on the ground and began to stand back up to his full height.

Sticks reached up and grabbed Patches’ ear, tugging him back down.

“Ow ow ow, stop that,” Patches grimaced and complained at the sudden assault. I noticed his feathers ruffling slightly as he was tugged back down to Sticks.

“You were about to take off after just a hug, I saw you straightening up!” Sticks said with a grin as he leaned in closer to Patches. Sticks then planted a kiss on Patches’ lips, his grip on the vermilion ear not relenting during the affectionate gesture. Yeah, definitely affectionate judging by the wings, aaaand the little twist and extra kiss.

Sticks slowly drew away from the kiss and grinned before releasing Patches’ ear. “There, now you can go,” his grin melted into a more honest smile. “See you around buddy,” he said as Patches straightened up and cleared his throat, looking away and up a little. His wings had flared out a significant amount.

Was he embarrassed? Patches could actually experience that emotion? I checked the sun to make sure it wasn’t exploding.

“Heheh, see you around Sticks,” Patches said, his voice cracking a little as he started walking away. Holy fucking shit, he was embarrassed!

I trotted off after Patches, waving at Sticks as I left. I waited until we cleared the wagon circle and were halfway up the next hill to begin my taunting. Patches had not said a word, nor had his expression changed.

“So what was that about?” I started. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen YOU embarrassed before! I didn’t think it was physically possible for you to experience that emotion!” I said with a gleeful smile. “I thought the fabric of reality was going to tear apart at any moment!”

“Are you quite done yet?” He asked, the slight tremble in his voice confirmed my suspicions, he was embarrassed.

“There was some real significance to that wasn’t there? It wasn’t just some weird, goofy, I’m-going-to-play-along-with-this-joke gesture. You really do like him don’t you?” I teased, using Patches’ own obnoxious elbowing gesture against him. “I mean, ruffled feathers, spreading wings, and flicking tails do not lie!”

“Contrary to what you may believe, Alex. I do care for the people I lay with, I just didn’t expect him to yank on my ear in front of you like that,” he looked away and his face flushed slightly.

“Wait you’re embarrassed about the ear pulling? Not the kiss or anything else?” I asked incredulously. “You freaking deserved to have your ear yanked on after shaking him around in the bag like that,” I said with a laugh.

“Hey, you egged me on too, you could have stopped me but chose to encourage the bag shaking,” he said with a chuckle before his face flushed even more. “However, the ear pulling is kinda his thing,” he trailed off as he bit his lower lip.

“Ok you were nowhere near this embarrassed when I walked in on you getting your ass pummeled by a giant Minotaur but when some Pegasus comes along and tugs on your ear to kiss you and you’re suddenly full of shame?” Patches was making less and less sense the more he spoke.

“Well with the Minotaur I was with another large creature! Plus I was the only pony she knew tough enough to do it so there was a little pride in doing it ya know?” He said with a cocky grin that slowly faded as he continued. “But then a Pegasus two and a half feet shorter than me comes along and tugs my ear to bring me down to him and just does what he pleases and it’s just embarrassing,” he said with a nervous laugh.

“Wait, it turned you on didn’t it?!” I shouted and started laughing again. “Oh holy shit it makes sense now! I thought the kiss was turning you on but it was that little tug on your ear wasn’t it?! You found a Pegasus smaller than you who just takes charge and you like it! You like that he isn’t intimidated by your size and just takes you by the ears!” I was having a hard time keeping up with Patches now. He was speeding up and I was slowing down, laughing my ass off.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up,” he grumbled and shook his head as he pressed onward.

“Oh man, so how long has that been a thing? The two of you I mean?” I asked as I secured the majority of my laughter and jogged to catch up with him.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business,” Patches said with a smirk.

I checked to see if the sun was exploding again. “Patches not talking about his sex life? What fresh hell is this?!” I exclaimed in genuine surprise.

“Jeez Alex, you know you haven’t even heard of like half of my sexual exploits right?” He asked as we crested the hill and began our descent, the wagon circle falling out of view.

“You do seem to talk about them an awful lot though,” I pointed out.

He let out a huff. “Quit fishing already, I’m not discussing my relationship with Sticks,” he said with an air of finality. I begrudgingly dropped the topic.

We continued onward in silence for a few hours over the landscape, our heads on the swivel. Patches continued to use his listening trick with his wings in case there were other threats we couldn’t immediately see. We reached the base of Canterlot Mountain around noon and stopped to eat lunch.

“I guess we’re just camping down here for the rest of the day,” grumbled as I bit into the last of my bread. A good thing I was out too, it was nearly stale.

“What, you don’t want to camp out halfway up the mountain overnight?” Patches teased.

“Fuck no I don’t,” I gestured toward the clouds already building up on parts of the mountain. “There aren’t weather teams micromanaging the weather and keeping it decent up there, it’s gonna be cold as fuck and it’ll probably snow or hail on us up there. When we climb that mountain we are going to get to Canterlot the same day, fuck spending the night in a cave where a vamp can find us,” I stated.

“You’re worried about freezing and being easy food for a vamp in a cave when you’re about to head into Canterlot,” Patches gave me a look. “There are more vamps there than anywhere else!” He exclaimed.

“Yeah but the weather over Canterlot is either being managed by a team or some other sort of magic!” I gestured toward the city which had a clear view of the sky in spite of a large portion of the mountain being covered by clouds.

“Alriiight,” he said with a little shake of his head. He then took a fistful of grass and added it to his meal. “So how do you plan on killing the other half of this day?” He asked.

“Could you help me figure out that wing listening trick?” I requested.

“Sure!”

Author's Note

Well this chapter came out a little short, but I hope you all enjoy it nevertheless! Also, oooh! childhood memories! Its time to start learning about Alex's home and his family because we're going to be seeing them relatively soon!

Also it wasn't easy, but I managed to hold the fabric of reality together while Patches was embarrassed! Don't worry readers! The world isn't imploding yet!

-Jake