She trudged solumly through the snow. Each hoof fall creating a crushing sound quickly absorbed by the rushing snowstorm that raged around her. Every step forward was a living hell to the young mare. Increasing the gap between her and that awful place inch by inch. Flashbacks streaked through her mind like slashes of blade, causing pain and adding to the mountain of emotion inside her skull.
First went Rainbow Dash. Then Rarity, and Applejack. Leaving Pinkie and Fluttershy to sacrifice themselves so that Twilight could escape. And then her brother died. Shining Armour took the fight to him, he tried to buy some time for the innocent to escape. But then he fell too by the hooves of the tyrant. Sombra emerged victorious and once again ruled with an iron hoof over the Crystal Empire. Forcing its people to do his bidding by fear and might. And here she was. Walking away from it all. With nothing to lose and nothing to gain, she walked away.
Leaving Sombra and the Empire behind, and heading out into the snow to die. That was all she was worth, wasn't it? She let her friends die in vain and left her brother to be executed by the evil bastard that calls himself a king. The twisted force behind the undoing of so many who tried to protect their their lives and families, was now terrorising the innocent in his dark grasp.
She could do nothing but cry. Cry and sob.
That seemed to be how she had passed the time for hours now. Her deep purple coat that had protected her from the cold before, was now peppered with snowdrops and dampened by the snow that had already melted and dripped down from her underside onto the ground below. Leaving a trail of small dots to accompany her larger hoof prints, that trailed back for infinity toward the nightmare she left behind. But her head did not look forward. Nor did it look down or sideways. Her eyes were closed, she did not care were she was going or what awaited her there. It could be a cliff for all she knew or cared. She deserved to die. She let so many lives come to an abrupt end that could not be justified to any means. And death was a deserved punishment for her.
She got progressively colder, and her limbs started to grow numb. These she new, were the signs that her body would soon begin to reach dangerous temperatures. She ignored the aching in her legs and turned her attention to the pain building up in her brain. The headache nigled away in her brain as the cold began to kill her.
Slowly and uncomfortably, her body started to slow down to save as much energy as possible in order to stay alive. Her tears had stopped but her eyes remained closed as her thoughts too, began the preparations for the end of their time. Her methodical trudging turned into a gentle but forced zig zagging across the valley floor that was to be the last path she ever followed. The valley walls were steep mountain sides that were unclimbable even to the most experienced rock and ice wall climber. Their walls were jagged and sharp. In places they even tilted back on themselves randomly and threatened to collapse and kill her at any moment. She wished they would. She hoped that she would be lucky enough to be crushed under hundreds of tonnes of rock rather than slowly fall apart under the effects of Frostbite. Even though she wanted to die, frostbite was a pretty grisly way to go.
Ahead of her she could see the confined river valley opening up into a glacial vale. And as she stepped out into the unknown, the sudden change in wind direction pushed her sideways. Widening her stance and trying not to fall over, she gritted her icy teeth and pressed onwards. The crosswind snowstorm tore through her viciously, stripping any remaining warmth that hid under her frail flesh and carried it away into the beyond. Her headache turned into a migraine and she growled under her uneven breaths. She only made it a few feet into the vale when she collapsed onto the ground. Her body was enveloped in snow as she stumbled back to her hooves, only to be pushed over sideways by the prevailing wind racing down the 2mile wide valley. She struggled against the storm and her dwindling strength but to no avail. She finally gave up. Her life flashed before her eyes as the migraine claimed the last free parts of her mind, blurring all sane thoughts.
She remembered the moment she met Celestia, the overwhelming joy that took over her body. She remembered meeting her friends, how all of them just accepted her into their lives and loved her in the way good friends do. Then her tasks from her mentor started to become more arduous. But she also remembered how good she had felt when she had completed them. She had never failed her teacher, and never planned on failing her. Little had she known what would happen to her back then. What hell awaited her in the Crystal Empire. A chance to meet Cadence and her brother had turned into a nightmare that had ultimately claimed more lives than it was worth. She closed her eyes and waited for it to end. Her numb limbs sprawled out in the snow lay useless as she whispered to herself, an apology not just to Celestia, but to every pony who had relied upon her for their lives.
"I'm sorry..."
*Thud*
She reopened her eyes. She had heard a hoof fall. That was a hoof fall, unmistakably. Forcing her neck up to look past the thick snow blocking her eyesight. She could see no more five foot ahead of her before everything was just white. But she could see a silhouette standing in the snow. She groaned in pain, and rolled onto her belly. Blinking away the snow on her eyelids, she strained her frozen eyeballs to look at the figure standing ahead of her. It was wearing a thick layer of mammoth fur over over its body and held a crooked spear within its magical grasp. As it started toward her she noticed a few strange things about this pony. It was wearing bones for armour and decoration which was slightly disturbing. But as it came closer, she saw that behind its smile was a pair of enlarged teeth in the corners of its jaws.
Cannible...
Suddenly her lungs began to operate properly as terror overrode her wish to die. She pulled herself to her hooves and turned back to the more sheltered river valley intersecting at the natural T junction. She fought against the wind and stumbled into to river valley. No longer feeling the strong storm pushing her over, she realised she had a tailwind blowing behind her which encouraged her onward. As she slowly sped up, she broke into a jog. The quicker movement bringing some warmth back to her dying body. Looking back she saw the Cannible was happily replicating her speed, teasing her. The twisted smile said it all as she grimaced at the thought of being eaten.
No...it can't end like that...
She grunted as she forced herself to run. She was hyperventilating at this point and her strength wouldn't allow her to keep this speed for long. Backtracking through the river valley, she took every turn and temwist she could to keep her movements as random as possible. But everytime she looked back, the Cannible pony was hot on her trail. And it weren't even trying! It had also gathered a few friends and the group was trotting along, simply following her hooftracks to keep up.
Eventually she reached a dead end. Glancing her weary head around manically, she looked for a way up the walls that had seemed so impossible before. Finding no quick path up the walls, she ran back the way she came to try and find a different way to escape the Cannible tribe . But just as she turned the corner, the flesh eating stallion and his friends blocked her path. She took a step back and lit up her in defence.
"What's the matter, sweetie? Afraid of us are you?"
The stallion walked intimidatingly toward her, pushing her back into the dead end. There was no way out.
"Don't worry, I'll make your death quick..."
He grabbed her hoof and she struggled against his grip but he was too strong to shake off.
"...but first I gotta satisfy a few cravings."
He wrapped his hoof around her foreleg and twisted, forcing her to the ground as two other ponies trotted up to join in. She screamed out, her cold throat only managing to get out a rasped screech. The two other cannibles pushed her forelegs down while the stallion took position over her body, ready to start. Lowering himself down onto her underside, he prevented her from forcing her hind legs closed. He brought his face up to hers and laughed heavily.
"I've been without sex for about a year now. Crazy right?"
Twilight turned her head sideways, avoiding his disturbed gaze. When she didn't respond, the Cannible kissed her cheek and smiled. Then he brought his lips into contact with her neck. This time instead of kissing, he licked her. Twilight could feel a the rapists member beginning to grow under the arousal. The stallion gently dragged his tongue down Twilights neck, and she moaned half in pleasure, half in terror. Her mind was developing an urge to let the stallion have his way with her, but she ignored it and struggled against the two lesser cannibles. The rapists dug his hooves into her side, kissing her chest and letting his tongue run circles around her belly. She realised he was making his way further down her body and she sub conscientiously pushed her hips out before making her voice known.
"Please! No! Please don't do this. I'll do whatever you want, just don't touch me there!"
The strong stallion pulled his head away from her belly and smiled at her scared expression.
"Sorry, but I'm acting on a whim here. Don't ruin the vibe!"
He returned to his licking and he wrapped his fore hooves around her waist, pulling her in closer. He pressed his snout into her abdomen and licked around, causing Twilight to bite her lips and close her eyes. He licked in a straight line down her belly to reach her nipples. He took one in his lips and suckled on it carefully, making her contort her body in pleasure. She moaned loudly, a bit louder than she realised.
"P-please..."
The stallion nuzzled her erect nipples and rested his head on them.
"Is that a plea for more i hear?"
Twilight gasped as she knew what he meant by that last sentance.
"N-n-aaah!"
She cried out when the stallion licked around her wet marehood, making ovular movements around the lips with his tongue and pressing in at consistent points around her. Eventually he rested his chin on her vagina.
"Ready for it, sweetie?"
The rapist didn't wait for a response as he launched his snout at Twilights soaking pussy. She screamed out as a long tongue probed her insides and rooted around, running a track on the walls and pushing into her with his lips. He started on her folds, causing her to once again moan with pleasure. A knot began building up deep beneath her abdomen, gathering strength with every second he remained in contact with her slobbering wet vagina.
"Nnngh, please-aah!"
The rapist took no notice of her pleads to stop and he ran his tongue down the inside of the flaps to her clitoris. He kissed it roughly and Twilight screamed out.
"Please! I beg of you! I-ah, don't wanna..."
He pushed even harder onto her parts and she hung her jaw open, saliva drooling out of her mouth as she arched her spine.
"I can't-I don't want to-nngh-lose my virg-ginity!"
The stallion laughed.
"Why stop now? You're enjoying yourself so much!"
He put his tongue into her clit and twisted slowly. Twilight moaned, almost screamed as the knot started to push itself to the surface. The rapist put his hooves beside her vagina, pulling it apart as he plunged his mouth into her. Her juices lubricated the movement perfectly and she was thrusting her waist forward to meet the snout. The knot was causing her to groan and scream wildly in anticipation for her coming. And just as she was about to burst, he pulled his mouth away, and the impending orgasm began to sink away. She turned her eyes to him, hoping he had finished with her.
"I know what you're thinking. No I'm not done yet."
The stallions smug grin widened as he removed his attire.
"You know what comes next, sweetie."
The stallion sat to expose his fully erect penis and he gestured toward it.
"Eat up..."
The two other ponies pushed her forward to face the fleshy organ, pulsating slightly infront of her. Tears began to flow back into her eyes as she pulled her head away, refusing to comply with the stallions desires. The rapist started to look angry and he got to his hooves.
"If you won't do it willingly, then ill force you to do it."
The stallion stepped over her head, pushing the tip of his penis ever closer to her mouth. It finally made contact with her lips and she whimpered. She opened her mouth to accept it in.
"Heheh, dinner is served!"
The stallion was about to thrust into her mouth when he stopped. He pricked his ears up for a second and a mechanical clank was heard. A crossbow bolt slammed into his side and he fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The two ponies holding her released their grip and glanced around, trying to find the perpetrator. And as another bolt struck one of the cannibles, she looked at the bolt. She recognised the design of it, she had seen it somewhere in Equestria a while ago. Then it struck her;
Thats a DayGuards crossbow bolt!
Another cannibal was knocked down dead as his head was blasted in half by a bolt, his brain being scattered in various directions. Coating Twilights left thigh in a lumpy red mixture of blood and brains. The group of ponies dispersed and spread out into the area, sweeping over several areas before one cried out.
"I found it! Its up there, on the rock!"
The pony pointed up toward a rock jutting out from the cliff side about 30feet away. A white coated pony with a gold helmet was peeking out from the rock, crossbow at the ready.
"Kill them-"
She was cut of by a bolt hitting her head, knocking her back onto her haunches. Blood sprayed up like a fountain before the body collapsed sideways onto the ground. One of the remaining three cannibles grabbed the guard in his magic and threw it from the rock and onto the ground below. Snow was blown outward and the cannibles closed in on it. The guard jumped to its hooves and shouldered its crossbow. It unsheathed its iconic golden spear and stood ready to engage the freaks that circled around him. Two of them lunged forward, but the guard raised the spear horizontally and pushed it violently against their throats. They staggered backwards and coughed.
One fell on the floor, gasping for air. The guard turned to face the threat from behind to be met with a hoof to the face. It fell on its haunches for a second and then, with a flap of its wings, it barrel rolled over the Cannible and batted him on the temple. This threw the pony onto the snow with high speed. Turning back the recovered unicorn, he ran it through with the spear, causing it to scream loudly and then double over, dead. When it removed the spear from the unicorns chest, blood filled the sudden gap in the ponies body and painted a large portion of the ground red. It then slammed a hoof onto the second to last cannibles neck, breaking it and ceasing its squirming.
The final Cannible, a Pegasus, was still on the ground and gasping in air. The guard strolled over to him and pulled it upward to face it.
"Where's your encampment?"
The masculine voice told Twilight that the guard was too, a stallion.
"Burn in Tartarus, you pathetic royal-"
The guard slit the pony's throat and let it drop to the ground. He then turned his attention to her. When he walked up to her, he obviously wasn't expecting her to leap at him. He recoiled when Twilight wrapped her forelegs around him and held him tight.
"Thank you for saving me! Thank you, thank you!"
She held him close for what seemed like ages.
"Are you ok miss..."
"TwilightSparkle."
"Wait, TwilightSparkle? Your still alive? Good, good. This means I can get you back to Princess Celestia as soon as possible."
"What?"
"I am part of a rescue squadron sent out to secure any civillians we could find. After word got out that Sombra had been underestimated and the Crystal Empire had fallen to him, Celestia was ecstatic to find out that you had escaped along with some of the Crystal ponies."
Twilight let her head droop for a second.
"Sombra killed the other escapees. He let me live so that I could die slowly."
Silence took them both for a few seconds.
"Then I must return you to Canterlot at once."
The guard stood upright and straightened his neck.
"I don't deserve to go back to Canterlot..."
The guard responded immediately.
"Nonsense, you are innocent of any crimes and should be returned home to safety."
"I let my friends and my brother die in vain. So many ponies are dead because of me, I don't deserve safety."
The guard sighed and put a metal covered hoof under her chin. Lifting her head gently up to meet his eyes.
"No pony deserves to die, Twilight Sparkle. Know that no matter what the crime, punishment by death is murder in itself."
"Then what of these cannibles? That makes you a murderer."
"Would you like to be raped?"
There was a long awkward pause and the guard blushed.
"Sorry, I worded that wrong."
"No, its ok. You saved me and I'm happy for it. It's just I don't think I needed to be saved."
The guard appeared to stand thinking for a few seconds.
"Then how would you respond if I said I'll help you redeem yourself?"
Twilights eyes suddenly brightened.
"What do you mean?"
"My squad was wiped out by those cannibles and one of them was dragged away. Poor guy was probably eaten. The only reason I'm here is because of Sombra. And the only reason you're here is because if Sombra. Personally, I want those bastards that killed my squad dead and Sombra to die slowly and painfully for everything he has done. I can help you defeat Sombra and avenge your friends and brother."
Twilight pondered on this for awhile.
"And if we die then we go down fighting."
Twilight smiled for the first time in what seemed like ages.
"Who was your brother? If you don't mind me asking.?"
"My brother was Captain. Shining Armour of the Equestrian Day guard."
The stallion turned away from Twilight and tensed up for a second. Looking at the bloodstained, snowy ground, he punched a rock close to him in anger.
"RIGHT! That's it! That psychopath is gonna die. Twilight..."
He turned back to her and held his hoof out to bump.
"...you with me?"
She grinned at the suggestion.
"I'm in!"
She bumped his hoof with hers.
And so the adventure begins...
By the time the two had found some placed sheltered to rest, the adrenaline in them both had worn of and the cold was beginning to seep back in. They made their way into a cave embedded in the hillside. Twilight cast a light spell so that they could see what was inside.
"Nothing much here. Just lots n' lots of cave."
"It's better than nothing, Twilight."
The cave mouth was pretty large. Twilight guided them through safely with her light spell. They past the point of which the wind swept in a everything was all quiet. Searching around for a place to wait out the night was next priority. The cave had plenty of open spaces but most were very uneven and there was no way they could ever get any rest in them. They trudged along, following the wall and trying not to snap their ankles on the rocky floor of the cave.
"You never told me your name."
"Cross Hair, Part of the Day Guards finest."
They reached a circular, flat area free of stalagmites and Twilight sat down and provided light for Cross Hair to work with. He started to remove the saddlebags that dotted his body.
"Let me help you with those."
She lifted them off with her magic and placed them carefully down beside him.
"Thanks Twilight."
"Don't mention it. You saved my life, helping you with some baggage is the least I can do for you."
He ran his hoof across them and stopped at a particular one. He unclipped the top and reached in. Pulling out a clump of sticks and placing them down in the centre of the clearing, he grabbed another clump and rested them down with them.
"Ah, firewood. How much of these do you have?"
"My squadron had enough for 3weeks between us. I have enough for 3 days."
"Was your squadron the only unit posted to rescue us?"
Cross Hair started arranging the sticks into something that more resembled a camp fire.
"Four squadrons were sent out as a rescue party. That's an entire platoon. We were split up by cannible bandits and picked off from there. I don't know if any others are still alive out there. You wouldn't mind finding some rocks to hold this together would you?"
Twilight got up and saluted.
"No problem."
The place didn't have any rocks just lying around, but she could break of ones from the stalagmites that were abundant in the cave. She collected them all and brought them back to the clearing where Cross Hair was taking of his armour. As he removed the gold plating from his head and neck, a rustled blue and red mane emerged. It was longer than most stallions liked their manes, but it wasn't so long that it looked feminine. She walked over and placed the rocks down.
"Er, yeah. They're fine."
She put them in a circle around the base of the wooden structure to prevent it from collapsing. The clanking behind her told her Cross Hair was taking off all his body armour. She didn't look as she didn't know if he would mind. Ponies were weird like that. They didn't normally wear attire, but some felt uncomfortable being watched getting undressed. She didn't understand psychology enough to have any idea why, so she just accepted that it was. He walked up with his helmet under his wing.
"Why do need your helmet?"
She noticed a line of scratching down the snout of the helmet. He picked up one of the spare rocks from the ones she had collected and put it down next to him.
"You can use metal objects and stone to create a spark and start a fire. Gold and rock is not the best combination but it works."
He placed the helmet next to the stone and took the stone in his hoof. Angling the movement toward the structure, he struck the helmet with the stone. Nothing happened. He tried again, and again. Eventually a spark flew at the sticks and created an ember. Blowing gently, he encouraged the ember to grow into a small flame that began to take hold. Smiling, he pushed the helmet aside and turned to the building fire, staring into it blankly. His light blue eyes reflected the orange glow in perfect harmony.
"I'm surprised were still alive, both of us."
Twilight lay down next to him and joined his staring.
"I know. When Sombra attacked The Crystal Empire, I thought help would come and the guard would storm in with the princesses and banish him to the moon. What stopped you?"
"Sombra had the cannible bandits kill any recon units we put in the area. All we knew was that he would attack. We didn't know when or with what forces. Celestia had also received death threats from various known assassins and bounty hunters that said she would be killed if she made a move before Sombra attacked. So she built up a relief force instead of an invasion force. Two platoons were planned to sweep the area around the Crystal Empire in waves. Platoon Alpha, my platoon, was the first to begin our search before this happened."
"How did she know there were escapees outside the city?"
"Shining Armour had a letter sent out to Canterlot that said he would try and get out as many civilians as he could using the attack as cover."
"So basically, Celestia had no intel on what was happening, so she decided to wait it out?"
"Yes."
"That's strange. Celestia is the most powerful creature in the known world. She could have dismissed the black mail and moved on the Crystal Empire with lots of guards or have them perform one of these sweeps of yours around the city to take down these assassins and bounty hunters."
"Easily, yes. But remember Chysalis and the changelings?"
Twilight grimaced.
"How could I forget?"
"It turns out their attack on Equestria had been constucted to weaken Canterlot if it failed, and make the job easier for Sombra to take the Crystal Empire. They had been working with each other for a while. And they were waiting to pounce on Equestria again if Celestia ever left with all of those guards."
"So Celestia was in Check Mate, and was pinned?"
"Yes."
"That explains a lot. But if you're out here, won't that leave Canterlot vulnerable?"
"Not really. Chrysalis' forces, as you experienced first hoof, are not good fighters. They relied on the element of surprise and confusion to attack us on that occasion. There would be no way they could invade again unless Canterlot was completely unguarded. Which is why we came up with the whole waved idea for the rescue party. As one platoon is out searching, another is at home keeping watch."
"Clever. What are you planning on doing about Sombra?"
"We'll hopefully, we can find this cannible encampment and destroy their home and find a way too message Canterlot that there is no need for the second wave. They can keep Platoon Bravo and fix the Changeling problem. And after that they can start on a liberation plan for the Crystal Empire."
"And we are the inside sources for information?"
"Exactly. And once the liberation plan commences, we can join in and give Sombra what he deserves."
They both resumed their staring. The fire was now turning into an actual fire, and gave out some form of heat. It's brilliance reflected across the caves walls and danced in their eyes.
"Anyway, its well past dark..."
Cross Hair took two rugs from his saddle bags and gave the thickest one to Twilight.
"We'd better be getting some sleep. We'll need all the sleep we can get for tomorrow."
They both rolled the rugs out and laid themselves out on them.
"Good night, guard pony."
He smiled and closed his eyes. Twilight did the same. If they were gonna be out here for a long time, they were done for. They would have to rely on finding that encampment for supplies, as a guard only has rations for three days. And that's only to feed the individual. So that's one and a half days before they would need to find those bandits. It could probably be stretched into two if they were careful, but they need to find the cannibles and resupply before sending the message back home. This was gonna be a long couple of days.
As she began to drift into sleep, she thought about her friends. She had let them die, but she would redeem herself and prove herself to Celestia. And it all started tomorrow.
