The Last Equestrian War

+CHAPTER VIII+

Trip of Desolation

As you walk the long and tortuous road to Manehattan, you see many signs of the curse taking its toll on ponies. You see dark images that scar your sanity… Piles of charred corpses litter the streets, filling the air with a deplorable stench of carrion. Some ponies walk around aimlessly, holding broken weapons of many sorts. They all seemed to be warriors that fought against the curse, you see their fate, sadly, they all fell victim to the curse.

For your luck, your robes, which are very simple, make it easy to make you undistinguishable from the soldiers. They make no great deal of your presence as you walk among them; they forgot the most basic functions in their minds. They forgot how to even speak properly as they make gurgling sounds when they try speaking something to each other. The scene fills you with the grimmest of feelings.

Passing through the fields of soldiers, you look behind to witness what this curse has taken; an outpost of soldiers. Probably all that lived here were soldiers with honor. Lived their days, guarded this outpost for the sole reason of protecting nearby villages, brave ponies. You just wave gently while walking to Manehattan. 100 Miles still are between you and your destination. The moon herald, or Luna, as you heard. She lost her lover when she was much younger, as the Old Mare told you. “From the time that happened, could that still scar her mind?” That is a question you make as you keep on walking.

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Even though lost on so many questions, for a fraction of a second, when your hoof slips on the Purple Feather given by Twilight Sparkle, your mind focuses for a second, you hear a loud shriek right behind you, and on the ground, you can see the clear shadow of something huge trying to snap you into two separate pieces. In a quick movement, you roll to your left as the creature slams its front members on the ground, a cloud of dust emerging where it struck.

Still a bit startled by the creature’s sudden appearance, you ready yourself fast, unsheathing your blade and taking the Blue Shield that Spike gave to you. Once you see what the creature was, you remain surprised to see that it was a female griffon. Victim of the curse, her feathers were grey, her lion body was much skinnier than usual. Her eagle talons seemed covered with infection. A wound from that would be fatal if not treated soon. Her blank eyes locked onto yours as she twitches her head. She moves at a fast speed.

She throws her left claw at you in a sweeping motion; you duck to defend yourself from the poisonous slash. Success! Her slash goes right over your head as you manage to slash the same claw she attempted to wound you. She shrieks in fury as she uses her elbow to hit you right in the chest. She hits you fully as you fall on your back, and man, did it pack a punch, you have some difficulty catching your air again as the creature is in the air. You see that she is coming down to pierce your chest with a deadly slam. Instinctively, you use the Bottled Cloud that Scootaloo gave to you as you manage to roll away from certain death. The griffon smashes at the ground, angered by her frustrated attempt of killing you. You regain your posture, readying yourself for another round of fight.

Needing to end this fight as soon as possible, you ready the blade under your arm, aiming at the griffon’s chest. You take the Blue Shield, readying it for something you consider stupid. The griffon kicks her back leg twice, readying a pounce towards you. If she slashed you with one of those front claws, your death sentence was more than signed. You dash towards her as she does the same, in a desperate motion; you slam your shield against her claw, jamming her claw in your shield as you take that brief opening to do your worst. You pummel your blade into her chest, slashing her neck open. Her dark blood pours out, splashing onto your face and body, coating your clothes on a mixture of red and brown tonalities.

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The griffon roars and shrieks in agonizing pain, trembling in defeat as it manages to pull back from your shield, but not before destroying it in the process. In a last coward attack, she slashes your arm, falling on her back, and finally succumbing to her loss of blood. You look to your wound, worried about the possible diseases that you might be acquiring soon. Maybe your adventure might be ending as soon as this… Maybe not, who knows? This world has been so full of destruction and death; you hardly think that you might ever find some sort of chance.

“No time to worry.” You say to yourself, washing your wound with some clean water from a nearby river and then patching it quickly with a rag ripped from a part of your clothing. You continue your path along the road. No sign of civilization, neither any kind of direction boards for you to follow. You are lost; you travel onward desperately, hoping foolishly that you might run into the Moon Herald.

As the night draws closer, your temperature has gone over the normal, you ache on fever, your senses are dampened and your whole body is numb. “What kind of infection has that wound given me?” You say to yourself as you look down to your arm. You notice you’re about to pass out; trying your best to try staying awake, you notice a silhouette of a mare on the distance. Summoning the last of your energies, you hope the best of it as you drag yourself to the pony. Falling on your hooves, you look up to the mare:

“Who are you?” The mare says as she looks to you.

You warn of the problem at Ponyville, speaking of the reunion of the Crystal Empire, drowsed by the curse, you stumble to the side.

“BY THE MOON!!” She holds you with her arms, looking to your arm. “This wound is terrible! Hold on, pony! I shall take you to the med…” You keep trying to hear the pony’s words, but your pain is subduing you fast, your vision blurs, and you finally collapse.

[TO BE CONTINUED]