Lying to Yourself

Chapter 2:
In Forsaken Land

Everyone turned to stare at the pale white Pegasus like if she had just gone crazy, and if it wasn't because she was so damned sure about herself, she'd too think she was crazy. "Listen I... I think I've dragged you guys behind me far too long to not tell you..." She paused, unsure of what to say next.

"Hazel, we value your leadership like there was no tomorrow, we follow you because we WANT to. It doesn't matter what motive you have, we enjoy being together." Iris cut here off after the long silence that befell on everyone.

"It's not just that... we managed to survive but I didn't fight to live all this way just for nothing. I have to tell you because..." She looked over at Crescent, needing some sort of support. He was the closest person she had and she had told him her reasons but not all of them. He smiled warmly nodding his head, urging her to finally make her reasons true.

"Well, you all know that how on the day of the last festival, the king and queen were killed and the princess was kidnapped. After that day, the Kingdom of Isodral waged war on everything to find reasons to this tragedy after discovering the well had gone completely dry."

"Well yeah, our village got attacked by them." Ziggy who usually held no interest in anything of importance now stood tall within the group wanting to be part of it all.

"We fought off a few off them and evacuated as many as we could." Iris continued.

"There were just too many... in the end we... we had to run away..."

"We can never forgive Isodral for that. No matter what motives they had, they shouldn't have killed all those innocent ponies!"

"I had abandoned my village way before the war broke out. A traveling merchant can never stay permanently in one place you know." Mocking said trying to ease the tension that grew from the conversation.

Everyone turned to look at the behemoth of a pony whose goofy face was easing any tension that could ever be. No one had spoken any personal part of their lives. Hazel knew about how Iris and Ziggy escaped from the raid in their village because when they had joined, they told them everything that had happened and when they went back to check if it was over. Their village was burnt to the ground and into a pile of ash like every other affected by the war, but she hadn't known about Mocking's past at all.

"You used to travel?"

"Yes but I think that has to wait for another time, Hazel never finished."

"Oh uh... well, Isodral was in an outrage, but they didn't mean to be so... destructive. After the disappearance of the Isodral, I talked to one of the soldiers who was still alive. He was gravely injured when I found him in the rubble of a fallen stone tower and told me that they were being... controlled."

"Isodral disappeared two years ago, what happened to the army anyways if they weren't able to return?" Ziggy asked.

"I don't know that much, that soldier died before he could tell me about their disappearance." Her face was grim with seriousness. "He did however tell me that they managed to uncover who had kidnapped the princess, but only after doing so they had been punished."

"Punished?"

"I don't know what he meant by that but I'm guessing it has to do something with how their army got wiped out." She turned to face them. "I want to find Isodral, that is were I'm headed now. All this time I have been leading you there. But..." She looked away. "I fear that this quest is more than dangerous, whatever was the cause that destroyed an entire army is more than just a threat to our safety." She paused for an even longer time and looked down sadly. "So I would understand if any of you leave now."

Everyone stood silent. Their main purpose to follow Hazel was to survive the drought. This was a tough decision, if what she was saying was true then their possibilities to survive were down to being slim.

"I don't care for any of it, I'm in." Crescent spoke out after a small while. Hazel hadn't told him about her true purpose, but by this point he no longer cared. He didn't fully understand what and why he had made this choice before it was even asked. A small secret thought grew in his head, one that he had let flourish before he could dismiss it completely like every other. He would die for her if he needed to. There was not much left for him to do. He didn't know his past, and the world was in a chaos, if she needed him, he would be there.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa this was a big group decision you made for us bro." Ziggy argued.

"No. It wasn't. This was my decision to make and I will follow Hazel even if I have to die for it." Crescent's mind went into a fit. What the hell was he thinking saying that out loud?!

Hazel grew into a light blush that no one could manage to spot but surely she was feeling it.

"Well, wherever you go I go. I think Iris' cooking will probably kill me if this whatever it is doesn't, so either way I'm screwed, better off with you guys." This made Crescent laugh a little somehow enjoying that his cooking was of actual importance as to risk one's life.

"Wherever my Ziggyzoo goes I go too." Iris let out a lovingly sigh towards him as he remarked about her bad cooking. It wasn't awkward at all with them acting this way, after all, they were a couple even before they had joined the gang. They just had a fun attitude about it.

"Hmm, why do you always call me that anyways?" Ziggy asked.

"Because you are an animal and belong in a zoo."

Ziggy let out a snort of laughter and hugged her. "And this is why I love you."

Hazel turned away, mostly because she envied how close they were and also because she thought of the matter carefully. Three of them have agreed to follow even at the cost of their lives. If she lost any of them one way or another it would break her heart, but she couldn't just back down from this.

"I will go." Eiffel said quietly. There was the 4th one. All that remained was Mocking.

Hazel turned to mocking who was oddly silent. He didn't meet anyone's gaze as he looked towards the sky.

"Mocking?"

"When I was younger, my mother and father perished when I was a baby. I never knew them well. I lived in a large town of traders. A commercial district with many types of ponies. I lived mostly alone throughout my entire life, gaining scraps of food here and there. Then I was taken in by some gypsies. One of which thought me the trade of dyes. The gypsy group was disbanded and shortly after and I took it upon myself to become a traveling merchant. It wasn't until the war that I began to truly see the weight of the destruction, traveling from city to city, closer and closer would the war continue until it finally reached me and I found you guys." Mocking stayed silent for a bit, as but Eiffel gathered around to listen. Mocking turned his head towards Hazel. "I will follow you. Only as long as were able to help those ponies who are still alive. I want to be able to do something for a change. I met so many wonderful ponies in my troubles, and to see this destruction, I can only hope they still live."

"Deal." Hazel nodded reassuringly.

"Tell us what to do next Captain." Crescent turned towards Hazel who was sitting next to him.

"I've stopped you here before we head onward. Beyond this hill lies a village. There isn't a doubt that it has been affected by the crisis, and I need all of you on your feet if we run across anything." She looked over at Crescent who was distracted with a small plant on the ground as he played with it like a small child. "That means you Crescent."

"Oh uh... sorry." He said embarrassed. She turned her gaze back to everyone.

"As I was saying, our primary goal is to find survivors, and if possible, supplies. And also..." She turned silent for a moment and then looked back at Crescent. Then she looked down at his feet. "A... plant?"

Crescent looked down at his feet, suddenly realizing what he was previously playing with. A plant! Vegetation was growing in these parts! "Wait, that can only mean..."

"There is a settlement here..." Hazel finished his sentence.

Everyone but Eiffel rushed towards the edge of the hill to see the town. No one could have predicted what they saw next. Before them stood a small hillside town, large withering trees who still held slight coloring of green still stood. Wheat was being grown from a nearby field and there was a water tower in the center.

Only that the town itself lay in complete destruction... some houses were missing complete sides of them, marked with burnt black wood and ash covering the entire air around it. Almost as if a storm of ash rain had passed over it. Everything was still recent. Like if a wave of destruction had only passed by it days or even hours before they arrived. Near a well lay a bloodied earth pony, only too recently wounded.

"He might still be alive. Go!"