Fighting in a world of Harmony

Eyes tell you everything about another pony. They can tell a whole life story if you look closely enough. A whole personality, fit into a single black sphere. Eyes were everything a pony had, is, or will been doing.

Staring into the face of a minotaur that stood just outside of the town’s circle, I realized that these ponies didn’t stand a chance. Minotaurs were big. Really big. If hunger didn’t get to Baltimare first, these monsters were definitely going to be their cause of death.

It seemed that everywhere I went, death or destruction followed. This town was no exception. The only difference was that in this town, I had a chance to save the ponies. I was still bound on saving Manehattan, but I wasn’t currently there. I was here, and now.

A snort to the face was all I could take. I was about ready to smack some sense into this guy. It didn’t seem like he could talk, but who was I to judge? I tried to ignore the little things like that. If this minotaur could talk, I don’t think he really wanted to.

Their looks, on the other hand, were a completely different story.  A bull’s face, the eyes were bloodshot open. The horns that protruded from his skull hung jagged and sharp in the air, ready to pierce the nearest target. Saliva pooled from his mouth, a greenish color to it. He wore a thick metal shirt on his chest and flank.

It wasn’t very good armor, by the looks of it. Wear and tear had reached it, the metal beginning to rust and fall apart. In his large hands, though, he held the biggest weapon I had ever seen. It looked to be a battle axe, almost twice my height.  Looking up at him, I felt scared. Scared of what he might do to me, or worse, the ponies of the town that stood behind me.

I turned around, walking away with a high head as he stood there, glaring at everypony that dared to look.

“Everypony, I know you’re all scared, but do not be frightened. These minotaur will not harm us. It appears they want food, of which we can provide. If not, I do believe they will ravage the town, killing every pony for food. Please, heed their warnings. For the time being, do not feed them, no matter what happens. Only in dire need shall they not starve.”

Everypony stopped to turn towards me, an angry look in their scared eyes. They were going to give in, and my say in this mattered not. I had to see the mare, and quickly. My head was swimming with pain. I knew the minotaur would stop, but yet another town would begin to die just to last another month. The more I ran, the more red my vision became. As I reached the mayor’s office, I could barely see a thing. I fell straight into her door, leaving a scuff mark on my right cheek.

The door opened with a creak. “Dear heavens, don’t you know not to be in such a position to a high official?”

I just groaned, too dizzy to stand up. Instead I tried my best to look up, explaining in a gurgle what was happening. “Food, minotaur, give in, help.”

With that I was out, yet again.

~~~

Upon waking up, I heard screaming. It didn’t seem to be screams of pain, anguish, and agony though. Somepony was screaming in joy.

“EVERYPONY, SHE’S AWAKE!! COME HERE, SHE’S AWAKE!!”

I heard scuffling, and just as suddenly felt at least a hundred pairs of eyes beaming down upon my comatose-like body.

The most I could manage was a few grunts and whistles, but as my eyes fluttered open, I was relieved to know that my vision had returned.

“Oh, Soda, we thought you were dead! Don’t try to talk, you’ve been drugged to help numb the pain. It’s alright now, though. I led the other ponies to the storm shelters, and I know we’re safe here. It was like that Stable thing we found. It has lots of food in it. I even brought your weapon!”

I lifted my head shakily. The whole room was spinning and I turned over to rest my hooves on the ground. In a hazy state, I quickly collapsed to the floor, everypony rushing to my side to lift me back into the bed.

“Oh….don’t move either. It seems like you had a serious blood clot in your hooves, and that resulted in you passing out. Luckily this young pony here was able to help.”

I then realized that I didn’t even know who had been talking. I assumed it had been Silver Bear the entire time, but there was no definite way of proving that. I looked over to where this pony was pointing, and she was pointing at Bear.

Dammit!! He saved my life AGAIN! That means I owe him another life debt...ugh….

“Tha…..Yo…,” was all I could muster from my numb lips.

The nurse that stood beside me just told me to be calm and collected, that everything would be alright. After that, she ushered everypony except Bear out. She, herself, left as well, leaving the two of us alone.

“That was very wise of you, Soda. You walked away….tried to find help….but it wouldn’t help much. You know, it’s been fun with you. I’m really sorry for all the pain I’ve put you through. I promise you it won’t ever happen again. It’s been so great to work with you, and someday, I hope to see you again. For now, I have to be on my way. Baltimare isn’t going to save itself.”

He kissed my forehead and began to leave the room, sword in hand. He must’ve picked a sword up somewhere along the way...or did he? I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t move, nor talk. It was the worst possible time for him to do this. I needed him. He was part of my life. I couldn’t lose him.

As the door slammed behind him, I screamed through closed lips. I couldn’t cry, knowing he wouldn’t be there for me. I would never again cuddle with him. I couldn’t feel safe, knowing his loving hooves couldn’t hold me. Everything was falling apart, and he wouldn’t be there for me. What would happen to this city?

I told myself this was just a joke, and that he would be back in a second. I knew he would never come back, but how could I admit it to myself? This wasn’t going to be a love story, and I had to face it. I fell asleep to the screams of ponies who thought they could win.

~~~

When I woke up, my lips were dry. Though dry, I found that I could move them, and tried to utter a few words. “Cat….Dog….Fish...Be….”

I stopped myself. That was the worst possible thing to say at this point. He was gone. He wasn’t going to come back. I stepped off the bed, grabbing the bottle of water sitting on the nightstand beside it. Taking a few drinks of it, I felt my throat open up, allowing my speech to be repaired. Upon looking around the room, I noticed something different that I hadn’t seem in any of the other towns (and there had only been one).

This room was metallic. Not like a tin can metallic, but high-tech metallic. Somepony had gone to great lengths to lighten the place up and make it futuristic. It was probably the ponies who settled here, trying to feel cozy lest an attack ever fell upon the town. I walked up to the door, jumping back when all the sides spread out into the wall, revealing a passageway. What kind of place was this? It didn’t seem like the same place I had woken up to before? The place I woke up in before was definitely covered in dirt. Lots of dirt.

Every door I walked up to slid back into the wall, still managing to startle me every single time. After twists and turns of every shape and size, I entered a room. It was doused in white, with walls that were zig-zagged. In the center of the room, “The Journal” rested on a pedestal. This was the only thing in the room, and as soon as I entered, the book floated up and over to me, landing in my hooves. There was a bookmark in one of the pages, and I automatically turned to it, intrigued by this whole place which smelled of work.

Entry #1

Wait, didn’t I already read this? Why would I be reading it again if I’m just going to get the same introduction info from it. Nevertheless, I continued reading on anyways.

It happened again. Luna had another nightmare as she wandered over the dreams of the others. Luna has rarely ever had a nightmare, as she controls them, but these are crazy. She says she sees black, occasionally a young pony will wander across a barren landscape. Around her, blood and deceit follow. I don’t think she can handle much more of this. I need to find a place she can escape to. A place that only I, and I alone, can access. Therefore, I am going to bend the rules of history and build secret tunnels, through which I can send Luna to if any problems arise. This, in full, should protect her. Please, any higher powers, protect my sister from harm and anything that is out to get her.

Princess Victoria E. Celestia

Wait, her first name is Victoria? Bwahahaha that’s hilarious! Who knew, right? Off the topic of, hehe, Vicky, could these be the tunnels? These were definitely way ahead of our time. If Celestia decided to protect her sister, she would have to have a time spell somewhere to get designs for the layout of this map. It was all a matter of wandering it.

The book itself gave no further information, and I set it down again, upon which it dissolved into the air. After the strange things I had seen in here, this wasn’t much of a surprise.

An aroma of wonder soon found it’s way to my nuzzle, a wave of water flushing into my mouth. It was that fated deer. I took great pride in eating it, and wondered if this could mean another person was here as well.

I followed the scent, through moving hallways and warped shadows. I became hungry again, and this was no different than the last time. I needed to quench my hunger.

Quickly, I came upon a door, of which the scent lingered behind it ever so nicely. I took no time in waiting for the door to open, and I barged in. On the ground, there was another fresh-roasted deer, stomach cut open and ready to be gnawed upon.

As I approached it, I heard a grunting noise.

“W-who’s there!? I can h-hear you!!” I stuttered out.

When nopony answered my calls, I let my wild side kick in and ran over to the carcass. I didn’t get very far, as when I happened upon it, it sprang up, eyes glowing green. Foam oozed from it’s mouth as it moaned out, flesh beginning to fall off of it. It walked slowly towards me as I backed up, hitting a wall.

I could’ve sworn there was a door there before, but now nothing remained here but the zombie that stood before me. Was this simply just an apparition of revenge, or something much worse? I couldn’t tell. I wished at that moment that somepony would come and save me, and in that moment, my prayers were answered.

A lasso came shooting out of the wall, followed by an orange pony with apples on her flank.

“YEEEEEHAAAAWWWW!!!” She shouted out.

It was a Western pony, come to save me! The lasso flew around the zombie’s neck and, with a swift pull, the head flew off, ricocheting back towards me. I ducked quickly, a splatter of green ooze left on the wall as I stood up, noticing that behind me, the wall was melting away. I walked up to the pony, ready to thank her.

“Thank you so much, Miss! I was sure I was going to die there...You saved me, and I’m eternally grateful for that!”

A loud bang came up from behind me, and I quickly turned around to investigate the noise. When I turned back around, she was gone. It wasn’t very plausible, but I couldn’t question anything anymore. Yet again, as I exited the room, another problem arose. I heard crying in the distance. It progressively got louder and louder the more I stood there.

My ears were bursting and I was scared. It was a baby crying endlessly, never being taken cared to. I followed the crying, eyes shut tightly. When I reached the room the sound persisted from, I walked over to the crib where the crying had been going on for what felt like an eternity. Looking down, I saw nothing. The crib was empty, and the crying still continued. It had to have needed comfort, but how do you comfort an invisible foal!? My ears were blasting and I was about ready to drop from it.

~~~

I sat up, sweat pouring down my mane. What in Equestria had just happened? What had I witnessed? I hope it was just a dream, and nothing more serious than that! I got up, for real this time, and walked out of the blanket that draped over a dirt patch to make a door. This felt so much better than the future, no doubt about it.

I walked in to only one pony: the mayor.

“Excuse me, Ms. mayor? Where is everypony?”

She looked up to me, eyes drooped and head slumped. It was obvious what had happened to them, and she didn’t feel like answering me. The look in her eyes broke my heart. My nightmares every night could never add up to the sadness and horror of a single tear. They never would.

I didn’t say another word to her. I walked out, following the steep steps up to the entrance of the storm shelter. I didn’t want food, nor did I want water. I wanted Bear, dead or alive. Pushing open that entrance, I felt new. Something had changed, and I planned to make the best of it.

~~~

Nothing was out here. There was no town, no bodies, and no minotaur. It was like they all just made up, packed everything, and left. This wasn’t even plausible, yet here I stood, believing it. I heard the screams, but where was the death. Had everypony been devoured by minotaur?

I walked around for a little bit, trying my best to locate my lost love, whom I knew would never be found?

“BEARRRRR!!!! Please Bear….I need you!!! Come back to me!!!”

Shouting never worked for me. I heard no responses, and I felt jolts going through my body. They were waves of sadness, sending shivers down my spine. I walked around this land for a couple of minutes, and finally the thought struck me.

This land is grassy. When we arrived here, I remember desert. We’re not in the same place as we were before!

Walking around, this proved to be true, as nothing was the same as when we got here. Around her, you could hear the hums of the insects and the occasional hop of a bunny through the grass.I reverted to my normal way of walking and looked down.

I mostly looked down while walking to cover up the fact that I tripped over my hooves a lot. Looking down seemed to satisfy my needs of staying upright. LOoking down, I noticed the patch of grass I was standing on was black. Everything else was green, but there seemed to be certain lines of scorched earth all around this gigantic grassy plain. There seemed to be a pattern here, but I best leave it ignored at the moment. There were slightly bigger things that I had to do, and trying to find a high place to read this from was not my top priority.

Instead, I chose to lie down for a moment in the grass and think about everything that had happened. Minotaur had surrounded the city, I passed out, woke up someplace new, had a nightmare, and woke up to find everypony missing. Was this a good thing or a bad thing? I thought it was high on my list right now to find everypony else, as quickly as possible. If not, I could at least….

“WATTTTCCCHHH OOOUUUUTTT!!!!!”

WIth no time to react, a pegasus pony rammed into me from the sky, knocking the wind out of me.

“Oh, I’m soooooo sorry! I was just flying overhead and I looked down to see you. Then I realized I was so high up and I flipped out and kind of crashed onto you. Please forgive me!”

I was speechless. What was going on here?

“Umm...yea...it’s no big deal. I’ve been through much worse around here. In fact, I was just fighting a whole gang of minotaur and…”

“Minotaur!?!? That reminds me, I need to go!! Forgive me!”

With that, he leapt up, spread his wings, and took to the skies, flying off into the distance.

Well, so much for his help. Now, if I was Bear, where would I go from here?

I would find the nearest safe haven to contact me from!!! Of course! He had to be somewhere where he knew I would look! It was genius! I galloped off, leaving the mare in the shelter, as I made my way towards the sun.

Of course I’m a demanding girl! I miss my Bear! Now who to fight next?