We fight for our freedom

After what has happened yesterday with the three horse children and the adults of the town I have decided to stay low for a while, I know that they will eventually come looking for me but I don't know if they would search in this forest or search the outlying area, maybe check the farm for me since they would probably ask the children of where I could be but since that one red-haired yellow filly took me out of the forest this would be the first place to check. Turning on manual control for my Atlas I rose off the floor and grabbed my ARC Cannon and with that being done I turned to the river and decided to venture across it, relocate, rebuild the stationary compass, and think on my next course of action.

Petting the bat lion one last time I turned around, faced the general direction of the river and pushed off with a ground shaking thud and ran through the forest, ignoring everything in front of me. At this moment of evacuation to a different location I didn't care about letting anyone know where I am going because I know that they wouldn't be able to follow me across a river that has actually forced my Titan to meet the water at its waist. I knew that taking a titan to water is a dangerous task because taking it in water too deep for it to survive the crushing depths is suicide but this river, it just makes moving annoying and the rocks makes having careful footing a bit of a chore but with some patience and well timed steps we managed to push through the river and entered what is the actual dark forest.

The trees here are more vile and evil looking then their twisted and gnarled cousins on the opposite side, each and every single one of these trees look more like spirit-possessed treants then actual trees, many of them look like they actually got evil faces on them and a few of the branches on them look like appendages, hell one of my cameras actually caught the tree slowly turning to face us as we walked by. Sprinting through the dark forest I eventually come upon an old rickety bridge, the wooden planks on it look about as old and decayed as the forest I just came out of, and the rope holding everything together doesn't seem that safe to use either.

Tilting my Atlas to the left then to the right to see if there isn't any other way of getting across without having to do something dangerous or risky I am saddened when there is no other way around, well not that I can see immediately but from the sight of this ravine then that would be a foreseeable 'No' since I can't see any other bridges or paths. Contemplating on how I should go about this my Atlas showed me an option that I could take but seeing how that option requires a running start and a power dump into my dash boosters I went with it since my other option was to leave my Atlas behind and across the bridge alone.

"Alright...nothing was ever gained by standing idle..." I muttered to myself and with a bit of a sigh of resigning myself to an unknown fate of landing or falling to the bottom I slowly stormed back and when I think I moved as far back as possible I put the pedal to the metal and started to run full tilt and as soon as my left foot hit the edge I crouched down and jumped. The feeling of being in the air is an exhilarating experience, something that I have been through before in the cockpit of a Hornet but this, leaping out over a ravine and with only the power of an Atlas and the thought that this plan could work and the errant notion that failure means death, yea this feels like a typical mission with the Militia.

Just as I reach the top height of my jump I hit the boosters and with the sudden jerk of acceleration and me nearly crapping my pants because the bottom of my right foot clipped the lip of the cliff, sending me within my Atlas into a tumble that resulted in me rolling over trees and bushes, crushing everything beneath me and as we both rolled I was busy yelling swear words and cursing my god for letting my foot to barely tap the edge.

After the spinning stopped and the feeling of me not know whether up is down or down is up I slowly pulled myself up with the assistance of a sturdy tree before it snapped it half, and once I was standing up again I turned back to see the carnage of broken trees, crushed bushes, splintered stumps and a crushed patch of poison joke. Dusting myself off and picking twigs and other bits of green from some spots on my armor and when that was well and done I turned back to the unused path that was connected to the wooden bridge I followed it in hopes of finding out what is at the other end of the rainbow. At first I thought this road was unused because it goes through a forest filled with horrible beasts and carnivorous plants but now that I see it as it is right now, I can tell that there must be something else wrong, like some ghosts haunting the road or there was a battle that took place somewhere down the road and it was so horrible that it completely ruined the landscape.

Either way I am going down this path to find what is on the other side and I pray to god that it is shelter of some kind for both my Atlas and myself.

Resuming my walk down the unused road I saw that the trees are still dark and creepy but they are started to move away from the road as if it used to be bigger then it currently is, and as I keep moving forward I begin to see cobblestone rocks dotting the road and it soon became a solid stone path and that is when I saw something right out of a history book. Resting at the end of the stone road was a magnificent ruined castle, the walls that act as the bulwark defense against invaders is broken and damaged all over the place, the ramparts are cracked and fractured, stone blocks that fell from the wall and from the castle itself lay on the tall grass and plants that have taken over the place, ivy and moss clings to practically every single surface that I can see.

The sight is breathtaking even from the outside it looks formidable against an invading force and when I walked through the front gates without even having to duck, the inside is both beautiful and sad, the first because it is still mostly intact and could be repaired if someone put down some money to fix it all and its sad because whoever built this place just abandoned it and left it to fall apart.

Taking my first step into the ruined castle courtyard I saw nothing but tall unruly grass, dead or twisted trees, broken dark grey stone blocks, wild flowers and flying birds too and fro, this place can be rebuilt and be a perfect place for me to hide while I try to learn more about the natives here.

'Lets see....that zebra girl knows the most about me and hopefully she doesn't spill the beans on me but seeing how she let in a little yellow filly with red hair and an enormous bow to match...but seeing how they don't know much about me I can safely guess they won't be able to find me since I am still an anomaly.'

Walking further into the courtyard I saw a few birds fly out of the brush and a few looked like crows or blue jays, I don't know if these birds are similar to the ones back home but if they are then this world might have some other strange connections, I even bet they have some horrible pun names on some towns and cities we have.

As soon as I arrived to the front doors of the broken castle I pushed it open with ease, the hinges screeching loudly, most likely hasn't been greased for hundreds of years and is grinding metal on metal, that horrible noise would have hurt my hears if I wasn't inside my Atlas and with the noise dampener built in I had the luck of hearing it creak for a second before it was muted. The first thing I see of what must be the lobby of this castle is that there are banners adorning the walls are moth-eaten and moldy, whatever banner that is still whole I can see that there are two horses with wings and horns and they are going in a circle like the yin-yang symbol and seeing the colors of the two horses they might as well been the yin-yang symbol. One horse was white and had what looks like the sun above it and the black horse had the moon at its back, whether these two controlled the sun and moon is up for debate but if they are the living embodiments of the two celestial bodies then if they are ever killed then this planet will be up shit creek without a paddle.

Cracking open my hatch of my Atlas I dropped down to the ground and dusted myself off, turning my filters on since I rather not have my allergies of dust overload go off and I don't want to sneeze my brains out all over the place. Looking around the lobby I see that the few glass windows that are here are all shattered, broken glass litters close to where they were placed and there are broken brick pieces all over the place and whatever happened here must have been an epic battle probably on par with the one on Demeter or Angel City. I saw overturned moth-eaten furniture, a few horse skeletons in rusty armor and spears still in their skeletal hooves, and to top it off I just saw a rat run out of the eye-hole of a horse skull.

'That...is fucking disgusting...'

Blanching back from the sight of the dead horse bodies I stepped around them as to not disturb their remains and after a bit of tip-toeing action and some acrobatics I got passed what must have been a battle between two groups of horses, one group was wearing white-ish armor with the symbol of the sun stamped onto the upper sides while the other group wore black armor with the symbol of the moon on the spine area. A few of the white armored horses at normal bird like wing cause of the feathers strewn near their corpses and for the black armored horses...I don't know what kind of wings those are...bones look kinda thin and long....maybe bats or prehistoric birds? I don't know my bones but I do know that it looks like the sun and moon were at each others throats to be taking stabs at each other. A bunch of the horse skeletons have horns on their head and plenty of them are broken or crack so they tried to use them as stabbing weapons and they got broken off, maybe they grow back like teeth.

Running up to and then double jumping over the pile of corpses I came into what must be the throne room and it looks nice, two thrones sitting side by side, the same banners are still up, more broken glass and cracked fallen bricks, and of course more skeletons. If this is going to be my new home then I got a lot of graves to dig, tons of tall grass to remove and a bunch of heavy ass stone bricks to haul around.

That is a lot of shit to do.

Sighing I made my way to the thrones, my eyes peeled in the event that something alive is still here or worse, something undead is staying here but seeing how there is no such thing as ghosts or ghouls the possibility of the undead being real is slim to none but seeing a few mythical creatures in real life the other day...well one can't be so easily dismissive of the unknown.

Walking over to the thrones I saw that they are very low to the ground and after looking back at the skeletons I saw that since they are horses they would have to sit like one which would be how dogs sit, so I guess that is why it is that low but what I don't is that why is there a back to the thrones since they shouldn't be leaning back ramrod straight like humans, probably something to prevent getting a knife to the back so easily? I don't know but for now it would serve me as a low chair for the time being until I can find a way to put some legs on that throne and I am set to sit in luxury. Moving to the thrones I inspected them, gave them a good once over to see if they have anything of worth on them like gold pieces or even gemstones since thrones have been known to carry such riches on their exterior but after finding absolutely nothing on them I just sigh and sit down on the dark chair, the picture of the moon on the top of the throne glows slightly and I had to quickly get off as it started to glow brighter but once I was not touching the lunar throne it stopped glowing and for a moment I thought I heard a strange sound, something akin to a sad whimper but I just shook it off as something howling in the wind in this deserted place.

Going away from the throne room I turned to the left as soon as I saw a hallway and decided that if I am going to stay here then I must explore every single piece of it and know it like the back of my hand. The hallway I am walking down looks just like all the one I was in earlier with the exception that it looks more plain and boring but it still held the banners of the two sides and with the two banners was more skeletons of the two groups scattered near each other and very rarely I saw a random horse skeleton with a rusty spear or rusted and rotten arrows sticking in their backs, these skeletons didn't have armor so they weren't soldiers so I can guess they were civilians or seeing that this is a castle, the staff.

Skirting around more skeletons and pushing open doors and very rarely pushing a door open only to disturb a skeleton impaled on the other side but it sickens me to know that horses could be so violent with one another, they are herbivores and they are herd animals but why would they do such a thing, especially to their own kinsmen?

Peering around the door I saw that it was a white armored horse with bird wings, and the spear impaling it to the door, and from where it was impaled it went between the ribs and the metal head of the spear was barbed so it wasn't getting removed from its body when it was alive anytime soon and in its death was the only thing keeping it upright against the door.

Creeping around the corpse attached to the door I made my way to what must be the royal quarters because this is where a chunk of the majority of the infighting must have taken place, there are old burn marks all over the place, a few skeletons plastered against the walls, one unlucky soul was melted to the ceiling and as for the rest they were all over the floor, I am not even sure if I could even make proper graves with how many intertwined skeletons there are here. Picking my way through the mini corpse-mountain I found that the fighting was taking place in front of a door with a picture of the sun in front of it, and with a Spartan kick to the door because it was locked I saw that the room is magnitude greater then any five-star hotel I have ever stayed in during my offtime with the Militia, the bed still looks great, the carpet may be slightly dusty but it is not even eaten by moths, everything inside looks like it hasn't been touched in ages.

'Huh....'

Looking around the room first for any signs of skeletons and when I found none I went in and closed the door behind me and once that gate was sealed I felt a sudden wave of a calming sensation hit my like a tidal wave, whatever this room is it sure as hell makes you feel at home and at ease. Taking a breather from all the death and destruction outside of this room I eased my way to the bed and after testing it to see if it could hold my weight and not only does it hold it but it feels like I can get sucked into the bed and never leave because it feels so damn soft and plush. If I can get this bed back home then I would gladly steal it, its just that soft.

Jumping backwards onto the bed I let out a sigh of relief as I sink a good two inches into the bed and once I have stopped sinking I let out a sigh of content as the bed released a sweet scent of roses, my guess is that whoever used to sleep in this bed was quite fond of rose perfumes, not that I have anything against the person that sleeps in this bed cause Ingrid used to use rose perfume whenever we went out on our dates, even though her brother did find us on a data and completely cockblocked at the end.

I don't know how long I have been laying there on the bed but from what my internal clock is telling me that it is eleven in the afternoon and that I still haven't explored the entire castle yet and if I am going to be staying here till I can find someway to get home then I must ensure that I am not going to be picked off for not seeing a hidden passage and a monster kills me in my sleep.

Pulling the door open and then gently closing it I turned back to the path and saw that this was a dead end, this room was the last one on this wing so this was the solar wing of the castle if the bountiful amount of sun banners is any clear indicator, and once again moving through piles of skeletons and damaged rooms that held more damaged bits and bobs and skeletons, my guess as to what happened here was the moon rebelled against the sun or the sun was trying to rebel against the moon and was in a losing battle, I don't know which is true but whichever is correct it scares me. The fact that the sun or the moon tried to kill the other means that there must have been some bad blood between the two and it started to fester and grow until it was too late, such a horrible way to end the world, by burning it to cinders or to freeze it to nothing.

'A war to decide the fate of the world...where have I seen this before? Feels like one of those cheesy action flicks where I will then find something behind a bookcase or a hidden vault and within is some sort of cursed treasure, like I am going to be falling for that one.'

The lunar section of this castle didn't fare as well as the solar section, there are still skeletons and debris all over the place but not as much as it was on the opposite side, I guess these horses managed to keep the white ones at bay and pushed them out but seeing how the damage around here is the windows and walls and whatever paintings on the wall have been torn to shreds by something because swords and spears don't leave something like this, hell it looks like a hurricane came through here.

Going up to one of the rooms in the lunar wing I knocked on its surface to see if the sound is hollow or not, I rather not open a door with a corpse on it and it falls on top of me, to many horror movies and stories share that little cliché where a corpse falls on top of the main character and everyone shits their pants because it is a recent corpse instead of an aged body. Of course the universe has made itself clear on occasions to mess me over and today it seems to be one of those days, as soon as I slowly started to pull the door open instead of pushing it, the door revealed a white skeletal ribcage of some creature and when I started to back up that was when the universe bended me over and fucked me, the overly large skeleton fell on top of me and the ribcage fell on top of me, trapping me as I screamed out in terror because having a skeleton fall on top of you would make plenty of people brown their trousers.

Picking my way out from under the skeleton I saw that I had some room to move around instead of being crushed under a horse skeleton it was something large, I don't know what it is but I can tell that it doesn't belong in a castle...doesn't look like a bear skeleton, not a human skeleton either....so what the hell is this?

Looking at this thing now where I am, I see that it is indeed a large animal skeleton, it has the sharp teeth, big claws, a thin tail with a needle at the end of it, and I see...wing bones. How the hell did a bat lion get all the way up here and get stuck inside of a room let alone through a doorway too small for it to fit through? Poking my head into the room I saw how it got inside, the windows were removed along with parts of the wall, and what else did I find in there? More white horse skeletons, their armor quite literally is scattered all over the room along with the bones of the white armored horses so whatever they were doing in here the bat lion was trying to keep them from finding something of great importance. Gathering my wits and detective abilities which are non-existent without my wooden pipe or detective hat I looked about the room for anything that could be used to hide something of great value or importance and behold the only door in this room that is not damaged or rigged with a skeleton to fall on top of you.

Knocking on the apparently clean door I waited for the sounds of ghosts or skeleton bones rattling to alert me to what is behind the door but hearing none I tried to open the door to find it locked, odd for a lock to be placed on a door like this one but I am not going to question horse engineers on how to make a room let alone a castle of this size. Lifting up my right hand I made a fist and punched out the entire door knob/ lock area and with a bit of a tug on my end I pulled the door open to reveal a sad sight, two horses holding each other, let me rectify that, two skeletal horses holding each other, both appear to be the same size and from one with the bat wings and the other with just a horn I can say that these two are the black armored horses group and are probably just the castle staff that worked for them but sadly they didn't survive the ensuing battle that raged on around them. What really caught my eye about these two horses holding each other is that at first they were homosexual because they were holding each other but that notion was quickly killed when I saw below the ribcage of the unicorn was a small skeleton...that horse was female...and she was with child when she died.

'Don't worry...I will make sure you three are buried next to each other...families shouldn't be separated from one another in the end.'

Gently backing away and closing the door I left the room, saddened a bit more that even families that were here was not safe from the now obvious civil war but whatever that sparked this war to be kick started, could it have all been avoided?

Taking the path to the end of the lunar wing I came upon what must the moon god's room, and just like the solar version it had matching décor but the color scheme was that are well...moon colors. The carpet was dark purple, the bed was a dark blue, anything made out of wood is very dark blue or purple, a few black wooden objects here and there but what really caught my eye is the black rose in a crystal white vase.

Walking over to the still living rose I looked around it to see if it was an illusion or a trick of the light but when I reached out to touch the black rose my hand barely tapped a thorn and I felt a stabbing pain in the finger that brushed against the sharpened point. I didn't feel any blood seep into my glove from the strange puncture wound pain that I had received but when I removed my glove to inspect my hand I saw that I was indeed bleeding but there was no damage to the glove itself, only my hand. Inspecting my left hand I saw that it was like any other rose thorn injury but this was just a little prick on the thumb and yet its acting like a damn deep penetration stab wound and this hurts like hell.

Taking out some bandage wrap and using a small amount for my thumb I gingerly put my glove back on and went back to searching the room for anything of value I found nothing but blankets, pillows, and spare bedspreads and all of them have been eaten by moths or fell to decay over however long it was since this place has been abandoned. Going back to the bed I tested it out to see how much of my body would sink in if I was to lay down on it but after sinking down only an inch I found that this bed is perfect for me to sleep in and when I went face first and was met with the scent of blueberries and jasmine, I don't know how they mixed these scents together but whoever did it must be a master at this. The sound of someone giggling cutely suddenly appears out of nowhere in the room and when I lifted my head to look for the source but I found nothing but the empty room and myself and after a while I went back to snuggling the bed before getting off and continuing where I left off.

Peeking around some more I ventured around the room, entering what must be the bathroom I go around and looked through the cupboards to find anything of interest or use but I found nothing so in light of current events I left the lunar section and went back to the main section of the castle and started to explore that seeing that is the last place to check.

Normally when someone finds something of interest they would be able to return it back to someone of importance and get paid for finding it but since I am here on this planet alone and that this place looks like it was picked clean a long time ago I doubt I would have found anything, I was proven wrong. In the cellar of the kitchen section in the castle I found a section of the wall that looked out of place and when I leaned against it I fell right through it and I came upon what I believe is the biggest wine cellar I have ever seen. Resting in front of me was row upon row upon row of casks and every single one of them was dusty and covered in cobwebs but when I shook one of the wine casks I heard the sound of liquid sloshing around inside.

'If I had a wine glass and a way of finding out how strong this stuff is I would definitely go for a glass right now to calm my nerves on finding enough skeletons to start a museum of ancient history.'

Backing away from the possibly dangerous tasty brew I exited the castle and went back to my Atlas but before it could open itself up and allow me to pilot the machine I gave a short motion with my right hand and it stood up immediately and tilted its central eye sensors in confusion.

"Atlas I am going back across the ravine to talk to the zebra girl, seeing how she is the only one that seems to be more interested in draw talking to me then the others who were more interested in capturing me or placing me in harms way. I want you to start working on this place, get the graves ready, I'll deal with the skeletons when I get back." I said with a bit of a grumble, the three fillies may be cute and adorable but their method in trying to get what must be their flank brands is dangerous to my longevity and as for the rest of the horses in that town...I am still undecided on if they are friendly or hostile toward me.

My walk through the woods was an enjoyable experience, being invisible in a land where the plants can eat you and the wolves are made out of twigs, branches and leaves it is nice to know that I won't have to deal with any of that nonsense today and hopefully for the foreseeable future. Going through the dark woods in the afternoon is nice especially with the sight of birds flying around and the spectacular part of seeing a bird that is completely red as if on fire flew by with two smaller ones trailing behind it, I don't know what kind of bird that is but I want to pet one so badly.

The bridge when I came upon it is still standing and swaying in a weak breeze but the mere sight of it makes me think that if taking it is a good idea, something at the time I forgot about and started to walk across it with my hands holding onto the rope for dear life even when I can use my jump jet to help me survive and falling from this height wouldn't kill me, just hurt my legs like hell. About half way across the bridge I took a step and my foot went right through the piece of wood underneath it and I nearly flip my lid but with a grunt and a tug I pulled my leg free from its wooden constraints and hurriedly scurried across to the other side out of fear of falling through the bridge.

Listening to the sounds of the forest I found it to be eerily quiet for a moment before a burst of motion explodes to my right, a fairly large furry body runs by me and for a moment I thought it was going to come back and get me but seeing that I am invisible it wouldn't come back and eat me but whatever is making it freak the fuck out must be considerably larger then it or is in a large group that could easily take it down with its numbers. Peeking around the tree I saw that it was the same pack of wooden wolves that has been tailing me for a few days now but this time they looked like they have given up on me and are now chasing the succulent meats on that bat lion, good for me now that I am off the menu.

It took me a few minutes to reach the river and once I was there I took a dive and let myself be dragged to the bottom of the river and once I was down there I started to crawl to the other side, making sure to avoid getting swept up in the current and with a bit of luck and me being pissed off for forgetting to take a bite out of my nasty yet nutritious granola bar from hell I managed to make my way across the river without drowning or losing my grip.

The trees here are now back to having life inside of them unlike the trees leading to the broken castle and as I sifted through the trees I found that the timber wolves are still present here, telling me that their numbers must be greater then I had previously guessed and seeing them running in packs of eight yipping and barking reminds me of actual wolf packs, I guess that applies here as well. Picking my way through the woods and to zebra's house I go with a Kraber-AP on my back and a Hammond P-Taser in its thigh hoister and a data knife in its sheath, with my recon arsenal on my person I bobbed and weaved through the brush and trees and soon enough and a stubbed toe later I was at the tree hut. Just like last time I was here the zebra had her back to me, her flank moving around a bit and I couldn't help but stare a bit and as that tail of hers moved back and forth and that was when I realized that I was at the window instead of the front door, and yet I just couldn't look away. Its like staring at a train wreck in motion, you want to look away but you can't, and instead of it being a horrifying experience this is...more strange.

'Oh god I am such a pervert...not even four days away from my fellow human beings and here I am staring at horse ass....what the hell is wrong with me?'

Going to the front door I gave it a series of short but loud knocks and after ten seconds of waiting I knocked again but this time the door was slowly pulled open to reveal the zebra with a mixing spoon in her mouth and a bit of green sludge on her muzzle. With a mumbled greeting she opened the door more and moved to the side a bit and as soon as I entered she gently closed the door and just like that I was sitting on the ground overlooking the cauldron being mixed while the zebra was standing on her hindlegs while mixing with her forehooves. How one can mix something with hooves and maintain a grip with them confuses me, there must be some sort of magnetism in the hooves that allows it to grip something or that it acts like a suction cup, either way they are superior to our horses back home.

Looking around a bit I saw that everything from last time is still here, nothing seems to be out of place or missing with the exception of a certain glass vial that was filled with that sweet smelling sludge. Staying on the ground I started to rock back and forth slowly while looking at the spooky looking masks on the wall and the many different books and bottles on the shelves, whatever this girl does for a living must be as some sort of medical drug maker or some sort of tribal remedies, whatever it could be she must be good enough at it cause with all the bottles and flasks around she must be making the big money or at the very least is in the green zone.

Out of the corner of my eye I spot the blackboard with a piece of chalk next to it and with a bit of hesitation on my part I slowly made my way around the cauldron and with a bit of a stretch I snatched the board from the ground and looked at it a bit to see if there was anything on it and seeing how it was blank I started to draw on it, my mind at first was debating on trying to draw a 'Good Morning' or even a 'Hello' but sadly I had no idea on how to draw a hello but for a good morning I can sorta guess that it involves a sun on the horizon rising or sun with a smile on it. Before I could draw a smiling sun I realized that it is now midday and also I had no idea what to draw, but that was when it hit me, I had yet to draw the symbol for the Militia for her and of course she has yet to do the one for the name of this place.

Drawing the Militia symbol on the blackboard I took my time to get in every detail that I could get on here and with a bit of a non-existent artistic flare I presented my crudely drawn Frontier Militia flag to the zebra and it took her a moment to release that there was a chalkboard near her head.

As soon as she saw the chalkboard near her head she stopped stirring her brew and stepped down and away from the cauldron before taking the board from the hands and looked it over before nodding slightly and erased it gently and took the chalk from me and started to doodle for a while leaving me to look around a bit. During the time of her doodling I went to the shelves and picked up one of the tribal-looking masks on the wall and gave it a good lookover, the hunk of wood has obviously been well-taken care of with the lack of rot and decay and when I flipped it over and pressed it to my face I just held it there for a while before putting it back where it was from.

"Huh...reminds me of Earth's African Tribal ceremonial masks...I guess this planet and Earth have plenty of similarities, including mythical creatures...I wonder if these horses know how to make noodles?" I said aloud and seeing how she can't understand a word I am saying and seeing that she is still doodling but as I started to mess with a particular strange bottle with a black viscous sledge did she come up to me and tapped my shoulder with a hoof and when I turned around to face her I saw that she was done. Putting the possibly hazardous and dangerous potion of sorts and when I looked at the drawing in her hooves I saw that it was the same symbol that I saw in the castle, two horses going in a circle with the sun and moon present on opposite sides.

Tilting my head at the sight I took the board from her hooves I stared at it and tilting it to the right and with that little motion it gave the impression on the board that the two horses were moving around one another and tilting it even more to the point where I had to readjust my hands to new positions the sun and moon were now on opposite sides and I laughed a bit when I realized that if the sun and moon are controlled by the two horses depicted in the banners and now in this doodle then if either one of them perished this world would be completely screwed.

Copying the horse insignia I then erased it and I wondered if she lives her permanently or if this place is just for the production of any medical or personal drugs seeing how this place looks like it could be easily replaced with the exception of the books and vials. Drawing the zebra's tree hut on the board I showed it to her and tilted my head in confusion, hoping that the head tilt is universal for confused and like magic the zebra girl gets it and nods at me and seeing how she confirmed this hut is her home I safely assume she wants to know where I live, which is gonna be hard to say because drawing an Atlas with chalk is going to be hard so I started to draw the next best thing.

Drawing a smaller version of the zebra's hut I drew the trees around it until it got to a crappily drawn river followed by dead trees, a gash and a badly made bridge followed by more trees and a half-assed drawn castle that needs repairs. As soon as I finished drawing I passed the board back to the black and white striped mare and waited to see if she knew where I was now staying and to my surprise she did know.

Looking at the zebra in hopes of getting an explanation of sorts I was met with a confused stare and she had to point to the castle then to me a few times until I finally gave her a thumbs up and a nod, which took her a while to figure out and when she did she gave me another confused stare before shrugging and gave me back the board to allow me to ask her another question.

Erasing the blackboard I started to draw out the question 'How is your day?' and it took me several attempts to get it right and once I did I passed the board back and this went on for the greater part of four hours, and as soon as it hits four thirty-four I said my goodbye to her with a pat on the head and ruffled her hair a bit which resulted in the zebra pulling her head back and shaking her head before swatting at me with a broom she had laying around. After I was done laughing from messing with her mane I waved a goodbye and snuck out the window when I heard the sounds of approaching hooves but sadly my foot caught onto the windowsill and I fell face first into a pile of mud that just so happened to be right outside waiting for me.

"You got to be kidding me..." I grumbled and as soon as I got up and wiped the mud from my helmet and when the mud was no longer obstructing my vision I saw that the source of the hooves was actually the horses that were in the town I was running in the other day...well two of them were the horses that was chasing me, the other four I have no idea who they are but for the time being I am lucky that they haven't seen me yet. Turning on my cloaking field I made my grand escape by casually strolling away from the hut and as soon I got out of earshot I picked up the pace into a jog and only got faster until I was running through the woods and thank god for my stealth kit or otherwise everything in the forest would be able to hear my loud footsteps on the ground and when I got to the river that is when the stealth kit fails me because when I jumped over the river I activated my jump-jet I got only two-thirds of the way across before I hit the water and was almost dragged with the current but I was strangely saved by something large plucking me out of the water.

I started to freak out because the only large thing I know that could have yanked me out of the water is my Atlas, that Hydra we fought off and....that river serpent....

Opening my eyes to see who or what has me in their iron grip I saw that it was attached to a large purple hand and connected to the purple hand was a large purple arm and to that was a long purple body and when my eyes finally found its head I saw that it was the same one I saw two days ago, the river serpent with orange hair and matching orange handle bar mustache. As I looked at the serpent I tried my best to not brown my trousers as I was held at least ten or twenty feet in the air and was now face-to-face/mustache and seeing how it managed pluck me out of the water with me invisible no less well...staying cloaked is probably a bad idea.

Squirming around a bit more before giving up I turn off my invisibility field and as I slowly started to come into view I could have sworn the river serpent let out a girlish squeal of delight and I was immediately lowered to the ground but not enough for my feet to touch dirt nor was I given enough room to get my arms to be released. Looking at this river serpent I can tell it is a he for obvious reasons alone like the mustache and the male flamboyant tone in his voice and seeing how I can't see the plumbing from here I could safely say this serpent is a he unless female serpents are the ones with facial hair and males don't have any.

"Ooh what do we have here? What manner of diamond dog are you?" the river serpent said in a clear and fluid voice that sounded remarkably clear and perfectly legible enough for me to understand which confuses me.

How does this particular river serpent know how to speak English and do it so fluently and flawlessly astounds me but for the time being I must remain calm and not throw a hissy fit on how the one thing on this planet that can understand me is also the only thing I am afraid of at the moment.

"I um...I am not a diamond dog Mr....?"

"Oh how rude of me he he, why my name is Steven Magnet! The most beautiful and stylish river dragon on this side of the Equestrian Black Mountains!" and just like that he flares his unused arm in a dramatic style and also like that I started to have a mental fit.

'E-Equestrian....that is basically horses....I...I sure hope somebody picks up that phone because I fucking called it! A world ruled by horses that have colored coats that range from the very prismatic array of the rainbow and that they are accompanied by mythical creatures! I do hope that I am surprised again by seeing pigs fly and the gods that protect this land are alive and kicking it with their mortal slaves!'

At this point in time my brain was suffering a typical case of 'Blue Screen of Death' as I can bet that this Steven Magnet is hearing the sound of wires shorting out and smoke leaving my helmet and is confused with what is happening to me internally. But before he could ask me something else I cut him short by speaking up about me not being this diamond dog beast that he speaks of.

"And I am not a Diamond Dog Mr. Magnet, I am a Human." I said with dignity and pride in my voice, something that I rarely use unless its to impress Ingrid or to bullshit my way out of getting my head shot off by a lone IMC Pilot when I am all alone.

The river serpent squealed in glee at meeting something completely new to him, and in that not-so-manly squeal he accidentally tightened his grip on me and in that moment I felt like I was being crushed but as soon as he realized that he had a living breathing being in his vice-like grip he gently released me onto the other side of the river I was just on. As soon I was released and was laying on the ground I could have sworn I saw my spirit leave my body and wave goodbye before fading away but I started to cough and groan as my body was trying to refuse my mental command to writhe and wiggle in pain.

"Oh my goodness I am sooo sorry! Are you alright little human?" he said in a scared tone, actually afraid that he might have accidentally killed me but when I waved him off and got to my knees while coughing loudly, trying to get the pain from my lungs to fade.

"I'm okay big guy, I'm okay...just be gentle with the squeezing, my body can handle being roughed up a bit but that was going past that threshold limit I got set up." I said as I started to straighten myself out and with a bit of pressing my hands into my back I felt my spine crack and with a pleased sigh of relief I let myself wobble around a bit before standing straight again.

Taking a breather for a bit I stared up at the serpent as it lowered itself down and was now leaning on his arm as he stared at me, his unoccupied hand twiddling with his mustache.

"So what brings you all the way out here little human? Are you trying to get back home? It is getting late and this forest isn't safe out here for a little critter like yourself especially since you are alone."

Cracking my back I turned to look around us to see a few animals of the forest like the bat lions roaming beyond the tree lines, a pack of wood wolves watching the two of us from the other side of the river, a chicken lizard pecking at the ground and when it turned its head to look at us I saw a worm in its mouth.

"Well Mr. Megnet I was out here to talk to Zecora and I was just coming back to my new home out in the untamed wilds and seeing how you plucked me from the river when I could have easily climbed out and been on my way but thank you anyways." I said while my left hand was messing with the synthetic foliage that is on the top and back of my helmet, my mind thinking back to all of the skeletons I would have to remove to make my new home more homely and less scary.

"Ho oh and what were you two talking about? Was it about me perhaps or maybe something about her hmm?"

"No no, we were talking about ourselves, how was our day, what we are planning to do, you know casual stuff. But seeing how I can't understand a word she is saying we had to rely on drawings."

"You couldn't understand her? But if we are talking in the same language that she is using right now then how come you can not understand a word that Zecora is saying!?" Steven said and when he said the zebras name I then am given her name and also something new I also just learned. Its rather that dragons and their cousins are able to understand and speak any language in the world because they are ancient and powerful or that humans are able to understand dragons for some strange magical reason.

Scratching my head in confusion I walked around a bit trying to figure it out I realized that I am wasting daylight by talking to the seemingly nice river dragon and with that I had to bid him a farewell.

"I would love to stay around and chat but I have to get home and clean it up, I fear that if I leave it a complete mess then my mother might randomly show up and see it and well...we both know how mothers can get when we fail to clean up our rooms let alone our homes." I said in a sheepish grin under my helmet before slowly backing away and with a flick of my wrist the stealth generator in my armor turned on and I rapidly faded away from view before running into the forest, easily avoiding the pack of wood wolves and vanished into the wilderness.

Activating the transponder that I was built into my Atlas I saw that I was heading in the right direction and over small hills and around spooky looking trees I came across a horse wearing some familiar looking attire, the horse was wearing a jungle explorer hat with a matching jungle explorer vest. I can't see what her eyes look like but I bet they have a determined look on them, her mane and tail were the same colors of black and varying shades of grey streaks, beige fur and a pair of wings on her back. Whoever this girl is she reminds me of that old Earth movie guy whats his name....Jones Indiana? Indiana Jones? Whoever that white man is called that met Hitler and got him to sign a book for him. This girl must have some big balls to be out here alone in the forest that everything here is trying to kill you, my kind of girl but sadly she isn't human, and if she was then I would try to ask her on a date, key word 'try'.

Sneaking up behind the pegasus explorer I slowly made my way to her by weaving through the bushes, leaping from tree branch to tree branch, crawling on the dirt and lastly by jumping and controlled landing my way behind her and once I was standing directly behind the mare I made a noise by picking up a rock and throwing it at a tree behind us and her reaction was perfect. She must have leapt at least a good two to three feet in the air before coming back down in a glide and when she landed she started to look around with an angry expression on her face.

I don't know what she is saying but it must be the common 'Whose out there!' or 'Show yourself!' whichever of the two I was snickering in my helmet while silently moving behind her and kicked a few rocks over the side of the ravine to get her to turn back and watch them go over the edge. When she turned back to face the rocks she had replaced that angry scowl into one of intrigue and interest, something I intended to change to keep a nosey horse away from my home until I got it fixed, I can understand the horse language and to get myself something good to eat before I run out of ration bars.

Rotating back behind the inquisitive mare I set my cloaking field to turn off in a few seconds and that is when I dropped another rock but directly behind her and when she turned around it was just in time for my helmet to slowly appear directly touching her muzzle and when she moved back she saw me towering over her while not moving before turning the generator back on and faded from sight and started to walk across the bridge and turned back to see her looking around for me and I knew that she will be here for a while thinking that I am just waiting for her to lower her guard which works for me for now.

Continuing with my walk back to the ruined castle I kept my eyes peeled to see if she is right behind me and when I gave a peek over my shoulder I didn't see hide nor wing of the exploring mare and with a smile I started to run back, taking my training in stride I got back to my castle and as soon I got past the threshold of the portcullis gate I looked around to see all the graves have been dug, the broken bricks moved into a pile and a new sleeping mat for an overly large sized creature of the wild, and resting in it is the same bat lion from before and kneeling beside it was my Atlas, petting it.

All I could do at this point was shake my head at my titan for adopting a pet but seeing how it is smart enough to care about a wild animal then I guess the bat lion could stay for now but I am not cleaning up its shit or piss. Walking over to my resting Atlas I gave it a tap on the knee before alerting it to my presence and that I am now going to start moving the dead into their respective graves.

My first stop was the dead bodies at the throne room, I had to be gentle with the skeletons as I had to use a banner to drag out their skeletons one horse at a time and a few of them I had to remove their armor and/or weapons from their bodies and hooves as it was causing some problems in getting them into their graves. One such skeleton was absolutely riddled with swords and spears, whoever this poor bastard was must have been in pure agony when he was still alive with all of these thing inside of em, then there was this one horse who was missing the lower half, that took me a few minutes to find in the pile of bones and rusty armor. Once the throne room was clear of the dead I went back to the thrones and sat down on the lunar throne, the firmness of the bed was comparable to the throne itself but the problem was that as soon as I sat down something was compelling me to not get up, almost as if something or someone didn't want me to leave just yet.

As I sat there, stuck in place as I felt a cold chill run up my spine as I heard the sound of a female laughing cutely from every direction there is in the room, I don't know who it could possibly belong to but whoever is here knows about my predicament and is laughing at my condition. Maybe this chair was booby-trapped with some sort of suction cup or industrial strength superglue but seeing how I had just got done talking to a large ass river snake serpent dragon thing with a fashionable swanky mustache and a fruity voice I can guess that anything is possible to be used as a booby-trap.

Waiting on the throne with a bit of anxiety on my face as I felt the chilly feeling creep and crawl up and down my spine and all throughout my body and eventually the cold feeling faded away only to be replaced by a calming soothing sensation as if something or someone was massaging my body but that too was fleeting as soon as it came to me I felt the strange feeling that kept me in place let go and I immediately got up and rolled away and drew my taser and knife and looked around for the culprit. The giggling came back but it was now more of a echo then an actual person so it was to my surprise probably a ghost that was messing with me.

'Pranked by a ghost...now I know that everything mythical and fake is real in this world...next is the gods living amongst the mortals and that the weather is controlled by the local populace.'

Looking around for a few more seconds I put away my taser and knife and walked back to the fallen banner and rolled it up before leaving the throne room and went back to looking for corpses to bury out in the courtyard. Sighing sadly I moved into the grave and gently started to put the skeleton into its new home, I never had the time to make coffins but at least it is getting an impromptu burial right that it should have received after whatever battle here has passed but didn't get. A part of me died inside, that little piece was that there was numerous dead here and not once did the local population of horses ever come back here to bury their dead, I mean how hard could it be to just take them home to bury them with their ancestors instead of having to be buried in a hole in the ground.

Going back inside I turned to the solar section of the castle and once again placed another horse skeleton onto the banner and gently dragged it outside, making sure not to disturb the skeleton anymore then it already has been and with another grave filled I went back inside to retrieve another skeletal remains and the process being repeated several times. Once the pile of skeletons in the solar wing is gone I went to the room with the skeletal bat lion and several dead lunar horses and started to pull them out one by one, placing the lunar horses into their section of the graveyard and when I finally went back to the room I went to the closet and gently placed the couple onto the banner and gently brought them back.

I made a special section just for them. I placed the father to the right and the mother to the left, and as for the young foal that died inside the mother, I slowly removed the little one from its mother and placed the foal between the two and then started to shovel dirt on top of them. I let a single tear fall down my face as I buried the family, its not something I like to do but this is the third time I had to bury somebodies family and it never gets easier when it there is a child involved.

Taking off my helmet I used the back of my hand to clean the salt water from my face I slipped it back on before continuing my grisly work, this part of the job never gets easy, burying the dead of homesteaders and civilians is a role all Militia must partake in because we know that we are all brothers and sisters in bonds and blood.

'May you find rest and peace in the afterlife patriarch, matriarch and child. May none disturb your eternal rest beside your gods.'

Walking back inside the castle I turned to the right and entered the lunar wing and began my burial work once more. I don't know why but when I started to bury the moon horses I felt a twinge of pain and sadness come across me every time I come across a skeleton and whenever I grabbed one and moved it onto the banner I felt loneliness...I don't know I have these feelings or why they are just now showing up.

Trying to shrug off the strange feelings that are just now bubbling up to the surface I went back to working on removing the dead from their crumpled heaps and piles and to send them outside to receive their final rest. Another skeleton here, another grave out there, a group of bones there, a row of holes out there and the cycle of clearing the dead continues on until the lunar wing is cleared of them.

Once all of the dead have been buried I eat the last of the nutria-grain bar and got the second one ready for tomorrow morning, and taking a look at my internal clock I saw that it was just barely time for me to get some sleep so returning to the lunar wing and once the door to the moon ruler's room is closed behind me I stripped myself of my armor, got out of the under-layer supportive garments and was in my boxer-briefs and got under the moth-touched sheets and gently placed my head on the pillow before steadily falling asleep. But as I do so the sounds of a girl's gentle laughter filled the room and it only got closer and louder as my eyelids got heavier and heavier until I was in a deep sleep and the gentle laughter was all around me again.

"Please...help me......PLEASE!"

Moving lethargically I let out a groan and slowly moved under the bed sheets, my hands coming to my face to rub the sleep away as I feel the faint rays of the sunlight hitting the bed and heating up all the sheets on it. With a loud and long groan I slowly pulled myself up and out of the bed, every muscle in my body burning for a few seconds before subsiding and with a mighty crack coming from my back and with a moan of sweet release I get out of my bed and slowly shambled into the bathroom and to my surprise the one sink that is leveled with me actually works. Waiting for all the foul water to filter its way out and after what felt like six minutes of strange gunk spewing out I finally saw actual clean water and I used said water to wake myself up and to splash myself in the face. Looking around for anything to use I found that there is a bar of soap but when I touched the small rectangular thing it simply turned into dust.

Sighing in defeat for even the smallest of things I walk out of the bathroom and walked over to my undersuit and with a bit of a sleepy grumble from me I zipped myself up then walked into my armored leather gear before putting my helmet on and with a sealing click I begin my day by walking out of the castle and into the courtyard to see my Atlas still petting the bat lion.

But what caught my attention was that the bat lion wasn't paying attention to me or growling in my general direction.

No, instead it was looking at the front gate and standing underneath the rusty portcullis was a zebra wearing a worn cloak with the hood down, Zecora the Zebra and she had what I think is a saddle on her back...my guess that is their version of a backpack or a satchel. With a wave from me she started to trot her way in making sure to avoid the graveyard I had set up and when she walked past the bat lion it snapped at her but when I glared at it my Atlas gave it a hard pet which forced it to let out a yelp but it didn't do anything out of fear of being crushed.

Once she was in front of me I kneeled down and gave her a hug of sorts, seeing how I have no idea on how to properly hug one of these small horses yet nor do I know if I am doing something wrong or touching a bad place. What I did not expect was for her to return the hug and stepped back away from me to wave her hoof at the gate, signaling for whoever is back there to come out.

And low and behold it was a group of six horses of varying colors, types and height and they were slowly trotting over to us. I saw an orange horse wearing a cowboy hat, a light blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, a purple unicorn with varying shades of purple mane, white unicorn with a spring styled purple mane, pink horse with an even pinker colored mane and lastly a butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane, and all of them are wearing saddles of sorts and they look like they just woke up.

'Were they camping outside of my home?'

Looking at the six horses making their way through the courtyard I stared at my Atlas who stopped petting the bat lion in mid stride before fixing his rotating eyes on the six of them, right hand hovering just above the head and it must have unnerved them quite a bit to see a piercing bright blue gaze staring at you while remaining motionless, just waiting for a mistake to be made.

"So umm....hello?" and with a weak sheepish smile under my helmet I waved at them hoping that none of them scream at the alien waving at the natives.

What I did not expect was for the pink horse in the group to wave back at me with an extreme amount of enthusiasm.