Reality and War

Ponyville

year 1013

Nov, 5th

3:15pm

        Only a day after the Princess giving her speech, everypony in ponyville and the surrounding area returned to the everyday lives. Selling goods at stalls and talking of the latest gossip, feuds, lovers and whatever else could divert their attention from the atrocities that were happening outside their protected city, one that had a rather unfitting castle placed right in the middle of it. Still, there was an absent minded grey pegasus with a slightly disheveled yellow mane sitting all by herself at a park bench, only accompanied by her saddle bag.

        The mare was simply observing sites that surrounded her. Birds dancing in the sky, squirrels quarreling over a small nut in the trees around her and young ponies all playing in the park without a care in the world. The almost picture perfect sight could even bring the strongest of stallions to crack a smile, however this mare wasn’t smiling. No, she was just taking in the serenity of it all, Knowing not many places can afford peace like this anymore. Little fillies and colts were losing parents day by day to conflicts beyond their understanding, and that was all she saw in those ponies she watched play. Kids who one day may find themselves without a mother or father. Yet those thoughts were momentarily banished from her head as a small blue ball rolled right in front of her, diverting her attention to the sound of pattering of hoofsteps that came to an abrupt halt within feet of her presence.

The lone mare looks up to see a small lime green pegasus filly, who by her looks, claimed ownership the the small ball that has rolled before her. But the filly had ignored the ball for the most part, she was paused, staring rather deeply into the eyes of the grey mare. The little one was very intrigued with how neither one of her eyes seemed like they wanted to cooperate with each other. The look that the filly gave was no different from any other look kids give her, to be quant she was quite accustomed to it. So paying the little one no mind, she simply leans down from her bench and roll the ball back in the girls direction while having a genuine smile on her face.

        “Why do you have funny eyes?” The little one asks, innocently. Letting the little blue ball roll straight past her.

        Extremely surprised by the little ones straightforwardness, she decides to peak her interests. For most would simply walk away or talk behind her back and compared to those experiences she’d much rather indulge this one.

        “Why aren’t you curious, but I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for that.” The grey mare responds rather motherly.

        “Really, then you could just make one up right?” The filly rebuttals, obviously expecting a more interesting answer as she tilts her head.

        The grey mare simply giggled to herself, almost becoming a little bubbly with the idea of making a story up, “Well If you want as story, I might as well learn your name, my name is derpy.”

        “My name is Lana!” The filly shouts, fluttering her wings a little.

        “Well… Lana?” Derpy says questioningly, that name wasn’t very common among ponies. “Lets say I was born with a great ability and this ability allows me to do cool things, things that most ponies could never do…” She says lightly, nearly trailing off in the process, yet her focus was regained after realizing that the lime green pegasus found a seat next to her.

        “But my ability cost me perfect sight, something I may never have, so my eyes are like this because I sorta have what you call a gift and a curse. Even Though I’m a bit… well clumsy at times still I manage, I even found a job helping deliver mail for the Royal Guard and the military.” Derpy finished.

        “I don’t think it’s a curse, I think it’s cool.. At least when you tell it like that!” The filly exclaims, extremely satisfied with what she had just heard. “My daddy serves in the military and he says he’s proud to do so!”

        “Are you proud to do what you do?” It almost seemed as though she asked a never ending stream of questions, and this one really struck a chord with the grey mare.

        “Am, Am I proud…” Derpy asks herself out loud, causing the filly to raise a brow at her sudden change of expression. It was almost creepy to her, causing a strange silence to loom over the bench for a few seconds.

        “Ummm, yea. My daddy said he does it to protect us, so we can sleep safe at night.” The little one chimed, doing her best to ignore the older mares awkwardness.

        “Lana, where are you dear, it’s time to head home!” Another soft motherly voice rang out, catching the both of their attention.

        Derpy looked up to see another lime green pegasus trotting through the playground looking for her daughter. Again her mind was devoid of any activity, she could only look blankly at all the kids in the park interacting with one and other. Her silence was eerie, however Lana managed to ignore it and found the time to say bye to her new friend before scampering off into the embrace of her mother. Who had seemed to not notice Derpy sitting blank faced on the bench.

        “Am I proud…” She repeated once more, speaking to herself in a rather monotonous voice.

        Reaching into her saddle bag, she pulls out a tattered note that looked like it had been handled for quite some time. It had names and marks on them that seemed to show no correlation to anything relevant within the city. The gray mare simple gazed over the paper, realizing their was two new figures standing before her. Calmly. she folded the old note and slid it into her saddle bag and got a better look at who was standing before her.

        Two Royal Guard officers stood before the small mare dawning their traditional gold armor since Celestia’s era… Which only ended not so many years ago. Still she knew why they were here, they’d most likely been looking for her for quite some time as well. She could tell by the obviously annoyed looks on their faces.

        “You have been requested to provide your carrier services for the Generals army.” The one on the left of her spoke up. “Do you understand this.”

        “Yes.” The gray mare responds with a single word, knowing full well there wasn’t much else she could say.

        “Now follow us, there are several things that are required of you before your service again… Ms.Hooves.” The Stallion on the right said, gesturing her to get up and follow them.

        She simply nodded and obeyed, all while retrieving her saddlebag and draping it across her back. In effect she begun following the two officers, for this isn’t the first time she’s undergone this process. However all she could think about was that fillies words, Lanas words… It drove a hole deep into the mares heart, for no pony deserves to live in a world like this.

“The innocence of a child is a force beyond our comprehension.” Anonymous