A Waste of a World

I immediately got off of her and helped her up.

"Brady darling, is that really you?" She asked me, looking up and down my familiar body.

I sheathed my sword. "Yep, it's been a while hasn't it?"

She nodded but didn't say anything, until Twilight and Rainbow came bursting in through the door.

"Who is it?" Rainbow suddenly demanded, holding up her blade menacingly.

"It's Rarity," I answered, motioning for her to put her weapon down.

Twilight gasped. "Rarity?!"

With that, she gave the white unicorn a warm hug.

"Twilight! Oh I'm so happy to see you! Where ever have you been?"

"Everywhere actually."

They broke the hug, and Rainbow got her turn to hug her missing friend.

"Kinda weird how we're all suddenly finding each other. In Ponyville." I said.

"That is kinda strange isn't it?" Agreed Applejack.

"Just a fortunate coincidence perhaps," suggested Twilight as we all exited the near to collapsing Sugarcube Corner together.

It was so nice to see my friends again. I've missed them so much it nearly killed me a few times. The only ones missing are Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Wonder where they could be. Maybe they're in Ponyville also. We've already found all of us, so I'm sure we'll be able to find them as well. Or maybe not. Maybe Twilight was right and it was just a fortunate coincidence. Nothing more.

As we continued our way through the town, we all exchanged stories about our separate travels.

Rainbow and Applejack had an interesting one about following Twilight for almost a month without her knowing it. That was pretty funny. Rarity's was really sad. I heard that her sister, Sweetie Belle, became a young mercenary and mainly works for the Earthonians. Soon it was my turn, so I just told them what I remembered from my lonely adventure.

I talked about how I nearly fell in a pit of lava after a sudden earthquake hit where I was, and when I got stabbed in the arm with the chopped off horn of a unicorn when I was ambushed by a pack of Earthonians. They seemed to be really into what I was saying, because every time I stop for a second, they would all just say: "Go on..."

Eventually I just told them that was all I remembered, and that was that.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun, huh?" Rainbow asked me. "Wish I was there."

No you don't.

We came across Twilight's old home: Golden Oaks Library, which had it's tree roof cave in, damaging a majority of the precious books that were inside.

When Twilight herself saw it, she quickly looked away, covering her eyes with one of her hooves. I immediately crouched down and tried my best to comfort her. I hate it when she's sad. If she's sad, then I'm sad, and I don't like either of us to be sad.

I know why she's so emotional about the library and it honestly almost makes me want to cry too. Spike was in there when the roof collapsed, and he never came out.

We quickly started heading the opposite way of the tragic sight, only to come across Fluttershy's cottage, which still looked decently normal. Only one of the windows was broken and the door had bear claw scratches on it.

I winced.

Could a wild animal have come into Fluttershy's home and killed her? I threw that thought aside with a grunt, and we went inside.

Immediately a stench of rotten food and burnt wood filled my nostrils. The floor was littered with all kinds of bags and decaying vegetables. Luckily, there were no animals of any kind in there. We searched around the entire house but found no trace of Fluttershy, Which depressed me a little. She was the kindest friend I ever had. I would spend hours talking to her, drinking tea, coffee or, on rare occasions, liquor. I really miss her and pray that she is still breathing.

After taking a few supplies from the kitchen, we all decided that our next stop would be Canterlot. I haven't been there ever since the princesses were assassinated.

Apparently we're going there because Twilight knows of a secret lab under the castle that has an arsenal of weapons, shelves full of rare potions, and a library which contained a wide variety of spells that we could ever need, so I instantly agreed to that. My sword has been pretty reliable, but it is getting somewhat dull, shame on my part. Rarity said she'll try out some of the spells that she can handle. Rainbow and Applejack? Eh, they'll bite. I wonder about those two. They aren't really who they used to be back in the day anymore. They used to be so full of life and adventure. Now, they're just quiet most of the time and pretty much just make sure no one pops up and kills us all. Ah hell, I'm the same way.

Since we all can't fly or don't have magic, It looks like we'll have to walk all the way there. Fine by me. We would have taken a train, but first off, no one knows how to operate one. And second, it's controlled by the Earthonians. They took over the railways only a year after the war began, causing a huge dent in the Unicorn's economy and supplies, while also affecting everyone else's travelling strategies.

I considered that we just follow the tracks of where the train station was, and go from there so we don't get lost. We would be taking a risk of being seen since a majority of the railway was in plain sight, but it sounded like a good idea to everyone else anyway.

So it's settled. We are now traveling to the forgotten city of Canterlot.

*Psst!* 'Listen to this song while you are reading. (Optional, especially if you aren't into electronic music, or if you can't listen to music and read at the same time. XD)

Five miles later, we took a quick break, mostly because Rarity started complaining that her hooves were hurting.

Try scaling a mountain in two days.

Until then can you complain that your hooves are hurting.

I set up my little travel cooking kit that I got from a merchant back in Fillydelphia and began to make some soup for the five of us. I just lit the fire before we heard rocks rolling around from above us. I scuffed out the newborn flame and we all hid in some nearby brush. I clutched my sword and smirked. Maybe I'll have to use this piece of junk just one more time.

Some shadows appeared on the rock wall we were recently just resting at, which informed me that there were three of them, and that they were all males. I whispered the details to the others, and they nodded in confirmation.

"-Saw Princess Twilight in Ponyville a while ago," I heard one of them nearly shouting to the group.

I shook my head in disbelief.

You seriously should not be yelling at each other, especially when you're only two feet away from the pony you're talking to.

"You want to take them out?" Applejack asked, raising her hoof blade to her face. I shook my head again.

"Not yet."

I looked over to Twilight.

"They're looking for you Twi," I told her.

"I know," she replied, not taking her gaze off the unknown figures.

"But I don't know why."

That's all the information I needed from her to finalize my plan. We were simply just going to ask them what they want with her, if there is a problem, their throats will be slit.

Without telling the others what I was going to do, I hopped out of the brush and charged toward them. It was when I was only a few feet away from them did they notice that I was running straight to them, which was way too late for them to react. I shoved the first one aside and pressed the second one against the rock wall, making it crack behind him.

"WHO THE-," the third one shouted out.

I unsheathed my sword and pressed it against the colt's neck.

"What do you want with Princess Twilight?" I asked him.

"I-I don't know!" he said quickly to which I shoved my blade into his flesh deep enough so blood started flowing freely down his throat.

"Don't lie to me," I hissed.

"Ok! Ok! we were sent to Ponyville to-"

Before he could finish, one of the other colts tackled me to the ground, making me drop my weapon. He laid a few good whacks to my face before a pinkish aura surrounded him and threw him against the wall. I looked over and saw the ponies hop out of the brush and attack the unsuspecting colts. Applejack immediately went to the one I interrogated and gave him a clean stab through one of his forelegs, where he screamed at the top of his lungs. Twilight got pretty violent and began squeezing the head of the one who knocked me down. Snot started dripping out of his nose as did tears out of his eyes.

"TWUFFFLUGS," he sputtered.

Twilight intensified the force so he couldn't speak. "That was a BIG mistake what you did to my friend there mister," she said in a voice I had never heard before.

It sounded extremely defensive, but it also sounded really dark, like she was being possessed by a demon. It kind of scared me actually, and I know it definitely must have scared the other guy a lot worse.

Without any further hesitation, Twilight squished his head so hard that I heard bones in his face cracking, which make him let out a hilarious squeal.

"Ok Twilight, you don't have to go that far," Applejack said to her.

"Ohh, I don't think it's far enough..."

And with that she gave one last burst of magic so that the colt's head exploded.

Wow, ok.

That's a first for me.

A giant splatter of blood decorated the spotless gray wall, and Applejack and Rarity gasped as the headless body of the colt plopped onto the ground.

"T-Twilight..." Rarity said. "What's gotten into you?"

Twilight looked at her surprised friend. "What do you mean? He was going to kill Brady!"

"I know darling, but you didn't have to kill him."

"Why?"

"B-because dear, he-"

She stopped to look for the right set of words.

"He was civilized at one point."

Twilight pondered this for a moment. "You're right, he was. But he would have killed Brady if I didn't do it. I wish we all were still civilized, but it just isn't like that anymore."

A groan made us all look to the ground behind us, revealing the colt who was stabbed in the leg by Applejack.

"Well well, looks like my question will get answered after all," I said, walking over and lifting him up by his bleeding neck. He coughed up some blood which got onto my shirt and face.

"So," I continued, ignoring the red liquid from the stranger. "What was that you were saying earlier?"

Coughing a little more, he finally managed to speak. "We were... heading to Ponyville to look for Princess Twilight because there is a reward for her capture."

Interesting.

"How much?"

"One million bits."

"And who exactly is giving out this bountiful reward?" I asked finally.

"The leader of the Earthonians."

I held my breath.

What would the leader of the Earthonians want with Twilight?

I let go of the badly injured colt who lost consciousness seconds later.

"We have to get to Canterlot, and fast," I told the ponies. "Pretty soon this whole place is going to be swarming with mercenaries and who knows what else."

And with that, we continued on our journey to the city where the war first began.