Equinox

Darkness fell again without hesitation over the whole world. The fires had all been put to rest, and what could be saved was already piled into a communal reserve of supplies for disposition of what could be used and what couldn’t. The survivors had been called back, gathered in the great central hall, that was now turned into a communal hut where the leftovers of the raid were being distributed, the wounded attended… And the burial sites disposed.

     Jingle Jangle lied down on her bunk bed with Chilly Breezes. Around them, the sounds of the great hall that had been adapted to be a shelter revolved as everyone was trying to find a place to sleep for the night. Everything was terrible. When she had arrived to the town accompanied by Mittens some fires were still burning, and yells of horror and desperation only echoed the silent cries of the hapless. The rest of the day had passed over in a tranquility that neither brought ease or relief, as the horrors of what had happened displayed as leftovers from the fight every time the Histlings tried to scavenge for something that could still be used.

     Jingle had tried to perk the others up whenever she could, but the adults paid no heed to her, apparently not able to understand her, and the fillies all were too shocked or too scared to be talked with. In the end she had resigned to just stand and wait as everyone else did the best they could to recover from that tragedy. Now she was silently thankful for the night to have come, but in her heart there was nothing she could find to brighten the well of sadness that had been dug by the visions of the day.

“What a day…” Takai appeared, wiping his hands from a substance Jingle didn’t want to see up close. The kitsune looked weary and tired, but his stance and the way he looked like hinted her that he somehow had gotten used to it.  “We got fifty two wounded. Ten of them I’m afraid have low chances of being able to see tomorrow” he sat on a bunk in front of them, and then acted disengaged when Breezes’s stare centered on him. “What?”

“Nice way of bringing the news” she retorted sternly, though Jingle didn’t mind. She’d seen the graves as much as anybody else.

“I’m just acknowledging the facts!” Takai leaned back on his bed. “We were lucky to survive. Many others wouldn’t be so fortunate to see the sunset. Not when he attacks…” he lost his sight in the infinity. “Ryakudatsu doesn’t leave survivors.”

     Breezes snorted.

“Sometimes I wonder if that wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do…”

     Takai frowned under his mask to this, and even Jingle stared back at her in disengagement, but after a moment she picked in her intentions.

     A dozen feet away, with her head hung low and her back bent by the effort of remaining standing, Mittens laid back on her corner. There were still bunk beds, but she’d rather leave them for those who’d need them. She laid her head against the wall, but watched from closing her eyes. She looked as if she would she’d fall asleep. Throughout the whole afternoon, she’d helped in any way she could, from rescuing survivors to digging the grave ditches in the new cemetery outside of town.

     Breezes and Jingle had aided in this last task mostly out of their sense of duty to these people than anything else, but when they had the chance to look back at the improvised gravestones, at the weeping families… Breezes had decided that it was time to give it a rest. Mittens, on the other side, looked as if she’d given a far larger stretch than the one they already had, and now her physique was on the verge of surrendering.

“Mittens, you look terrible!” pointed out Jingle from her bed. “You should have some rest!”

     Mittens snapped when she recognized the voice of the filly, but her eyes were filled with heaviness, so she couldn’t help but to lower her head in some kind of nod.

“Hey, are you alright?” asked Takai, straightening. “You should lie dow for a while.”

“I’m… fine” she made out with her words. “I’ll be better with something to eat.”

     She was starting to loose valance, but in that moment Takai’s hands graved her.

“Now, there is no need for you to exhaust yourself” he carried her to her fours and accompanied her to the bunk he’d been using. “You have done a wonderful job but it’s time you take up a rest… And besides, we already have a grudging mare to take care of.”

     Mittens slowly nodded, and Jingle got it right away. It looked as if the mare still wanted to see her despite all what’s happened. In the bunkbed at the other side of the room, away from the rest of the wounded, Mariel was lying there without moving. She hadn’t fought it, she hadn’t resisted, she didn’t even say anything. She’d just came back and lied there, unamazed and undisturbed, but still with that scent that drove everyone away from her save for what was absolutely necessary. Only Takai had been daring enough to attend her, and even he didn’t seem confident enough when he cleaned her blood and bind her leg.

     Jingle knew that Mittens had tried to talk to her, do something, but her occupations had kept her away from it and now… Now she doubted she had the strength even to get there on her own.

“Here” reappeared Takai after a moment with a plate of something steaming. “Have something in your belly. It will make you feel better.”

     Mittens could barely lift her head, but the moment the smell of food went through her nostrils, the sensation of hunger, something that she’d seem to forget throughout the day, returned, and her body demanded her to eat it, whatever it was.

“What is this?” Breezes asked, since Mittens had snatched it from him and was already eating directly from the plate.

“I don’t know” Takai shrugged. “But it tastes good, whatever it is, doesn’t it Mittens?”

“Wha?” she plunged out her face from the stove, drawing all the other’s stares into her. “What now?”

     She didn’t notice at first, but when the amused looks of the three gathered enough Jingle figured that she could feel the heat on her fur… It only took her a moment more to know that she had what she was eating all over her face and muzzle. And another for the trio to start laughing.

“Haha, very funny…” she cleaned herself with a piece of fabric that Takai fetched her. “And now that I remember you still have something to tell us.”

“Yeah, you still have to explain what’s up with everything around here” interceded Breezes. “And what is that thing you called Rya… Ku-”

“Ryakudatsu” she completed.

“Yeah, that guy!” she turned again to Takai. “And well?”

     The kitsune had taken a step back, and after a little hesitance he assumed that thoughtful pose again.

“It’s not an easy tale” he muttered. “Lest to say a short one either.”

“We got time” Mittens glanced over her shoulder to where Mariel was, facing the wall. The mare hadn’t moved in a long while, but at least her steady breathing showed that she was alive.

     Takai’s confidence still seem to falter a little, but it was just a little.

“Okay" he began. "Since you insist…”

It didn’t happen recently, nor was it too long ago for our kind to remember. As I told you, our kind wasn’t born in this land, but rather a much distant one: Indar, the Land of Sunset. Before we came here to Ponyland, we Kitsune used to live among our relatives in the mainland. There we shared a piece of the land with everyone else, and all of its blessings. Indar wasn’t only a country we could call home, it was the place were we prospered. Our cities and our culture flourished, the great continent was divided among the resting places of our outermost ancestors, and from the youngest to the oldest, all of our generations enjoyed the blessings of the great spirit Bodhisattva. You could say that that land shaped us into what we are now… But like any people, our history doesn’t hold only tales of fortune and rich.

     No one knows how it started or why, but before we reached the era of stability that my people knew with the rest of the races Indar saw dark times. Driven by enmity and hatred, the proud lords of ancient times declared war on one another, and tainted the land with red as their battles became more and more deadly. Nature was ravaged, sacred places were despoiled, and powers that shouldn’t be used were wasted in endless blood feuds between kins. In the midst of ever growing confrontations, the people of every kind suffered, and, some say, vanished. The endless period of war waged its wake throughout Indar until, after a thousand years of war, when the swords parted away, only the strongest, cunning, and wisest prevailed.

     We Kitsune were lucky. Aside from us, the Dari, Zun, Haiko, Maraise, Suinoko, and Anthe remained, each of them holding a large piece of land, as large as their greed were, and each of them equally worn out by the conflict. Every one of us were tired of the war, and after millennia only the least of our peoples remained. One would say that with no fighters there can be no war, but we wouldn’t give into reason, and still hatred directed our hearts. But even when every last warrior exhausted himself on the battlefield, and every last pound of rice was consumed, the Bodhisattva wasn’t done testing us, and our problems were far from over.

     You must understand that the Great Spirit is tied to the land and all of its fruits, and just as much as it sprung mountains and valleys the peoples of Indar were of its kin, so it had watched and suffered as the sons of the land teared each other apart. Now that the era of war was finally over, and the rivals had no longer any strength to fight with each other, Bodhisattva rejoiced in the rest that he had caught from all the suffering and pain. But even though its mind was clear now, its heart had turned grim, for it had witnessed the ends of the evil its own children were capable of inflicting on each other, and even though it’s in its nature to be forgiveful, it is so to maintain balance, and in all of its infinite wisdom, it determined that we should be tested of purity.

     Such test wasn’t a natural disaster or a divine task that we would have much grated it for, but something far more different, and far more dreadful. By taking the anger and hatred that our kinds had shared for so long, Bodhisattva shaped those emotions into seven different entities, the Seven Torments of Indar, and released them to punish us in the name of the sins we had committed against one another, and against ourselves.

     With the breath of the divine, the Seven were casted from Bodhisattva into this world, and by its words haunted our lands and spoiled our trophies. Bodhisattva only left us a promise:

“When kin and kin are united, evil can still be forgotten.

If you would reach expiation, only death will be unbroken…

But if you live and enlighten, then life will be forever begotten.”

     And with those words he left us to our fortune against the lashings of our own blindness.

     …It sounds better in mi idiom.

     Every race in Indar had its own evil, Ryakudatsu was just the one that for all of his existence would punish Kitsune. Under his command, the legions of Diyu broke into this world burning and killing everything in their path. Many opposed him, but after so much fighting no one could withstand the power of the Oni, and countless lives were lost in the battle. Some even thought that this would be the end.

     But thankfully it wasn’t, for before Ryakudatsu could finish our kind, the least of our race stepped up to face him in a last confrontation. They were nine, wise and old, they had chosen to forget our past ways and seek out a new dawn for the Kitsune. One that could ensure peace for our people and all of the others. The Nine Sages that gathered to face the Oni fought back in the name of our salvation, and by the power of Bodhisattva they vanquished him. But they knew that Ryakudatsu wasn’t just a force of evil, he was the embodiment of our sins, and until we had payed for them or enlightened as a people he wouldn’t be destroyed. Instead, they tied him to themselves, and forced him to live inside a container where he would dwell until the lineage of the Nine would finish.

     The rest of the races all defeated they own demons, and a thousand years later, despite minor setbacks, peace in Indar remained. We Kitsune were able to rebuild and erase the scars of our past, and even breed a new society that strayed away from our mistaken ways. But it was so that after time passed by the old sages passed away, and their legacy was left to us to maintain it. After their demise their remains were guarded like relics, for they were more than meaningful in our culture. They were the cage of Ryakudatsu, and as long as their heritage would continue and the bases were whole the Oni wouldn’t have the power to rise again.

     …His army is another story, for when the sages sealed him, they ensured that his legions wouldn’t rise unless all of our people be dead.

     …Yes I know that’s ambiguous, but I didn’t make the rules, I’m just telling the story. Would you please?

     Anyway, when I was born all of this had happened a long, long time ago. I was instructed to be an acolyte of the Nine, and at my work… I couldn’t say I was the brightest.

     …Okay, I admit it, I messed it up… Several times. But none of it was on purpose!

     The night it happened… I will not forget it. Not now, not ever… It was during the late hours, I was supposed to take the night shift along with all the other novices. The sky was clear and the wind was cold, I couldn’t choose worse night to be up than that one, yet there I was, standing my guard like I should…

     What? That didn’t happen! I wasn’t…

     Okay, I was asleep. The night was cold, and some careless douche, not me, got a sake jar… If you would drink that thing you would know what a pain it is to stay awake after even a couple of drinks! Anyway, I was slumbering in my post when I heard something. It wasn’t accident, and it wasn’t coincidence, because it woke me up.

     I didn’t know what happened exactly, but by the time I arrived the damage was done. My masters were slain, and my companions… He made his way out. I tried to stop him, but he was too powerful, and I could only watch as my temple, my town and my relatives, all were destroyed. I was supposed to protect them, but I couldn’t.

“In that moment I had to make the decision wether if I wanted to die here and now, or live, and rectify my mistakes” Takai returned his gaze from the infinity to the present moment and wiped something under his mask. “Is the least I could do for them.”

     The sounds of the place steadily returned to their perceptions. So enraptured Jingle was in the tale of the kitsune that she hadn’t noticed that it had been over an hour since the tale had started. Most of the ponies were already asleep and snoring, or making noises in their slumber. It was obvious that after today something would stay with them in their dreams for a long time. Takai had actually found his own bunk bed while he was telling everything and she hadn’t even noticed.

     Mittens seemed satisfied, but Breezes’s face told a different story.

“And?”

“And?” Takai puzzled as he set himself free from his kimono and upper roves. “What else do you want to know?”

     In a swift movement Takai folded his clothes into a compact package, and while he did Jingle could observe the anatomy of the kitsune. Takai wasn’t tall or muscular, but his tone was well sculpted. His limbs were fairly developed, and the state of his fur and complexion made her think somehow of someone who hasn’t been fed the best of nutrients for a long time. Only when he let out his mask his face, somehow a strange feature in him, seeing how he’d always had it on, showed how much tiredness he had.

     Breezes continued the argument.

“Gee, I don’t know, if you’d have a moment to talk about our friend the Horsemaster? Who do you think I’m speaking of?” she raised her voice, but lowered it again when she heard herself. “What happened to Mariel? How did she fit into this?”

     The mention of the mare arose Mittens’s curiosity once again.

“Yeah, what happened to her? Why is she after Ryakudatsu, I mean, aside from the obvious?”

     This time Takai did wince when he answer seemed to crash against a bulwark that had rose in the end of his lips. Without the mask Jingle could understand why did he wear it, seeing how expressive his face actually was in comparison to the actual porcelain.

“She… Is just another one of them” he nodded to the ponies that were trying to find some sleep. “It’s just that they were lucky. She wasn’t.”

     This didn’t amuse them.

“Seriously? Is that everything you can say?” questioned Breezes. “Because we’ve just seen her blow a house apart because Ryakudatsu was on its way!”

“Yeah, there’s got to be more to it” continued Mittens. “The way she acts… Doesn’t entirely makes sense.”

“You hosu don’t make entirely sense, but I have learned to live with it!”

“Takai…”

“Okay, I’m sorry” he scratched the back of his head. “I was traveling into the mountains, tracking Ryakudatsu when I found her. It had been a month since his release, and his acts could be seen throughout the place. Yokai camped the land, and the dark trail of his footsteps could be spotted talmost without effort I am amazed that none of you hosu ever noticed him until it was too late. At first I had my reserves, but by the fifth week of travel, signs that Ryakudatsu had picked your race as his new objective were staring to make clear. He only struck at your towns, produced more Yokai, and moved to the next one. Until I began this journey I never realized how much of the stories about him were true, and how much had the legends tuned down about his powers…” he suddenly stopped when a cough almost made him jump in his place. The three mares caught it too, but the scare was slim, and after that he reassumed. “Anyway, I followed him day and night, trying to fix all that he had caused, but for every battle I won against the Yokai, Ryakudatsu had made another victory of his own. We could have continued this chase until the end of times, but then I found Mariel… Or rather she found me.”

“What?” asked Mittens. “What do you mean she found you?”

“I’m going there” he said with slight annoyance in his face. “Would you please?”

“Alright” she sighed defensively. “Sheesh…”

“As I was saying, I tracked Ryakudatsu through all of the mountains, always trying to keep up with his pace, and always seeing my efforts dwindled by the evil creature. It almost seemed like he was going to definitely outrun me until I, in a moment of brilliance, took a shortcut. And when I reached him he was already under attack” he suddenly stopped, but not  because of some outside interference, but this time his gaze lost in the void again.

     Jingle shared a confused look with Breezes, and nothing much changed when Mittens joined as well. They tried to wait, but Takai had gone dumbstruck.

“So?” questioned Breezes. “What happened then?”

     Takai seemed to not listen, but a moment after he rose his lips in some way of twisted, affected smile.

“It’s curious, you know?”

     More confusion.

“What-?”

“That none of you had been able to defeat him” he put in. “Don’t get me wrong, I know you hosu are great fighters, but still Ryakudatsu is an immortal being. None of your male warriors lasted against him in battle… But her. When I saw her the town was already on fire. There was chaos everywhere, and Yokai had taken over from the victims of Ryakudatsu. Again I thought I had come too late, but then Mariel showed up, wielding that sword. She fought the Yokai and rescued me from a certain death. Together we managed to destroy the army of Ryakudatsu and set the Oni on retreat. We pursued him but couldn’t catch him. He just disappeared into the mountains and reemerge whenever we were too far away to reach him in time. It’s like if he is playing with us, you know? Almost like he likes being chased… I had already doubted my mission, but Mariel has stayed behind him all this time” he let out a amused gasp. “Sometimes I wonder who is chasing him, if me or her.”

“And that’s it?” asked Mittens lowly. “It certainly tells why is she with you, but doesn’t explains why she's... So...”

“Angered?" completed Takai.

"Yeah."

"That is because you didn’t see her look” his eyes became more somber. “I said that she rescued me, but I will never forget the look on her eyes that day” he paused, as if he were recalling something unpleasant. “I don’t know about all of your race, but I can recognize it when I see it. That look wasn’t the one of a normal being… Hers was different.”

     Another look between the three of them, this time with concern.

“As in ‘madness’ different?”

     Takai shook his head.

“As in broken” he took a long breath, and peeked over his shoulder briefly, to where Mariel was. “I don’t know what she did to stay alive, and I am not really sure if I want to, but of one thing I am certain: She hates him. And is not just mere anger or sense of payback, she won’t stop until one of them is under the sword of the other. That is why she is like that whenever any sign of trouble comes our way. She wants to blast him out of this world so bad that I fear that she may loose something else in the way of her vengeance...”

     Takai lowered his head along with his ears. Around him the other two mares imitated his actions when the meaning of those words sunk in… All but one.

“What is it?” asked Jingle, disengaged of what was happening. “What can she loose?”

     The question took everyone by surprise, and for a moment they looked at each other, like trying to agree on how to explain her about it.

“Something far more precious than appetite or sleep, I can tell you” Mittens tried to outline a joking smile, but in comparison to the other’s expressions it looked out of place.

     Breezes took her word.

“It’s not easy, Jingle” she combed her mane. “Sometimes, when you want to hurt others, you may end up hurting yourself more than the ones you wanted to do something bad in the first place.”

     Now that made more sense.

“Like when Ice Mirror tried to prank me into seeing a sea lion?” she asked. “At first it didn’t show up, but then it appeared, and-”

“We know, thank you very much!” Breezes cut her, though she couldn’t hide the color on her cheeks. “Returning to the subject…”

“Oh, right…” Mittens erased her bemused expression that the thought of it had caused her, and was about to continue when Takai took the word.

“Revenge is a path full of twists and turns. One must watch for oneself on it, or perhaps she would be amazed as to how could even the most righteous of causes can turn into a vile one.”

“…Yeah, I believe that sums it” Mittens grinned at him, who had already wrapped himself in the single blanket that was over his bed. She wrapped herself on hers. “Come on now, we need to rest if we want to be ready tomorrow.”

     Breezes and Jingle didn’t take long in imitating her.

“And so we were plunged into a mission to save Ponyland that weren’t our own... Again” she sighed. “I know you’re my friend and all but sometimes I wonder, how did you got the position of ranger to begin with?”

     Mittens chuckled at this.

“That’s a story for another day” she rested her head on her pillow. “For now lets focus on getting a good sleep, shall we?”

“Whatever…” she turned so she would give her back to Jingle and extend her leg. “It should be a boring story anyway.”

     Another chuckle

“On the contrary. It has a snow golem, a seagull and a very friendly polar bear fighting with a yeti! Pretty silly in truth, but slightly above the average if you ask me.”

     Breezes mumbled something unintelligible, but Takai had already shown signs of interest.

“A polar bear fighting a yeti? Why were they fighting about?”

“Me” she yawned. “They were debating who would get their chance.”

“Their chance for what?”

“To eat me” she shrugged. “You know, natural predators and stuff.”

“Yes… Stuff…” Takai let his head down over his pillow again.

“People?” stepped in Breezes.

“Yes?” asked Mittens in return.

“Sleep.”

     That ended the chatter. Everyone greeted each other good night and rested for good. Jingle bid her good nights to her elders and the kitsune, and then snuggled to Breezes’s back. The mare’s fur was soft and warm, it was slightly longer than the average pony, as it was supposed to be for a Snow Pony, but for her it made almost the perfect material to stick to in order to fight the cold of the night, and she would have hugged it if it weren’t because Breezes were a restless sleeper.

     Still time went forward, and as Jingle Jangle began to eventually feel her conscience being reclaimed by the dream world, one last thing caught here eye. Or rather her ear for that matter.

“Mittens?”

“Yeah?”

“What happened between Breezes and the sea lion?”

     Mittens’s face lightened in her mind with the memory, and even Jingle had to struggle not to giggle by imagining her laughing expression.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you” she said, though by her tone she was trying to suffocate something. “But you should check the left side of her flank whenever you can. Tell me what you can see in any special shape.”

     Takai seemed to think about it for a moment, but then he apparently got it and chuckled.

“Understood” in Jingle’s mind amusement appeared over his face as well. “Though I would still really want to hear it.”

“Someday…” yawned Mittens. “If… Only someday…”