For the good of Equestria
“I SAID GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT YOU UNGRATEFUL, IMPUDENT WHELP!”
The cobalt stallion adjusted his saddlebags, not even sparing a glance for the wrinkled turquoise figure rapidly receding behind him. The deranged coot’s words were barely even worth dignifying with a response. But he was going to anyway. “Go ahead and throw your temper tantrums, pops. I’m done. I’m a grown stallion, and you need me a lot more than I need you.”
“What you are is a deluded little twit with a swollen head, and once you’re finished posturing out there you’re going to march back onto this airship so I can beat some sense into you!”
“Yeah, I’ll pass, thanks.” He turned back and gave the older stallion a smug grin. “Keep on namecalling, though, see how that works out for ya.” The teal-maned unicorn turned back towards the waste, the sun shining on his cutlass cutie mark as he trotted onwards to what he was sure was a grand destiny. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to remember your many life-lessons of mopping and hoof massaging on my journey.”
“NO YOU WON’T, BECAUSE YOU’LL BE DEAD, YOU EGOISTIC MORON!!” There was an edge of desperation in his voice now. Good.
“Uh-huh, sounds nice.”
“FOAL, YOU’LL END UP IMPALED ON A RAIDER’S SPEAR, MARK MY WORDS.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“GET BACK HERE, YOU IDIOT!”
There was no response – and the fool colt was probably out of earshot by now anyway. Well, whatever. Let the little idiot get himself killed, he had never needed that brat’s help running this thing anyway. The old stallion grumbled a last comment to himself about ungrateful whelps and pickled onions, pulled a few levers, and the old gasbag of an airship unsteadily lurched off the ground with a snort of steam, leaving all guilt behind with that moron of a grandnephew.
Thus the two went their separate ways, each eagerly anticipating the day they’d find the other in a ditch somewhere and whisper “I told you so.”
As Sapphire Blade watched the airship shakily lift off into the sky above, it seemed to be taking the weight on his shoulders with him. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of stale wasteland air.
Freedom.
He let out a joyful, childlike laugh, reveling in a giddiness he hadn’t felt in years. He was free. No more of the old stallion’s draconian ways and insane rules; no more doing his chores; no more trying to taste a dead era through the pages of moth-eaten old books; no more sitting in a cramped, rusted airship waiting to die while the world rotted around them. Sapphire Blade drank in the vista of ragged greens and browns all around him, still littered with crystalline relics of the bygone War. It didn’t look like much, but he could eke out a living here. He could bring back the ways of old Equestria, partake of the fruits of the land, live a peaceful, nonviolent existence free of killing or meat-eating. Luna knew how many times the old stallion had tried to force meat on him, to no avail. But that would all change now. He was smart, he was strong, he had a saddlebag full of grain and a head full of dreams, and Sapphire Blade knew he had just made the best choice of his life.
The new Equestria started here.
Sapphire Blade considered the orthros carcass before him apprehensively. “It was only self-defense,” he thought to himself, lowering the crudely crafted axe to the ground with his magic. “It was only self-defense, it was only self-defense, it was only self defense…”
But repeating his newly acquired mantra didn’t get him any closer to solving the rather tempting dilemma before him. He forced a swallow past the lump in his throat and, for the sixteenth time, went over his list of possible alternatives.
Rations: No. He had eaten the last of the grains two days ago, and tracking down his great-uncle, much less begging food off him, was practically unthinkable.
Farming: No. Oh he’d tried. By Luna, he’d tried. But the silty, probably magic-poisoned soil simply would not yield fruit. Several seed packets, two weeks, lots of water and sunshine, and a lot of cursing later, he hadn’t gotten anything but a few shriveled sprouts. He would starve to death before he could coax any sort of food out of this ground.
Scavenging: No. He had, apparently, picked quite a bad spot to abandon the old coot. Nothing but scarred, warped wasteland and pathetic scraps of sickly forest for miles around. The single, piss-poor excuse for a hamlet he’d found was abandoned, picked clean by wild beasts and fellow scavengers years ago.
Foraging: No. The forests around here held barely anything fit for pony consumption. Tufts of wild grass and occasional mushrooms simply weren’t enough, and the single bunch of berries he’d found had nearly killed him with food poisoning.
Magic. Photosynthesis. Carbosymbiogenesis. No. No. No.
There was no other way. It was this or starve.
Slowly and shakily, he began to skin and separate the meat, cleaning it, preparing it. Just like the old stallion had taught him. A bit of kindling and a spark of magic later, he had a fire, and a spit soon after that. The dead eyes of the discarded heads seemed to be silently judging him from the light’s edge as Sapphire Blade slowly rotated his kill over the greedy tongues of flame.
Finally, the meal was prepared. He raised the undercooked haunch to his lips, and bit down. Pure filth filled his mouth-it was disgusting, it was unnatural, it was wrong. Ponies did not eat meat. He gagged, and the putrid, half-chewed blob of brown fell to the ground. He couldn’t eat this. But he had to. It was this or starve.
He took another bite, forcing it down, and quickly chased it with a third and fourth. Another kind of disgust filled him as he ate-directed at himself. Far from rejecting it as they first had, by the second leg his taste buds seemed to welcome the flavor, relish it after so long sampling only dried grain and wild grasses. Was unnaturally subverting one’s own nature really this…easy?
Sapphire Blade finished the last of the carcass, licking even the bones clean. He was still weak. He was still hungry. But he would live. The blue unicorn lay down near the fire and thought for a bit. Perhaps he had been a bit hasty in eschewing killing entirely; Equestria, with all its old customs and traditions, wouldn’t be rebuilt in a day. For now, wild game would suffice for nourishment; the wasteland required sacrifices, after all, and, for the time being, he’d have to play by its rules. But animals only, and only until he could get a proper homestead and garden prepared. Then he’d live the peaceful life he was meant to.
“Animals only,” he mumbled to himself. “No exceptions.”
These thoughts gave Sapphire Blade little comfort as his eyes closed on the sight of the discarded orthros heads, watching him from the edge of the dying light.
“Fan out! ‘E’s in dese woods somewhere,” the silver pegasus barked. “If ‘e could teleport, he’d a done it ‘fore now. An’ nopony wit a broken hind leg can go far.”
The maroon unicorn smiled widely, showing off a mouthful of what looked more like half-eaten caramel candies than teeth. She loved a good hunt. Rusty Hook lifted the crude weapon that was her namesake in a cloud of pale grey magic. Oooooh, the things she could do to that prisoner when she caught him. Iron Chains wanted him alive, of course, that silly silver prude. But there were ways to inflict pain without killing. So, so many ways.
Giggling like a schoolfilly, she trotted off into the woods. The trail wasn’t hard to find - a few broken sticks here, some fresh hoofprints in the dust there. Mr. Bluepony wasn’t very good at covering his tracks, was he? She pouted a little at that; no fun in just following an easy path. But her disappointment was forgotten when Rusty Hook saw the prize waiting at the end – Mr. Bluepony, sitting pretty as could be in the branches of a tree for her to find! His expression of fear turned to panic, and he started looking about for some means of escape, but she put a quick stop to that, giving the tree a buck that sent the unicorn tumbling to the ground. He landed with a satisfying crack that meant he’d probably broken his right foreleg. He tried unsuccessfully to limp away on two legs, but quickly collapsed into a heap on the ground.
“Heya there, bluepony!” she called, trotting up to him. “Looks like ya broke two of your legs. Maybe I can break the other two, an’ then ya can have the full set! Heeheheehehehee!”
“N…no,” he choked, weakly lifting up something with his magic; a…stick he’d sharpened? He must have whittled it while he was waiting up in that tree.
“Aw, you made a little weapon? How sweet!” She pressed him to the ground with a maroon hoof and raised her hook to his throat. “Maybe once I’m done skinning you, we can use that to pry out-“
There was a sudden, intense pain in her left eye, and then everything was black.
Sapphire Blade struggled out from underneath the corpse and looked down upon his handiwork. What had he done? Sweet mother of Luna, what had he done…
“It was only self-defense. It was o-only self-defense. I-It was only…I-It was o-only…on-only…s-s-self…”
The words rang hollow. Animals were one thing, but he had just murdered another sentient being. He had driven a sharpened stick halfway through the skull of a living, thinking, dreaming pony.
“’Ey, did you ‘ear somethin’ over there?”
Her name, her family life, where she grew up, how she’d gotten her cutie mark. All of the life experiences that made up a pony. Gone, in an instant.
“I think so, yeah.”
This pony had had a favorite color, he suddenly realized. She had had a favorite color, and now he would never know what it was. “Had it been red?” he wondered. “Yellow? Aquamarine? Magenta? Had this pony ever even seen the color magenta?”
“There ‘e is! The blue pony!”
If she hadn’t, she would never get the chance now. He had taken that from her. He was a killer.
“Get him!”
Sapphire Blade became dimly aware that he had been kicked in the stomach at some point, and was now sitting against a tree with two ponies standing above him and the barrel of a magic revolver pressed to his forehead.
“Screw Iron Chains,” the scar-faced white earth pony holding the revolver grunted through the grip. “You killed Rusty Hook. I’m gonna enjoy this…”
The tan earth pony mare next to him nodded vigorously in agreement.
“So this is it then,” Sapphire Blade thought. “I’m going to die.” Tears flowed down his face, unbidden. He didn’t want to die. He might be a killer, but he didn’t want to die, he wanted to live, he wanted to make up for his murder, he wanted to start a farm, he wanted to apologize to his great-uncle, he wanted to see the color magenta again, he didn’t want to die, he didn’t want to die, he couldn’t die, oh sweet Luna why did he have to die, why couldn’t he have just cleaned the aft exhaust ports like he was supposed to that day, why?
It was at that moment that the canopy above rustled, and providence came down. A ray of light, surely sent by the Moon Goddess herself, came down in the form of a tarnished steel blade and pierced the chest of the tan pony, dropping her to the ground with a thump. The white one turned and raised his revolver, but before he could get a shot off, the blade was through his throat.
“Glrrk,” were his last words. Then the scarred raider fell away, replaced by the brilliant pony of fate who had just saved his life. Oh, sure, her grey-streaked red mane was caked in dried blood, her leather armor was scratched and worn, her pencil-and-blueprint cutie mark was obscured with grime, and her left eye was missing, but in that moment she seemed more radiant than Luna herself.
The yellow-coated earth pony sheathed her blade and surveyed the three ponies’ worth of carnage surrounding her. “Damn raiders,” she mumbled, kicking one of the corpses. The mare turned her attention to Sapphire Blade. “Hell of an introduction, huh?” She helped him up to his feet, but his two working legs immediately collapsed under him.
“Ouch,” she winced. “Yeaahh, that’ll be needin’ some serious patchin’ up. We better get outta here first, though.” The mare lifted the shell-shocked Sapphire Blade up again, helping him limp away from the sounds of the raider camp. “Name’s Apple Bloom, by th’ way. Y‘all?”
“I…uh…” he mumbled, staring off into the distance. “You’ll have to excuse me.”
He vomited on the ground.
“Seeds?”
“Not jus’ any seeds. Zapapple seeds.”
Even in the dim firelight, she could make out the Sapphire Blade’s confused expression. “Zap Apples?”
“Yeah. They’re a special breed o’ magic apple, an’ probably the sweetest things in Equestria. Zapapple jam was my family’s specialty, once upon a time.” Apple Bloom sighed. “Not that it really matters any now.”
“Wow…” Sapphire Blade closed his eyes, no doubt trying to imagine what they would have tasted like. “Real seeds from the old Equestria, right here…”
“I guess.”
He looked back down at the seeds, then up at her, a quizzical expression on his face. “Why, though?”
“I dunno. Why does anypony bother with anythin’? I found myself back in Ponyville, saw there were a few seeds left, an’ thought, ‘Well, why not?’.”
Apple Bloom stared into the fire, one of the bits of timber crackling and falling apart as she watched. Burning. Splintering. Screaming…
She blinked and rubbed her eyepatch, wincing as it chafed against the scarring around her eye. “Maybe I thought I could replant ‘em someday. Get back some o’ what I…what was lost in th’ war. Maybe I jus’ wanted th’ memories. I don’ even know anymore.”
Sapphire Blade set down the bag and looked into the fire with her. “Hm.”
“Well, ya’ll asked what was in there, so there it is.”
Silence pervaded the clearing for several minutes.
“You know,” said Sapphire Blade, shattering the quiet, “I never really thanked you properly for saving my life.”
“Ya’ll did, actually,” Apple Bloom replied, smirking. “’Bout 15 times, by my last count.”
“No, I mean properly. I…I would have died if it weren’t for you. I owe you more than just a few ‘thank you’s, I think.”
“No, ‘s fine, really, I was in th’ area anyway, an’-“
“I’d like to join you, if you’ll have me.”
“Eh?”
Apple Bloom looked over and saw there was a bit more in the young stallion’s eyes than simple gratitude.
“Oh dear Celestia,” she thought. This was going to be awkward.
“Ehhhhh…look, I appreciate the offer an’ all, but I ain’t really in the market for a partner. Of any kind. I’ll getcha ta New Fillydelphia, an’ if ya want my advice, you’ll stay there, settle down, an’ forget alla this ever happened. Ya’ll don’t wanna live out here, trust me.”
“Then why do you?”
Apple Bloom had no answer for that.
Sapphire Blade stood up clumsily on his still-bandaged legs. “I do want to live out here. I want to help people, like you helped me. I want to bring back the old Equestria, and I want to see those zap-apple seeds planted someday. I wouldn’t be a liability, I swear. I can hunt, I have magic, and I know my way around a gun.” He lifted up the crystal-powered rifle they’d scavenged from the dead raider for emphasis.
“Please.”
She sighed and mentally rolled her eyes. The colt had good intentions, but he’d spent a good two hours blubbering over the raider he’d killed and almost literally couldn’t use a weapon to save his life. Just like every other bleeding heart idiot, two silvers a dozen from Manehattan to the Canterlot Ruin.
Just like she’d been.
“Fine. Ya’d better not be kiddin’ about knowin’ yer way ‘round a gun, though, or I’m droppin’ ya in New Fillydelphia an’ goin’ on my merry way. I’m takin’ first watch, we leave at daybreak.”
“Thank you, Apple Bloom,” was all he said before he pulled a threadbare blanket from his saddlebags and lay down on it. Soon enough, snoring could be heard over the low crackle of the fire.
She turned and looked again into the dying flames. “I’m gonna regret this,” she muttered.
Crack. Thud. Crack. Thud. Crack. Splat.
The sentries dropped like ragdolls, one by one. Sapphire Blade lowered his rifle and popped in another crystal-his last. Hopefully this place had some ammo. He turned to Apple Bloom, crouched next to him behind the half-crumbled wall.
“How many, you think?” he asked.
“’Bout half a dozen, by my estimation,” she replied, studying the weathered three-story motel carefully. “Not countin’ them three.”
He raised an eyebrow at that. “So few? How do you know?”
She shrugged. “Not a lot o’ big organized groups ‘round these parts. Wouldn’t be more’n nine in a building this size, ‘specially with them needin’ room fer the prisoners as well. They’ll be pretty well armed though, best still be careful.”
“Alright then,” the stallion replied, lifting his rifle in a cloud of teal magic. “Let’s free some ponies.”
It didn’t take long. The two guards in the bloodstained lobby were skewered and shot, respectively, before they could even raise their weapons, and the one who came downstairs to investigate the noise was similarly disposed of. Not the brightest bunch, these raiders. The second floor was more difficult-this merry band of murderers had apparently acquired a mutant, and the crystalized monstrosity of a pony shrugged off two stabbings and a point-blank shot to the chest without so much as a flinch; they had to pin her (it?) down and decapitate her, a grisly, laborious affair. Not much on the third floor, aside from a few tins of rations and the words “THE GODDESSES ARE DEAD” scrawled on a wall in what looked like fecal matter.
“Charming,” said Sapphire Blade, forcing down bile.
“Eh. I’ve seen worse,” replied Apple Bloom. “They must be in the basement, we need ta hurry afore whoever’s left panics an’ kills them.”
The two of them rushed back downstairs, through a door marked “EMPLOYEES ONLY” in peeling letters, down a flight of creaky wooden stairs, and into a foul-smelling room filled with cages and instruments of cruelty in various states of rust. A muscular orange pegasus stood between the stairs and the cages, menacingly waving a large, discolored mace.
“Make one move and you’ll-“ the raider began.
Shunk, Apple Bloom’s sword ended.
The inhabitants of the cages looked up at the two bloodstained figures; some with shock, some with hope, and some with fear.
“It’s alright,” Apple Bloom said slowly, lifting the keys off of their hook and moving towards the first of the cages. “We’re here ta free y’all.”
There were seven living prisoners, all told. Some of them were crippled or grievously injured, all of them were severely malnourished, but they would likely live, Apple Bloom told him. Some of the others…were not so lucky. It was all Sapphire Blade could do to keep from vomiting when he saw a pegasus who’d had its wings cut off and left to bleed in her cage, or the remains of a mutant foal who’d been “harvested” for the crystal embedded in his flesh. He was filled with an overwhelming hatred for the orange pegasus on the floor. Why would they do this to another living being? Why would anypony?
When the living had been sorted from the dead, and the building had been swept a final time for any survivors or extra supplies, the freed captives and their saviors began the trek to the hamlet they’d been taken from. Smiles and hugs were shared between the living, and tears were shed amongst the families of the dead. Apple Bloom and Sapphire Blade surveyed their work from afar.
“I’d say that went pretty well, considerin’,” the Apple Bloom said, a smile on her face.
“I guess. So many dead, though, tortured and killed before we could ever get there…” Sapphire Blade turned and looked at her, a somber expression on his face. “That mutant foal’s wounds were fresh, Apple Bloom. If we’d been just a day earlier…”
“We ain’t superheroes, we can’t save everypony. An’ if ya keep thinkin’ like that, you’ll get depressed an’ then we won’t save anypony. Seven ponies lived today ‘cause of us, be happy for once.”
Before he could reply, there was a rustling of wings, and a black shape dropped out of the sky in front of them-a griffon with all black feathers and metal armor covered in jagged runes.
“Oh. Uh. Hey,” Apple Bloom said, sizing the griffin up suspiciously. “Say, ya’ll were one o’ the prisoners. Uh…can we help ya?”
“Charred Talon,” he said in a deep, gruff voice. He bent to one knee and bowed his head. “I wish to offer you my service.”
The two ponies looked to each other, and back at the griffin.
“No, it’s okay, really-” Sapphire blade began.
“The raiders planned to execute me at dawn tomorrow. You saved my life. It has been my family’s way for centuries to serve those we owe a life-debt to, until the debt is repaid. If you do not wish me to travel with you, I shall travel separately.” Charred Talon stood up. “Either way, my blades are yours.”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “’Scuse us for a moment,” she said, pulling Sapphire Blade off to the side.
“So,” she whispered, “are we really lettin’ Mr. Honorable Griffin Warrior here join up?”
“I’m not really sure we have much of a choice in the matter, here,” replied the blue stallion, looking over to where Charred Talon stood with his armor and rather sharp claw-mounted blades. “Besides, we could probably use another pair of hooves-er, talons.”
“You really sure ‘bout this guy? Savin’ him from them pieces of filth is one thing, but travelin’ with him’s another. Bein’ captured ain’t really a measure o’ trustworthiness, y’know.”
“Well, you trusted me, and that worked out pretty well, right? We need to start having faith in other ponies – and griffins - if we’re gonna rebuild Equestria someday. And think how many more lives we could save with another teammate by our side!”
“Well…if ya think he’s alright,” Apple Bloom said, with a look that clearly stated how “alright” she thought this stranger was. “Jus’ bein’ cautious, is all.”
The pair strode back to where the black griffin still stood, motionless as a statue. “Alright,” Apple Bloom said, “y’all can come with us. We’re stayin’ in town two more nights, then we set out for Hoofington a few days’ travel down the road.”
“I thank you, ma’am,” said Charred Talon, bowing deeply once again.
“Jus’ ‘Apple Bloom’ ‘s fine,” she replied, looking at the griffin askance.
“Of course, Ms. Apple Bloom. My life and service are yours. You will not be disappointed, I promise you.”
“We can’t thank ya enough fer what ya’ll’ve done fer Spur Hill. Y’all’re heroes, truly. If’n there’s any reward at all we c’n give ya, it’s yers.” The cherry-coated mare was practically beside herself with joy-understandable, seeing as the warlord who’d spent the better part of three years torturing her family and neighbors was finally dead.
“We’re fine, really, we’ve got pretty much all we need. Jus’ give us a place ta sleep for the night an’ we’ll be alright,” said Apple Bloom with a smile and a dismissive wave of her hoof.
“There’s somethin’ we c’n do for ya’ll, surely? Ya’ll’re the Knights o’ th’ Wasteland fer Luna’s sake, we can’t have ya’ll leavin’ empty handed after alla this!”
Ah, that name again. She had to suppress an eyeroll at the laughably cheesy title that had been following their little trio for the last few weeks. She supposed it was somewhat inevitable; in the three months since Charred Talon had joined them, they’d made a bit of a name for themselves busting slaver and raider and groups – Charred Talon had even found a bit of paper on some mercenaries suggesting that they had honest-to-Celestia prices on their heads. People wanted names for their heroes, she supposed, though it was still a little weird thinking of their little group as such.
“It’s alright, really, ya’ll don’t hafta-” Apple Bloom noticed a tapping on her shoulder and turned to see a familiar cobalt unicorn beckoning him into the other room of the tiny wooden police station. “‘Scuse me for a sec’,” she said, following Sapphire Blade and Charred Talon into the back room, the door closing behind her in a cloud of teal magic.
“Somethin’ wrong?” she asked.
“I know we don’t usually ask, but, er,” Sapphire Blade said, eyeing the floor guiltily, “we’re running low on food, and we’re down to two crystals of ammo. We need supplies, and if they’re willing to provide…” He shrugged.
“We don’ take rewards. We’re doin’ what anypony else’d do in the same situation, ain’t any sense demandin’ pay for that. We ain’t sellswords. If we need supplies, we’ll scavenge for ‘em tomorrow like always,” Apple Bloom said firmly.
“We can only get so much from scavenging,” countered Sapphire Blade. “I don’t think there’s any shame in taking a reward this once. It’ll make the townsponies happy, and it’ll make sure we can keep helping other ponies.”
“I don’ like the idea of takin’ special treatment, Blade.”
“Me neither, but, well, we aren’t normal ponies.” He gestured at the door. “You saw how the townsponies reacted, you’ve heard how the radio broadcasts talk about us like we’re the second coming of Luna. We’re heroes, like it or not. And if we die in our next fight because we were under-supplied, it’s gonna destroy hope for a lot of ponies.”
“I must agree that we are unlikely to survive more than eight days with our current supplies,” Charred Talon added. “Most of the outlying buildings have been stripped clean already, there is precious little game in this area, and we possess only twelve bits for purchases.”
Apple Bloom looked back and forth between the two of them and put a hoof to her face, sighing.
“Y’all sure ya don’ need anythin’? Anythin’ at all?” the cherry-coated mare asked when they emerged a few minutes later.
“Well,” Sapphire Blade intoned cautiously, “if it isn’t too much trouble, we are running a bit low on ammo and food…”
Sapphire Blade studied the mangled teal stallion carefully and sighed deeply.
“Yeah, that’s him.”
There were several moments of awkward silence. Charred Talon coughed once.
“Wow, that’s…I’m so sorry,” said Apple Bloom. “I know what it’s like, losin’ a loved one. If ya’ll need a few minutes alone, we can-”
“No.” Sapphire Blade turned away from the twisted wreck of an airship against the canyon wall. “My great-uncle didn’t love me, and I don’t think I really loved him. He was violent, deluded, paranoid, controlling…I could go on. I only ended up with him by freak chance after my mom died, and I was more his slave than anything else.” He looked back at the wrinkled stallion pinned underneath the wreckage, a mixture of disgusted contempt and pitying sadness on his face. “I couldn’t care less that he ended up this way. Best to just salvage what we can from the wreckage and leave the rest here.”
Apple Bloom had nothing to say to that. The trio picked silently through the airship’s rusted carcass, finding nothing of real value except a few bits of steam-powered machinery that could probably be sold to the next merchant they passed.
As they made their way out of the dust-choked canyon and back to the main road, a sudden feeling struck Sapphire Blade. He turned and gave Apple Bloom a tight embrace. She returned it, wordlessly. “I love her,” he suddenly realized. Well, no-that wasn’t the realization. He’d known that. But it wasn’t the stupid, foolish crush he’d felt when he first saw her. It was deeper than that. Apple Bloom was like…
Family. The sister he’d never had.
He turned and gave Charred Talon a more awkward, but no less emotional, hug. The countless times they’d saved each other’s necks the last five months, the victories and celebrations they’d shared, the pain and horrors they’d seen; it all had forged a bond stronger than blood.
“Thank you, guys,” he said, pulling away from the griffin. “For…for everything.”
Sapphire Blade continued down the path, the airship’s steel corpse behind him and a smile on his face.
The ramshackle old building was a wreck, to put it nicely. The hastily-whitewashed concrete walls were cracked and weathered, rusted pipes were sticking out of the sagging, flattened roof, most of the windows were simply holes covered up with plywood board (which was also the material comprising the “door”), and the second story looked eager to simply collapse into the first any minute now.
It was the most amazing thing Sapphire Blade had ever seen.
“I know it don’ look like much,” Apple Bloom said, leading them towards the door, “but ya shoulda seen it afore I fixed it up. I’ve got plans for this place, you’ll see. This cutie mark ain’t just fer show, ya know.”
“Our own headquarters…” Sapphire Blade said, looking up at the building in awe.
“Ya could call it that, I s’pose. I figured it’d be nice ta have a permanent place ta stay, if we really are runnin’ with this whole “heroes of the wasteland” shtick, an’ this place was a pretty good fit-isolated, not too far from the main roads, plenty big enough for all of us. Got it in basic livin’ condition while y’all two were scavengin’ a few days ago, an’ we’ll be makin’ more repairs as we go.” The inside wasn’t much better-bare concrete walls and floors, empty rooms, nothing but a few bare bulbs’ worth of lighting, and a staircase leading to an identical second floor where their excess supplies had been piled untidily in a corner. As Sapphire Blade looked around, his mind painted visions of the future across the blank canvas before him. It was all possible now; permanent beds, a workshop, a kitchen, storage space, even a proper planning room.
“Like I said, it don’ look like much, but, fer now anyway, it’s home.”
“Home,” the blue stallion repeated. The word gave him a nice, warm feeling; one he hadn’t felt in quite a while. This was it. From here, they could rebuild Equestria.
“No…”
It was still distant, but it was most certainly there; a column of billowing grey smoke looming on the horizon.
“No…”
But repeating the word did not erase the ominous pillar. In fact, they began to multiply, with a second one coming into view, a third, a fourth; a silent forest of smoke stretching upward into infinity, delivering charred lives to the heavens above, leaving Sapphire Blade to stare helplessly up at them as they continued their solemn march upwards into nothingness.
Charred Talon saw the smoke as well, and sped up, giving their tarnished metal chariot a jerk, but it didn’t matter now. They were too late. Apple Bloom swore loudly from the next seat as the town of Trotham-or rather, its remains-came into view. Desolation greeted them as they landed, its blackened grin turning their hearts to lead in their chests. Corpses were strewn unceremoniously all about them, sliced and punctured with blades or riddled with cauterized holes from magic weapons. Nothing remained of the buildings but their twisted steel skeletons, their last clinging bits of wood and plaster belching smoke into the crystal blue skies above. A sudden crunch as he wandered down the town’s main road alerted Sapphire Blade to the presence of two bodies in the street-a mother and foal, slain in the same blow as they tried to get away, looked like.
Eight months ago, he reflected, this sight would have filled him with an all-consuming, white-hot rage, the kind that would drive him to hunt down those responsible and slit their throats personally. Now all he felt was soul-numbing depression. No matter how many they saved, there were always more who died. For every slave they freed, there were two more who rotted away in their cages, their prayers for relief unanswered. For every Spur Hill, there was a Trotham.
And he was getting pretty damned sick of it.
The trio spent a few hours combing the city, calling for survivors, but there were no answers but echoes. The raiders had been efficient in their grisly work. They returned to the chariot as the sky bled crimson, dejected and defeated. “This shouldn’t have happened,” Sapphire Blade announced suddenly, breaking the cold silence of the ride back to the fort.
Apple Bloom sighed. “I know. Alla them innocent ponies…” she shook her head and buried her face in her hooves. “Makes me sick, what some ponies are capable of.”
“We failed. They needed us, and we failed. Utterly. We should have been able to respond to that message sooner, we should have been able to get here soon enough to stop the raid. But we didn’t, and now an entire village of blood is on our hooves.”
“The raiders destroyed that village, not us,” replied Apple Bloom, “an’ y’all know that. What happened was terrible, yeah, but there ain’t no sense blamin’ ourselves for it. We did our best, an’ we’ll do better next time, but we ain’t perfect. We can’t save everyone, Blade.”
“Exactly. We can’t. There are only three of us, and hundreds of them, torturing and killing and enslaving as we speak. We can’t be everywhere at once. What we need is a way to expand our influence, to be multiple places at once and protect more cities. We need to keep anything like this from ever happening again because we couldn’t get there in time.”
Apple Bloom eyed him quizzically. “What’re y’all suggestin’, exactly?”
“What we need,” the blue unicorn replied, stamping a hoof on the carriage’s floor, “is more ponies.”
“So you’re…building an army, then?”
“More or less, I suppose. We need good ponies to help defend towns and villages against raider attacks and take down slavers, and your group seem like good and trustworthy ponies.”
The emerald-colored pegasus mare had to smile at that. Her group had been described as many things, but “good and trustworthy” was new. She swept a lock of whitish hair out of her eyes with a crystalized mutant hoof and looked over the contract again. Mint Flakes thought hard, tempering her eagerness with a sizable bit of skepticism. The deal sounded pretty good, yeah-living quarters, good rations, better equipment, and a chance to join the practically legendary Knights of the Wasteland. Nothing much to dislike there. But then, every trap sounded like a pretty good deal until you were in it, of course. No guarantee that she and the four ponies behind her weren’t about to get led off to some remote location and thrown in a cage.
On the other hoof, this unicorn and the rest of his group matched the description of the Knights to a T, and everyone else in this club seemed to think they were real enough, based on the reactions when the cobalt unicorn had walked in and asked her for a chat in the back room. This Sapphire Blade was, by all appearances, perfectly legit.
Still…
Mint Flakes edged her hoof ever so casually towards the bronze dagger on her waist. Within an eyeblink, there was a revolver barrel pressed into her forehead, and a deadly serious expression on the blue unicorn’s face. The rest of the group started to move, but she held them back with a raised hoof. Yeeaah, no common mug with a bit of illusion magic had those kind of reflexes. Either this guy was the real deal, or some kind of shady assassin group really wanted her dead for some reason. She hoped it was the former.
“Had to check. Sorry, you know what this kinda thing looks like from the outside.
“Understood.” He holstered the gun and relaxed a bit, but not very much. “So, do we have a deal, Ms. Flakes?”
She turned to the group behind her and raised an inquiring eyebrow.
“Sure, yeah.”
“Ah’m fine with it ‘f ya’ll are.”
“Go for it!”
“Sounds good to me.”
Mint Flakes turned back to the blue unicorn, a grin on her face. “Sounds like we do.” She proffered her non-crystal foreleg.
Sapphire Blade returned the grin and shook the outstretched hoof. “Welcome to the Knights of the Wasteland, Mint Flakes.”
It was coming together. It was doing so slowly, but it was coming together. Sapphire Blade examined the large map on the front wall of the newly-built command center carefully. Telekinetically, he carefully removed two pushpins - a red one and a grey one - and replaced them both with blue ones.
“New Fillydelphia and Everfree Waystation. Ours.”
The fruits of the past few months’ labor were finally starting to show-as of now, the Knights of the Wasteland numbered 87 members and counting, and the red raider-controlled holdings and gray neutral ones on the map were gradually ceding to blue Knight-protected ones. He had even begun to tie blue pieces of string between the pushpins – trade routes, allowing goods to flow between previously isolated towns. Recruit by recruit, meeting by meeting, headache by headache, the new Equestria was emerging from the post-apocalyptic murk.
“Report from Hoofington for you.” The sound of the pegasus lieutenant’s voice jolted him out of his reverie.
“Hm? Oh, yes, just, uh, leave it on the desk. Thank you, Ms. Flakes.”
“No problem, sir.” A quick salute, and she was gone again.
“Sir,” he mumbled to himself. He wondered if he’d ever get used to that. It was going to take a little while to get used to being a leader rather than a fighter. He hadn’t been in an actual gunfight in over two months-always other things to worry about, with a growing army to worry about. Not to mention the growing opposition that came with it – Sapphire Blade didn’t even want to know how high the price on his head was at this point. He had to coordinate their efforts to establish a new Manehattan trade route, Apple Bloom was across the compound supervising construction for another new set of barracks, and Charred Talon was off in the west somewhere coordinating troop movements.
Part of him missed the “good ol’ days”, he supposed, but the rest of him was getting along with command quite nicely. Leading troops, giving a speech or two, coordinating strategies and goals and tactics (with some help from Apple Bloom): it all came very…naturally. More naturally than anything else ever had. Perhaps that was what the deal was with his cutie mark? He’d never really understood it, as his one attempt at swordplay as a foal had ended very poorly for all involved. If his special talent was leadership, why a cutlass instead of a megaphone or a podium?
“I’m meandering again,” he realized. Cutie marks were of little importance; he had a growing military force to attend to. Sapphire Blade opened the report that had been left on his desk and smiled widely.
Another gray one out, another blue one in.
Sapphire Blade gazed at the wound with dumbstruck shock, his mind still trying to piece itself together after what had just happened. It wasn’t a severe wound, by any means, just a single puncture wound on his flank. Not deep, nowhere near any vital arteries, certainly not lethal. He’d given and received far more gruesome injuries. No, the true pain and shock came, not from the wound itself, but from its giver.
The handcuffed black griffin sat silent and stalwart as ever on a wooden chair, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
“Why.” Sapphire Blade Said, his voice barely more than a hoarse whisper. “Dear Luna, why…”
“I don’ honestly know,” Apple Bloom all but yelled, storming into the small room where Sapphire Blade lay, “but I’m guessin’ it prob’ly has somethin’ ta do with these.” She slammed down a few pieces of torn, dirty paper on the room’s single steel table. “Found ‘em with that backstabbin’ two-faced piece of filth’s belongin’s.”
“2000 BITS FOR THE HEAD OF SAPPHIRE BLADE,” the poster announced, the words perching above a discolored picture of him and the insignia of a well-known southern warlord. A similar poster for Apple Bloom was underneath.
So that was what their friendship had been worth, then. 2000 bits. He turned towards Charred Talon, a deep disgust filling him. The griffin didn’t even look guilty, his face not showing a hint of distress at being caught, and that somehow made it even worse.
“Had any of it been real?” he wondered. How long had he been planning this? Days? Weeks? Months? Had this been a spur-of-the-moment decision prompted by the increase of the price on his head? Or had the griffin been planning to sell him out since the beginning? The battles they’d fought, the countless jokes and stories they’d swapped around the campfire, the times they’d saved each other’s lives, the embraces they’d shared: had it all been part of an elaborate façade?
“Were you ever my friend?” Sapphire Blade spat, limping up to where Charred Talon sat. If the traitor held any answers, he wasn’t giving them up; he was silent and impassive as ever.
“Did any of it mean anything at all to you?!” he said, pressing his muzzle to the griffin’s beak. Silence.
“DAMN IT, ANSWER ME!!” he practically screamed, grabbing Charred Talon by the throat. Sapphire Blade wanted to choke him, to make him pay, to see the breath leave him, to see the light go out in his eyes-
“Blade!”
Apple Bloom’s voice jerked him back to his senses. He looked down at what he was doing and slowly removed his hooves, turning away from his former friend. He couldn’t stand to look on the traitor’s face another second.
“Should we take him down to the dungeons, sir?” one of the guardstallions asked.
“No.” Sapphire Blade’s voice was cold and hollow. “He’s a sellsword under unofficial hire of a raider warlord, and an attempted murderer. We treat him no differently from any other enemy agent.”
He closed his eyes and sighed.
“See that he is executed.”
“Yes, sir.”
The blue unicorn could feel the griffin’s eyes on the back of his head as he was escorted from the room. He felt a pang in his stomach as he realized he would never see Charred Talon alive again, but reason quickly swooped in to dull it. The griffin was a traitor. A raider. An opportunist willing to sell his “friend’s” life for a quick bit.
Apple Bloom gave him a sidelong glance. “Bit excessive, ain’t it? Talon woulda been just as harmless in a cell.”
“He’s no different from any other raider, Apple Bloom.”
He deserved no mercy.
Justice had no exceptions.
“Was…was this really necessary, Blade?”
Apple Bloom looked over the report with no small amount of dismay. The town of Shodcliff Port, an infamous hive of slavers, raiders and other assorted scum, had been destroyed. Utterly. The casualties report indicated that, of the town’s 332 permanent residents, 17 had survived.
315 ponies. 315 lives. Gone, burned, slaughtered in their homes.
“Yes. Shodcliff was a major hub for raiders and murderers. It was a serious threat to the well-being of the surrounding towns. Now that it’s gone, the entire region will be safer. I don’t like it any more than you do, but it was necessary for the good of New Equestria.”
He calmly removed a red pushpin from the map and dropped it in a jar with the rest of them.
“All them lives, though. Not everybody in that town was a raider, Blade. There were merchants an’ bakers an’ mothers with families in that town. An’ we just killed all but 17 of ‘em with no discrimination whatsoever, so pardon me if I sound a bit skeptical here. What happened ta “protectin’ the innocent” an’ all that? ‘Cuz I don’t think this is it.”
“I AM protecting the innocent, Apple Bloom.” He looked up at the banner on the east wall of the command center-two cutlasses, crossed behind the sun on a cobalt background. “I didn’t make this decision lightly. Everyone in that town knew exactly what was happening, and they let it happen anyway, living alongside killers and pillagers, pretending nothing was wrong so they could get on with their lives, not caring a fig for what happened outside their walls. Ponies who shelter murderers are no better than the murderers themselves, in my opinion.”
“An’ y’all decided ta enforce yer opinion with swords an’ guns? Why not evacuate the innocents first afore takin’ the city, instead o’ burnin’ the whole thing ta the ground?”
“There were no innocents in that city.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes narrowed. “Look, are ya still thinkin’ about Talon? Ya ain’t been the same since he turned on us, an’ I’m wonderin’ if-”
“That traitor had nothing to do with my decision,” he snapped. Sapphire Blade advanced on her, scowling. “I have been the leader of the Knights of the Wasteland for the better part of a year now, and in that time I have united a third of Equestria and established a peace that hasn’t been seen since before the war. I rather like to think I know what I’m talking about. I love you like a sister, Apple Bloom, and I value your input, but please don’t forget who the commander is here.”
“No need ta blow a fuse,” she replied, raising a hoof. “But…damn it, Blade, this just don’ feel right. An’ it definitely ain’t what they did in the old Equestria, I’ll tell ya that much.”
He sighed. “I know. But we can only ever get back to the way things were by steps. Ponies like those raiders, and anypony who assists them, have to be eliminated before we can ever have peace.”
“…Alright. If ya say so.”
But Apple Bloom still couldn’t get that image out of her head: 315 ponies, crying and screaming for help as they were butchered and burned by the good mares and stallions of the Knights of the Wasteland, sworn protectors of the innocent.
The charcoal-grey mare frowned as she pored over the document. The sum wasn’t really even that much – a pittance, really, considering the city’s rather full coffers – but it was the principle of the thing that really worried mayor Inkwell. The Knights had never asked for anything before, but now…
“A tax?”
“On all member cities, yes. The funds will be used to finance the Knights of the Wasteland’s continuing mission for protection of all innocent ponies in New Equestria, and ensure that the Knights protecting you have access to the best weapons and armor,” the blue-armored warrior rattled off, sounding as if she’d done this several times before.
“And…if we don’t pay?” the mayor ventured cautiously.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but the emerald-green mare’s crystal forehoof seemed to glint menacingly. “Then the Knights of the Wasteland will be forced to withdraw our protection from your city.”
“And wouldn’t the raiders just love that,” she thought. The raider bands, what few were left, had been especially voracious lately, striking at any chink in the Knights’ armor with overwhelming force, grabbing at the slightest sign of weakness like cornered animals. Refusing the Knights’ protection would practically be rolling out the red carpet for any local gangs.
Inkwell sighed and took her quill in her teeth. She didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, did she?
The green Knight took the signed tax agreement and placed it in one of her velvet blue saddlebags. “The first collector will come in one week, and once every week after that. Thank you for your cooperation, Mayor Inkwell.” The Knight strode officiously through the wooden door as if she owned it, leaving the charcoal mare alone in her office.
“Heroes,” she snorted, shaking her head. “Sellswords, more like.”
Sapphire Blade studied the little pool of amber before him. He had seen it filled with sadness, fear, joy, inquisitiveness, boredom – the whole spectrum. Yet, in two and a half years of traveling, adventuring, fighting, and arguing, no raider or warlord had ever filled it with quite as much loathing and rage as he saw now. And below it, there was something else as well, a very profound…disappointment.
“Apple Bloom, lower your hoof, please.” Slowly, trembling with barely contained anger, she complied, removing her hoof from his throat. “Thank you.” He motioned for the guards behind her to lower their spears and straightened up, smoothing out his commander’s uniform. “Now, what is the issue, exactly?”
“Oh, I think ya damn well know, Blade,” she said, tossing the piece of paper she’d had clenched in her hoof at him. Sapphire Blade caught the paper with his magic and flattened it out, reading over it. Ah. Yes. That. He’d hoped to explain this in a somewhat more…civilized manner, but, well, no chance of that now.
“Apple Bloom, I can ex-”
“Oh spare me the Celestia-damn morality lecture, Blade.” She pointed an accusing hoof in his face. “Ya murdered them, plain an’ simple. Ya murdered an entire Celestia-damned town, razed what was left, an’ then ya hunted down the damn survivors. Ya butchered MOTHERS an’ INFANTS, Blade, an’ for what? For the “crime” of refusin’ ta join yer glorious Celestia-Damned empire!!” She stopped, panting, quaking with anger.
Sapphire Blade sighed. He had expected something like this. “Let me ask you this, Apple Bloom: What would an innocent, law-abiding town have to fear in joining? Why would they refuse the protection of the most powerful military force in New Equestria if they had nothing to hide? Would you rather I wait until the traitors make themselves publicly known and begin the raiding and slaughtering? They represented a potential threat to New Equestria, so I fulfilled my duty as protectorate and eliminated them.”
Apple Bloom sat down, slowly shaking her head, face in hooves. “No…no…no…no, ya can’t be serious, I can’t be actually hearin’ this…” She looked up, tears of rage and distress in her eyes. “Why didn’t they want ta join? I dunno, Blade, maybe they didn’t feel like payin’ taxes ta an army that makes a business outta slaughterin’ fillies in th’ street an’ callin’ it ‘defense of the innocent’! Maybe they didn’t want anythin’ ta do with a damn tyrant who orders wholesale murder from his cushy command center an’ sleeps easy at night thinkin’ he’s a Celestia-damn hero! Is this all ponies are ta y’all now?” she said, gesturing at the lavish command center and the large map that comprised its front wall. “A bunch o’ colored pushpins on yer damn map an’ statistics on yer damn reports? What the holy horsefeathered Celestia-damn hell HAPPENED, Blade?”
Sapphire Blade had ceased listening to her tirade at this point. “I don’t have the time or patience to justify my every move to your satisfaction. I made my decision, and I will not apologize for acting in defense of new Equestria. And I don’t take kindly to ponies who would defend murderers, Apple Bloom.”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure them foals an’ fillies were jus’ itchin’ ta murder some ponies. What was I thinkin’ questionin’ the almighty wisdom of th’ great Lord Protectorate?” Apple Bloom could do nothing but shake her head. “I thought ya’ll were better than this, Sapphire Blade. I really did. Guess them high n’ mighty morals o’ yers ain’t so rock-solid when ya’ll’ve got a taste o’ power, huh?”
He was really getting quite sick of this. “Oh, great, now my right-hand pony is going to lecture me on my morality. What’s next, a song-and dance number about how much I suck and a friendship lesson?” Even as the words left his mouth, he winced. That was perhaps a bit much.
Apple Bloom reeled as if she’d been hit, tears filling her working eye as grief, then cold anger crossed her features. She tore the silver sun-and-cutlasses badge – the symbol of her position as second-in-command – and slammed it down on the table.
“Fuck you,” she said, turning towards the door.
“Wait, Apple Bloom, I didn’t-”
“Go screw yerself, Blade. Have fun with yer damn empire, I’m leaving at first light.”
“No, please-” The door slammed, and he was alone in the command center with two very nonplussed-looking guards.
He sat heavily in his chair. He would need a new second in command. And a new copy of that report. But Sapphire Blade was thinking about neither of those things. Only one thought hung over him, jet-black as a thundercloud.
He stood up from the chair, hard determination on his face.
“I have been betrayed. Again.”
Apple Bloom slept fitfully, tossing and turning under the blankets every few minutes and constantly muttering something under her breath.
“You don’t have to do this.”
He gulped and adjusted his magic’s shaky grip on the ornate knife.
“Yes, I do.”
As he stood over the bed, a dozen rationalizations rushed through his head: she was a threat, she held confidential information about the Knights, she might decide to take revenge on him, she might try to incite a rebellion among the troops, she could mass an army to threaten his own. But none of them urged him to action. And so he stood over her bed, sweating, a knife clutched in his grip.
It would be so easy. A single downward motion, and the threat would be eliminated. The body wouldn’t be difficult to dispose of. Any blood could be cleaned up.
Just one downward motion…
He slowly lowered the blade to her throat, the steel just an inch or two from her jugular.
Just one. Little. Slip.
The knife shook even more violently. He couldn’t do it. The memories, the victories, the friendship; they were like an invisible barrier between her and the blade. If it wasn’t for Apple Bloom, he wouldn’t be alive, he would have been butchered by raiders that night two years ago. How could he kill her, after all of that?
He pulled the knife away and swore under his breath, trying to rebuild his resolve. This was for the good of Equestria. Personal relationships did not – could not – factor into this. He took a deep breath.
“For the good of Equestria. For the good of Equestria. For the good of Equestria.” Sapphire Blade inched the knife closer and closer, until the steel bit into her throat, drawing a trickle of red. He blinked away the moisture in his eyes. He had to finish this.
Apple Bloom’s eye opened just a crack, blearily taking in the scene above her.
“Blade…?”
He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Apple Bloom.”
The blade jerked downward.
“Well, we’ll just raise the protection tax again then.”
“I’m afraid that isn’t really an option, sir.”
Sapphire Blade put his face in his hooves. The rest of the advisory staff seated around the long table shifted uncomfortably in their seats – the Protectorate had an infamously short temper, and a bad mood from him could mean their jobs.
“Would you care to tell me why?”
“The governors are already complaining about the current tax. Raising it further is likely to prompt secession when they learn that our own soldiers are threatening rebellion,” the gold-colored stallion explained. “We need to find an alternative source of income for the army, and quickly. We’ll likely have a full military revolt on our hands if their paychecks go unpaid another week.”
Sapphire Blade sighed. “Are you telling me that we are completely out of money, treasurer?”
“Wholesale murder c’n get real expensive, yeah.”
Sapphire Blade sat straight up. “Which one of you said that?” He looked around at the table. “Did any of you speak just now?”
“N-no, sir…” a frightened-looking violet pegasus mare said.
His eye twitched. “My apologies, I’ve had very little sleep these past few weeks. Treasurer, continue.”
The stallion gulped and adjusted his glasses “Er, of course. As I said, we need another source of income. Our coffers can only last a few more weeks unless we drastically reduce our forces.”
“Unnaceptable.”
“Can’t be havin’ that, now can we?”
He did his best to ignore the voice. “So, any ideas for a way to make money? Anyone? Anyone at all?”
Silence. Then:
“Sir?”
“Yes, Commander Flakes?”
“If I may, I do have one idea…”
Sapphire Blade looked up at the refinery and smiled broadly. For now it was dormant, a sleeping steel giant, but soon enough it would run again, processing metals from the newly reopened mine nearby, creating precious materials for New Equestria’s fledgling industry. At one time, this factory was the largest producer of rare metals in all of Equestria, a beacon of industry and production. One would be hard-pressed to find a finer symbol of the return to Equestria’s golden age than its official reopening.
The plan was rather foolproof on every level-workers would be drafted from the surrounding towns and villages to work the mines and factories, metals would be produced and sold to the buying public, and the funds would be used to feed and fund the Equestrian Knights.
“So how low’s the minimum age fer this draft o’ yers gonna be, anyway?”
Nothing.
“Low enough fer some lucky foals an’ fillies ta get their cutie marks in backbreakin’ labor, ya reckon?”
Could.
“Assumin’ they live long enough ta get ‘em, o’ course. I mean, them mines were condemned fer a reason, ya know.”
Be.
“But, hey, ‘s all fer the good of Equestria, right?”
Smoother.
“Sir?”
Sapphire Blade blinked and turned to where Mint Flakes stood. “Yes, commander?”
“You were staring off into space, muttering to yourself. Are you alright?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Just…thinking. Is all.” He looked back up at the refinery, the noonday sun glinting off its metal. “I must thank you for your inventive thinking, commander. You may have just saved this army with your idea.”
“Just doing my duty, sir.”
The commander turned and began the walk back to the airship, and Sapphire Blade followed. She had been a good choice for second-in-command; loyal, intelligent, devoted, unafraid to speak her mind…
“Wonder how long it’ll be afore she ends up with a knife in her neck.”
His eye twitched.
“Sir, we just can’t expand our territory this far, this fast. We don’t have the resources.”
“Raiders are killing ponies and sowing rebellion as we speak. I want the northern territories stabilized, and I’m not going to wait three years to do it.”
“I know, sir, I know, but…it simply won’t work, sir. Not without leaving many of our critical cities vulnerable,” the zebra mare pleaded, exasperation in her voice.
“Then MAKE it work, Zela, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE ON THIS COUNCIL.”
“Aw, c’mon now, no need fer th’ lil’ tyrant ta throw a temper tantrum cuz’ he can’t get what he wants.”
“And you can shut up!” Sapphire Blade said, a little louder than he’d meant to.
The council chamber went quiet. The zebra mare cowered in her seat. “Er, who can shut up, sir?” a teal earth pony advisor asked. Or was it that magenta one? Fuck, it didn’t even matter.
“Nobody! Nobody…just…”
“He’d be referrin’ ta me, I think.”
“NO! I-you…no…ugh…Luna damn it…”
He buried his face in his hooves. There was awkward silence for several minutes.
“I…need…those northern territories. Innocent ponies are dying. We can’t let them. Can’t…let them…die.” he muttered. For a moment, it almost seemed as if he’d gone to sleep, so it gave the council members quite a start when he sat straight up and pounded both hooves on the table. “SO DO ANY OF YOU HAVE EVEN AN INKLING OF AN IDEA OF WHAT I NEED TO DO TO GET THEM?!” he roared.
“W-we would n-need more r-resources, sir,” the gold-colored financial advisor stammered, “both in manp-power and capital.”
More resources. Always more resources. The mines weren’t enough, the taxes weren’t enough, the farms weren’t enough, the factories weren’t enough. There was never enough, it seemed. What else was left him?
“There’s always that one way. The one even ya’ll wouldn’ touch. But now ya will, won’tcha? Yer gonna make yerself a hypocrite. Fer the good of Equestria.”
Of course. That. He raised his shaking hooves to his forehead, trying to clear his head. But he couldn’t do that. Something, anything else he would do, and gladly. But not that. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, do that, not after all of this, after all he’d built and tried to protect, after all the hundreds of slavers he’d ordered publicly executed.
He could find the money elsewhere; there were many different avenues of profit, many ways to fund a nation. He wouldn’t have to resort to that. He’d get the resources, he’d liberate the north, and everything would be fine.
He smiled brokenly, and the advisors exchanged worried looks.
Everything would be fine.
“They’ll be well cared for?”
“Of course, of course.”
“Fed? Watered? Given humane living conditions?”
“Yes, yes, yes. Much yes. You worry much, Mr. Blade. Relax yourself, hm? Is never good making business wit ze stress.”
The giraffe smiled, showing off an impressive collection of gold teeth. Sapphire Blade did not return the favor. He wanted to simply finish this ugly business as quickly as possible, and he had neither time nor patience for this slaver’s japes.
“I want to make this very, very clear, Jolrin. I do not want to see a hair on these ponies’ heads harmed, or I will personally see to it that your head is chopped off in New Canterlot Square. Am I understood?
“Yes, yes, of course. Do not be worrying, my friend.”
Jolrin looked up at the eight cages stacked above him with a knowing, satisfied smile. Each spotless steel receptacle contained a single pony-some angry, some scared, some resigned and broken-looking.
“I have been in zis business very long time, Mr. Blade. I know zat you must treat ze slave well. Ozerwise he is unruly, and he will not do ze work. And zen what is ze point of ze whole business, ah? Your worries, stow zem away and forget zem, for we are making good business today.”
“I have no time for this, giraffe. Do you have the amount we agreed on or not?” Sapphire Blade snapped.
“Ahhh, right to ze point of ze matter, hm? Zat is good, I like zat in a pony. Well, let it never be said that Jolrin does not keep his deals!” He pulled a bulging leather pouch from somewhere in his gaudy gold-rimmed coat. “Here you are, my good pony.”
He snatched the bag and opened it carefully, counting the bits within. All there. 4000 bits, in various denominations.
“Don’ seem like much for eight pony lives, does it?”
“It’s plenty.” Sapphire Blade muttered.
“Hm? Ah, yes, yes of course it is, my little pony friend. Jolrin always pays good price! Why, good slave is worth their weight i-”
“Shut up.”
Sapphire Blade marched back to the airship in silence, bits in hoof. He spared one look back at the cages where the captured ponies sat. They were raiders and dissenters, each and every one of them. They would have been executed; now they faced only a life of hard labor. It was a kinder fate than they deserved. He was practically their savior.
“Ready to depart, sir?” Mint Flakes called from the airship deck.
“Yes.”
The ride was long, cold and miserable. Sapphire Blade stayed above deck the whole time, scowling darkly at the ground below.
“Toldja, didn’t I? From freein’ slaves ta sellin’ ‘em. My, how th’ mighty have fallen.”
He growled, deep in his throat.
“Uh, sir?” Mint Flakes called from the hatch leading belowdecks. “Is…is everything alright?”
“Defender of th’ innocent, indeed.”
Sapphire Blade stared down at his empire below, trying unsuccessfully to drown out the doubts in his head.
“Just peachy.”
Sapphire Blade tore the crescent-shaped logo printed on the leaflet in half, dropping the pieces into the Command Center’s wastebasket with a grumble.
“’Hooves of Luna’. Hmph.” Raiders with a hero complex-now he’d seen everything. Alas, if only they were as easy to deal with as their stupid little emblem. The four-pony group had managed to stay hidden thus far, only revealing themselves to strike at isolated work camps and trade caravans. Airship patrols had been scouring the woods for some sign of a headquarters, but there had been no luck thus far. He suspected that the locals had been sheltering them-once this incident was over with, he needed to remember to increase the severity of their disciplinary protocols. For now though, he needed a way to deal with this insurrection. Brute strength was unlikely to work-too many places to hide, too many crannies for them to squirm into. Some kind of lure was needed to catch them in the open.
“Commander Flakes.”
“Yes, sir?” she responded, dutifully as ever.
“I need you to find an old building, something remote, and have a crew rig it with explosives. Have slaves and a few guards put there, make it look like an actual holding center, and see that its existence is made public. When these “Hooves of Luna” show up, have the building detonated.”
The green pegasus looked slightly taken aback. “Er, what…what of the guards, sir?”
“Necessary losses,” Sapphire Blade replied dismissively.
“…”
“Is something the matter, Commander?”
“N-no, sir. I’ll get right on that.”
She trotted over to the communications array and began sending the necessary messages, spinning and activating the many multicolored crystals.
Sapphire Blade returned his attention to the reports, brow furrowed in anger. Three slave compounds and four caravans attacked in the past month; well, he supposed he knew who to blame now.
“Reminds ya of the good ol’ days, don’ it? Stayin’ hidden in the wilds, takin’ on slaver an’ raider compounds, freein’ ponies from tyrants an’ warlords…”
“DAMN IT, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” he screamed, much to the alarm of the other officers in the Command Center. He collapsed to his knees, her mocking voice still ringing in his ears.
“Sir!”
The commander helped him to his hooves with a crystalline foreleg. “Sir, I know you haven’t slept in three days, and you are obviously under a lot of stress. Perhaps it would be best if-”
“I. Am. FINE,” Sapphire Blade hissed, shoving her away. “Go do as you were instructed! NOW, COMMANDER!”
“Y-yes, sir,” Mint Flakes stammered, hurrying back to the communications array.
He whirled to face the rest of the whispering, pointing ponies in the Command Center. “The same to all of you! You have your orders, so work.” They did so, engrossing themselves in their tasks, not daring to make eye contact. Sapphire Blade stomped back to the desk and slumped into his chair.
Catching sight of the Hooves of Luna poster in the wastebasket, he picked it up and spent the better part of an hour tearing it into bits, until nothing but the tiniest pieces were left.
“You called for me, Protectorate?”
“Yes. Thank you Commander. I wish to have a chat.”
Sapphire Blade seemed curiously calm-serene, almost. Perhaps this was a good sign, but Mint Flakes just found it disconcerting. The white oval-shaped room was meant for entertaining important guests-he had no idea what the Protectorate would want with her here.
“Come, commander, have some water,” he offered, proffering her an ornate glass. She sipped a bit, but was too nervous to drink any more.
“What is going on with him?” she wondered. “So, what did you need me for, sir?”
“Well, Commander, I’ve noticed some rather…unusual happenings as of late.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Like what, sir?”
“Oh, you know. Small things. Details.” He pulled out a sheaf of papers and began laying them down on the central, oval-shaped table. “Irregular troop movements. Changes in the command chain. Unusual behavior from the governors. Restlessness from the western raider groups. That kind of thing. Little minutiae that most ponies would never think to connect.” He turned and fixed her with that odd smile. “But I connected them, Mint Flakes.”
“What…what do you mean, sir?” The green pegasus blinked twice. The unicorn’s words seemed difficult to hold on to, for some reason.
“I connected them, and they all led back to one thing. One pony, actually.”
“S…Sir…?” His words had a sort of…fuzziness to them, impossible to focus on. She found herself idly considering one of the syllables.
“Did you really think you would get away with it, commander? Did you think me so stupid? I know enough to smell a traitor, Ms. Flakes. I can tell when somepony is plotting against me.”
“I don…don’t know what…you’re…tal…king about, s-sir…I would…nev…nev..er…” Mint Flakes felt incredibly dizzy all of a sudden. Why was she so dizzy? She hadn’t been spinning around recently, not since she was a little filly. Some kind of delayed response, perhaps? Did dizziness work that way? Before she could think about it too hard, the floor suddenly pitched sideways, dumping her unceremoniously on the floor.
“Did you know, commander, that there is a type of fruit that grows only on a single island in the western ocean? It’s perfectly edible – and, may I add, quite delicious – in its natural state, but the island’s local zebra populace have perfected a way to distill a type of poison from its juice.”
“S…s…si…sir…” She wasn’t sure if her words would reach; the blue unicorn seemed to be standing at the end of a tunnel, long and dark. She could barely make out his words as they echoed down the passage, warped and distorted.
Sapphire Blade held up Mint Flakes’s still near-full glass. “Colorless. Tasteless. Odorless. It attacks the brain, and leaves no trace in the body once it has finished its work. Only takes a few minutes. Really quite amazing, isn’t it?”
“…s…” The end of the tunnel was nothing but a blurry pinprick now-all else was shadow and confusion. If only she could crawl back to the white oval room…she tried, but her legs had turned to blocks of lead, dragging her deeper, ever deeper.
Sapphire Blade bent down to where she lay twitching and convulsing, and whispered in her ear. “I will not be betrayed, Mint Flakes. You would have done well to remember that.”
“…” She gave one last desperate grab for the light, but it was too late, too far. The pinprick disappeared, and everything was black.
Sapphire Blade looked over the body with detached disgust. Once she had spasmed her last, he drew the two weapons from the hidden compartment where he’d stored them-a dagger resembling Mint Flakes’s, and his own personal sword. Taking the dagger, he drove the blade into his flank, taking care to avoid any vital arteries. It stung, sure, but he’d felt worse. Once the dagger was bloodied, he tenderly levitated it into his former Commander’s outstretched hoof. He then took the blue metal sword and drove it into her corpse-a clean puncture, straight through the heart.
“Guard,” the unicorn called.
The gray earth pony soldier he’d stationed outside opened the door, and immediately blanched at the gruesome sight spread before him. “S-sir?!”
“This pony just attempted to assassinate me,” Sapphire Blade said calmly. “I acted in self-defense, and she was killed in the struggle.” He turned his head slowly. “If any sequence of events other than the one I just described is related to anypony, it will be your head. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“Good. Go fetch the medics.”
The soldier left in a hurry, and the room was once again empty. Nopony but him and the traitor. Sapphire Blade smiled at nothing in particular.
“Nothing to say? No comments? Nothing at all?”
The room was silent.
He let out a joyful, childlike laugh, reveling in a giddiness he hadn’t felt in years.
Sapphire Blade opened his eyes slowly. He decided to simply lay there for a few minutes-the bed was just too comfortable to get up right away. After a bit, he stretched and clambered out from under the rich cobalt-blue sheets, taking care not to disturb the sleeping zebra mare lying next to him. She had been a good one-perhaps he’d purchase her for his personal use. He looked over to the midmorning sunbeams pouring in from the window and sighed. The day could not be held off forever, he supposed.
Yawning his way from the bedside, he began his morning routine: breakfast, shower, grooming, coffee. Sapphire Blade was preparing to take a uniform from the closet when he noticed something unusual. Tucked behind the few boxes in the back of the small closet was a small leather pouch, worn with age. He sighed-he was sure the servants had cleared out all of this old junk. Good help was simply hard to find, it seemed. The unicorn pulled open the pouch to confirm its contents before he tossed it. A look of profound confusion spread across his face.
“Seeds…?”
Not just any seeds, he realized. Zapapple seeds.
Never planted. Never restored.
Sapphire Blade blinked and dropped the pouch, the seeds spilling all across the carpet.
“Mmmmhhhh…” the slavegirl was stirring in bed, but Sapphire Blade barely registered it.
“Seeds…” he muttered, stumbling out onto the balcony. He reflexively put up a hoof, shielding himself from the light. The city was a marvelous sight to behold, as it was every morning. Gleaming walls, towers and palaces stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. Airships chugged across the sky, transporting shipments of weapons, food, and soldiers. Throngs of slaves labored in the streets below, laboring away on some monument or statue. Countless ponies coursed through the streets like so many ants, going about their daily business under the watchful eye of the Knights of the Wasteland, protectors of the innocent and wardens of New Equestria. Their insignia hung everywhere, on banners in front of every building, on flags atop every cathedral and tower.
It was everything he had ever wanted, everything he had worked for. The New Equestria.
“New Equestria…” Sapphire Blade mumbled.
For an instant, it was all stripped away. The justifications, the excuses, layers upon layers of Wasteland -given armor; it all vanished, and the naïve colt who hopped off that airship half a decade ago peered up through the years, and looked aghast upon the future he had created.
“Oh…oh holy mother of Luna…”
He slowly walked to the balcony railing, looking down on the vista below. So many slaves. So many soldiers. So much blood.
“So much blood…” he thought. More than could ever be washed away.
“…Sweetie?” the zebra called from the bedroom.
“Luna forgive me.”
Sapphire Blade closed his eyes, and jumped.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion, the colors lazily drifting by as he fell.
It was a beautiful day, Sapphire Blade thought idly. Blue skies. Few puffy clouds. Nice warm breeze. He could even hear a bird singing from a distant building.
He looked down at the citadel grounds below. One of the troop contingents was drilling as it turned out, practicing marching formations right below the balcony, the steel tips of their long spears glinting brilliantly in the morning sun.
“Impaled on a raider’s spear,” he thought.
There was a flash of pain, and then everything was black.
