Over the Hills and Far Away

Chapter 1

A dark blue colt hid in the dark alleys of Manehattan, trying to lessen his appearance as he hid behind a large trash bin. The sound of hooves could be heard echoing near the alley, as the sound dominated over the sound of rain pouring down the city. As he hunkered behind the bin, the colt could feel droplets of water falling on top of his head, irritating him. But he did not let the irritation overtake him, as he knew that any small movement could give away his position. The sound of hooves grew louder, as shouts started to echo along with it. Peaking on the edge of the bin, the colt managed to catch a small glance at the rushing ponies. There were three of them, two of which were members of the local constabulary, with their whistles and blue hats, while the other was a fat unicorn who wore a baker’s hat and apron. The unicorn was flustered and tired, as he tried to keep up with the other two, but anger and irritation was still plastered on his face as he screamed:

“How could we have lost him? You to idiots can’t even catch a mischievous colt. When I meet your superior, I am going to give him a long complaint about you two!”

He watched as the three ponies galloped out of his field of view and away from him. Snickering to himself, the colt relaxed his tense muscles as he gave a sigh of relief. All that running and dashing has taken a toll in his muscles and he took a sit to give them some rest. Although some would consider this place an unhygienic place to rest, for a young pony like him, who has lived most of his life in the dirtiest places of the city, this alley was like a living room.

Despite the ragged and indecent look of places like this, to him it was home. Seeing that there was no place that he could actually call home, anyplace that would provide shelter and protection from the harshness of life was home enough for him, no matter what it looked like.

But what did a real home feel like? The thought always made him wonder, wonder about the feeling of having a real home and not a make shift canvass roof, handing from some wires or on anything he can put it on. Maybe a real home would be nice, with warm food and a bed.

But in his state, getting a place like that would be impossible.

He could always go back to the orphanage…

‘No, enough of that place!’ He thought, as he shook his head. The orphanage has done nothing to him but order him around. They would tell him to roam the streets, beg for money, only for them to take it in the end of the day. If those bits he begged for were left to him, then he might just be able to buy a real home. But that wasn’t the case, as everyday they were sent out to beg for money only to have it taken. This repeated injustice was the reason he left in the first place and he wasn’t going to give them the privilege of seeing him crawl back to them, begging for a place to stay.

Besides, he doubt it if they would accept him anymore. He was almost eighteen, almost real stallion. After one more year, he would be called an adult and adults weren’t allowed to stay in orphanages unless they would work there. He could try to apply for a job there, but he tried to avoid the place as much as possible. That was a place of maltreatment and he didn’t want to be associated with them.

The sound of grumbling distracted him from the thoughts of home and the orphanage, as his stomach complained about the lack of food inside it. It has almost been two days since he last ate, so it had all the right to grumble and complain. With his way of life, getting three square meals a day was an impossible task. He would have been lucky to get three meals a week, let alone a day.

But a confident grin grew on his face, as he patted his stomach to ease its complaints. Shifting from his position, he brought his right hoof under his left wing to pull out a brownie that was safely tucked in his wing. Sure he would have to bear the slight annoyance of having sticky feathers, but he knew that it was worth the small discomfort.

Looking at the brownie at his hooves, he couldn’t help but admire his prize. To be able to snatch and run from the bakery to hear was quite a task for his weak body, but it was a task that was well rewarded.

Sure, he knew that stilling was bad. But who could blame him? He was a poor pony who had nothing to eat, while the owner of the shop was a fat baker who could feast on his creations. Besides, it was only one brownie out of the hundreds out there. The baker would not lose a profit from one brownie.

His mouth watered at the thought of consuming the pastry. He could only imagine the sweet flavors that would fall upon his tongue once he took a bite.

Not wasting another second, he moved the brownie closer to his mouth. With eyes closed in anticipation, he prepared to take a big bite and enjoy his hard earned brownie. He closed his mouth, biting down in hopes of cutting a big chunk into his mouth. But this great surprise, he bit on nothing but air.

Quickly opening his eyes in a alarm, he was shocked to see that the brownie was gone from hos hoof. It just disappeared, without even giving him a chance to take a bite. How could this happen? Why was life teasing him all the time?

He looked on the ground, trying to see if it fell, but found nothing. It just disappeared and was lost from him forever, leaving his stomach empty and angry.

Then, the sound of wings flapping and a loud squawk caught his attention, as he looked behind him to see a large white bird flying away from the alley. Normally, there would be nothing odd about it, since birds were common in Manhattan. But as he squint his eyes, trying to get a clearer view of the bird, he saw that the bird was carrying his brownie in its claws. The cheeky bird was stilling his brownie! The very brownie that he risked his life to steal!

“Hey!” He shouted at the bird, as he began to move out to chase it. “Come back, that’s mine!”

He burst out the alley, sliding on the sidewalk before moving forward to give chase to the flying bird. His hooves brought him to a quick pace, as they forgot the fatigue that overcame them only moments earlier. The adrenaline was being pumped in his blood, as hunger and weariness was pushed off by determination. His body worked double-time, just to be able to catch the bird and retrieve the pastry.

Once in a while, he would try to jump and swat the bird, in hopes of bringing it down. His hoof usually missed the bird, as it continued to fly farther and farther from him. The process of swatting the bird down proved to be too tiring and he soon gave up on it.

“You’re lucky that I can’t fly…” He grumbled to himself. “…if I could, then you would one dead bird.”

It was another sad truth in his life, the fact that he could not fly. From what he was told in the orphanage, the cause of the problem was a complication during birth. Something to do with muscles and nerves, but he didn’t care much about the scientific details.

The main point was, he would never be able to fly under his own wing power. This was a devastating problem, seeing that a flightless pegasus was basically a useless pegasus. Most jobs that need pegasi usually involved flight and the need to go high. He could always try ground based jobs, but most of those jobs were difficult if you didn’t have unicorn magic or earth pony strength. Without flight, magic, great strength, or the gift of taming the ground, the list of future jobs for him was narrow.

To odd more problems to the situation, his disability was often the center piece of mockery, as the other foals in the orphanage would mock him. They would often say that the main reason his mother left him there was because he couldn’t fly.

This would often lead to fights that he sometimes won and sometimes lost. The win and lose ration usually drifted towards him losing all the time. Basically, his young life was filled with anger and pain, both literally and emotionally.

He wasn’t the best fighter in the world, but at least he was learning. Those experiences in the orphanage helped him learn how to fight bigger enemies. Although it was painful and left a lot of bruises and scars, it was a valuable lesson that might help him a lot, epically in the slums where there is no law.

In the slums, the fight for survival becomes so desperate that attacking a fellow pony was common. With no ability to get away fast, when the fighting became intense, he had no choice but to fight it out. So far he has not encountered a fight with the bigger ponies in the slums, which he considered as a piece of luck that he owed to the universe.

Maybe the universe was taking back the debt he owed them, as they denied him of the small meal that he wanted.

He kept his eyes on the bird, as it flew above him, mocking him. He wasn’t going to let go of this bird till he’s able to catch it and get what was stolen from him. He followed the bird to wherever it went, not caring where it brought him. He was too determined on catching the bird.

So determined that he didn’t notice the large crowd that was gathering in front of him, with ponies flocking around towards one corner of the area. He didn’t turn his gaze away from the bird as it brought him closer and closer to them.

He remained oblivious to the crowd till it was too late. With great momentum his muzzle bumped onto the side of a large stallion that was standing on the side of the crowd. The impact was more painful for him than for the stallion, as the large male pony was stuffed with muscles and meat.

The impact almost crushed his muzzle, as he was thrown backwards. Like a ball thrown on a wall, he bounced back and fell on the ground. He lay there, rubbing his nose as he looked up to see the stallion staring down at him, with an annoyed look plastered on his face.

“Watch where you’re going.” The stallion growled with his deep voice.

Seeing how tall and bulky the stallion was, he knew that a fight would him would not end well. The best thing he could do was apologize and hopped that the stallion wasn’t too angry at him. With a sheepish look on his face, he gave a nervous apology.

“Sorry…” He said, closing his eyes and hoping for the best.

When he felt nothing impacting him, he opened his eyes and heard the stallion make a grunt before looking away from him. With a sigh of relief, he stood up and looked up towards the sky.

By now, the bird was gone, flying away with its prize in between its claws. With great irritation, he slammed his hoof on the ground. ‘There goes today’s meal…’ He thought in defeat. Now he had to find another meal or starve to death.

As he stood there, thinking what he was to do, he began to notice the large amount of ponies gathering. They were forming up all around him and seemed to be looking at one direction as they pushed their way forward.

Despite the rain the was pouring down all of them, the ponies seemed excited with eager eyes. This made him curious as to why they were all gathering here. Was there another rally? Or maybe they were giving free food? If they were giving free food, then he wanted to be first in line.

His stomach was still demanding to be filled and he found no other way to fulfill its needs. If there was food, then his hunger would be satisfied. If there wasn’t, then at least his curiosity would be satisfied.

So with his smaller figure, he moved pass the large ponies, passing through small gaps and moving his way forward. It was a difficult task, going through tight fits as he pushed his way through the crowd. With the possibility of getting food, he made his way through till he found himself in the front row, looking at three misplaced ponies.

Misplaced because of the golden pieces of armor they wore.

For they wore the brightest pieces of armor that he ever saw. Despite the dark surrounding and gloomy feeling around them, the armor of the three ponies looked bright and cheerful. It was also the cleanness thing he has ever seen in his life, so clean that he could see his reflection on it. It was like a mirror, a mirror made out of metal.

Its bright golden color made the three stick out from the crowd, as the ponies gathered around the brightly cladded ponies. They stood in the middle of the circle, tall and proud, as they looked down on the ponies around them. They all wore the same golden armor, complete with all its pieces, from helmet to flank guard. They were clearly well suited and well-armed, as he noted the weapons they carried with them.

All of them had swords, sheathed in their scabbards, as it dangled on the side of their armor. Along with the swords was a spear, which one of them carried. The other one carried nothing else other than his sword, while the last one had a flag with him.

Looking at the flag, he could see that it was attached to a bronze pole, which had a golden alicorn figurine on the top tip. Looking towards the banner, he saw a large symbol of the sun, representing their Solar Princess, and some text written below it.

‘47th Royal Regiment’ It read.

Despite having little to almost no education, the ability to read was a simple task for him. During his stay in the orphanage, one of the kind soles, a colt that was slightly older than him, thought him how to read and write. The used to go to school when his parents were still alive. But when they died and he was thrown into the orphanage, he was forced to drop out, seeing that the orphanage wasn’t willing to pay for his education. What little he knew, he thought to him.

He was truly grateful for the gift of knowledge that was bestowed on him that he considered the older colt a friend. Sadly, that friend of his had to go when he was adopted years later, but the memory of the gift always stuck to him.

Now, as he stood there in front of the crowd, he started to use the knowledge given to him. Too bad there wasn’t much to read. Other than the unit name and insignia, there was no piece of material stating why they were there. All he knew what that they were military and the presence of military never was a good thing.

So his mind started to drift, wondering why they were gathered here. Where they here to arrest somepony? Was the city in the state of martial law? If so, why?

But all his questions were soon answered when one of the ponies stood on top of a wooden box and bellowed in a loud and clear voice.

“Citizens of Equestria, I see that you have all gathered here in curiosity as you wonder why we are here. So let me answer your questions and ease your worries.”

He scanned the crowd as he continued.

“Me and my comrades are here to endorse something. To give you an offer that I know is almost impossible to resist. We are here to look for volunteers. That’s right, volunteers. Now you may be wondering, volunteers for what?” He gave a short pause as some of them nodded. “Well volunteers for the army of course! Volunteers for the 47th Royal Regiment” He said, cheerfully, as if he expected the crowd to be as enthusiastic as him.

Of course some of them where enthusiastic at the offer, as they opened their ears to listen. But for the young stallion, the thought of the army was not exciting. To him, it was like the orphanage all over again. To be ordered and push around by older and stronger ponies. To be abused as your superiors throw insults at you. If he wanted to experience those things, then he might as well return to the orphanage.

But as he was about to turn back and trot away, one line from the recruiter caught his ears and made him stay.

“…riches as far as the eye can see.”

This made him turn back to face him, as he started to listen intently.

“There are a lot of far of places that hold great treasures and the army allows everypony, that’s right, everpony, to have a share on those riches. Any unit that stumbles upon gold would have them equally distributed to every member of the unit, from officers to the regular soldier. By the time you are over with your duty, you would end up as a rich pony. Now what do you say? To be able to gain glory as you serve under noble leaders. To be fed and have a roof over your head. The army would give your life something it would be missing, a home.”

Those words circulated in his head, as he began to think about the possibilities.

He would be fed and given a nice place to sleep. These two things alone sounded nice, but the fact that he could find riches and become rich is what sold the deal. He would find gold in the far off lands of this world and taken them. Add that with the pay he would getting, then it would mean he would be a well-paid pony by the end of his service. Joining the army sounded more like an adventure than a patritic cause. He imagined himself more as an explorer, instead of a soldier.

But joining the army might also be his only choice, seeing that it was also a job. A job that anypony can join, no matter what their background was. The army would accept him, despite his disability of not being able to fly. It would be easier to join the army and be accepted than to be able to find a job for a flightless pegasus.

Volunteering started to seem like a good choice. Sure the army would be worse than the orphanage, but at the same time it was better. He would get ordered around, but he would get paid for it. He would find money, but he would be able to keep it this time. Besides, he was too old for the orphanage.

But he was also too young for the army. At age seventeen, he was one year too short. The standard enlistment age was eighteen. He would be too young to join and would be rejected, all because he was one year younger.

But they don’t know that…

A mischievous idea formed in his head as he planned it all out. He would conceal his age and pretend to be eighteen. It wouldn’t be too difficult, seeing that it was only a one year gap. Besides, he looked eighteen anyways. With his lean figure, he usually looked older than he was supposed to be. It would be easy for him to pass off as an eighteen year old.

To add to the things that were in his favor, the recruiters were not taking papers of identification. They weren’t checking identification cards or birth certificates. Instead, they were just asking volunteers to sign their name. Nothing more than that.

So it was final. He was going to sign up and join. Go off and find riches and return with more money than he had when he left.

“Private Midnight Sky, 47th Royal Regiment… Hmmm…I like the sound of that.” He said, with a grin, as he trotted towards the line of volunteers.