Diary of a Lancer : Tune of Blades

"It seems that our family changed that day. Our relationships changed, but we were still family. When I see father walk out the front door into the unknown, I see a never shrinking hole form in my family..."

The atmosphere as they dined on their soggy veggies was sullen. Nopony spoke at the table. All of their faces were shadowed with sorrow, except Bud's. She looked at everypony's face and wondered in her simple mind what caused them to be like this.

Earlier when they came in, Rose Bud was ready to walk out the door with the crying foal in her hooves.

"What happened out there?" she asked. "I was about to investigate myself." She looked up to the facial expressions upon each of their faces. Quake was still staring forward, not minding Rose at all, Lilium was melancholy, head down and eyes closed, forcing tears out of her eyes, finally, Navin came in looking scared.

Rose Bud was greeted by his surprised green irises as he called on her. "Rose, I-"

"Okay, what'd I miss?" she asked in demand.

Navin tried to come up with a way to explain, but just wanted to wait til supper. "Nothing. Wait until dinner, okay?"

He trotted past her slowly, and she followed behind.

Here they were now eating, but none wanted to share what happened today with Rose Bud. Lilium quietly and gloomily fed Granite spoon-fulls of collared greens, and Quake can be heard breathing in and out repeatedly as he ate. Rose Bud, almost giving in to her thoughts, still pondered as to what caused her family this dismay.

Navin was at his worst, anger built up inside him. Why can't he decline the mission? Why can't he stay with us? His mind was filled with these thoughts. He twitched with anxiety and the desire to slap his dad in the face and call him an idiot.

Without feeling for his actions, he snapped and stomped his hoof on the table, almost tipping over the bowl of greens.

"This won't happen! I won't let it!" he shouted.

"It's too damn late, then," Quake thundered.

"Why are you so mad with me?"

"You know damn well why! You don't ever talk back to the mayor! Don't you know he has the power to execute you on the spot?"

Granite started crying and Lilium tried to soothe the foal by holding him in her hooves, constantly shushing him. Rose Bud began to fear the outcome of the argument. Her face was almost completely buried in her forearms.

"But why?" Navin asked quietly. "Why did you so foolishly come forward to this operation?"

"Why is it a big deal?" Quake shouted, silencing the room. He came closer to Navin, as he too stood up from his seat.

"You don't know what's out there. You are too stupid to-"

Quake whacked Navin in his face and he fell to the floor due to the forceful blow.

"Quake!!!" Lilium shouted at him. He traced towards Lilium, Granite, and poor Rose Bud, who was now sobbing as well. He lost all anger in his body. He realized the action that he took towards his son.

Navin pulled himself up, but remained on the cold floor. He felt a warm, wet sensation coming from his muzzle. He caressed it and felt warm blood drip onto his hoof. He gasped. His father laid a strong blow unto him.

Rose Bud sniffled, "Daddy, why'd you hit him? Does he have to bleed?" Bud galloped to her room before Quake could answer her questions.

Navin gazed up to the stallion that used to be his role model, his hero. Even though he was taught right from wrong in some ways related to this, the blow was triggered by anger. Quake stared at him as well, but fear flooded his eyes like an overflowing lake.

Quake stumbled back shakily. "Navin, I-I'm sorry," he started as Navin stood to his hooves. They once again locked eyes with each other. Navin's eyes started to water, too, but didn't want his parents to see his tears.

"Navin, please-" Navin galloped to his bedroom as well before his father could continue.

Quake, wide-eyed in disbelief, looked down at his hoof that he struck Navin with. His limbs shivered, a chill crept up his spine, and he stumbled towards the chair in which he sat in. He gazed in Lilium's direction. She was holding a silenced foal in her hooves.

"Why did you do that, Quake?" she asked quietly. "Why?!" she was louder that time.

Quake was ashamed of himself. The feeling made his back legs unable to move, but he didn't bother to get up. "I wasn't myself, Lilium," he answered to his wife, "I don't know who I am anymore!" He wept softly on the floor.

It was too much for Lilium. She couldn't blame him for that, or for the sights he'd seen in war. She carefully laid Granite down in his chair to trot over to aid the fallen warrior.

"Lilium," Quake called, "don't come anywhere near me!"

She stopped in her tracks and decided to speak to him in that distance.

"He's gonna let this all go, one day," Lilium said to him, "he will never hate his 'number one father in the whole world.'"

Navin used to call him that until he shut his family out long ago. Those memories hit Quake like a steel pike across his temple and he shuddered as the feeling of regret sickened him. He had committed a criminal act. The Earth pony religion is, or was, based on peace and friendship. You'd be cursed by Solarus of the Sun and punished by Maria of the Moon if their teachings were wronged. If their were to be any conflict or war, all the soldiers are blessed, or given "permission" to carry on their duties. Quake's act of aggression could get him arrested for assault onto another living being.

His tears finally busted through his internal dam and began bursting out of his eyes. "Oh, Solarus," he began, "forgive me!"

Navin was standing at his door, glaring at his room with frustration. He was thinking about how his dad had swung a hoof on him when all he was trying to do was prove his point about his dad's foolishness. He didn't want him to throw himself into combat as soon as he just recovered from the scars of his past.

The gears in his mind spun so quickly, that they started to spark. He rushed towards his desk where he'd press paper on to write his entries. Without thought of his actions, he turned and bucked the desk, sending it flying in the air almost. Chips of wood scattered across his face and he rushed over to his bed. He tore off all the sheets and chopped the bed in two. He took three heaving breaths and practically had steam blowing from his ears. Navin, finished with his short breather, turned to his final target: the bookshelf. In just one jump, he was there. He slid his hoof in a small space between the bookshelf and the wall behind it and departed the two. Now, using both hooves, he pulled the shelf and it fell over with a loud bang. He flinched and grunted as the shelf, along with all the books on it, collided with the hardwood floor.

Outside of Navin's wrecked room, his dad was listening to the racket. He thought he should enter the room to interfere, but he felt that Navin was fussed at too much. Quake knew he shouldn't do more harm to Navin, nor did Lilium, who was gazing over her shoulder as she was just about to enter her room.

"You've done enough, Quake," she said to him. "You too make up by morning before you leave."

Quake sighed, his ears dropped to the sides of his head, and he trotted slowly towards Lilium.

"He's quiet already," he said after he noticed that the noise had pended to silence. "I hope for the better tomorrow, Lilium."

Meanwhile, Navin was nearly passed out on the floor. He doesn't remember falling, because all the turmoil went away with the leaking steam.

Am I dead?he thought to himself. Am I dying? "I hope so," he said out loud. He rolled over and faced the ceiling. "Where are you, light? Take me far away from here."

The door to his bedroom quietly creaked open and a little rose-colored head peeked through. "Navin, what happened in here?" she asked through sniffles. Navin recollected himself and locked eyes with his sister's.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you from something, Rose," he said to her. His throat was sore, so he spoke quietly.

"I was close to sleeping, but I heard loud noises."

"I'm so sorry," he apologized. "Come her." He gestured for his sister to sit next to him, to which she instantly proceeded to do. She galloped to her older brother and greeted him with a warm embrace.

"What is to become of us?" Rose Bud asked. She was now sobbing silently and it broke Navin's now injured heart.

"I don't know, little sis," he answered as best as he could. "All I can say is that I wish Dad some good luck tomorrow."

"He's gonna need all the luck he can get," Rose Bud responded. "Is it true, Navin?"

"What?"

"The dangers. You said that nopony knew about the obstacles that waited for him."

Navin looked up to the sky and hoped that he was wrong about what he stated. What larger-than-life being could be lurking out in the unknown? Oh how Navin wished there wasn't one!

"Don't worry, Rose," he encouraged his little sis hope for the best, "we'll give him the best farewell, tomorrow!"

"You really think so? After what happened tonight?" she asked.

Navin stuttered, but gathered the guts to speak proudly. He lifted his sisters head and gazed into her beautiful eyes. "I promise you!"