Chapter 2 ~ Ruined Roads

It was a good thing Sweetroll was good with the kids. Upon hearing that they might fight diamond dogs she immediately had said that the guards shouldn't worry. The kids were safe with her. That was actually pretty reassuring to Party who really hoped that she could fulfill that promise.

It made the pegasus feel good how they all reacted. There was anxiety in the air and everypony was aware that the outcome might be very bad for the caravan. He remembered that before the first battle he had ever witnessed, everypony had been way too frightened to act rationally and even the guards hadn't done their jobs right. With that in mind he was happy to work with so many competent ponies...It made him even able to tolerate Stardust.  As he walked towards the last two ponies in the caravan he reflected on that thought, a bright smile on his face.

Party Star's talent was basically to make any party better. He wasn't good at organizing them or coming up with ideas for them but the moment you put him in the middle of something that was already going on he could roll with it and take the fun up to twenty-six point five. He was by all means a party pony. Yet, even though that was his special talent, it didn't matter.

The northern ponies wore their cutie marks with a stubborn hope that someday these things would actually mean something again. Party was a southerner, as were the rest from the caravan. Not to say southern caravaneers were more pessimistic but they had long since accepted that the marks on their flanks were but a mere leftover from a long lost time and hid them appropriately. Party let his gaze move to his own, covered by the rusty metal of an armor that had once belonged to another guard.

His cutie mark was a blue balloon alongside two yellow and red streamers. The thing felt so unnecessary. Especially since he would soon enough have blood on his hooves. That thought alone was already enough to spoil every party. Even though he had seen battle, he hadn't been needed the last few times in the first line of defense, instead had stayed within the safety of the wagon fort and had waited along with the civilian ponies. His Cutie Mark, his special talent hadn't helped him in that situation. The only good thing was that he could get along with most ponies. Somehow it always worked out.

Stardust, though...nopony could stand a coward. She had even told him once that her talents involved quick escapes.  Funny enough, this added to the feeling of cutie marks being useless.

Caravan Guards would be better off without any distinguishing marks, he thought.

Even if it should have been easy it to see that someone was approaching, the two lovers didn't notice him. The sky blue unicorn was far too busy nuzzling the cyan pegasus. Huddled together, whispering into each others ear. Party began to doubt most ponies would notice them. Even if they would, it would always seem as just one pony from afar. The two even had the same silvery white hair color.

Party had seen a few pairs. Once he even had a girl, back in another caravan. He had given her his diary, probably the worst mistake the pegasus had ever made. Probably not. He never really had put any weight into that book. All those memories of dead ponies were better left forgotten and the important thing was that she had something to remember him by, right?

Though within the boundaries of the singing and the fire there were moments one was allowed to be quiet the pegasus never was one for quiet moments. They weren't his style so upon coming closer he immediately opened his mouth, trying to sound as optimistic as possible.

"Hey ponies! We're back!"

Windsight opened one of her eyes, giving the younger pony an offside glance. She didn't seem very happy to be interrupted in their moment of intimacy and Counting Copper didn't even bother reacting to the bouncy colt that stopped before them. His partner took a moment before she went into a better position for actual talking. To the stallion that came rather unexpected and as she left his embrace he nearly fell over, although Counting quickly recovered and also went to look at the come back patrol member.

Since neither said anything Party just seized the moment: "You know, when we reach the water we should totally make a party, you know, with actual music, to dance. We could all have Nightdancer teach us, just look at her, dancing around the fire like a moth, just not jumping into it. That would be extremely daft, hay, she'd probably do it if there was candy in it. I would certainly do it if there was any candy. I mean-"

"You spotted the dogs, didn't you?" Windsight asked.

The smile didn't fade, "Well, no...but..."

"You still think they're there?" Counting Copper interrupted.

The young colt nodded.

These two didn't share the dutifulness with the rest of the caravan, instead they took each others hoof and looked into each others eyes. Party knew why. They were scared. There was no battle without losses and out of all the members in the caravan, these two were the ones who could realize the easiest just how much they had to lose. The moment called for the right words, a speech to up the morale.

"Don't worry, we could still be wrong!" he stated with a grand smile, though neither seemed to be convinced by that statement alone. "We," he tried to think of something else, "We could...well, will, might...just...what I mean. We'll protect you, that's what guards are for."

He stood there, hoof to his chest, his armor reflecting the fire's light and a brave smile on his face. The pair looked at him and for just a moment he thought it would actually work.

"I can't bring myself to trust a brat, a farmer, an idiot and a coward for protection," Windsight then spoke, her gaze averting him, following with an apology, "I'm sorry."

Everypony who wandered through the dark and the silence knew one thing: Trust is a fickle thing but it is also the most important thing. Amidst the last beasts of the old world, the creatures of the  underworld and the darkness itself nopony could survive on their own. That's why they traveled in caravans, with their friends and kin. They traveled with whom they could trust. Everypony knew that, because if the ponies would ever start mistrusting each other....

The smile was gone and Party looked at the mare, who evaded his gaze, knowing exactly how much weight that phrase just had.

"I'm sorry, you probably don't remember, with your journal gone and all that," Counting started, "but she lost her mother during the incident at the knot. Isn't quite over it yet."

Party's eyes went to the stallion for a second and then his mind started putting things together. She hadn't meant it. Of course she hadn't meant it. He regained a bit of his smile.

"OKAY!" He yelled. "We'll protect you, don't worry." With that, he jumped off.

Counting Copper sighed, "You're supposed to say you're sorry," but Party was too busy bouncing away to hear him.

"It's fine. I mean, it was just a lie to get him up and running," Windsight said with a smile. She knew her mother hadn't actually traveled with them. The pegasus didn't even remember her mother.

There was a small pause.

"Yeah...A lie."

"I'm not hiding from anything...I just happened to have lost a coin beneath this wagon the moment we stopped and couldn't find it...in the last...few...hours."

Stardust Arrow was a pretty mare. She had an unusual dark shade of blue for her mane color with sides of fiery orange. The dark colored mane contrasted the white coat and to top it off the mare had eyes red as rubies. Truly, pretty might even have been a good word to sum up most ponies first impression of her. And that was the only good point about her, everypony who met her concluded quickly.

Trust was a fickle thing and Stardust was the kind of pony who couldn't be trusted with the most simplest of tasks. Actually, Sunset still didn't want to talk to her, but it was necessary.

"Stardust...I. Don't. Care. About. You."

The other mare looked up from beneath the wagon, her ears lowered, looking as if to just beg Sunset to go away. Clearly, Stardust didn't care about what her fellow guard had to say, too. The situation could have been so grave and the white unicorn would never care about her companions. She was truly the worst pony, therefor Sunset only felt contempt for her.

"We'll take the direct path to the water."

"I heard," Stardust mumbled. Sunset could just hear the annoyance in her voice.

"This time you will do your job, or we'll throw you into the wasteland, where, in my opinion, you belong," Sunset insisted. The other mare looked straight into her eyes, setting off that spark of hatred in the elder mare.

"You always, ALWAYS try to evade taking action! You always hide! How about you try being like Frisbee, once? She's always watching over us. She's so strong, so brave, she's even more beautiful than you are-" She practically shouted, though each word of the last statement had gotten quieter and quieter. Sunset still glared at the other unicorn, trying to overshadow her blushing with fury, hoping it wouldn't catch on. "ANYWAY! You do your job."

With that she turned and walked off into the darkness, mumbling to herself, nearly vanishing until she, yet again, turned around and moved into camp, looking as far away from Stardust as possible. She nearly bumped into the wagon beside the one of the caravan guard, before she managed to get into the camp.

Stardust just looked at her, more scared than anything else. Because in her mind, she still hadn't forgotten all those other times those words had  been said to her.

Doing her job meant that it would become very dangerous. Stardust didn't like danger very much.

Discussing strategy was always the easiest thing. All the Captain had to do was look stern, tell his ponies where to go and then let it sound like an elaborate scheme. It wasn't though. All he had done was to put two partner pony teams together, each with an earth pony and a unicorn, while the pegasi would fly above and try to spot whatever danger they would face before the danger could spot them. That wasn't a great plan as Sunset made him painfully aware but it should work. He, Stardust and Garden Tool would take the lead. This time he'd get that mare to not run away with the first sign of danger. Then there were Sunset and Limelight in the back. He trusted them enough for the job. Well, he had to since there weren't any other ponies who could do that job. Party Star and Frisbee would circle above.

It was brilliant.

Well, not brilliant, but it'd do.

"Do you really think the dogs would fall for such a maneuver?"

The guardsponies had gathered inside the Captain's room, sitting in a half-circle around him. Everypony had listened attentively to his explanation and only Sunset had put on that doubtful face. The Captain long since had started to think that she did it more to spite him than anything else. That question of hers was weak, too.

"We have six guards and six wagons, three of them linked together then one pulled by Dry Soil the other by Sweetroll," the Captain explained. "Do these two look like fighters to you?"

"That's not what I-"

Sunset was immediately interrupted by the Captain stomping his hoof on the wooden floor, "OF COURSE NOT!" His bellowing made them all move a bit backwards, especially Sunset. "There's not much room for great formations. We even got far too few guards for this many wagons and for some reasons we can't just leave one or two behind. So we're stuck."

"Well, actually we could-" Sunset began again only to be interrupted by another shout from the Captain.

"THEREFORE!" He looked gleefully at her annoyed expression before continuing: "We shall move with this plan and be like an impenetrable fortress of...PONIES! Yeah, that's good...PONIES!"

Though he gave it his all, the crowd wasn't too convinced about this. "Sir, when they come from below, what then?" asked Stardust, meekly, as everyponys hateful gaze immediately turned towards her, figuring she just wanted to ask to stay comfortably in the wagons for the journey.

"Well, obviously we'll just cast a few spells beneath the wagons, simple light ones should be enough. A diamond dogs gets beneath a wagon, the thing goes off, blinds it and we know that a digger has come up," Sunset explained and the Captain nodded.

"Yes," he said.

He hadn't thought of that actually but hey, at least he could still get credit for that tactic.

"Wonderful idea Sunset. You really are the smartest pony around," spoke Party while bouncing up and down, giving the Captain no chance to let it all sound like his own plan. Sunset took that chance to sneer at the captain.

Just one buck, right in the face.

"Anyway..." he mumbled, gathering himself again, "That's how we'll do it. If we're lucky there are either no dogs or they run away from us. If there are dogs and they fight, we got armor, they don't. We got trained, they didn't. And we got weapons. They. Don't."

He said that while moving to the chest besides his bed and getting the sword out. It's pommel and guard were golden and on the green hilt were three cutie marks. By the pommel was, at least he thought so, his own, a shield with two Spears behind it, then his fathers, a shield with a smaller shield inside and then below the guard a a sword with a whirlwind behind it. It was the Captain's pride and family heirloom. The reason why he kept no journal and forgot every death so far.

He looked at it and lifted it with his hoof. The magic in the hilt let it stick to the hoof so he could swing it with his arm instead of his teeth. Way more comfortable and safer that way. He turned around and looked at the guards, lifting the sword up. Luckily the wagons were high enough for doing something like that.

"Comrades, LET'S DO IT!"

And they cheered. Yet, with each hour their departure approached, their fear of fighting grew.

Always trotting onwards. That was the caravan way, had been that way ever since the old cities and civilizations had gotten gobbled up by the darkness. That was the one thing every caravan pony did, stomping their hooves into the ground, looking into the never ending darkness and think: "Onwards!" And that they did in the noisiest fashion possible. There were so many pots and small bells, parts of the guards armor, shovels moving against each other, all just to keep the silence from creeping close.

Even in a situation like this, Sunset couldn't help but think exactly that. Not because she was that brave, nor because everypony around her did it. Fact was, they had to get some more water. She didn't know what had happened with most of the fluid they had gotten back at the Silver Knot and Stardust hadn't told them yet, she had been to scared. Probably of her own shadow, Sunset smirked.

Her gaze went over to Limelight, whose barding reflected the lights of the lanterns which were installed at the sides of the wagons. The silver-like shine of the metal added a bit to the stallions coat. The still bright red was a fine looker, but on the other hoof, he really was getting old. Soon he wouldn't even be fit to be a guardspony anymore.

Right?

The only sounds she could hear right now were the talking - or rather self appraisal -  of the captain up in the front, more talking in the wagons, the steps of their hooves and the Limelight humming some random melody to himself. Clearly, it was nothing compared to the noise everypony made in camp.

Maybe it was time to make some more noise.

"Limey?" she asked.

"Hm?" came the answer as the stallion shifted his attention to her.

"How old're you anyway? Seems like you might soon kick the bucket."

His lavender eyes closed a few times, "What?" he asked flatly.

"I asked how old you are!"

"Old enough. What's this about? Don't tell me you want my armor. You've already got a set of your own," he snapped at her.

"I was just asking," she put up one hoof defensively. "Besides...what the hay would I want your armor for?"

"I don't know. Exchange it for jewelry or something like that when we meet another caravan. I know how you mares roll."

Now it was her turn: "What?"

"Well, you ponies are all about jewelry."

"What?" She repeated not quite getting the statement.

"You heard me."

Sunset sighed, her blowing a strand of her mane off her sight again. This conversation had gone off the deep end before it had even started, so she just decided to look to the ground before them. A faint glow beneath the wagons revealed that the wards set up by herself and Stardust hadn't worn off or fulfilled their duty. For all the bad things she could say about Stardust, her spells sure were well-executed. While Sunset had taken two or three times to get each ward right, the younger mare had done her part always on the first try.

She'd probably a good guard if she weren't such a bad pony.

"Sorry," she heard Limelight say to her right. Her look went up and she watched the stallion smile at her. That warm smile he reserved for moments of genuine friendship happening. It wasn't a rare smile. Everypony here was a family, they all liked each other, aside from Stardust of course. That was just the caravaner way.

"Me too," Sunset Dale answered, chuckling. These small fights just happened sometimes and she was so glad Limelight always stepped up and admitted his wrongdoings before any other pony. He was quite quick at settling conflicts. Yet, she intended to remain silent, apart from a bit of humming of course. The clanking and rattling of her armor was a bit of noise, but it wouldn't fight the silence off on it's own.

"I never asked," Limelight then began, "Where did you and Frisbee come from. I mean, you were pretty beaten up when you got to this caravan."

She didn't look at him though, rather she immediately tried to figure out what to say. "I have no memory of waking up and seeing Frisbee's face." She turned a bit red at the thought of her knight in shining armor guarding her in her sleep. Something Limelight noticed.

The concept of two mares in love was a bit uncomfortable for him but at least it wouldn't happen anytime soon. Frisbee was way to stoic to get into any kind of relationship with anypony. That was a reality that made Sunsets swooning look a bit sad. Yet it was also something good. Lovers always disturbed the communal sense in the caravans, he had found in his travelings. Everywhere he went it was the pairs that stuck to themselves, hugging and nuzzling each other, not caring about the other members of their respective families. Really, love was overrated.

He didn't want to tell her that, though. Picking fight after fight just wasn't right and he knew that. She'd get over her feelings for Frisbee in the end and would become an even better caravan guard. That's what he told himself.

At least he could continue the conversation, "So...does she remember?"

Sunset stopped for a moment, "She..." her face dropped immediately, he could see it. Something was there she didn't want to say.

He hated it, that feeling of not knowing why the ponies around him were in pain. He simply had to inquire: "She what?"

"She," Sunset mumbled, "Always the same face."

Limelight understood, "The sad face?"

Sunset looked at him. "Y-yes? How do you know?"

A warm smile.

"Funny thing about this caravan, everypony here has their own sappy story. My family was killed by changelings, Garden lost his farm to cinder wolves...really, everypony here lost something," he stated, looking as her as friendly as possible, "So you're probably the one lucky mare who's forgotten whatever your friend couldn't. The one white rock amidst the black coal, or something like that."

Sunset chuckled as she started moving again, "How philosophical of you, Limey. Where did you get that?"

"Seeing...he's quite profound once you get a few mugs of cider down his throat."

"We have Cider?"

"I have Cider. Still got a bottle stashed in my bags. You know what, when we're by the water we'll have ourselves a drink."

Sunset nodded. That did sound like a fine proposal. Although she wondered, "Where did you get a bottle of cider anyway? Isn't that stuff expensive?"

Limelight chuckled. "Robbed it off one of these oasis traders." As he noticed that Sunset didn't take that comment quite well he quickly added: "Bit hoarding dog deserved it, I swear. Most of the cider he possessed he had taken from a seemingly abandoned cellar down by the Fiery Fork."

"Seemingly? Or rather...a cellar by the Fork?" Sunset asked. She hadn't even been aware that ponies lived down there. The Fiery Fork was the closest one could get to the Gates of Tartarus. No pony, sane or insane would have built something like a cellar down there.

"Yup," he answered, "A seemingly abandoned cellar full of cider. You'd have more luck finding one of the old dragons hoarding places than that. Don't know the details, though. All I needed to know is that he went down to the Fork which probably means he knew how to get to that cellar and get the stuff. Probably stole it from others and stashed it away," he explained further,looking above, where Party Star and Frisbee circled the caravan.

As his gaze turned back to her he added: "You know how these settlers are. They steal stuff from good caravaners and proclaim it their own. They're all robbers, the whole lot of them."

Sunset felt prone to disagree but really, as a fellow caravaner she had to admit he had a point, so she nodded again, began humming a tune. Limelight decided to join in, even though it was a bit unfriendly of her to simply cut the conversation off. At least they could celebrate once they got through this.

"And he probably still thinks the cider bottle's in there," the Captain laughed. He stood to Stardusts left and Garden Tool was at her right, ensuring that she wouldn't run off the moment the diamond dogs would appear.  Apparently Garden managed to crack up at the joke, Stardust not so much. Instead she looked left and right, her ears perked. She was practically the only pony who kept watch. The Captain knew it was out of pure self-interest but then again, the Guards existed because of pure self-interest from the ponies they had to protect. It was a simple principle, really.

He didn't question it. The stallion had dedicated most of his life to protecting those around him, that's why they followed him, too. His element truly was loyalty for he'd always stand by his comrades sides. He knew that as did everypony else. A good thing, too.

While most caravan guards wore their barding blank, every guardscaptain had a bit more of an exquisite armor. The one of the Captain was covered in dark blue velvet, with golden highlights and a helm embroidered with the symbol of the sun, a good luck charm that had helped him more than once. All of this really let him stand out, aside from Frisbee, who practically wore full plate and Stardust who had covered most of her armor, except the helmet and the saddle with red leather. He had forgotten how she had gotten that armor but Sunset seemed to dislike the other unicorn for it.

For everypony else, that was enough reason to hate Stardust a bit more, too.

"Anyway," he continued, trying to get away from his own thoughts, "Our civilians are pretty loud in there."

He heard Sweetroll growl angrily behind him. The mare had hoped that for once she wouldn't have to do all the carrying. As far as the Captain knew, she'd rather be inside the wagon and let herself be carried, while she was surrounded by guards and wooden walls in absolute safety. On the other hoof, everypony thought that way.

As leader he didn't blame them.

His hooves dug themselves into the ground, lifting themselves up, flinging dirt and small rocks up. The ground was pretty dry around this area, which meant if there was water, it probably wasn't much.

Now that was one negative discovery if he ever had made one.

And worst of all, nopony responded to his small talk.

The sword hang loosely on his left side, where a shield was fastened to his arm. It had his cutie mark on it and was also covered in velvet. If he weren't a southerner he could've said it was because he was rich.

That was when Garden finally decided to enter Small Talk mode: "I've been wondering..."

The other stallion looked in his direction, "About what?" He asked, just too eager to start a real conversation.

"What's your name, sir?"

The Captain looked at him, "I'm your Captain."

"Yeah, but you weren't born as 'The Captain'. I mean, what kind of Name is 'The'?" Garden Tool looked at his superior, whose eyes shifted to the ground for a second. Stardust used the chance to move a bit to the back.

"Stardust, don't you dare hide away," the Captain grumbled and with that she silently moved back between those two. The Captain then looked right back at Garden, "I'm the Captain. That's all you need to know."

"Sir, with all due respect...why?"

"Because a lot of stuff happened I don't ever want to be reminded of and you don't want to hear. Believe me," he responded, his voice sinking. He regretted to jump to the conversation just like that.

"Captain. I've had my share of bad stuff. I lost my house, my gardens, my family. Everything I had really...I lost everything to beasts driven mad by the silence around them and set asunder by the flames of Tartarus itself," Garden stated with an understanding tone.

The Captain knew what he meant. Legend had it that the timberwolves of the Everfree Forest once reigned during the times of the zap-apple season. They ran through the wilds during that season, to spread the seeds for more of their kind, to hunt and to, well, live. They were the so called 'guardians of the free woods', or at least the Captain had heard that at the Fall of Silence they were called that by the denizens of a town called Ponyville. They appeared around the Zapapple Season and their noise would fill the woods and free them of the silence.

Up until the Gates of Tartarus broke and the cursed flames of hell engulfed the Everfree Forest. It's magic kept the creatures of the woods alive, imprisoned in their burning bodies forever, even when only ashes would remain. Driven mad by their eternal pain, all they could do was struggle on, losing all sense.

That was what had destroyed what Garden Tool had once called his life. Really, he'd understand.

"Every time a pony dies, if we haven't some record of their existence written down..." he began, "It's just like they...disappear. Like they never there were to begin with. Just, some things we don't forget," the Captain knew that Garden Tool of all ponies would understand.

"Like everypony but Sunset forgot about that Summernight Dream pony?" the brown pegasus asked, not even noticing how Stardust made a short attempt to speak up, but almost instantly after opening her mouth just shut it and lowered her head.

That was because the Captain immediately answered: "Yes. Whoever that Summernight Dream was, like her," he said with a smile, glad that the fuzzy mane understood his plight.

"Well, I really hardly remember anything before meeting the caravan. I know that I protected the kids for some reason. I don't even know why. In fact-" The captain spoke up then, every word pouring out weaker and weaker.

He just got himself caught in the moment. Telling what he had promised himself to tell nopony. The reason why he had abandoned his life before and why he could never return to being himself ever again. When he'd end that sentence maybe Garden would lose faith in him. When he'd finish that sentence he could lose his position as  the captain of this guard. As their protector. Or he could rise up and even Sunset would acknowledge him. Here, in the middle of the open field on an old and destroyed road that led to water all would either go right or wrong. This was the moment where his fate would be decided and he knew it. Or maybe he was being overdramatic in that moment, the stallion wasn't quite sure. He never had been.

The Captain took a deep breath before he continued and then the words formed in his mouth.

Then just as the noise formed itself, all three ponies saw it in the corner of the eye. The lights going off, bright as hell itself for a second and then vanishing. A shrieking could be heard through the darkness. A howl familiar to everypony.

The Captain didn't waste anytime and grabbed the sword with his hoof as he turned around, yelling: "DIAMOND DOGS! AMBUSH!"

It took but a second, then everypony hurried into action. Quick as they could each tried to assess the situation but the diamond dogs also reacted to the shout. Around them they jumped up from beneath the ground. It took just one look to know that they were outnumbering the ponies at least 3 to 1.

"CHARGE!" The Captain yelled and the earth pony by his side took his own weapon, a small axe, in his teeth. Garden Tool just preferred working that way. Both of them stormed against the diamond dogs who, just as the ponies had expected, wore nothing but rags. If they truly just outnumbered them by 3 to 1, this would actually be pretty easy.

Meanwhile, Stardust used the moment where the attention was away from her and ran towards the wagon, intending to do two smart things. One, telling the civilians how to act.

"Sweetie! Dry! INTO THE WAGONS, NOW!" She yelled, but just before she could fulfill that order, a claw emerged from beneath the ground and grabbed the violet unicorn.

Stardust's eyes widened. While Dry Soil stared at the claw that had grabbed Sweetrolls leg, the pony wanted to scream in panic. Yet, before there was even a chance to actually do so she was dragged down the hole, her body smashing heavily against the ground. She yelled out in pain, looking pleadingly at Stardust, who just ran towards Dry Soil, not even bothering to look at her. The one who looked into another direction was Dry Soil.

Neither The Captain, who stabbed the first dog that came at him with his sword, nor Garden Tool, whose axe cracked the skull of another were able to help them. The diamond dogs had surrounded them.

Dry Soil looked at Sweetroll and both realized just how scared they were as a second claw emerged from below and grabbed the pony's neck. With a loud cry the earth beneath the mare gave in and she vanished underground. Not even the sweet scent lingered.

While Dry Soil was too shocked to act the cowardly mare didn't make the mistake of standing around in fear: panicking while running was a much better solution.

She considered it her luck that the harness for the wagons was easy to manage and with a quick whiff of magic she lifted it from the struck earth pony, with a second she opened the door of the wagon behind him and as she entered the final sprint she concentrated on the ley-lines before her, shaping them into the correct form. Feeling for the right moment, she concentrated and then unleashed the magic energy. The burst engulfed Dry Soil who found himself lifted into the air and flung through the door. He crashed onto the floor, as the wagon of the guardsponies had been right behind him. He looked at the scene for a moment.

He saw Stardust leaning against the door, breathing heavily, panic in her eyes. One moment after Dry Soil had realized where he was and with whom three more things started to dawn to him: He was alive, Sweetroll was gone...

And the Silence hadn't taken the memory of her vanishing immediately.

III

~Ruined Roads~

End