Crystalline Fragmentsby Dragonborne FoxChaptersIntro- Orchestrated ChaosChapter I- RestChapter II- QuestionsIntro- Orchestrated ChaosThere was rampant clamor in a large and busy town, one big enough to have its own bloody opera house which doubled as a school for whatever reason. This was a good thing for the rich families who wanted to send their kids to see the world, as this opera-school—so named by many of the locals—provided them with the knowledge needed to survive in the harsh wilderness and such other situations like that. The outside was made of brick and stone, though the inside was lavish, with expansive halls decorated with marble columns and old, worn paintings that had famous figures performing all sorts of things in their prime. A person slowly walked down the halls of the opera-school, their head held high. The first thing that separated this one from everyone else was the fact that they were clad head to toe in a set of armor—gauntlets, greaves, even their tailbone was covered in spiked armor sporting a grayish-azure color with red-violet trims. The armor itself was broad, flat, and sturdy—built for a male, one could say. The person also had a pair of white, feathery wings upon their back, and white pony’s ears jutting out from the sides of their face-covering, dragon-like helmet. Held tightly in one hand was a spear whose head was modeled after that of the fearsome dragon’s features. Another person approached the winged one, tapping at its armor-clad shoulder to get their attention as soon as they were in range. It turned to meet their gaze, revealing to them only a white chin and mouth. “Yes?” it questioned in a high-pitched, feminine tone of voice. “Hey, miss pegasus, may I sit with you at the play today?” the other asked with widening eyes, whom the winged entity noted to have been in simple bard’s clothes. It was a woman wearing a light tunic and ragged cotton pants, with a vest laden on her chest that looked as though made of leather. On top of that, she sported a slightly-warped hat and a thin red cape. The face was a petite one; a rich earth brown in tone right down to her ears, and jutting from her forehead was a spiraled unicorn's horn. She carried a lute upon her back with the aid of a dark brown strap, and the color of the birch matched the tone of her light silver hair, and attached to her waist was a simple and small leather pouch of some kind. The unicorn blinked her set of brown eyes as she awaited the answer of the armored one whom she approached. “I don’t see why not,” the armored person answered with a nod of her head. Her wings shifted a bit, and she cracked a small smile. “I could do for some friends at the performance today.” Another person ran down the hall to the duo from around a distant corner, this one in a light two-colored shirt and rather tight pants. He wore a hat adorned with drooping towers and bells jingling, a hat whose fabric was a rich velvet to the touch, which also had two red towers and two blue towers. His skin was a soft ocean in hue, his hair probably all crammed up under his hat since it wasn't in sight, and the eyes were a light baby blue in color. He lacked the wings of pegasi and horns marking the unicorns; but like the winged person, he was just as hard to miss with that getup he was currently prancing about in. He came to a stop right next to the two, almost skidding and falling over on his face. He steadied himself with a chuckle. “Hello,” he said in a friendly tone of voice with a smile to match. “I’d like to sit with the both of you fine ladies this evening.” “To that, I’ve no arguments against your proposition,” the pegasus replied swiftly, nodding yet again. She turned around and began to once more walk down the hall with the two others persons behind her in tow. “Say, what’s one such as yourself doing here in these halls, may I ask?” questioned the stallion who was wearing a garment of bells. The pegasus briefly glanced at him and chuckled. “My reasons for being here are very personal,” she replied. “You could say I came here of my own will. I would not dare make a counter-argument, should you make that particular conclusion.” “Why aren’t you serving in the king’s guard?” asked the unicorn. “I am but a mare, as you can tell by my voice alone,” the winged one answered without stall. “And we all know how well the guard takes up on requests to join them from ones such as myself, no matter how good in combat they are.” The unicorn nodded, smiling with satisfaction at the answer she’d received. But then she frowned, and her ears had fallen flat on her head. “What is the matter?” the armored mare asked, taking notice of the sudden shift in her fellow mare’s emotions. “We must get to the show, at once,” the unicorn replied quickly, breaking out into a sprint and darting past the pegasus. The armor-clad mare and the earth pony with the velvet hat followed after exchanging one glance, also breaking out into sprints of their own. The trio rounded a corner and rushed down another hall. Upon rounding a bend and reaching the middle of a third hall, they stopped in the middle to find a set of oak double doors with ornate carvings. The unicorn threw them open and all three entered the room beyond, which was one that lead to a very vast room adorned with red carpets and sturdy wooden chairs with a stage beset in front of all of the seats, currently cut off from the outside by closed red curtains. The room was large enough that the ceiling could house a few dozen flying pegasi, and would still have enough room for the chandeliers and whatnot. The place was packed with more people already, all shifting about in their seats chattering like there was no such thing as tomorrow. The three walked down towards the stage, scanning the moving rows of people for available seats. Fortunately, there were three seats left, and all of them were in the very front row. The trio claimed them and got comfortable, and it was the pegasus who first piped up as she waited for the red curtains to open. “Would either one of you inform me of what this play’s about?” “To be frank, I don’t know much myself,” the unicorn answered, a giddy smile on her face as she glanced at the pegasus. “But I can tell you, I’d love to see every minute of it.” “It’s fine if you don’t want to spoil the surprise,” the pegasus chirped, before she laughed heartily. “I understand completely.” “My fine ladies, would you care to give me your names?” the one with the bells asked, getting glanced at by the mares to whom he was addressing. “Only if you give us yours first,” the unicorn replied in a friendly tone of voice. “Very well. I am Pippin,” the one with the bells answered. “I am Melody,” the lute-carrying mare sighed, chuckling a bit. The pegasus chuckled as well. “Swift Spear,” she said casually. Her wings shifted a bit as she glanced towards the curtains. At last, the silken red veils began to part, and she shook in anticipation. On the stage was an elderly stallion dressed in regal robes of all colors, a golden and glittering crown adorning his head. His aged face smiled in warmth, and as he cleared his throat, the crowd silenced as they turned to his attention. “I thank you all for coming here tonight. It is an honor to have you people from the whole countryside being here to watch the play. With all of my heart, thank you,” he said. At once, the crowd cheered in joyous uproar, hands clapping in unison. The stallion in robes walked off the stage casually, and he took a special seat in the middle of the most well-dressed of people at this hour. The first two actors then took the stage as soon as the regally-clad stallion took his perch, one clad in bard’s clothes and the other in slave garments, right down to the shackles on their wrists and hooves. At this, Swift tilted her head to one side and lifted a quizzical brow. “O, master!” cried the slave actor, getting onto his knees and hands. “What a terrible plight has befallen us all!” “What plight? I see none around me!” exclaimed the bard, pointing an accusing finger at the slave like a pistol. “The only plight I see, in fact, is that you are not tilling the fields but instead wasting my time!” “But master, I come bearing most terrible news!” the slave pleaded, shaking the chains on his wrist as if for emphasis. “I will have none of your tomfoolery!” the bard yelled, stomping his hoof in agitation. “Go back to tilling the fields, at once!” “Please, listen!” the slave pleaded further, just as two more actors dressed like knights stomped onto the stage with swords in hand. One dragged the slave away by the hair on his head, and the other approached the bard as though he wanted to fight. The bard winced, raising an arm as if to grab something. “What is it you want now?” he asked, a scowl embedded in his face. The knight didn’t answer with words; instead, he raised his sword—terrifyingly high above his head. “No…” The bard went wide-eyed, ears flattening on his skull in that moment, “not my life!” With this, he scurried off the stage and the knight followed him closely before another stallion in simple robes came up front from behind the curtains. “This would mark the beginning of the new era, one that would render the bards as simple slaves themselves…” he began in a monotonous voice. “We’re not slaves,” Melody murmured under her breath, eyes narrowing as the words of the one on stage ran through her mind like a speeding bullet. “Not as a whole group of people,” she added, keeping her voice little more than a whisper. The stallion went on for a bit before getting off the stage with, “... and the end of the wicked ones who practiced the art of the dragoons.” Swift was now frowning as well. “And I’ve walked into a history lesson about my particular trade, great,” she whispered sarcastically. She shifted in her seat and glanced around, hoping that nobody else had taken notice of her presence, all the while clutching her spear tightly in one hand. Another actor, this one clad in clothes much like those of the pegasus, strode onto the stage. Another three marched in before a unicorn stallion dressed like a slave mare appeared. “Please, no! Don’t take my life! I’ll do anything you ask!” the unicorn actor pleaded in a high-pitched, almost genuine girly voice. “Servitude is not an option, peasant,” hissed one of the dragoons, pointing a wicked spear at the unicorn. “We leave none alive, and take no prisoners,” scorned the second dragoon, pointing the head of his spear towards the slave as well. “I don’t wish to die!” the unicorn shrieked as the last two dragoons grabbed his arms and hoisted him up with ease. He kicked and pleaded fruitlessly as the troops dragged him offstage. From there, several more actors hit the scene before taking their leave, and though they spoke differently and performed various actions, it all became a blur for the trio—about an hour or so into the play, that is. It got to the point that, after another half-hour, the roles and jobs and such for the actors themselves may as well have been interchangeable altogether. As a result, much of the audience fell asleep, and Swift's eyelids were struggling to stay open. While the play was going on, the unicorn bard cringed as she looked around, noticing strange people carrying even stranger objects. The people were walking slowly down the aisles, and the objects began glowing. She quickly glanced at the pegasus who was still engrossed in the acting on stage. “Hey, hey,” Melody whispered to Swift, gently tugging a feather on her wing with a hand. “Hm?” the dragoon hummed, turning to the unicorn with a frown on her face. Her eyes widened under her helmet, now alert as they scanned Melody's tight visage. “Look behind us,” Melody said with worry flashing in her eyes. Swift did as she was asked, and noticed people in black robes carrying strange colored orbs in their hands like they were at a sermon to deliver offerings. There were four in total, and the colors as basic as they could come: light orange, fiery red, ocean blue and grass green. One orb lost its color as the person holding it passed another, and he slowly glanced at whom he just waltzed by. The person who was being looked at was holding a polished but uncut gem in his hand that Swift could barely make out through the rows of people around him, which matched the color of the once-vibrant orb: a fiery red. In an instant, guards jumped that sad bloke as if from nowhere, and he was dragged out of the auditorium without anyone else even noticing. Swift froze, her jaw agape in horror. Melody tapped her shoulder again, quickly garnering the pegasus's attention once more. She pulled her lute off of her back, before she stuck her hand into the soundhole, being careful not to split the strings as she started pawing around. When she pulled her hand out minutes later, she procured another gemstone of similar quality, although this one was light orange. She handed it to the dragoon. “Take that and run,” she said in a hushed voice. “Where, and why?” Swift asked, ears twitching in disbelief as she had the gem almost forced into her free hand. “There's no time for questions. Go to the forest that’s near the Lunar Creek, or as close as you can. Me and Pippin will try to meet you there,” Melody answered. Just then, another person carrying the light orange orb stopped right in front of the dragoon, and the orb he held lost all color. Then, guards sprung up and surrounded the trio, but Swift flared her wings and rapidly ascended towards the ceiling before they could nab her. Hastily, she flew towards the doors that she entered an hour or so ago, and she could hear Melody and Pippin scream as she bolted. She silently hoped that they managed to weasel out of the guards' collective grasp as she left the play and found herself in the hall on the other side. More guards waited just shy of said hall, as though they anticipated at least one would-be escapee, and almost all of them sported bows, horns, swords, and arrows. In addition, they were equipped with chainmail that overlapped brass armor. The few who didn't carried mallets and axes that were sharpened to the point their edges reflected slivers of light, and these ones had armor made of leather. With a gem in one hand and the spear in the other, the mare glanced frantically for a way out. But there was little time, as the guards quickly closed in at all sides—except for the open air beneath the ceiling. The dragoon let a cocky smirk grace her concealed face as she ascended and weaved above the guards who so sorely lacked in the flight department. That was, until some more guards quickly came in with bows and loaded quivers from both sides of the hall. One let off the first release of the drawstring, the arrow barely missing the mare’s exposed left wing. Now darting about in the air frantically as the guards fired more arrows than she could count, the pegasus was still searching for a way out of the building. It was then she finally noticed that she still had her trusty spear in her hand. Chapter I- RestSwift opened her mouth and shoved the gemstone inside a cheek, being careful to not accidentally swallow it or inflict a scratch with her teeth. Silently cursing her lack of a pouch with which to hold the treasure, she held her weapon with both hands now and gripped it tightly. “Pry his mouth open!” yelled one of the guards as he loaded another arrow into the drawstring. The pegasus could barely contain a giggle of mirth. “How cute, he thinks I’m a stallion,” she thought as she dove towards the hornless guard who gave the order, spearhead aimed at him. The guard shrieked as the weapon went through his leather-made armor and clean out of his backside. Swift made a landing, and was once more surrounded by guards who aimed their weapons in her direction. The disguised mare swung her spear, now capped with a dangling body, like an elongated and crude club. Some of the stallions were knocked into their allies as the weapon smacked them, while others were simply sent staggering back. Regardless, they got right back onto their hooves and tried to overwhelm the pegasus as she spread her wings and became airborne once more. Swift darted about yet again, narrowly avoiding the speeding arrows with a grace the people below just couldn’t match. Sure, she had a body attached to her weapon, and it was hard to juggle, but the pegasus was grateful the body wasn't any heavier than it already was—considering she had a gem which needed protection, to be kept safe from the guards below. She noticed an open end on one side of the hall, and she made for it. When she did that, she found herself in a vast room with a set of stairs that lead to the second floor, one lined with strong marble pillars on the railed edges that line the balcony of said second floor. She quickly flew behind a column and folded her wings shut, taking a moment to scan her surroundings. That was cut short when she heard a mare shouting, followed by spotting an entrance to another hall. Marching to her from that entrance was another guard who was hassling a struggling Melody, and he was using one hand to drag her by the collar of her tunic. “Lemme go!” Melody cried as she continued to fidget about wildly, hoping to slip out of his one-handed grasp. Swift’s ear began to twitch as she silently slid to the opposite wall before the guard could see her, and when he turned to walk down another corner with his captive in tow, she flinched as he didn't even look in her direction. Then again, he was dealing with a screeching mare, so Swift supposed that was the reason why. Nevertheless, she quietly approached the two, raising her spear like it was a golf club and lifting the body attached to it up so as to not drag it along the floor. “Not until you give me the orange gem!” the guard replied in a harsh tone of voice. He passed by a segment that should have been filled in by railing but wasn't, and he turned to look at the first floor as guards poured in from the hall Swift had left. Speaking of, as she slowly rose up to stand, spear still raised, the guards below saw her and began squawking in unison. “Hey!” cried one guard below, immediately garnering the attention of the one holding Melody. “The one holding the damn sparkling rock is the dragoon, and he’s right behind you!” The warning came too late as the body on the spear met with the side of his head and packed enough force to knock him out cold, only further accentuated by his helmet of steel clanging like a bell in the process. The dead corpse slid off of the weapon, thus painting both that weapon and the out-cold guard it landed upon in gratuitous crimson. Melody took off the small bag that rested at her waist, and she tossed it to Swift. “I’ll distract them, just go!” she cried. Swift nodded in understanding as she caught the bag and took off in a sprint past Melody, only to find herself inside one of the building’s many hallways yet again. With another wave of guards at that, but this one was also having to deal with the bloke from earlier—he flailed madly. His limbs constantly connected with the guards, and though the attacks made them stagger and struggle to hold him, they nonetheless tried in vain to keep him pinned. She spread her wings and began flying once more upon realizing that this batch of troops was fully distracted, not once opening her mouth as she passed the occupied lot in her search for an opening. Behind her, half the platoon ran after her, leaving that one pony to finally break free of the hands assailing him to then make his own attempt for freedom. She came upon another hall that, to her left, lead to another hallway that remained empty with a set of doors swinging open in a breeze. She descended towards it and landed fast on her hooves, bolting towards the door on the other side in another sprint. This one led to one of the building's exit and she ran to it—or at least, she'd hoped it was an exit. The mare glanced down a hallway that she passed as she ran, skidding to a halt as she was witnessing Pippin hold off three guards by himself using only a dagger. “For the last time,” Pippin began in an angry shout, “I do not have the crystal gem!” Swift took the gem out of her mouth and stuffed it in the little leather bag before strapping it around herself. She then held her fingers to her mouth and let off a shrill whistle, which caused the guards to turn away from the earth pony and towards herself. “I have the crystal gem, you ill-equipped piles of horse manure!” she cried in such a sing-song tone that the guards could not mistake her voice for that of a stallion's, before she went bounding out of the nearby entrance like a jackalope. “Seize her!” cried one of the guards, which prompted the other two to begin to rush towards her, while he himself chose to stay and fight Pippin one-on-one. By the time they got out of the building, Swift was already on a stone roof of a building directly opposite of the opera-school and running with wings still flared. “Damn that pegasus!” cried the second guard as he and his ally ran along the ground, hoping to keep up with the dragoon who was jumping from building to building with ridiculous and brazen ease. “If only our infantry could keep up!” bemoaned the other, loading his bow with another arrow as he ran around the corner with his friend in a desperate bid to ground the fleeing mare. But it was much too late for him to fire; the armor-clad mare had already vanished after she lept to and from a few more buildings. ~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~ It had been three days since the mare fled the city, orange gemstone safely secured in the small leather bag all the while. She trudged through a dense woodland, gasping for breath as she found the bank of a creek and collapsed right next to it. “I need to stop overexerting myself,” she sighed, panting heavily in between words. With shaky hands, she removed her helmet and winced as the air stung at her sweat-covered face like a thousand blades. She crawled and then leaned towards the creek before she began drinking some of its water greedily, all the while shivering as it cooled her throat and stomach a bit. After a few moments of drinking the life-giving fluid—with a good few breaks in between in order to avoid choking—she looked at her reflection. Her white skin was dirtied and greyer than it normally was, and her purple-and-silver-streaked hair clung to her face and neck. Eyes the color of summer leaves were bloodshot and irritated. Her dirtied wings had feathers sticking out of alignment here and there, as well as sticky burrs and thorns. Her armor had scratches all over it, as though she fought a rosebush and barely made it out alive. No doubt she’d needed a bath now. If the waters of this creek were as refreshing as when they graced her tongue, then why not let them caress her body? Her ears twitched as the sound of rustling bushes hit them. “Swift Spear?” cooed a feminine voice. The dragoon turned her head as the bushes rustled some more, from which emerged a familiar earth-colored unicorn mare. “Melody?” Swift asked in a hoarse voice riddled with exhaustion, eyes widening in surprise. “How did—” “After the guards left the school and began scouring the town once they all knew you had the gem, me and Pippin snuck out. It wasn’t easy getting out of there ourselves, since we aren’t pegasi like you,” Melody answered before the worn mare could finish her question, a frown adorning her face. “Is the gem still with you?” “Yes,” Swift answered, taking the bag off of her body and opening it. The light orange fragment was still in one piece, safe inside its leather pouch. The bushes rustled again, and this time, Pippin emerged from them with slightly-torn clothes. He noticed that the mare had removed her helmet, as well as the condition of her face and wings. “You look worse for the wear,” he stated with a sigh escaping his mouth. “No, I feel like I just became queen of the countryside,” Swift scoffed sarcastically, her wings shifting a bit. “I’ve been on the run for three days and nights, and I feel as if I could black out any minute.” “As have we, but you look as if you ran nonstop,” Melody sighed, the frown still present on her face. Swift grabbed her helmet and set it back upon her head, before reaching for her spear and the crystal in the bag. She shifted so she could stand, but now every muscle in her body cried out in pain, and there was little the mare could do to hold back a yelp of surprise. The other two people rushed to her, grasping her by both the shoulders as soon as they were close enough. “Don’t move; you haven’t the strength to get past the creek,” Melody pleaded, ears flat on her head. “Would it be too much trouble for me to ask one of you to…” Swift trailed off as her wing muscles seized again.. “Carry you?” Pippin finished for her as he shifted so he could give her a piggyback ride. He spoke as she climbed onto his back, “Why, certainly. It’s goes against my nature to leave a weakened mare in need here in this woodland.” Melody picked up the crystal in the bag and the dragoon’s spear. She briskly walked alongside the stallion who was now carrying their wounded companion. After a walk lasting about fifteen to twenty minutes, the two came upon a small stone bridge that connected the banks of the creek together. “Where are we going?” Swift asked as she was carried across the bridge. “We’re heading to the village past this creek,” Pippin answered with a small smile. The tired mare’s ears perked up. “I never knew a village was here,” she sighed. “That’s because these folk are a secretive lot; so secretive that the guards only discovered them last month,” Pippin replied. Swift thought the answer over for a moment. “Makes sense,” she began, “but how did they remain so elusive?” “I know not their ways, nor their techniques of staying hidden,” Pippin sighed with a frown on his muzzle. “If you know not their ways of staying out of sight and mind, yet you know their village’s location…” Swift stopped, wincing in pain as she felt her wing muscles cry out in agony. “For some reason, the villagers trusted me and not the guards. I just passed through their town by chance.” Pippin frowned as he spoke, “and then the guards found me as I was passing by.” “Then again, given what happened three days ago,” Melody piped up, ”I can see why they don’t trust the guards.” “So, the guards found you walking out of the village a month ago... what happened after?” Swift asked, her ears twitching. “They were scouts; diplomats sent by the Royal Highness himself to aid in map-making and war-preparations or some nonsense like that. Sadly, I had to give them the location of the town we’re nearing,” Pippin groaned, his ears flattening upon his skull. “Did we pass Luna Creek?” Swift asked, frowning now. She lifted a brow slightly, a niggling feeling encroaching in her mind. Somehow, Pippin didn't convince her that well—though whether he was aware of that or not, he didn't remark on. Though he did answer her inquiry after a full minute had passed. “Sadly, no. The creek’s past the village,” Pippin stated as a clearing came into view—and in that clearing, there were old wood houses lined with thick moss. The few people out and about today looked at the lot who had just set foot into their town. “It’s the stallion in jester’s clothes!” exclaimed one bloke who ran up to the trio in that moment. “What brings you here today?” “Listen, do you have a spare bed?” Pippin asked. “One of my friends, who I am carrying upon my back, is exhausted and in need of rest.” The local stallion observed the dragoon head to hoof, a frown adorning his face as he was nodding. “Yes, follow me,” he answered. The person turned around and slowly walked to one house, with the other three following him. The other few locals looked on as a door creaked open and the four went inside, finding a hefty half-dozen beds that were empty. “We’ll need to remove that cumbersome armor, though,” Melody pointed out, a frown still lingering on her face. “Say, where was everyone else the last time I walked through here?” Pippin questioned the local as he carried Swift towards the bed. “They were out training and gathering food for the village,” the local stallion answered flatly. Swift Spear was finally placed on the bed, and the first piece of armor to come off was her helmet. The two stallions then walked out the door when Swift gave them a stony glare, as if she had pointed her spear at them in a threatening manner. “Guess you didn’t want them peeping, huh?” Melody teased with a smile as she helped the dragoon remove her armor. “'A mare taking her armor off is bad news,' so I've heard. Frankly, I've every reason to believe that particular tidbit of information,” Swift answered with a sigh as her breastplate and gauntlets came off, exposing her well-toned muscles which were as grimy as her face was. She had dirtied bandages covering her chest, and some cloth underwear covering her lower region. Then, the greaves came off, as well as the rest of the suit. She laid on the bed belly-side down, shivering as her body was fully exposed to the air of the makeshift inn. Melody looked in the armor, and found that many of its components had cloth lining the innards. “No wonder you’re freezing,” she remarked as she turned back to Swift Spear. “You could say I often go to bed fully dressed,” Swift replied with a small grin on her face. The worn person quickly frowned as she then said, “May I ask something, Melody?” “Hm?” Melody hummed, brow arched. “Why is that orange gem so important, pray tell?” Swift asked, her ears twitching. Chapter II- Questions“It was passed down unto me from my parents. I would then pass it down unto my children when the day comes,” Melody answered with a frown, ears flattening against her head as she crossed her legs rather awkwardly. Swift raised a brow. “So it’s a memento?” she questioned. “Yes,” came the answer, though Melody herself still looked as if in a state of unease. “Why do you fidget so?” Swift pressed further, one of her ears twitching as she shifted so as to put her hooves on the floor, wincing all the while. “Surely something troubles you.” “I’ve... failed to marry. My parents would want me to have a child as of now, but do you see me with child?” Melody retorted, betraying a flinch of the shoulders. Something seemed to have clicked in Swift's head in that moment, and her eyes widened a bit. “The memento doubles as a wedding ring of sorts?” she asked, completely shooting in the dark here. “Unfortunately, yes,” Melody stated with a sigh, shrinking as if she were a child who had disobeyed her parents. Swift Spear stood straight up, gritting her teeth as all her muscles began protesting against the sudden action with waves of pain. “And they would have given you away, just like that?” she growled, partly from the pain and partly from the shock and anger over what her fellow mare had just relayed. “Yes. It’s one of the reasons I went to the opera-school,” Melody murmured, shrinking even more now. Swift sat back down, her body once more crying out in burning pain as she had done so. Something was still nagging her in the recesses of her mind, though—why did those cloaked people at the play carry those colorful... things that lost their color when they encroached her and her very small group? Why did guards spring up as if from borderline nowhere and try to steal the gem? What was so important about a few hunks of sparkling rocks to even warrant such a surprise assault, in the middle of a crowded play no less? Did Melody know more than she let on? That certainly could have explained her sudden shift in behavior when the whole mess unfolded full force. “There’s something I still don’t understand,” Swift said, finally. “Yes?” Melody guessed, her ears going upright for a moment. “Why did those people and the guards try taking this gemstone,” Swift asked flatly, her question sounding more like a statement as her face hardened. “What explains those strange objects that lost color when they stopped right in front of us?” she added, her wings shifting and seizing up in pain, forcing a yelp out of the mare to whom they were attached. A few moments of silence passed before the weakened dragoon had received her answer. “I know not the answer to those questions,” Melody answered with a shake of her head, her voice solemn in tone. “My parents never really told me about the gem, aside from it being a wedding gift of sorts.” Melody groaned and lifted an arm up, before a hand went to gently connect with her face. “Are you playing dumb with me?” she moaned, gently pressing down on her upper eyelids with her fingers. “No, Swift,” Melody replied quick as a whip. “If I really did know why, I’d have let you know by now,” she added. “... Fair point,” Swift conceded with a slow nod of her head and her hand dragging down along her face as well as the bridge of her muzzle. Her purple-and-silver-streaked bangs fell in front of her face, the tangled mass almost hiding her eyes even as she then pulled her hand away from her visage. "Did you use the gem to track me with a spell?" When she got a nod from Melody, a wry smile splayed Swift's lips. “Perhaps Pippin would know something about this?” she mused, her ears twitching ever so slightly. “But what about your armor-plated clothes?” Melody gasped, her eyes going wide. "You're practically exposed! Wounded, even!" “If I must sacrifice my modesty to get answers, then so be it,” Swift snarled, using a hand to brush aside her messy bangs. “Besides, I need to rest, I need a bath—the clothes can be dealt with at a later time.” Melody backed down and simply nodded. “Want me to fetch him?” she questioned. “Please do,” Swift answered rather begrudgingly whilst nodding back. She waited until the sound of retreating hooves had faded from the inn from a loud series of thuds to a dull afterthought before glancing back at her dirtied tail whose hair had hung in such horrid tangles it would probably have to be shaved clean in order to simply brush it thereafter. Silence had befallen the room in which she sat, and she slowly touched her tail with a hand, gritting her teeth to choke back a scream. Damn, the tail hurt. “I might have to cut it off,” she growled, still gritting her teeth as she spoke. Her ears perked as the sound of hooves hitting the floor hit the phono receptors, and the wounded mare looked up to see Melody coming back into the room with Pippin—who, upon seeing that Spear was almost nude, began to blush on the spot. “I hear you have a…” Pippin trailed off, shaking as he stared into the emerald eyes of Swift, “question for me?” “Do you know anything about the gemstone? The one Melody handed to me three days ago?” Swift asked calmly, despite the fact that Pippin’s eyes trailed off from her face to places down below. “Nothing, I-I’m afraid,” Pippin replied in a stammer, looking back at the dirtied mare’s visage. “At all?” Swift continued to ask, a brow quirked just a smidgen. “I-I wish I d-did,” Pippin replied with a hasty nod of his head, the blush still plastered on his azure cheeks. Swift's brow climbed higher, and she wanted to ask why he began stuttering. His eyes moved to the mare’s hips, where a spear identical to the one she wielded was plastered upon. “I see you’re staring at my cutie mark,” Swift stated, a small smirk curling on her lips. “O-oh dear!” Pippin cried, hastily looking back up at the mare’s face with widened eyes and shrunken pupils. “Sincerest a-apologies!” “No need to apologize; I chose to sacrifice my modesty for the time being,” Swift replied, her smile widening a teensy bit before curling into a frown. “But on a serious note, what do you know about the palace guards springing up on us a while ago? It would seem fishy to me that they would do such a thing in an opera-themed school of all places.” “No. I haven't the foggiest.” Pippin shook his head, his visage maintaining its shocked expression. “She does have a point; that many guards would not have needed to enter the school even if the king himself sat amidst the audience,” Melody conceded, nodding her head slowly. “Nor would those people who carried those bizarre, glowing orbs have the need to do the same,” Swift added, glancing towards her disheveled wings for a moment. “What do we need to do once I recover?” she asked, turning back to the people who helped carry her into this inn. “Whatever we need to do, we must lay low for a while. The guards probably have us stamped as wanted persons simply for resisting them—borderline fleeing the city, even,” Pippin sighed, a frown curling his lips. "And possibly a few others, if they managed to flee as well." “They’ll likely scour the neighboring cities as much as a group of maids service the king,” Melody piped up, worry flashing in her eyes. “We cannot stay for long.” “Pippin, hand me your dagger,” Swift stated abruptly, her face hardening. “W-why?” Pippin questioned, flinching. “My tail is in such bad condition I am afraid I can no longer keep it,” she replied, frowning. “W-what?!” both Pippin and Melody cried in unison, irises shrinking as Swift’s words ran through their minds. “I’m afraid it must be done; otherwise, it would be cumbersome to keep at best,” Swift sighed. “I would not reach such a decision in any other circumstance; now then, please hand me the dagger.” Slowly and hesitantly, Pippin withdrew his weapon and approached Swift, handing the dagger to her with a shaky hand once he was close enough for her to grasp it. Swift then stood up, pain shooting throughout all of her nerves and forcing her to emit a yelp of surprise. She stumbled away from the bed, dagger in hand, and towards a bare wall on the other side of the room. Grasping her tail with the other hand and shutting her eyes tightly, she began the very painful job of hacking her own hair-tangled limb off with the dagger. She felt blood ooze from the wound she created, some of it splashing onto her bare legs before trickling down them in a manner akin to sweat. Soon, all she had left was a bleeding stump, much to the wide-eyed horror of Pippin and Melody. “I’ll get some bandages and rags,” Melody murmured before fleeing the room quickly. “Even this has an upside, as painful as it is,” Swift growled, her voice tainted by underlying pain. “I’ll be damned if I had kept this in its current condition only to let someone else grab it.” “Have you been... grabbed by the tail before?” Pippin asked, worry flashing in his eyes. Swift turned to him quickly, and there were dark streaks running down her cheeks from her eyes. “Yes,” she answered, her voice almost hushed. “It was when I was a little girl—something I would rather not get into.” Pippin just barely caught a faint glimmer in the corner of the dragoon’s left eye. “I’m... terribly—” She cut him off by raising the hand that clutched the severed limb and spoke up, “Don’t apologize; this was my own choice. Sometimes, limbs have to be removed to ensure survival.” A tear streaked her face from her left eye, trailing down an erratic path before letting go of her visage and plummeting to the floor, and her breathing began to turn hitched. “I... I understand.” Pippin nodded after swallowing a lump in his throat. “I’m just concerned for your well-being,” he added as he saw another tear descend down the mare’s face. “I know,” Swift murmured, her voice pained and soft as she lowered the hand holding the severed tail, turning away from the earth pony and towards the nearest wall. A frown still lingered on her face, but it was no longer of the angry, very pronounced sort. The frown made her look almost sad, especially considering another tear falling away from her face. Her ears fell flat on her skull as she continued to stare at the wall, her chest rising and falling in tandem with the hitches in her breath. Pippin approached the almost-naked, bleeding mare with slow, cautious steps. He paused when Swift suddenly threw her own detached limb against the wall, her eyes narrowing as her hitched breath hastened. She glared at the spot the tail landed against, which left a small bloody spot in the wake of its impact before dropping to the ground. “Is there anything else you need help with?” he asked softly.
Intro- Orchestrated ChaosThere was rampant clamor in a large and busy town, one big enough to have its own bloody opera house which doubled as a school for whatever reason. This was a good thing for the rich families who wanted to send their kids to see the world, as this opera-school—so named by many of the locals—provided them with the knowledge needed to survive in the harsh wilderness and such other situations like that. The outside was made of brick and stone, though the inside was lavish, with expansive halls decorated with marble columns and old, worn paintings that had famous figures performing all sorts of things in their prime. A person slowly walked down the halls of the opera-school, their head held high. The first thing that separated this one from everyone else was the fact that they were clad head to toe in a set of armor—gauntlets, greaves, even their tailbone was covered in spiked armor sporting a grayish-azure color with red-violet trims. The armor itself was broad, flat, and sturdy—built for a male, one could say. The person also had a pair of white, feathery wings upon their back, and white pony’s ears jutting out from the sides of their face-covering, dragon-like helmet. Held tightly in one hand was a spear whose head was modeled after that of the fearsome dragon’s features. Another person approached the winged one, tapping at its armor-clad shoulder to get their attention as soon as they were in range. It turned to meet their gaze, revealing to them only a white chin and mouth. “Yes?” it questioned in a high-pitched, feminine tone of voice. “Hey, miss pegasus, may I sit with you at the play today?” the other asked with widening eyes, whom the winged entity noted to have been in simple bard’s clothes. It was a woman wearing a light tunic and ragged cotton pants, with a vest laden on her chest that looked as though made of leather. On top of that, she sported a slightly-warped hat and a thin red cape. The face was a petite one; a rich earth brown in tone right down to her ears, and jutting from her forehead was a spiraled unicorn's horn. She carried a lute upon her back with the aid of a dark brown strap, and the color of the birch matched the tone of her light silver hair, and attached to her waist was a simple and small leather pouch of some kind. The unicorn blinked her set of brown eyes as she awaited the answer of the armored one whom she approached. “I don’t see why not,” the armored person answered with a nod of her head. Her wings shifted a bit, and she cracked a small smile. “I could do for some friends at the performance today.” Another person ran down the hall to the duo from around a distant corner, this one in a light two-colored shirt and rather tight pants. He wore a hat adorned with drooping towers and bells jingling, a hat whose fabric was a rich velvet to the touch, which also had two red towers and two blue towers. His skin was a soft ocean in hue, his hair probably all crammed up under his hat since it wasn't in sight, and the eyes were a light baby blue in color. He lacked the wings of pegasi and horns marking the unicorns; but like the winged person, he was just as hard to miss with that getup he was currently prancing about in. He came to a stop right next to the two, almost skidding and falling over on his face. He steadied himself with a chuckle. “Hello,” he said in a friendly tone of voice with a smile to match. “I’d like to sit with the both of you fine ladies this evening.” “To that, I’ve no arguments against your proposition,” the pegasus replied swiftly, nodding yet again. She turned around and began to once more walk down the hall with the two others persons behind her in tow. “Say, what’s one such as yourself doing here in these halls, may I ask?” questioned the stallion who was wearing a garment of bells. The pegasus briefly glanced at him and chuckled. “My reasons for being here are very personal,” she replied. “You could say I came here of my own will. I would not dare make a counter-argument, should you make that particular conclusion.” “Why aren’t you serving in the king’s guard?” asked the unicorn. “I am but a mare, as you can tell by my voice alone,” the winged one answered without stall. “And we all know how well the guard takes up on requests to join them from ones such as myself, no matter how good in combat they are.” The unicorn nodded, smiling with satisfaction at the answer she’d received. But then she frowned, and her ears had fallen flat on her head. “What is the matter?” the armored mare asked, taking notice of the sudden shift in her fellow mare’s emotions. “We must get to the show, at once,” the unicorn replied quickly, breaking out into a sprint and darting past the pegasus. The armor-clad mare and the earth pony with the velvet hat followed after exchanging one glance, also breaking out into sprints of their own. The trio rounded a corner and rushed down another hall. Upon rounding a bend and reaching the middle of a third hall, they stopped in the middle to find a set of oak double doors with ornate carvings. The unicorn threw them open and all three entered the room beyond, which was one that lead to a very vast room adorned with red carpets and sturdy wooden chairs with a stage beset in front of all of the seats, currently cut off from the outside by closed red curtains. The room was large enough that the ceiling could house a few dozen flying pegasi, and would still have enough room for the chandeliers and whatnot. The place was packed with more people already, all shifting about in their seats chattering like there was no such thing as tomorrow. The three walked down towards the stage, scanning the moving rows of people for available seats. Fortunately, there were three seats left, and all of them were in the very front row. The trio claimed them and got comfortable, and it was the pegasus who first piped up as she waited for the red curtains to open. “Would either one of you inform me of what this play’s about?” “To be frank, I don’t know much myself,” the unicorn answered, a giddy smile on her face as she glanced at the pegasus. “But I can tell you, I’d love to see every minute of it.” “It’s fine if you don’t want to spoil the surprise,” the pegasus chirped, before she laughed heartily. “I understand completely.” “My fine ladies, would you care to give me your names?” the one with the bells asked, getting glanced at by the mares to whom he was addressing. “Only if you give us yours first,” the unicorn replied in a friendly tone of voice. “Very well. I am Pippin,” the one with the bells answered. “I am Melody,” the lute-carrying mare sighed, chuckling a bit. The pegasus chuckled as well. “Swift Spear,” she said casually. Her wings shifted a bit as she glanced towards the curtains. At last, the silken red veils began to part, and she shook in anticipation. On the stage was an elderly stallion dressed in regal robes of all colors, a golden and glittering crown adorning his head. His aged face smiled in warmth, and as he cleared his throat, the crowd silenced as they turned to his attention. “I thank you all for coming here tonight. It is an honor to have you people from the whole countryside being here to watch the play. With all of my heart, thank you,” he said. At once, the crowd cheered in joyous uproar, hands clapping in unison. The stallion in robes walked off the stage casually, and he took a special seat in the middle of the most well-dressed of people at this hour. The first two actors then took the stage as soon as the regally-clad stallion took his perch, one clad in bard’s clothes and the other in slave garments, right down to the shackles on their wrists and hooves. At this, Swift tilted her head to one side and lifted a quizzical brow. “O, master!” cried the slave actor, getting onto his knees and hands. “What a terrible plight has befallen us all!” “What plight? I see none around me!” exclaimed the bard, pointing an accusing finger at the slave like a pistol. “The only plight I see, in fact, is that you are not tilling the fields but instead wasting my time!” “But master, I come bearing most terrible news!” the slave pleaded, shaking the chains on his wrist as if for emphasis. “I will have none of your tomfoolery!” the bard yelled, stomping his hoof in agitation. “Go back to tilling the fields, at once!” “Please, listen!” the slave pleaded further, just as two more actors dressed like knights stomped onto the stage with swords in hand. One dragged the slave away by the hair on his head, and the other approached the bard as though he wanted to fight. The bard winced, raising an arm as if to grab something. “What is it you want now?” he asked, a scowl embedded in his face. The knight didn’t answer with words; instead, he raised his sword—terrifyingly high above his head. “No…” The bard went wide-eyed, ears flattening on his skull in that moment, “not my life!” With this, he scurried off the stage and the knight followed him closely before another stallion in simple robes came up front from behind the curtains. “This would mark the beginning of the new era, one that would render the bards as simple slaves themselves…” he began in a monotonous voice. “We’re not slaves,” Melody murmured under her breath, eyes narrowing as the words of the one on stage ran through her mind like a speeding bullet. “Not as a whole group of people,” she added, keeping her voice little more than a whisper. The stallion went on for a bit before getting off the stage with, “... and the end of the wicked ones who practiced the art of the dragoons.” Swift was now frowning as well. “And I’ve walked into a history lesson about my particular trade, great,” she whispered sarcastically. She shifted in her seat and glanced around, hoping that nobody else had taken notice of her presence, all the while clutching her spear tightly in one hand. Another actor, this one clad in clothes much like those of the pegasus, strode onto the stage. Another three marched in before a unicorn stallion dressed like a slave mare appeared. “Please, no! Don’t take my life! I’ll do anything you ask!” the unicorn actor pleaded in a high-pitched, almost genuine girly voice. “Servitude is not an option, peasant,” hissed one of the dragoons, pointing a wicked spear at the unicorn. “We leave none alive, and take no prisoners,” scorned the second dragoon, pointing the head of his spear towards the slave as well. “I don’t wish to die!” the unicorn shrieked as the last two dragoons grabbed his arms and hoisted him up with ease. He kicked and pleaded fruitlessly as the troops dragged him offstage. From there, several more actors hit the scene before taking their leave, and though they spoke differently and performed various actions, it all became a blur for the trio—about an hour or so into the play, that is. It got to the point that, after another half-hour, the roles and jobs and such for the actors themselves may as well have been interchangeable altogether. As a result, much of the audience fell asleep, and Swift's eyelids were struggling to stay open. While the play was going on, the unicorn bard cringed as she looked around, noticing strange people carrying even stranger objects. The people were walking slowly down the aisles, and the objects began glowing. She quickly glanced at the pegasus who was still engrossed in the acting on stage. “Hey, hey,” Melody whispered to Swift, gently tugging a feather on her wing with a hand. “Hm?” the dragoon hummed, turning to the unicorn with a frown on her face. Her eyes widened under her helmet, now alert as they scanned Melody's tight visage. “Look behind us,” Melody said with worry flashing in her eyes. Swift did as she was asked, and noticed people in black robes carrying strange colored orbs in their hands like they were at a sermon to deliver offerings. There were four in total, and the colors as basic as they could come: light orange, fiery red, ocean blue and grass green. One orb lost its color as the person holding it passed another, and he slowly glanced at whom he just waltzed by. The person who was being looked at was holding a polished but uncut gem in his hand that Swift could barely make out through the rows of people around him, which matched the color of the once-vibrant orb: a fiery red. In an instant, guards jumped that sad bloke as if from nowhere, and he was dragged out of the auditorium without anyone else even noticing. Swift froze, her jaw agape in horror. Melody tapped her shoulder again, quickly garnering the pegasus's attention once more. She pulled her lute off of her back, before she stuck her hand into the soundhole, being careful not to split the strings as she started pawing around. When she pulled her hand out minutes later, she procured another gemstone of similar quality, although this one was light orange. She handed it to the dragoon. “Take that and run,” she said in a hushed voice. “Where, and why?” Swift asked, ears twitching in disbelief as she had the gem almost forced into her free hand. “There's no time for questions. Go to the forest that’s near the Lunar Creek, or as close as you can. Me and Pippin will try to meet you there,” Melody answered. Just then, another person carrying the light orange orb stopped right in front of the dragoon, and the orb he held lost all color. Then, guards sprung up and surrounded the trio, but Swift flared her wings and rapidly ascended towards the ceiling before they could nab her. Hastily, she flew towards the doors that she entered an hour or so ago, and she could hear Melody and Pippin scream as she bolted. She silently hoped that they managed to weasel out of the guards' collective grasp as she left the play and found herself in the hall on the other side. More guards waited just shy of said hall, as though they anticipated at least one would-be escapee, and almost all of them sported bows, horns, swords, and arrows. In addition, they were equipped with chainmail that overlapped brass armor. The few who didn't carried mallets and axes that were sharpened to the point their edges reflected slivers of light, and these ones had armor made of leather. With a gem in one hand and the spear in the other, the mare glanced frantically for a way out. But there was little time, as the guards quickly closed in at all sides—except for the open air beneath the ceiling. The dragoon let a cocky smirk grace her concealed face as she ascended and weaved above the guards who so sorely lacked in the flight department. That was, until some more guards quickly came in with bows and loaded quivers from both sides of the hall. One let off the first release of the drawstring, the arrow barely missing the mare’s exposed left wing. Now darting about in the air frantically as the guards fired more arrows than she could count, the pegasus was still searching for a way out of the building. It was then she finally noticed that she still had her trusty spear in her hand.
Chapter I- RestSwift opened her mouth and shoved the gemstone inside a cheek, being careful to not accidentally swallow it or inflict a scratch with her teeth. Silently cursing her lack of a pouch with which to hold the treasure, she held her weapon with both hands now and gripped it tightly. “Pry his mouth open!” yelled one of the guards as he loaded another arrow into the drawstring. The pegasus could barely contain a giggle of mirth. “How cute, he thinks I’m a stallion,” she thought as she dove towards the hornless guard who gave the order, spearhead aimed at him. The guard shrieked as the weapon went through his leather-made armor and clean out of his backside. Swift made a landing, and was once more surrounded by guards who aimed their weapons in her direction. The disguised mare swung her spear, now capped with a dangling body, like an elongated and crude club. Some of the stallions were knocked into their allies as the weapon smacked them, while others were simply sent staggering back. Regardless, they got right back onto their hooves and tried to overwhelm the pegasus as she spread her wings and became airborne once more. Swift darted about yet again, narrowly avoiding the speeding arrows with a grace the people below just couldn’t match. Sure, she had a body attached to her weapon, and it was hard to juggle, but the pegasus was grateful the body wasn't any heavier than it already was—considering she had a gem which needed protection, to be kept safe from the guards below. She noticed an open end on one side of the hall, and she made for it. When she did that, she found herself in a vast room with a set of stairs that lead to the second floor, one lined with strong marble pillars on the railed edges that line the balcony of said second floor. She quickly flew behind a column and folded her wings shut, taking a moment to scan her surroundings. That was cut short when she heard a mare shouting, followed by spotting an entrance to another hall. Marching to her from that entrance was another guard who was hassling a struggling Melody, and he was using one hand to drag her by the collar of her tunic. “Lemme go!” Melody cried as she continued to fidget about wildly, hoping to slip out of his one-handed grasp. Swift’s ear began to twitch as she silently slid to the opposite wall before the guard could see her, and when he turned to walk down another corner with his captive in tow, she flinched as he didn't even look in her direction. Then again, he was dealing with a screeching mare, so Swift supposed that was the reason why. Nevertheless, she quietly approached the two, raising her spear like it was a golf club and lifting the body attached to it up so as to not drag it along the floor. “Not until you give me the orange gem!” the guard replied in a harsh tone of voice. He passed by a segment that should have been filled in by railing but wasn't, and he turned to look at the first floor as guards poured in from the hall Swift had left. Speaking of, as she slowly rose up to stand, spear still raised, the guards below saw her and began squawking in unison. “Hey!” cried one guard below, immediately garnering the attention of the one holding Melody. “The one holding the damn sparkling rock is the dragoon, and he’s right behind you!” The warning came too late as the body on the spear met with the side of his head and packed enough force to knock him out cold, only further accentuated by his helmet of steel clanging like a bell in the process. The dead corpse slid off of the weapon, thus painting both that weapon and the out-cold guard it landed upon in gratuitous crimson. Melody took off the small bag that rested at her waist, and she tossed it to Swift. “I’ll distract them, just go!” she cried. Swift nodded in understanding as she caught the bag and took off in a sprint past Melody, only to find herself inside one of the building’s many hallways yet again. With another wave of guards at that, but this one was also having to deal with the bloke from earlier—he flailed madly. His limbs constantly connected with the guards, and though the attacks made them stagger and struggle to hold him, they nonetheless tried in vain to keep him pinned. She spread her wings and began flying once more upon realizing that this batch of troops was fully distracted, not once opening her mouth as she passed the occupied lot in her search for an opening. Behind her, half the platoon ran after her, leaving that one pony to finally break free of the hands assailing him to then make his own attempt for freedom. She came upon another hall that, to her left, lead to another hallway that remained empty with a set of doors swinging open in a breeze. She descended towards it and landed fast on her hooves, bolting towards the door on the other side in another sprint. This one led to one of the building's exit and she ran to it—or at least, she'd hoped it was an exit. The mare glanced down a hallway that she passed as she ran, skidding to a halt as she was witnessing Pippin hold off three guards by himself using only a dagger. “For the last time,” Pippin began in an angry shout, “I do not have the crystal gem!” Swift took the gem out of her mouth and stuffed it in the little leather bag before strapping it around herself. She then held her fingers to her mouth and let off a shrill whistle, which caused the guards to turn away from the earth pony and towards herself. “I have the crystal gem, you ill-equipped piles of horse manure!” she cried in such a sing-song tone that the guards could not mistake her voice for that of a stallion's, before she went bounding out of the nearby entrance like a jackalope. “Seize her!” cried one of the guards, which prompted the other two to begin to rush towards her, while he himself chose to stay and fight Pippin one-on-one. By the time they got out of the building, Swift was already on a stone roof of a building directly opposite of the opera-school and running with wings still flared. “Damn that pegasus!” cried the second guard as he and his ally ran along the ground, hoping to keep up with the dragoon who was jumping from building to building with ridiculous and brazen ease. “If only our infantry could keep up!” bemoaned the other, loading his bow with another arrow as he ran around the corner with his friend in a desperate bid to ground the fleeing mare. But it was much too late for him to fire; the armor-clad mare had already vanished after she lept to and from a few more buildings. ~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~ It had been three days since the mare fled the city, orange gemstone safely secured in the small leather bag all the while. She trudged through a dense woodland, gasping for breath as she found the bank of a creek and collapsed right next to it. “I need to stop overexerting myself,” she sighed, panting heavily in between words. With shaky hands, she removed her helmet and winced as the air stung at her sweat-covered face like a thousand blades. She crawled and then leaned towards the creek before she began drinking some of its water greedily, all the while shivering as it cooled her throat and stomach a bit. After a few moments of drinking the life-giving fluid—with a good few breaks in between in order to avoid choking—she looked at her reflection. Her white skin was dirtied and greyer than it normally was, and her purple-and-silver-streaked hair clung to her face and neck. Eyes the color of summer leaves were bloodshot and irritated. Her dirtied wings had feathers sticking out of alignment here and there, as well as sticky burrs and thorns. Her armor had scratches all over it, as though she fought a rosebush and barely made it out alive. No doubt she’d needed a bath now. If the waters of this creek were as refreshing as when they graced her tongue, then why not let them caress her body? Her ears twitched as the sound of rustling bushes hit them. “Swift Spear?” cooed a feminine voice. The dragoon turned her head as the bushes rustled some more, from which emerged a familiar earth-colored unicorn mare. “Melody?” Swift asked in a hoarse voice riddled with exhaustion, eyes widening in surprise. “How did—” “After the guards left the school and began scouring the town once they all knew you had the gem, me and Pippin snuck out. It wasn’t easy getting out of there ourselves, since we aren’t pegasi like you,” Melody answered before the worn mare could finish her question, a frown adorning her face. “Is the gem still with you?” “Yes,” Swift answered, taking the bag off of her body and opening it. The light orange fragment was still in one piece, safe inside its leather pouch. The bushes rustled again, and this time, Pippin emerged from them with slightly-torn clothes. He noticed that the mare had removed her helmet, as well as the condition of her face and wings. “You look worse for the wear,” he stated with a sigh escaping his mouth. “No, I feel like I just became queen of the countryside,” Swift scoffed sarcastically, her wings shifting a bit. “I’ve been on the run for three days and nights, and I feel as if I could black out any minute.” “As have we, but you look as if you ran nonstop,” Melody sighed, the frown still present on her face. Swift grabbed her helmet and set it back upon her head, before reaching for her spear and the crystal in the bag. She shifted so she could stand, but now every muscle in her body cried out in pain, and there was little the mare could do to hold back a yelp of surprise. The other two people rushed to her, grasping her by both the shoulders as soon as they were close enough. “Don’t move; you haven’t the strength to get past the creek,” Melody pleaded, ears flat on her head. “Would it be too much trouble for me to ask one of you to…” Swift trailed off as her wing muscles seized again.. “Carry you?” Pippin finished for her as he shifted so he could give her a piggyback ride. He spoke as she climbed onto his back, “Why, certainly. It’s goes against my nature to leave a weakened mare in need here in this woodland.” Melody picked up the crystal in the bag and the dragoon’s spear. She briskly walked alongside the stallion who was now carrying their wounded companion. After a walk lasting about fifteen to twenty minutes, the two came upon a small stone bridge that connected the banks of the creek together. “Where are we going?” Swift asked as she was carried across the bridge. “We’re heading to the village past this creek,” Pippin answered with a small smile. The tired mare’s ears perked up. “I never knew a village was here,” she sighed. “That’s because these folk are a secretive lot; so secretive that the guards only discovered them last month,” Pippin replied. Swift thought the answer over for a moment. “Makes sense,” she began, “but how did they remain so elusive?” “I know not their ways, nor their techniques of staying hidden,” Pippin sighed with a frown on his muzzle. “If you know not their ways of staying out of sight and mind, yet you know their village’s location…” Swift stopped, wincing in pain as she felt her wing muscles cry out in agony. “For some reason, the villagers trusted me and not the guards. I just passed through their town by chance.” Pippin frowned as he spoke, “and then the guards found me as I was passing by.” “Then again, given what happened three days ago,” Melody piped up, ”I can see why they don’t trust the guards.” “So, the guards found you walking out of the village a month ago... what happened after?” Swift asked, her ears twitching. “They were scouts; diplomats sent by the Royal Highness himself to aid in map-making and war-preparations or some nonsense like that. Sadly, I had to give them the location of the town we’re nearing,” Pippin groaned, his ears flattening upon his skull. “Did we pass Luna Creek?” Swift asked, frowning now. She lifted a brow slightly, a niggling feeling encroaching in her mind. Somehow, Pippin didn't convince her that well—though whether he was aware of that or not, he didn't remark on. Though he did answer her inquiry after a full minute had passed. “Sadly, no. The creek’s past the village,” Pippin stated as a clearing came into view—and in that clearing, there were old wood houses lined with thick moss. The few people out and about today looked at the lot who had just set foot into their town. “It’s the stallion in jester’s clothes!” exclaimed one bloke who ran up to the trio in that moment. “What brings you here today?” “Listen, do you have a spare bed?” Pippin asked. “One of my friends, who I am carrying upon my back, is exhausted and in need of rest.” The local stallion observed the dragoon head to hoof, a frown adorning his face as he was nodding. “Yes, follow me,” he answered. The person turned around and slowly walked to one house, with the other three following him. The other few locals looked on as a door creaked open and the four went inside, finding a hefty half-dozen beds that were empty. “We’ll need to remove that cumbersome armor, though,” Melody pointed out, a frown still lingering on her face. “Say, where was everyone else the last time I walked through here?” Pippin questioned the local as he carried Swift towards the bed. “They were out training and gathering food for the village,” the local stallion answered flatly. Swift Spear was finally placed on the bed, and the first piece of armor to come off was her helmet. The two stallions then walked out the door when Swift gave them a stony glare, as if she had pointed her spear at them in a threatening manner. “Guess you didn’t want them peeping, huh?” Melody teased with a smile as she helped the dragoon remove her armor. “'A mare taking her armor off is bad news,' so I've heard. Frankly, I've every reason to believe that particular tidbit of information,” Swift answered with a sigh as her breastplate and gauntlets came off, exposing her well-toned muscles which were as grimy as her face was. She had dirtied bandages covering her chest, and some cloth underwear covering her lower region. Then, the greaves came off, as well as the rest of the suit. She laid on the bed belly-side down, shivering as her body was fully exposed to the air of the makeshift inn. Melody looked in the armor, and found that many of its components had cloth lining the innards. “No wonder you’re freezing,” she remarked as she turned back to Swift Spear. “You could say I often go to bed fully dressed,” Swift replied with a small grin on her face. The worn person quickly frowned as she then said, “May I ask something, Melody?” “Hm?” Melody hummed, brow arched. “Why is that orange gem so important, pray tell?” Swift asked, her ears twitching.
Chapter II- Questions“It was passed down unto me from my parents. I would then pass it down unto my children when the day comes,” Melody answered with a frown, ears flattening against her head as she crossed her legs rather awkwardly. Swift raised a brow. “So it’s a memento?” she questioned. “Yes,” came the answer, though Melody herself still looked as if in a state of unease. “Why do you fidget so?” Swift pressed further, one of her ears twitching as she shifted so as to put her hooves on the floor, wincing all the while. “Surely something troubles you.” “I’ve... failed to marry. My parents would want me to have a child as of now, but do you see me with child?” Melody retorted, betraying a flinch of the shoulders. Something seemed to have clicked in Swift's head in that moment, and her eyes widened a bit. “The memento doubles as a wedding ring of sorts?” she asked, completely shooting in the dark here. “Unfortunately, yes,” Melody stated with a sigh, shrinking as if she were a child who had disobeyed her parents. Swift Spear stood straight up, gritting her teeth as all her muscles began protesting against the sudden action with waves of pain. “And they would have given you away, just like that?” she growled, partly from the pain and partly from the shock and anger over what her fellow mare had just relayed. “Yes. It’s one of the reasons I went to the opera-school,” Melody murmured, shrinking even more now. Swift sat back down, her body once more crying out in burning pain as she had done so. Something was still nagging her in the recesses of her mind, though—why did those cloaked people at the play carry those colorful... things that lost their color when they encroached her and her very small group? Why did guards spring up as if from borderline nowhere and try to steal the gem? What was so important about a few hunks of sparkling rocks to even warrant such a surprise assault, in the middle of a crowded play no less? Did Melody know more than she let on? That certainly could have explained her sudden shift in behavior when the whole mess unfolded full force. “There’s something I still don’t understand,” Swift said, finally. “Yes?” Melody guessed, her ears going upright for a moment. “Why did those people and the guards try taking this gemstone,” Swift asked flatly, her question sounding more like a statement as her face hardened. “What explains those strange objects that lost color when they stopped right in front of us?” she added, her wings shifting and seizing up in pain, forcing a yelp out of the mare to whom they were attached. A few moments of silence passed before the weakened dragoon had received her answer. “I know not the answer to those questions,” Melody answered with a shake of her head, her voice solemn in tone. “My parents never really told me about the gem, aside from it being a wedding gift of sorts.” Melody groaned and lifted an arm up, before a hand went to gently connect with her face. “Are you playing dumb with me?” she moaned, gently pressing down on her upper eyelids with her fingers. “No, Swift,” Melody replied quick as a whip. “If I really did know why, I’d have let you know by now,” she added. “... Fair point,” Swift conceded with a slow nod of her head and her hand dragging down along her face as well as the bridge of her muzzle. Her purple-and-silver-streaked bangs fell in front of her face, the tangled mass almost hiding her eyes even as she then pulled her hand away from her visage. "Did you use the gem to track me with a spell?" When she got a nod from Melody, a wry smile splayed Swift's lips. “Perhaps Pippin would know something about this?” she mused, her ears twitching ever so slightly. “But what about your armor-plated clothes?” Melody gasped, her eyes going wide. "You're practically exposed! Wounded, even!" “If I must sacrifice my modesty to get answers, then so be it,” Swift snarled, using a hand to brush aside her messy bangs. “Besides, I need to rest, I need a bath—the clothes can be dealt with at a later time.” Melody backed down and simply nodded. “Want me to fetch him?” she questioned. “Please do,” Swift answered rather begrudgingly whilst nodding back. She waited until the sound of retreating hooves had faded from the inn from a loud series of thuds to a dull afterthought before glancing back at her dirtied tail whose hair had hung in such horrid tangles it would probably have to be shaved clean in order to simply brush it thereafter. Silence had befallen the room in which she sat, and she slowly touched her tail with a hand, gritting her teeth to choke back a scream. Damn, the tail hurt. “I might have to cut it off,” she growled, still gritting her teeth as she spoke. Her ears perked as the sound of hooves hitting the floor hit the phono receptors, and the wounded mare looked up to see Melody coming back into the room with Pippin—who, upon seeing that Spear was almost nude, began to blush on the spot. “I hear you have a…” Pippin trailed off, shaking as he stared into the emerald eyes of Swift, “question for me?” “Do you know anything about the gemstone? The one Melody handed to me three days ago?” Swift asked calmly, despite the fact that Pippin’s eyes trailed off from her face to places down below. “Nothing, I-I’m afraid,” Pippin replied in a stammer, looking back at the dirtied mare’s visage. “At all?” Swift continued to ask, a brow quirked just a smidgen. “I-I wish I d-did,” Pippin replied with a hasty nod of his head, the blush still plastered on his azure cheeks. Swift's brow climbed higher, and she wanted to ask why he began stuttering. His eyes moved to the mare’s hips, where a spear identical to the one she wielded was plastered upon. “I see you’re staring at my cutie mark,” Swift stated, a small smirk curling on her lips. “O-oh dear!” Pippin cried, hastily looking back up at the mare’s face with widened eyes and shrunken pupils. “Sincerest a-apologies!” “No need to apologize; I chose to sacrifice my modesty for the time being,” Swift replied, her smile widening a teensy bit before curling into a frown. “But on a serious note, what do you know about the palace guards springing up on us a while ago? It would seem fishy to me that they would do such a thing in an opera-themed school of all places.” “No. I haven't the foggiest.” Pippin shook his head, his visage maintaining its shocked expression. “She does have a point; that many guards would not have needed to enter the school even if the king himself sat amidst the audience,” Melody conceded, nodding her head slowly. “Nor would those people who carried those bizarre, glowing orbs have the need to do the same,” Swift added, glancing towards her disheveled wings for a moment. “What do we need to do once I recover?” she asked, turning back to the people who helped carry her into this inn. “Whatever we need to do, we must lay low for a while. The guards probably have us stamped as wanted persons simply for resisting them—borderline fleeing the city, even,” Pippin sighed, a frown curling his lips. "And possibly a few others, if they managed to flee as well." “They’ll likely scour the neighboring cities as much as a group of maids service the king,” Melody piped up, worry flashing in her eyes. “We cannot stay for long.” “Pippin, hand me your dagger,” Swift stated abruptly, her face hardening. “W-why?” Pippin questioned, flinching. “My tail is in such bad condition I am afraid I can no longer keep it,” she replied, frowning. “W-what?!” both Pippin and Melody cried in unison, irises shrinking as Swift’s words ran through their minds. “I’m afraid it must be done; otherwise, it would be cumbersome to keep at best,” Swift sighed. “I would not reach such a decision in any other circumstance; now then, please hand me the dagger.” Slowly and hesitantly, Pippin withdrew his weapon and approached Swift, handing the dagger to her with a shaky hand once he was close enough for her to grasp it. Swift then stood up, pain shooting throughout all of her nerves and forcing her to emit a yelp of surprise. She stumbled away from the bed, dagger in hand, and towards a bare wall on the other side of the room. Grasping her tail with the other hand and shutting her eyes tightly, she began the very painful job of hacking her own hair-tangled limb off with the dagger. She felt blood ooze from the wound she created, some of it splashing onto her bare legs before trickling down them in a manner akin to sweat. Soon, all she had left was a bleeding stump, much to the wide-eyed horror of Pippin and Melody. “I’ll get some bandages and rags,” Melody murmured before fleeing the room quickly. “Even this has an upside, as painful as it is,” Swift growled, her voice tainted by underlying pain. “I’ll be damned if I had kept this in its current condition only to let someone else grab it.” “Have you been... grabbed by the tail before?” Pippin asked, worry flashing in his eyes. Swift turned to him quickly, and there were dark streaks running down her cheeks from her eyes. “Yes,” she answered, her voice almost hushed. “It was when I was a little girl—something I would rather not get into.” Pippin just barely caught a faint glimmer in the corner of the dragoon’s left eye. “I’m... terribly—” She cut him off by raising the hand that clutched the severed limb and spoke up, “Don’t apologize; this was my own choice. Sometimes, limbs have to be removed to ensure survival.” A tear streaked her face from her left eye, trailing down an erratic path before letting go of her visage and plummeting to the floor, and her breathing began to turn hitched. “I... I understand.” Pippin nodded after swallowing a lump in his throat. “I’m just concerned for your well-being,” he added as he saw another tear descend down the mare’s face. “I know,” Swift murmured, her voice pained and soft as she lowered the hand holding the severed tail, turning away from the earth pony and towards the nearest wall. A frown still lingered on her face, but it was no longer of the angry, very pronounced sort. The frown made her look almost sad, especially considering another tear falling away from her face. Her ears fell flat on her skull as she continued to stare at the wall, her chest rising and falling in tandem with the hitches in her breath. Pippin approached the almost-naked, bleeding mare with slow, cautious steps. He paused when Swift suddenly threw her own detached limb against the wall, her eyes narrowing as her hitched breath hastened. She glared at the spot the tail landed against, which left a small bloody spot in the wake of its impact before dropping to the ground. “Is there anything else you need help with?” he asked softly.
