King of the Dead

Those of us in higher positions sit around a long, round table in the throne room. No one says anything but the feelings are mixed. I lean against the table with fingers locked and resting against my chin. Everyone stares mindlessly forward in quiet contemplation. My eyes silently move from one creature to the next. Luna sits to my side with her left wing resting on my back.

As I inhale, everyone looks up, eyes wide and eager. I unclasp my fingers and lay them flat on the table. “Well...I think it’s actually over this time. I know Zaran has a habit of always crawling away, but I think he’s done for.”

Luna nods and makes eye contact with every individual who listens. “I agree. He was dragged down to his own personal hell. It certainly sounds like he was messing with forces more powerful than he anticipated. I’m grateful we were the ones to end him, even if his final fate was not ours to control.”

Emeris leans back in his chair, his hands resting behind his head. “So, what do we do now? Reports came in: there’s no Og Nag armies. They live in small camps, keeping to themselves. Not sure what they’re doing for food, but we think they’ve actually started eating fruit as no corpses have been found in the surrounding area...assuming they leave anything.”

Lucretia keeps her face propped up with her right hand. “I mean...might as well leave them alone if they’re not hurting anything. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t help but want to draw my blade when I see them but it’s hard to shut that off after a decade of slaughtering them. Of course, there’s the concern of them falling prey to any kind of psychic villain who shows up.”

Celestia sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. “No. They are to be left alone. I am done with war. I will not allow them to be exterminated based on hypotheticals. Everypony here is technically susceptible to mind control. Even lesser creatures are.”

Emeris shrugs without an expression. “Fair enough, never thought I’d get tired of killing Og Nag honestly but here we are. So, what is Equestria going to do about...everything?”

Luna leans her head back and groans. “The amount of rebuilding is absurd. Even with magic, we’re talking hundreds of towns, entire crops went up in flames and we’re still not sure what to do with all the dead Og Nag. Then there’s the...psychological damage to our citizens. You Taraskans may be used to this, but we simply don’t have the resources to support everypony. The extent of our therapy was grief and anxiety counseling. A loved one passes away, or someone is restless over a life event. An entire war though? At least with Tirek they could flee somewhere or didn’t have to worry about literal death. How do you Taraskans deal with it?”

Emeris grins and leans forward. “A combination of cuddling and dark humor.”

Celestia looks at him with a puzzled cock of her eyebrow. “What do you mean dark humor?”

Emeris clasps his fingers together. “Give a man a torch, and he'll be warm for a few hours. Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.” Emeris narrows his eyes and eyebrows then slaps on the biggest smile he can. Lucretia covers her face with a hand as the room stares at him silently.

I clear my throat to draw attention. “Tell you what, why don’t we stroll through Canterlot and see what we can do? Maybe they just need time.”

Celestia smiles then nods her head. “That sounds perfect. Tell me General, does Warrior’s Bane ever go away?”

Emeris, Lucretia and I exchange glances. Lucretia rubs her hands together anxiously. “No, not that we know of. That being said, we’ve never known peace before so…”

A few minutes of silence go by before we all get up and leave.

Canterlot was once a place of highlife, colors and music. The once eye-catching signs were now charred and broken. Most windows were in pieces and what remained of the shops weren’t even remotely hospitable. Emeris and I walk side by side with our helmets back at the palace. The smell of pastries and perfume was completely absent, replaced by an odor that could only be described as stereotypically Taraskan: a mix of charred wood and blood.

We turn a corner and find a rotting Yak in the street with crows picking at its remains. He’s just a few feet from an alleyway entrance. We investigate without a word until we find two ponies further back in the alley who had been mauled viciously and were missing half their limbs each. Emeris lets out a sad groan. “That yak must have been trying to defend them. We really should visit their homeland and pay respects...if they’re still there.”

We continued down the street, surprised at just how many shops had been completely obliterated. The buildings were attached to each other on both sides. Most of the shops that had been incinerated were clearly the victims of Daruk’s fire. It was as if they had been violently cut out of their space with a scalding, circular knife. Just an empty charred hole amongst a row of other structures.

Further down the road, we see a teal pony with blue hair who sits on his haunches. His head hangs and he doesn’t move. Emeris and I walk over hesitantly. In front of the pony, is what appears to be a former bakery with a cupcake for a shop sign. The sign is laying on the ground with most of the paint faded and covered in dirt. When we get closer, we realize the pony is staring at it.

Emeris clears his throat enough to announce us and waves heartily. “Hello there! Was this one of your favorite places to visit?” We stop just short of six feet and notice his eyes are wide and unblinking. Without looking, he answers us in this disturbed tone that’s barely above a whisper.

“This was my mother’s shop.” He murmurs. “She was going to give it to me and retire once the war was over. She was going to travel overseas and try to find my real father and bring him home to meet me.”

Emeris nods enthusiastically then walks over and leans against one of the windows to the bakery. “Where’s your mother now?” he asks casually.

The pony doesn’t look up. “All over the place.” He almost sounds like he’s going to puke. Emeris leans his head inside the window then snaps it back to me while gesturing inside with his thumb. “Wow, he’s not kidding, she’s literally all over the place in there.”

I quickly walk up and punch him in the shoulder while hissing his name. The colt quickly glances up at Emeris with a death glare before looking back at the sign. “Creatures used to come from all over for her food. So many regulars came in...and every time I’d look up, I’d secretly hope my mom would suddenly proclaim it was my dad. All the events at school with only one parent, always having to sit out of events where both parents are supposed to help. Now I’d give anything just to have one.”

I take a knee next to him. “Then technically that means your dad might still be out there. Yeah, it might be hard to find him but here’s an idea: get somepony to draw a picture of your mother and start asking around. Maybe she has a diary at your home or a few friends that can give you clues on where she’s been?”

His eyes bulge and he looks up at me. They swim with hope. “I mean...our house burned down but my grandma is still alive. Maybe...maybe she knows where to start!”

I look over my shoulder. “Emeris, do you have any idea -” He’s already walking away. I get up and jog after him. With one hand on his shoulder, I spin him around. “Emeris what the hell?!”

He throws up his arms as if he’s waving to someone far away. “Oh, I’m sorry! Am I now supposed to play therapist to everyone?! This place was going to be the opposite of Taraska and now it’s exactly the same!” He motions to the rest of the town with his hands. “Everyone is traumatized, everyone has Warrior’s Bane! We finally kill Zaran, we finally kill the Og Nag! We won! where’s our glory?! Oh, that’s right it doesn’t exist because now we have nothing but grief and charred wood!” He kicks a burnt board that’s on the ground and sends it sailing against a destroyed house.

He points his finger in my face. “I bet you twenty coin that literally every pony we find out here will be another sob story! Well, I’m done being there for every living creature! The wars over! I’m done!” He throws up his arms again and walks away. “For once in my life, I’m just going to care about me! It’s always been about everyone else! When’s the last time someone tried to help me out?! Oh, that’s right, I’m always fine! Maybe you and Lucretia have enough emotional energy for everything that walks on this planet, but I don’t!” He speed walks away.

I had seen Emeris curl up into a ball, I had seen him cry, hell I’ve seen the man panic, but he’s never turned his back on anyone who needed an ear.

The town pretty much looks the same as I stroll along, looking for anyone who might need help. Off in the distance, a mare with magenta fur and white hair sobs over a small grave with two colts by her side. The next street has a mare who screams angrily while kicking at a house with her legs. I turn my head and look down the opposite direction and see two ponies who lay out in the street. One of them is a colt with his front arm over the other pony. When I get close, the stench is almost overwhelming.

The body closest to me, has blue fur and black hair. To my surprise, the colt turns their head to look at me. “Shhhh, don’t disturb us. The husband and I are napping!” He turns his head back over and closes his eyes with a faint smile. I step around them and see his companion’s face is rotting away. They had to have been dead for weeks. Flies were already swarming around the mouth area. I say nothing while walking away.

Even if Canterlot was still a mess, there had to be rebuilding going on somewhere else. Within a few minutes, I’m back to the main road that goes through Canterlot. I follow it back up and see a royal carriage with two guards hooked to it. One has a nasty scar across his right eye in the shape of teeth marks. He keeps it closed even when he looks up at me. I give them a small bow and address both of them. “Are you able to take me to Ponyville?” They get up eagerly and stand at attention, as if they’re proud just to have something to do.

Even in Taraska, having something to do besides thinking about the war was almost a mandatory part of our schedule. I get launched back into my seat as they take off. There was no doubting how badly they wanted to get away from Canterlot. The only issue was if we’d find something worse beyond the city. The road down the mountain was always a fun walk, despite its length. You could see across the entire landscape, with your view always changing depending on how quickly you circled the mountain.

This would be the last time I’d gaze across the land however. The once great cities I could see, were now repetitive debris fields. Massive crops had been burnt to the ground, leaving patches of death. The chariot lurches to a halt and I stick my head out the window. One of the guards looks at me then gestures to large piles in the distance with crows circling them. “Sir...what are those piles?” his voice shakes as his eyes widen with disbelief while looking back to the small hills.

I clear my throat and take a deep breath. “Well, um...you’re having to find out the hard way that dead bodies rot. There’s so many of them that they had to pile them together outside the city due to the smell. There’s too many funerals and graves to be dug to get to them all before they start to smell. Even with all the unicorns that can emotionally handle body recovery, it’s going to take a while. Not to mention all the dead Og Nag.”

The guard slowly looks back to me with a look of pure horror. His face goes blank except his eyes that look empty. I drum my fingers on the outside of the chariot. “You know in Taraska, we actually have pre dug mass graves for each battalion. The family of the deceased get to carve the name of the fallen warrior into a large boulder. Later, the field has seeds planted on top so the bodies of the deceased can go on to nourish the crops, therefor helping their people even in death.”

“What is wrong with you?!” The other guard out of view shrieks. I give the dumbstruck pony a shrug. “Was that too much? I’m sorry, it’s just in Taraska you’re not considered fully dead until you can no longer help your country so it’s kinda normal to think of a dead body as-” The cart launches forward and I’m thrown back inside. I slide the window cover down, kick up my feet and try to relax.

The moment the ride levels out, I stick my head out the window again. Ponyville basically looked the same, but with more holes in the colossal walls we had built. The only thing this city had managed to do, was show Versa getting her element. Besides that, it was basically Taraskan Palace but smaller. There’s no guards outside and no bodies. I hit the side of the chariot twice and it comes to a halt.

While hoping out and walking up to the city, I sneak a glance at the guards. The one without the scar that I had talked to, sits on his haunches and sways lightly while staring ahead blankly.

The walls of what used to be Base Ponyville, were falling apart. Every twenty feet, it looks once left uncontrolled, the tick vines inside the walls finally grew too big, pushing outwards. If there wasn’t a huge hole, there were sword and claw marks with dirt and grass tracks up the sides. Massive cracks crawled through the stone all the way to the ground. It was hard to imagine that this battle had taken place less than a week ago.

There was an entrance as wide as four houses with a median made of a few stones going down the middle. Inside, the walls hold back all sound that comes from the outside. It’s unsettlingly quiet. Without soldiers inside, I had never realized how big Base Ponyville had actually been. It used to be a town, but every house had been fortified. The bright colors and amazing themes had been replaced with solid, ordinary colors. Red with small, carved Xs for medical, blue with a black diamond on each side for tactical and solid green for supplies with a crude drawing for who they were for, like arrows.

Between the houses, or what was left of them, our towers were now toppled over, even a few that were the farthest from combat. Some laid on the ground with a split in the middle, others hung over a house with ballistas swaying in the wind, still attached by rope. Some even had their middle blown out and collapsed down and into themselves with a barely intact roof.

Worst of all though, was all the blood. The walls looked like someone had tried to redecorate with only using a paint can of crimson going up as high as six feet. There were splotches higher up where a Garge must have slammed or thrown a victim against.

Despite the blood and claw marks, I can’t help but smirk at the Garge-sized holes where Versa had clearly sent something flying through when she got her element. It’s a momentary feeling when the reality that one of the main towns in all of Equestria, is now a massive tomb. I was used to seeing Taraskan houses being used as shelters but knowing that this entire place used to be a thriving town without walls or worries, made my skin crawl.

It’s all the same as I start climbing the only tower left standing: our command tower. There was still dirt on the stairs from the numerous times we had all climbed up and down to the top. I take each step casually, having no need to run anymore. The clanking of my metal boots makes me shiver, almost echoing the sound of the dead. The view at the top was even worse than the base itself.

The land had been covered in towns with Ponyville being slightly elevated compared to everything else. Those towns were now in ruins, almost looking like garbage piles for debris. The once lush forests had been burned or trampled through by Og Nag, allowing you an almost unobstructed view to the next demolished town. There were no birds and large fires still raged on in the distance, filling the sky with a dull haze.

Four words echoed in my head that almost make me puke: it’s just like home.