The Guard, the Woodcutter, and the Changeling

After more than a year of skirmishing, of increasingly fierce battles, of losses and victories exchanged between the two sides; there were many who felt that the course of war was racing toward some inevitable grand finale, one final page in a book of follies that would decide the fate of rulers and peasants alike. For her part in the war, Stoccado had kept up hope in the face of great odds, and had earned the respect of her peers.

As is often the case with Earth Ponies, Stoccado's talents proved better suited to staying out of sight than standing front and center, clad in imposing armor. And so it came to pass that in the late autumn, though the threat of a wild blizzard lingered not far away, Stoccado moved tracelessly through a dense red and gold underbrush that had not been cleared away for the winter. Her connection to the land aided her as she moved past her enemies unnoticed, allowing her to track their movements and report back safely. It was a task she had performed countless times before, but on that particular day, fate or happenstance intervened once more.

Up ahead in a small clearing, Stoccado heard raised voices. The angry bellows coming from a troop of elk were familiar to her, but there was also the unexpected sound of someone confused and scared.

Stoccado crept closer until she found herself a safe vantage point, and gaped in shock as she tried to comprehend the scene unfolding before her. A pony with a cart stood surrounded by Elkish soldiers, a pony with no armor, no weapons; and in all appearances a simple merchant. What was she doing in such dangerous lands, was she lost, was she a spy, did she not realize there was a war going on?

"Why are you so mad at me?" The mare pleaded with them, her voice hinging on panic as she looked frantically for any hope of escape. "I didn't do anything to hurt you."

The lead moose only laughed at the pleas, and towered over her quarry. "You can play dumb all you want, little pony, but foolishness won't save you."

The mare shrank back in her harness, but she was trapped. "There must be some way to work this out. I- I just wanted to trade."

The lead moose had run out of laughter, leaving only a cold threat in reply. "You still don't get it. You are our prisoner, and everything else is our spoils, and if you don't give us any more trouble, you might even get a fair trial."

The mare was on the verge of tears. "Please... no."

More pleading was not what the lead moose wanted to hear, and before the mare could blink, the moose struck her across the face with a forehoof. However, several things happened in that instant, some of which the moose did not expect. The mare went limp as consciousness was knocked away from her, which came as no surprise, but the burst of brilliant flame that surrounded her and left a dark form in her place was unexpected indeed.

Now, Stoccado knew what a changeling was, as ponies and changelings crossed paths more often in those days, but she had never seen one herself and so she didn't yet comprehend the sight before her. All she saw in that moment was someone or something in trouble at the hooves of her adversaries, and she acted. Knowing full well that the odds were stacked against her, badly outnumbered as she was, she leapt from the bushes with an angry shout and charged the moose without regard for her own safety. This was something else that they didn't expect, and before their shock had passed, she scored a clean hit.

Perhaps the moose that day were an undisciplined lot, perhaps they believed they had fallen into some cunning pony ambush, but before had a chance to realize they faced only a single pony, the lead moose cried out for retreat. The moose turned and fled, tearing a trail through the underbrush heeding neither the saplings nor brambles that stood in their way, and leaving behind Stoccado, the strange mare, and the fading thunder of stampeding hooves.

Now, Stoccado also knew that it would not be long before the moose returned, and in greater numbers, so she hurried to free the strange mare from her wagon harness. It was then that she got a closer look, and the realization dawned upon her that the strange mare was a changeling, but she neither stopped nor hesitated. The changeling's pleas for mercy still echoed in her ears.

Once freed from the harness, Stoccado shook the changeling gently. "Wake up, wake up. We haven’t much time."

For the length of a held breath, the changeling did not stir, and Stoccado was contemplating carrying the changeling on her back, but with one last prodding the changeling opened her eyes. Though stars were still caught in her vision, the changeling felt she could trust the stranger who stood over her. She felt a sliver of kindness from the mare, compassion, and the sort of love that anypony might feel for everypony at once on a sunny day. It was more than she'd felt in some time.

"Do not fear, you are safe for now." Stoccado said, though she saw no fear in the changeling’s eyes. "Can you stand? We must be on our way soon."

Unsteadily at first, the changeling rose to all fours. "And my wagon? It's all that I have."

Stoccado shook her head. "If we wish to escape, we cannot carry that burden. They will be searching for us now."

The changeling paused for a moment as she regarded everything she owned in the world. The wagon itself had served her faithfully for a long time, but the contents were transient things, barely more than scraps that in truth, she worried she'd have been unable to trade in the first place.

"Just promise that you will not send me away, and I will not have lost everything."

Stoccado held a hoof solemnly over her heart. "In payment for your possessions, until the debt is repaid, I will not abandon you. Though I travel a dangerous path, and you may change your mind about following me."

The changeling looked away as Stoccado drew close to her wagon. "You have already saved me, perhaps I might return the favor."

Stoccado didn't have time to consider how that promise might change her life, instead she was counting the passing seconds as the threat of a counter-attack grew. Yet before retreating into the woods, she made one last move to spite the Elkish soldiers by drawing a torch and setting fire to the wagon and its contents.

It was a long, silent walk to escape the lands held by the moose, and twice the pair had to stop and hide as furious patrols passed close by. But eventually they did reach friendly lands, and it was only then that the two had a chance to speak without fear of capture. However, Stoccado had gotten no farther than asking the changeling's name when they ran into a very different kind of trouble.

"I don't have a name of my own." The changeling said, shying away as if expecting an angry outburst.

Stoccado merely shook her head in disbelief. "How can one not have a name? Everypony has a name."

"Where I come from, no changeling has a true name. Only whatever someone chooses to call us, and we rarely agree on anything." The changeling frowned as she recalled the past, "My mother called me 'little one,' I once had a companion who called me 'lost,' and lately ponies have simply called me 'merchant.' Perhaps you could give me a name. Are ponies not renowned for their meaningful names?"

Though she hoped to be, once the war was over, Stoccado was not a mother and she had never given anyone a real name before. The changeling was certainly not a foal either, and oath or no oath, Stoccado didn't feel that the changeling was hers.

She merely said the first thing that came to mind. "Perhaps Steel Echo will suit you."

The changeling nodded, and for the first time, Stoccado saw her smile. She would remain Steel Echo for a long while after.

With the unexpected challenge of discovering Steel Echo's name behind them, Stoccado set out to discover just what kind of pony she had rescued. Steel Echo admitted that she did not know how to fight, and that she had not been very successful as a trader either. She was still young, and the world was a bewildering and frightening place, in which she had become accustomed to surviving on the kindness of strangers. She truly hadn't known about the recent war between Equestria and the Elkingdom, and was hoping for better luck, along with some measure of appreciation, by traveling Northward with goods from the far South. Instead, she nearly met an untimely end, and wasn't sure how things could possibly get worse.

"They most certainly can get worse." Stoccado was lecturing a recruit. "I can convince my superiors that you are a guard pony, like me. I can convince them that you are an unlucky merchant, and I may even be able to convince them that you are a long lost relative, but if you truly wish to stay with me, a guard pony you must be. Being a guard is not easy."

Steel Echo refused to be dissuaded. "Once when I was young, I stole a piece of candy from a kindly merchant. Mother scolded me and said, 'Little one, anyone can recover a treasure of gems and coins, but we live forever in debt to those who are loving and kind.'"

"The work we will do as guards will by anything but kind."

"Then why did you not leave me to fend for myself?"

Stoccado had no answer for that, and she could see that Steel Echo's mind was set, so Stoccado spent the rest of the walk back to camp teaching her everything she could about being a guard, who was in charge and how she would be expected to act. There were a great many questions asked when the two finally did return, but Stoccado held the respect of her peers, and at length, her superiors were persuaded to overlook Steel Echo's lack of any coat of arms, heraldry, or formal letter.

Stoccado had made an oath, and she felt duty bound to honor it. She taught her new recruit everything she could about fire, form, and sharpened steel in what little time they had, but even then she did not truly expect it to last. Rather, she expected Steel Echo to reconsider their agreement after her first taste of battle. But when the time came, though Steel Echo was left shaken as Stoccado expected, she still refused to change her mind. Stoccado could not help but respect her determination, and the two grew to become close friends.

Nopony suspected that the squire who followed Stoccado everywhere was not actually a pony at all, though her peers noted that she was sometimes more akin to a lost puppy. Those who liked puppies said so openly to them with genuine mirth, while those who disliked puppies whispered it behind their backs with distaste. But when the ponies would gather around the campfire to tell tales, to lift up their spirits, and scare the wicked spirits away, Steel Echo could feel the connection they all shared.

Time passed. Autumn gave way to Winter, leaf clad trees bent and snapped under the weight of the snow, and the fighting grew steadily worse. The leaders of both armies were desperate for a decisive victory. For the Elk, their king's popularity was plummeting alongside the temperatures. For the ponies, there were many who feared the Windigo's return, and plans were laid down to end the conflict before Hearth's Warming, no matter the cost.

In the middle of it all, Stoccado and Steel Echo found themselves scouting less and on the front lines more. Steel Echo fought hard trying to repay a debt that could never be repaid, but no matter how skilled she became, Stoccado continued to support her more than she could in return. Stoccado never complained. For Stoccado, trust was something that no amount of skill could replace.

It was a bitterly cold night in the middle of winter when the entire Elkish army met the Equestrians' in a pitched battle near the ruins of a long contested city, the battle that would decide the war.

Stoccado and Steel echo fought in the plains, they fought in the streets, they fought side by side, and they fought back to back. But just before the dawn's first light, Stoccado saw a strike that was meant for Steel Echo, and she pushed her friend out of harm’s way. Only a heartbeat too slow to move clear herself, Stoccado was struck, and the two were toppled into a heap on the ground. Steel Echo held Stoccado still, and their assailant's attention turned elsewhere.

Tides shifted quickly, the clamor of battle grew distant, and as the sun rose up to begin the day, there was silence.

Drawn into focus by daylight, Steel Echo saw that Stoccado's wounds were grave, and was shaken from her daze. But when she cried out for help, the only soul to hear was Stoccado.

"Echo, is that you?" With some effort, Stoccado opened her weary eyes. "I fear my time draws short. I cannot move."

Though the world still lurched from side to side, Steel Echo worked carefully to free herself. "Do not speak of such things. Only hold on just a little longer, and I will go and fetch help."

"With every thread of strength left in me, I will." Stoccado's voice was scarcely a whisper, but when Steel Echo stood to leave, her voice rose to the occasion. "Please wait and listen! There are things I must say, ere I lose the chance forever. Already I can feel my strength waning, and if help does not find us soon, there will be nopony to explain why there is no record of Steel Echo in any library or ledger, why she has no home and no family to return to. I took what life you had..."

Tears flowed down Steel Echo's cheeks. "You saved me, gave me your friendship. I could not have asked for more."

Although she could feel the end inching toward her, Stoccado was worried only for the well-being of others. "You asked me once for a pony name. I give you mine. Guardsmare Stoccado is not so poor that she could not start over again in some far off land, if she so chose. Only for my friends, my family, sweet Lathe Turner; ease the burden of my passing."

Steel Echo had to stop herself from shaking her friend. "Do not make me beg, promise me you will hang on."

"I have already made too many promises that I cannot keep." Stoccado's voice came between ragged breaths. "Forgive me. Where I go, you cannot follow."

Steel Echo felt stayed by her friend and held her close, until she breathed her last.