Dawn of Equestria

Chapter 1

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I rolled over in my bed for the umpteenth time that night, a half-hearted growl of frustration escaping my lips.

Sleep was perhaps one of the most important activities to a mare like me. When I got home from a long day of sparring and standing in formation, there was nothing more that I wanted to do than stretch out my hooves on a downy cloud bed and forget all my troubles. Not that I had many, mind you. After all, I lived in an average home, with an average family, in what I imagined was an average town for Pegasi.

I hadn’t actually been to any other towns, but I was sure they worked the same. Risenbrook in particular, was broken into three classes of living. We resided in the all too exciting middle class. My father’s history as Paladin before the war, assured at least that much. It was also why he expected my brother and I to do the same. Without our service in the ranks, there was a chance we could fall into the lower class; so he enrolled us both into Paladin training. While most other foals were learning about culture and the surrounding landscape, we were playing with wooden swords.

I don’t believe my father actually expected me to succeed. He only wanted me there to find a strong young stallion to fall in love with and carry on the family name. But the old soldier didn’t account for one thing. While I did fall in love, it wasn’t with another pony; it was for the thrill of battle.

I embraced the challenge. I never gave up, no matter the bucking odds. I was determined to be the first mare to become a Paladin, and in just a couple more weeks that dream had a chance to come true.

My brother did not have that chance. Roanheart was not a mare of course, but that’s not what I’m talking about. He dropped out.

It was a long time ago, just a few weeks after training had started. Whatever his reasons, he chose to do peasant labor instead, working at the rain mill with those of the lower class. Naturally, our father was furious, and all his devotion quickly fell to me. But at least my brother seemed happy, for a time.

That changed about a month ago, when the weather had just started to warm up again; tales of the spring soon to come. I would arrive home some days to find him at the cloud edge, staring out over it for hours. Other times he was nowhere to be found at all, only to show up for dinner with nothing to say for it.

He had been up to something, and he probably thought he was being subtle about it. But if my brother was one thing, it was certainly not that. So I wasn’t surprised when a little less than a week ago, he had said he wanted to talk. It was mentioned in passing, right before I had gone to sleep, as if there wasn’t anything important to it.

I knew better, and it kept me up most of the night thinking about it, along with every night after that. My mind was buzzing with hundreds of possibilities until I was tossing back and forth on my bed, with my legs tangled and my mane frayed.

As I said, sleep was one of the most important activities to a mare like me; but thanks to my brother, I could barely even manage that.

I turned onto my back again, facing the rafters in my room. My legs were curled up against myself, as if I was being suspended by them. It was not at all comfortable, but somehow that made it seem as if it were. Maybe it was because it kept my mind on anything other than what my brother had been waiting to tell me.

I cocked my head ever so slightly toward the frameless window that served as my portal to the outside world. The stars were out that night, and it was quiet. There were no sounds of distant battles being fought; no crimson stain from the fires of the knights’ camps. I closed my eyes and tried to envision one instead.

Around the fading light of a campfire, several knights sat in gleaming metal armor. Each one was a Pegasus, bearing the insignia of my cutiemark; a sun rising over a distant mountain range. We were about to head into battle, a nighttime assault that would catch the enemy off guard. I was going over the plan with them one more—

“Dawnfire,” my brother’s hushed voice came from my doorway. “Are you awake?”

My fantasy shattered into a million pieces. I moaned and turned away, nestling deeper into my covers. Some absurd part of me thought he would leave if I just ignored him.

“I need to talk to you. It's important.”

Sleep. That’s what’s important. My training for the Paladins was nearly over. I had been sparring all day, and I needed sleep. What about that did he not understand? What did he have to say that couldn’t wait until morning?

“Dee,” he said, his hoofsteps soft on the clouds as he walked into my room. “You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but I need you to hear me out.”

I was trapped. With a sigh, I rolled back to face him and stared silently at his shaggy form, his body faintly outlined in the moonlight that seeped through the open door. Perhaps it was a good thing that he was finally telling me. At least I won’t have to worry any more.

“I've been thinking...”

“Don't strain yourself,” I muttered, pulling up my blanket from where it had fallen to the floor.

He muttered something under his breath, but continued undeterred. “I’ve been thinking about the war. It’s already been going on for who knows how many moons now, and what have we done? Or what have the Paladins done for that matter?”

I yawned. “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” he agreed, his face twisting like he had eaten a bad apple.

My stomach growled. I couldn’t even remember what apples tasted like. “Where are you going with this?” As if I had no idea.

He shifted on his hooves but didn’t leave the doorway. “Have you ever considered... maybe helping them on our own?”

I propped myself up on my forehooves, wide awake now. There it was. What I had been dreading for almost a week. Immediately, I wanted to call him an idiot, to tell him that one pony, or even two, couldn’t change a war; that we would die trying. But calmer reasoning prevailed.

I took a shuddering breath, trying to ease my racing heart. I need to be sensible about this. Roanheart was not beyond reason, even if his plans were sometimes suicidal. “Who exactly are you suggesting we help?”

“Whoever needs it,” he said, not meeting my gaze. “Innocent ponies who are just caught up in this mess.”

“Roanheart, we don’t even know what the sides of the war are. How can we tell who’s innocent and who isn’t?”

He shrugged. At least I thought he did. It was hard to tell in the dark when he looked like no more than a red lump.

“I know a place we can go,” he explained. “I can promise you we will only be doing good there. They need our protection.”

Buck him, he’s serious about this! No wonder he was disappearing all those times, I thought. How long had he been planning this? When was he going to leave?

I repeated my last question to him, cringing as I waited for his response. If it was before my training was over, I was screwed.

Roanheart smiled weakly. “I was hoping to leave tomorrow night.”

I’m screwed. Oh Goddess, why is my brother such an idiot. Father will kill him! Which brought another thought to mind.

“Have you told Mom and Dad yet?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“No,” he admitted. “I was planning on leaving them a letter when we go.”

“A letter?” I coughed. “They are going to hate you so much for that.”

“I know.” He fell back on his rump, his ears drooping. “But what else can I do? They would never let me leave if I asked.”

That was typical Roanheart, running away to solve other ponies’ problems when he couldn’t even confront his own. My brother was probably thinking he could go down there and talk the Earth ponies into peace. If so, he was undoubtedly in for a big surprise.

“Well?” he asked.

“Well, what?” I growled. Did he really expect an answer right away?

He glanced over his shoulder, as if our parents would trot into the room at any moment. In the middle of the night. When I could hear Dad snoring.

“Will you go with me?”

Of course. My brother, who I once followed into a hurricane to save his flank, and he still had to ask. But this wasn’t a brazenly stupid flight maneuver. He was asking me to throw away my future... after he had already given up on his.

I rolled away and shooed him with a hoof. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll think about it.”

By the lack of response, I knew he wasn’t buying that.

I huffed another sigh. “Fine. Just, give me until midday tomorrow, okay? I’ll have your answer then.”

“Thanks, Dee,” he said, and I didn’t need to see his face to know the look he was giving me.

I’m so sorry, Dawnfire. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but you know me, and I need you. Please forgive me. Cue big mopey eyes.

Ugh!

“Meet me by the rain mill then, alright?”

“Yeah, whatever,” I muttered, pawing at my sheets with a forehoof, and trying to smooth them out again.

His tail swished against something as he turned to leave. “Goodnight, Dee.” And like that, he was gone. Or at least, I thought he was.

“Roanheart?” I whispered.

No answer.

Goodnight he says. As if I will be able to sleep now, I thought, letting my gaze drift out the window to the stars again. Where did he want to go? The world beyond where the clouds ended was infinitely larger than I could imagine. I had never set hoof on the ground before. I had barely seen it, like a painting you could only admire from a distance. I didn’t know what grass felt like, or how flowers smelled. Roanheart wanted us to try and save a place we knew nothing about. A place we didn’t belong.

I fussed with my blanket, and sank deeper into my cozy cloud bed. I could still feel my heart pounding. Why should I risk my life for them? I didn’t have the answer to that, not yet.