Chapters The Last of the Soul Crusaders
Hunters: Soon to be Hunted
Author's Note
So, after many years of reading people's stories, I've decided to make my own. The romance of this story won't really be a big part, it's mainly going to be a small side-story, but that might change as I write this fic. I will try to publish new chapters once a week, but no promises. You'll notice that, for the most part, I won't give much character descriptions. That's because I always hate it when I form my own image for a character and the description in the fic is vastly different. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my first fic!
Hunters: Soon to be Hunted
The Last of the Soul Crusaders
Hunters: Soon to be Hunted
The knife plunged into my heart and with it a sense of failure. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t kill her, I couldn’t save my people. She’s won, she exterminated us just like she wanted. I’m done, all that’s left is to fall down and die. The stone floor is almost as cold as the feeling in my chest. As my vision darkens, I hear one thing: her laughter.
There’s a saying, “History is written by the victors.” I used to think that wasn’t true. These past few years have taught me that I was wrong. Has it been a few years? Buck, for all I know it could have been decades, certainly felt like it. But, if I’m going to tell you a story, I might as well start at the beginning of this mess.
This all started with Starswirl the Bearded. He was the first Soul Crusader, the deadliest warriors in all Equestria. That’s right, all the garbage you’ve heard about good ol’ Starswirl are lies. He was one of us. Anyway, Starswirl lived in peace in his valley, until a certain princess came with her wretched empire. She sent an envoy to remove him and he killed all ten of them without breaking a sweat. Celestia cut him a deal: train an order of warriors for her and he’d get to keep his land. He accepted and trained fifty warriors to her standards. However, Celestia couldn't let him live, he was too dangerous and she wanted his land. She forced his recruits to kill him. With these Crusaders, she expanded her empire across the land. Once the Crusaders had outlived their usefulness, she ordered them to be executed. Like Starswirl, they were a threat to her reign. All but forty-nine of them were captured and killed. The last one was my father. He trained me to be a Crusader from the moment I could open my eyes. He….. never mind, doesn’t matter, all that matters is that he isn’t here and I am.
I’ve managed to live in relative peace, occasionally having to relocate because some wise pony wants a cut of the price on my head. Can’t believe Celestia is still hunting me down. I’ve killed every assassin and bounty hunter that’s ever came after me. Where’s the action you’re wondering? Well, it begins two months ago, when the most annoying pony in the world trotted up to me in a bar just outside Ponyville.
“This seat taken?” She asked, her voice was scratchy.
“Yeah, but I suppose that won’t stop you.” I lied, I don’t let other ponies sit next to me, but this one seemed different, I had no clue why. I’d take me about a year to figure that one out. She sat down, and immediately asked another question.
“You have an interesting way of making friends, don’t you?”
“What little friends I have.”
“You don’t have many friends?”
“I’m not exactly a social pony.” Funny, this was about the longest conversation I’d ever had with anyone but my father. But here I was, chatting it up with a stranger and saying I’m not social.
“How many friends do you have?” She asked. She was encroaching on more and more of my personal life, but I paid it no nevermind.
“Not many really. You’re about the first pony I’ve met here.”
“Oh, so you’re new here?”
“You could say that.”
“Well then allow me to introduce myself! My name is Rainbow Dash! What’s yours?”
“Mar- Striker, my name’s Striker” I almost forgot I’m not supposed to use my real name, I’m wanted after all. If she knew who I was, she’d probably scream for the guards.
“Well Striker it is nice to meet you! Can I get you a drink?
“By all means…”
She ordered us drinks and we got to talking. An hour or so later and I almost felt comfortable. I never feel comfortable in public, I’m always on my toes, watching for anything suspicious. As much as I hate to admit it, this mare was making me feel safer by the minute.
“So, do you wanna go back to my pla -” An explosion interrupted her and rocked the entire building, part of the roof was gone and roof tiles fell on top of us. I immediately knew what was going on, but I tried to play innocent and oblivious.
“What the hay was that?”
“I don’t know, it could've have been one of the Princesses experiments!”
“What? What Princess?”
“Princess Twilight, of course! You’ve never heard of her?”
I had made a mistake. I came to a town somehow without knowing that one of the Princesses of Equestria resides there. Surely she’d be after me. I couldn’t let Rainbow get caught up in my affairs.
“We’ve got to get out of here before this roof comes down on our heads!” I planned to slip away once we got out of the building, but as always, my plans fail miserably. As we climbed and ducked through the wreckage of the building, I became aware of the fact that we weren’t alone. The bartender had already sprinted out of the building along with the other patrons, we should've been the only ones left in the bar. Yet I felt as though we were being watched, by who or what was a question to which I did not have an answer. I kept alert as we exited the building. At that moment, I knew I couldn’t just leave Rainbow behind. The pony watching could have been an assassin, I didn’t want them to mistake Rainbow for a collaborator. Suddenly, I heard the slight sound of a blade being unsheathed and a spell being charged.
“DOWN” I yelled as I tackled Rainbow, as we hit the ground, a fireball smashed into the area where we had been standing not moments before. All I could hear were Rainbow’s shrieks and the inferno raging a few feet next to me. I looked behind me to see who my assailant was. I was greeted with the sight of a purple mare wearing a full suit of golden armor. Her horn, which seemed larger than most, was once again charged with violent energy. As she released another fireball , I countered it with a block spell. With unnatural speed, I shot a spell back at the assassin, a vortex to pull her to the ground. Immediately, her surroundings, including the roof she was standing on, were being sucked into the vortex. As the seconds passed, she had less and less of the roof to stand on. She lept to avoid the incoming wave, but she could not evade it. She was sucked into the vortex and smashed into the ground with bone-breaking force. After she hit the ground, I used a concentrated gravity spell to pin her in place. I slowly walked towards her. As I neared her prone body, she snarled at me with the ferocity of a bear. I knelt down.
“Did Celestia send you? Are you an assassin? Who are you?” I interrogated her. After thirty seconds of silence, anger grew in my belly. I flipped her body so she was lying on her back. I placed my front hoof on one of her broken ribs and applied a small amount of pressure.
“Give me answers!” I yelled, I wasn’t angry, I was furious, not only did she attack me, she attacked Rainbow, an innocent pony. I pushed harder on her broken ribs. She groaned and gritted her teeth in a vain attempt to ward off the pain. After another thirty seconds had passed of this same routine, asking questions and causing her pain, I finally snapped, I kicked her across the jaw, magic augmenting my strength. It was a miracle her jaw didn’t fly off.
“GIVE ME ANSWERS OR I WILL KILL YOU.” I yelled.
“.....ugh, what happened” I heard a familiar raspy voice a few dozen feet next to me, “Twilight?” Did she know this assassin? Wasn’t Twilight the name of the resident Princess? Celestia sent a Princess to kill me? Should I be insulted or flattered? The questions swirled around my head with dizzying speed.
“Who is she?” I said to Rainbow.
“That looks like Twilight, but why would she try to kill you?” She asked.
“I don’t know, she hasn’t told me anything, despite my best efforts.”
“What did you do?”
“Uhhhhh… encouraged her?”
“WHAT? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?? THAT’S A ROYAL PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!! YOU COULD’VE BEEN KILLED!!!”
“That's all in the past now, for now we have to-”
“Noah whoa whoa, we? What’s this we?”
You were with me when Twilight attacked me! They’re likely going to hunt for you too!”
Twilight coughed and sputtered. She looked up at me with rage in her eyes.
“And they’re going to kill you!”
Rainbow stepped between me and Twilight.
“No!” She pointed at me, “ You’re not killing anyone”, then she pointed at Twilight, “and you’re not killing anyone!” Twilight slowly looked towards her.
“You dare defend him? My best friend? Defending an enemy of Equestria? You will die with him! GUARDS! GUARDS! THE PRINCESS IS IN DANGER. THEY’RE GOING TO KILL ME!” I kicked her in the face, knocking her out, to prevent her yelling. Rainbow started freaking out.
“What are we going to do? The Equestrian Royal Guard is after us! Princess Celestia wants us dead!” She was obviously not used to this kind of conflict. My mind races with plans to escape, I picked the one that always worked for me.
“We need a place to hide where no-one will find us!” I looked around the landscape, “How about that forest?” Rainbow stopped her ranting long enough to look over to what I was talking about.
“That’s the Everfree Forest! That’s the most dangerous place in Equestria! We can’t go in there!” She said.
“Good, that means no-one else can either,” I heard hooves beating on the ground over the other side of the hill, “come on, we don’t have much time!” I grabbed her hoof and took off towards the forest. She wrenched her hoof from my grip.
“No! I can’t go in there! It’s too dangerous!” She yelled.
“I can protect you, trust me! Anything in there is nothing compared to what I’ve faced!” I reassured her.
“Who are you?”
“I’ll explain later, but for now we have to get moving”
“Okay, I trust you.” She placed her hoof back in mine and we sprinted back to the forest. We didn’t get one hundred meters before arrows started raining down around us. I managed to dodge some, but I felt an arrow pierce my shoulder. I was used to the pain of warfare, but I got worried when I heard Rainbow scream. An arrow was lodged in the back of her front hoof. Now I was scared, she wasn’t used to dealing with this kind of pain, maybe a sprained leg or a pulled muscle, but not arrows. Once we reached the edge of the forest I picked her up and darted behind a tree. I felt her hooves wrap around my neck as she screamed for the pain to stop. I did the same and ducked my head as the arrows flew past us. I put a rebound spell over the edge of the forest, the arrows pinged off the you spell and returned the archers. Wave after wave of them fell, their bodies piling on top of one another, blood seeping down the hill overlooking the forest. When all of the archers were dead or running, I lifted my head from Rainbow’s embrace.
“I’m sorry-I-I didn’t mean to-” She was lost in a sea of embarrassment.
“It’s okay. It’s normal to cling to ponies in a situation like that. What do you think I was doing?” I replied.
“You- You were clinging to me too? Do you lik-”
“Like I said, it’s normal.” I interrupted her, not wanting to answer the question she intended to ask. I didn’t even know the answer. She huffed and looked at the arrow still sticking out of her hoof.
“We’ve to get this out if we’re going to go deeper into the forest” She said with a tang of pain in her voice. I quickly removed the arrow in my shoulder, the pain was negligible, but I knew removing her arrow would be harder. She sat down and tried, in vain, to pull the arrow out. I crouched down and looked at it. There was a fair amount of blood, but it looked deeper than I originally thought. I knew if I didn’t remove it quickly, she would bleed out. I started a fire in case I needed to cauterize the wound.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“As I’ll ever be…” She replied.
“I’m not going to lie, this will be very, very painful.” I put my left hoof behind her neck and brought her forehead to mine. I could sense her unease at the odd gesture. I closed my eyes and placed my right hoof on the arrow and gripped it using a surgical spell. The spell grabbed the arrow and steadied it as I slowly pull it out of her hoof. I could hear her quietly whimpering. I increased the flow of magic into the surgical spell, to try and ease the process. When the back of the arrowhead reached the entrance to the wound, I braced. This would be the most painful part of the process. Her wound had already closed around the arrow, making the arrowhead bigger than the entrance wound. I would have to yank it out. I deactivated the surgical spell and tighten my grip on her neck. She sensed what the gesture meant and tightened her muscles as well.
“Damnit” I said. I pulled as hard as I could on the arrow. Rainbow briefly yelled in agony and panted hard, letting the adrenaline alleviate the pain. I released my hold on her neck and backed my neck away from hers.
“That… wasn’t necessary.” She said, still panting.
“It helps to be close to someone when doing that. I needed a feel for your emotional state.” I replied. Now that I look back, I realize I was just making excuses, I had grown fond of her. Why was I? She would probably run away if she knew who I was. Luckily, I didn’t have to tell her. She just asked me.
“So, who are you?” She asked, not seconds later.
“Well, my name’s not Striker.” I told her.
“What is it?”
“Marcus.” She recoiled in shock at hearing my real name, “Ha, you know who I am.”
“Of course, you’re the most d-dangerous pony in Equestria!”
“That’s putting it mildly. But fear not, you are not on my list of people to kill, quite the opposite in fact.”
“What? Why?”
“By now, every guard and royal in Equestria wants you dead, along with me. That gives us common enemies. That means I need you alive. You’re the only ally I’ve got.”
“Why me? I’m not important!”
“You have knowledge of the land and, with those muscles, you could fight too.”
“No, I’m not going to kill anyone!”
“I didn’t say that, I said you could fight.” She blew air through her teeth.
“Fine, I suppose you’re the only friend I’ve got anymore.” It was my turn to recoil now. I must have recoiled alot too, because Rainbow picked up on it.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’ve just never had a friend.”
“Well, I’m glad to be the first.” She got up from the opposite side of the campfire and sat down next to me. I found it odd how comfortable she was with me all of a sudden, but it’s not like I had any objections. I looked over the horizon. It was getting close to nighttime.
“It’s getting close to dark. We need to sleep if we're going to evade the authorities.” I said. Unhesitant, she place her head on my shoulder and soon she was asleep. For a minute I was in shock, then realized I was supposed to act like I wasn’t ok with this.
“Rainbow… Rainbow!” I said as I lightly shook her, but she was out cold. Accepting my fate, I too fell in the deep abyss of sleep.
The Last of the Soul Crusaders
Life is not a game of Hide and Seek
Author's Note
I would not be surprised if this chapter kills this fic. I wrote it after about 3 cups of coffee! I apologize in advance for anything that makes you absolutely despise this fic.
Life is not a game of Hide and Seek
The Last of the Soul Crusaders
Life is not a game of Hide and Seek
I instinctively woke up when I smelled smoke. That wasn't good. Lucky for me, it was only the dying campfire. It was morning anyway, we needed to get moving. Rainbow’s head still rested on my shoulder. Has she been like this all night. I still found it strange, she had just met me the day before, and she was already treating me like her best friend. Then again, she said I was the only friend she had left, I guess that does make me her best friend. Was she my best friend, however? By default, she is, after all she is the first friend I’ve ever had. Enough of this, we seriously needed to get moving. We were still on the edge of the Everfree, my back, and hers evidently, still rested on the tree I used to take cover from the arrows. I needed to wake Rainbow. I looked over at her, she looked so peaceful like this. What was I to do? She probably needed more sleep than I did to heal from her wound. But if we stay any longer, the guards might come back. I could carry her, as strong as I was, I could do it with one hoof. I’m not sure how well she’d take to that, but I have no choice. I put my left hoof on her back and slowly lifted her so I was carrying her almost bridal style. She wasn’t stirred from her sleep however, just gave a small snort and changed positions. Most notably, she leaned her head against my chest. Most notably? What am I doing? Falling in love with her? I lived all my life without friends, yet in a day, I was already falling in love with somebody! This could seriously compromise our friendship. The last thing I need right now is more enemies. I just have to play this slow. I began to walk further and further in the Everfree, carefully placing each step, so as not to wake Rainbow. What I was looking for was a clearing or a hollowed out tree to plan my next move in. From the look of this forest, I’d they were say they were in short supply. If Rainbow was right, this forest has little to no habitation. That means no-one to hollow out trees or make clearings. But I had to find one, for the sake of me or Rainbow, I couldn’t tell. Why is this place considered dangerous? As far as I could tell, I wasn’t being watched.Then again we were relatively close to the treeline. As I made my way deeper into the Everfree, my hope of finding a safe place diminished. This forest, I wouldn’t even call it a forest, more like a jungle. Be that as it may, it looked massive. I had little to no hope of finding anything in this maze. As I would soon find out, something would find me. My heart leapt as I found what appeared to be a clearing. Rainbow was still asleep, I suspected the she was in a coma-like state to heal her arrow wound, perhaps it was more serious than I had thought. As I charged into it, only to be met with a sight that still haunts me to this day. A full nest of timberwolves. One or two of them would’ve been fine, but a full nest? I was certain I was going to die. I followed my father's teachings, I didn’t make eye contact and slowly backed out of the clearing. To my absolute horror, three timberwolves jumped down from the nest and advanced toward me in an arrow formation. I knew what I had to do. I placed Rainbow, who was still somehow sleeping, on the edge of the clearing. I removed to pendant my father had given me and placed it on her chest.
“In case I don’t make it.” I whispered. I knew it now, I was in love with her. I wasn’t afraid of it either. I walked far away from her to keep the timberwolves away. I realized the absence of any weapons I had. I summoned my two swords, they were replicas of the swords my father used. Double sided, curved like a coltana. But it had some unique modifications. The hilt and guard were spiked, so that only a unicorn could use them. Inscribed on one blade was, “Victory” on the other, “at any cost.” Today, Rainbow would not be the cost of victory. I raised my blades over my head, the tips of them pointing at the nest. The timberwolves growled and moved ever closer to me. I stood on my hind hooves. My father taught me to fight on four hooves as well as two. I hunched my back forward, ready to lunge at a moment's notice. This didn’t deter the timberwolves however, they kept moving dangerously close to me. When they were about ten feet away, I knew it was time. I held my breath and launched myself in the fray. The timberwolf on the left attacked first. I lunged forward again, I now had one behind me and two in front of me. I threw my left coltana behind me. I heard a single yelp and the clatter of bones. Two left. I backed up, intending to pick up my other coltana. I got maybe three feet before the timberwolf on the right advanced towards me. Its’ front claws sank into my shoulders and threw me to the ground. The timberwolf was now on top of me trying to snap at my neck as I held it at bay with my hooves. With my left hoof holding its’ neck, I grabbed a timberwolf bone from behind me and jammed it into the timberwolf’s mouth. It yelped multiple times and backed off of me. I slashed its’ throat with my remaining coltana. One left. I backed up further and grabbed my left coltana. The timberwolf directly in front of me advanced. Instead of simply tackling me, which didn’t seem to work for its’ brother, it leapt over me and sprinted toward Rainbow.
“NOOOOOOOO!” I roared. I shot towards the timberwolves. I heard the remaining timberwolves leaping off of their nest behind me, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was the one I was chasing. It stopped directly above Rainbow and raised its’ neck to deliver a killing blow. I smashed into the timberwolf, launching me and it over Rainbow’s body. I dropped my coltanas, rather stupid of me, and beat it to death with my hooves. Even after all the remained of the timberwolf was green goo and bones, I beat the ground where it once laid. What am I doing, I have to kill the others?!, I thought. I once again vaulted over Rainbow’s body and advanced toward the surviving timberwolves. There were around six left, I still haven’t seen the alpha yet. They advanced toward me one by one, and one by one I cut them down, rage fueling my strength. At last, after there were no other wolves left, the alpha emerged from its’ nest. As big as I was, this thing had to be twice my size. It threw itself off of its’ nest, shaking the ground as it landed. Its’ claws had to be a foot long. It darted towards me, each step causing thunderous sounds. At this moment, I knew true fear. Lucky for me, I had a guardian angel. A rainbow flew past me like a laser. The alpha was launched to my left. It's’ prone body was surrounded by a tornado of rainbows. The trees around me swirled in different directions, some colliding into one another in the chaos. Seconds, maybe minutes passed before the tornado began to recede. When it finally did, I saw Rainbow standing upon a very large pile of bones.
“Looks like you needed some help!” Hearing her raspy voice pleased me more than it should’ve. I smiled, more than I ever had. Oh, cut me some slack! I was just glad she was okay.
“Oh yes I was… moments from death!” I said, still panting from the fight. I was being sarcastic of course. Rainbow looked at me, clearly not convinced. “Okay, fine! In all honesty, you probably just saved my life.” I admitted. That seemed to satisfy her. She jumped down from Mt. Bones ,as I cleverly named it, and trotted over to me.
“That’s more like it.” She looked around, “Where are we? I know we’re still in the Everfree, but where are we exactly?”
“I don’t know, it’s just some clearing I carried you to.” Yeah, I didn’t mean to say that last part, but she would’ve found out how she got here eventually.
“You carried me here?”
“Yeah I did, believe it or not I can find my way around a forest.”
“Why?”
“You needed sleep. Besides, it took an alpha timberwolf to wake you up, it’s not like I could’ve done anything!”
“Okay, if you were just carrying me here, what’s this?” She held up the pendant I handed her before the battle. My heart sank and I could practically feel my pupils shrink.
“Oh that? I uh… well uhh… uhhh safekeeping!?” I blurted out. I was getting worse and worse at hiding my emotions.
“Why did you give it to me for ‘safekeeping’? You did just fine!”
“Are you kidding me?” I looked down at my hooves. They were almost entirely red from the gashes in my shoulder.
“Oh my gosh! Are you ok?” She asked. I honestly didn’t register the pain of the wounds during the fight. I only felt them afterwards. And pain wasn’t just the only thing I was feeling.
“Oh yeah… I’m just a little… lightheaded” I managed to say before my head hit the ground. I was out cold.
I woke up maybe three or four hours later to Rainbow sitting next to me. I just sat there, staring at her, for who knows how long, debating whether or not this was a dream or if I was dead. And she stared right back. I snapped out of my trance when I realized something, she was wearing my father’s pendant.
“Why are you wearing that?” I asked.
She snorted, “Safekeeping?” If it were any other pony, I’d rip their head off. After snapping their neck of course, or not, it all depends really. But this was Rainbow. All I did was lean up to check my wounds. My hooves were clean, there was no blood on them anymore. There were also leaves wrapped around the wounds themselves.
“Leaves? Really?” I asked.
“Oh I’m sorry, I’ll head to the store and get you some proper bandages, ya wimp!” She hit me on the shoulder and laughed. I laughed too, ignoring the pain she caused in my shoulder. I looked around. My coltanas were at my side. Rainbow had managed to build a fire and construct a crude fence around our camp.
“How did you do all of this?” I asked.
“Watching you.” She replied. She was watching me when I built that fire? I suppose she had nothing else to look at. I mean she could’ve looked at her wound or the fire itself. Why was she watching me ? I stood up and tested my hooves. I could walk, but I probably won’t be doing any fighting for a while.
“I don’t suppose you also learned how to fight by watching me?” I asked.
“I got the basics!” She replied. I doubted it, it takes years to learn “the basics”.
“My hooves will take about a day to heal. We should stay here until they do.”
“And what are we going to do after that? Don’t we need food?”
“Let’s hope we don’t stay here long enough to need to worry about that.”
“What, we’re leaving?”
“Eventually. We can’t stay here. Like you said, it’s the most dangerous place in Equestria!”
“Where will we go?” It was a good question. One that I didn’t have the answer to. After attacking a princess, the search for me, or us as the case may be, will double in size.
“As far as Equestria knows, we’re lost in the forest. We could go anywhere we want really, as long as we don’t draw any attention. Do you know anywhere where no-one will find us, safer than here preferably?” I asked
“Not really.”
“Ok, so if we can’t hide out of sight, we’ll have to hide in plain sight.”
“What do you mean?”
“We have to go somewhere so obvious that no pony would think to look for us there. Manehattan, Canterlot, the Crystal Empire”
“The Crystal Empire is pretty far away. News about us probably hasn’t reached there yet.”
“Good point. Then again, two members of the Royal Family live there, they might've been the first ponies to be notified.”
“Well Canterlot would be too, after all, Celestia lives there!”
“That leaves Manehattan. But how will we get there?”
“Ummmmm,” Rainbow put her hoof on her forehead, “if we travel south…...east, we can take a train from Dodge Junction. Or we could build a raft, follow the river east, and take a boat from Horseshoe Bay.”
“Well, the royals probably have the rail lines heavily guarded, we’ll be spotted instantly.”
“Plus, I’m literally a walking rainbow, how are we not going to get spotted anywhere?”
“I could put a reverse spell on you, it’d rearrange the colors on your mane.”
“Sounds like a good a plan as any.” I placed the spell on her, the yellow on her mane turned red, the red turned yellow, the colors of her mane and tail had been reversed, hence the name of the spell.”How do I look?” she asked.
“Great, it’s a small change, but it makes you almost unrecognizable”
“Okay, that works, but even if we get to Manehattan, what are we going to do once we get there?”
“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hiding. I want to take Celestia down. I’m tired of playing Hide and Seek with her.” I said.
“We’ll never be safe with her on the throne. I don’t like it, but it’s the only thing that will make us safe.” This was probably going to be very hard for her. She’s revered Celestia all her life. All of this would have to wait until morning however. The forest’s tall trees were blocking out the sun, causing an early night. We’d be safe in this clearing, no animal would go near a potentially active timberwolf nest.
“It’s getting close to nightfall. We need to rest. Even I’m feeling tired.”
“You clear the ground and I’ll put the fire out.” Rainbow said. I pulled a downed tree for me to lean against. It was easier for me to sleep sitting than lying down. I cleared away the leaves and wet dirt and formed a small, clean circle for Rainbow to sleep in. I leaned against my log, and fell asleep.
I awoke in the middle of the night. I checked my surroundings. There were no animals I could see, and I could tell we weren’t being watched. However, when I went to check on Rainbow, I realized she was gone. I looked to my right, she wasn’t there. When I looked to my left, I found her once again leaning against my shoulder. Was she going to do this every night? I put my left hoof around her shoulder, I leaned my cheek against the top of her head, and fell asleep in ten seconds flat.
The Last of the Soul Crusaders
Author's Note
So, this chapter has been a work in progress for a very long time. I tried to make this chapter as best as I could. Anyway, I put alot of work into this, so I hope you like it. And before you ask, I have no idea why some of this is in bold. If you know how to fix it , don't be afraid to let me know in he comments.
Escape from Nowhere
Escape from Nowhere
The Last of the Soul Crusaders
Chapter 3
Dreams suck. Bad dreams suck even more. I had one last night, obviously. In it, Rainbow and I were approaching Celestia’s throne room. As we entered the antechamber, I saw Twilight blocking our path to the throne room.
“There’s no way in Tartarus you are getting past me!” She yelled. She was clad in much more armor than our encounter in the bar.
“After all she’s done, you’re really still with Celestia?” Rainbow cried.
“Celestia will crush you beneath her hoof, better that you die here, to spare you the pain of her anger.” Twilight screeched, her eyes were empty, devoid of all color.
“Do you even know what she’s done? Or are you just another worthless drone in her legion. A legion that my father helped to build. THE SAME PONY THAT SHE KILLED IN COLD BLOOD!” I screamed, all the anger and hate I held in over the last thirteen years instantly vented. I bolted towards her, my coltanas shining like the sun. That really should have been my cue to duck. I was blown backwards, my back hit the wall behind me. My vision was reduced to a tunnel of darkness. Rainbow continued to charge Twilight. The next three minutes passed in flashes of my vision. In each one, Twilight and Rainbow were engaged in a violent hoof fight. Flash after flash, I drew closer, I was dragging myself towards the fight. Then one flash showed Twilight walking towards me, all I could see of Rainbow was a lifeless corpse. Twilight lifted me off the ground, a haze of purple energy surrounded me.
“Your turn!” Her voice was cold as steel and hard as granite. Every muscle in my body tried to muster the strength to repel her attack. But to no avail. The knife plunged into my heart and with it a sense of failure.
I woke up, with a start, to Rainbow trying to chop down a tree.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Seeing as how you wanted to sleep in and I wanted to get the hell out of here, I decided to start building the raft we need to get to Horseshoe Bay.” She replied.
“And you're going to do that how?”
“Ugh, I am going to cut down some trees and lash them together with vines. Since you're awake, go find some oars and vines for me.” I chuckled,
“Yes, Your Highness.” Rainbow threw a piece of bark at me.
“Just go get them, smart-ass!” I got up started to walk towards the forest when an idea popped up into my head. I stopped and took a long stretch, took a few steps, groaned, took a few more steps, coughed. I looked at Rainbow. She wore an inpatient look on her face. “Hurry... the fuck... up.” she said, clearly holding back the urge to hit me. I batted my eyes at her.
“Angry, mistress Rainbow?” I asked with a playful tone to my voice. She slowly walked up to me. She stopped right in front of my face and narrowed her eyes. I am not afraid to admit, I did not mind her being that close to me.
“If you don’t get those oars and vines, I will shove this tree so far up your ass, you’ll be pissing sap for a year.” She growled. I decided to fuck with her on this.
“I already do, pumpkin.” I quipped and trotted away. I could feel her shocked expression a mile away. Collecting logs and vines reminded me of the farm my father owned. Yes, yes, yes, typical lonely hero was raised on a farm, whatever, I didn’t choose it. (Yell at Osiris, not me!) For whatever reason I missed the farm where Celestia slit my father's throat and ordered the guards to “have their way” with my mother. Needless to say that she didn’t walk away from that. She wasn’t even a Crusader. She didn’t deserve that fate.
By the time I got back to our camp I had a nice armful of logs and vines, just as the Maîtresse insisted. Ah, look at me speaking fancy. Rainbow had just felled the tree and dragged in line with three others she had cut down. I was impressed. I left not half an hour ago, she had only one tree down then. She knew her way around hard labor, what I was still trying to figure out is why that turned me on. Apparently, I wasn’t very good at hiding that.
“My god. ” I mumbled. I was mortified when I realized she heard me.
“What did you say?” She asked, confused. I felt my eyes grow tenfold.
“Absolutely not, I did not say anything at all.” I droned.
“No, I’m pretty sure you-”
“NoIdidn’tsaythat. Hey,howaboutwegettoworkgettingoutofthisforest?” I blurted out, trying to change the subject. I quickly started lashing the logs together and carving out the oars. I did all of this while trying drastically to not make eye contact with Rainbow.
“Look, if you’re tired then just let me take over!” She groaned.
“Uhh, what?” I asked.
“You complained back there, you said ‘my god’ like you were all tired.”
“Oh yeah, I am tired but I’ll be fine.” Thank god she misinterpreted that. I have got to get better at hiding things. I’ve been doing it for thirteen years. Why did Rainbow have to make it so hard. Wait, that sound better in my head.
Moving on, our little naval catastrophe was about ready. Now to see if it was halfway sea-worthy. I dropped the raft, aptly named The Rainboom, into the river that would take us to Horseshoe Bay.
“I guess it’s almost ready, question is, are you?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.
“Do you really think you’re ready to fight your best friends?”
“They’re ready to fight me, so I guess I have to be ready to fight them.”
“You know, if I had any choice, you wouldn’t be involved in this.”
“What, you don’t like me?”
“No, I just don’t like putting you in danger. A timberwolf almost killed you yesterday. It’s obvious I can’t protect you.” Rainbow walked up to me, she put her hoof under my chin.
“I know that there is no pony better suited to take care of me. If I didn’t appreciate your company, trust me, I wouldn’t even still be here.”
“Sure, I guess you’re right.” I looked at The Rainboom , “We need to get this thing down river. Celestia will eventually send troops into the forest.” I grabbed the oars and Rainbow sat at the forward end. As we drifted down the river, I kept a close eye on both bank of the river. I was narrow enough for timberwolves to board, yet wide enough for archers or unicorns to tear us apart. My suspicions were about to be confirmed. Directly to my port bow, a bolt of magic was launched into the sky. Then, all Tartarus broke out. Arrows rained down, some were ablaze with magical fire. Archers emerged from the treeline on both sides of the river, arrows ready. I managed to deflect some of the arrows back at the archers.
“They’ve blocked the river.” Rainbow yelled. I looked downriver. Archers were felling trees in our path. I needed to move the trees, then cripple their firepower if we were going to survive this. I jumped ashore. I advanced towards the trees downriver, killing archer after archer on the way. Some of them managed to get some hits on me, but nothing serious. I managed to get to the logs. I needed to move them, without using magic, and before The Rainboom rammed into them. They were lodged between the banks of the river, The Rainboom would capsize if it made contact. I grabbed a bow off the ground and wedged in between the ground and the edge of the log. I was going to use the bow as a wedge to shove the log out of position. I pulled and pulled on the bow. My hooves were screaming in agony. I never thought I’d come free, but eventually the log broke free of the mud and freely floated down the river. The Rainboom was safe, now to take down all of these archers. I raced downriver to try to board The Rainboom . I was parallel to the raft when I saw Rainbow steering towards me.
“Come on, just jump!” She yelled. Against every instinct in my body, I leapt towards the raft. I landed on my shoulder and very nearly broke it.
“Get us out of here!!” I heard Rainbow shriek. I was hesitant to use magic until now. And now seemed the best time to use it. I launched a shockwave in every direction, shielding Rainbow of course, knocking down every archer within a mile. The archers would no longer trouble us. I scrambled to the aft end and dipped my hoof into the water. I used an acceleration spell and advanced the flow of the river. Soon we were out of the haze of arrows and drawing closer to Horseshoe Bay. Arrows littered the deck of The Rainboom.
The next day or so, passed without incident. We meandered down the river without much conversation. Then we were graced with a magnificent sight. Horseshoe Bay, teeming with ships and ponies of all sorts. One of these ships would surely get us to Manehattan, voluntarily or not. I spotted a particular ship I liked, a Stallion O’ War. I counted one hundred and sixty guns, eighty per side. Her crew had to be over eight hundred strong. Commandeering it would be difficult. I beached and dismantled The Rainboom . Rainbow and I walked around the dock, picking out ships that could serve our purpose. The ship I liked proved to be the best for our task. And best of all, she wasn’t even christened yet.
I trotted up to the captain of the vessel.
“How much to charter for Manehattan?” I asked, a slight accent in my voice to make me sound the part. The captain gave a hearty laugh.
“More than you’ve got fella, this here is the finest vessel ever to grace Equestrian waters. But, you are in luck. We’re headed to Manehattan as our maiden voyage. If you’d the crew, you’d get a free trip to the Big Apple. Can I count you and yer lady friend in?” I looked at Rainbow and made me decision.
“No that won’t be necessary ” I mumbled. I got close to him and kicked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and tossing him into the bay. I grabbed his jacket and hat as he fell. I put them on and looked around. Nopony noticed. I trotted up to Rainbow, who was trying to haggle a few apples off of a merchant. I kissed her, straight on the lips. It was part careful plan, part gambit so that I could actually kiss her and get away with it. I looked at her and said.
“Come on las’, let’s get you to my ship.” I said. I put my hoof around her shoulder and lead her towards my newly acquired Stallion O’ War.
“What the fuck was that?” Rainbow whispered. From what I could hear, she wasn’t angry, just confused. A part of me leapt with joy.
“Just a clever ploy. Nothing more.” I said. Of course, I didn’t mean it.
“Oh… ok” She said, she sounded sad. We walked up the plank towards the ship. Some of the sailors looked at me with confused expressions.
“Where’s my first mate?” I yelled.
“Here Cap’n!” I heard a rough voice reply.
“Meat me in my quarters!” I yelled back.
“Aye Cap’n!” I looked at Rainbow.
“You’re coming too.” We entered my new quarters. It was dark, yet oddly cozy. A map of Equestria was spread on a table in the corner. My first mate was there too. He looked at me, obviously confused at the change in crew.
“Cap’n?” He asked.
“There’s been a change of plan. I was a close friend of the former captain. He told me that Celestia’s gone mad. He told me to lead this ship to Manehattan.”
“Wait, Cap’n. You said was?”
“Aye, he’s dead, Celestia’s guards killed him for ‘insubordination and madness’.”
“Blasphemy! Cap’n Garrick was nothing but the sanest of ponies! What shall we do now, Cap’n?”
“This vessel can’t bombard Canterlot from the coast, but we can bombard Manehattan…”
“Are ya thinkin what I’m thinkin Cap’n?”
“Aye, I reckon I am. Set course for Manehattan. We’ve got a world to save.”
