War Pony

Chapters

Frozen Hearts
Trained to Forget
Changing Weather
Sour Lemon
Hushed Whistle
Bullet in the Chamber
Bang, Rattle, Thud
Two Birds One Stone
Cold Dark Night In October
Mare of The Moon
The Princess, The Soldier and The Fool
Words of War
Around A Heartless Fire
Where Roads Lead
A Neighborly Visit
Long Trot to Nowhere
Shattered Glass
The Sun Will Rise
A Twisting Path
Turn Away
Burning Steel
Scorched Earth
A Hopeful Twist
Prologue
Author's Note

Frozen Hearts

The blizzard winds were picking up speed. In the center of town, hundreds of Earth ponies, both stallions and mares, stood waiting for a train to arrive. Every single one of them had volunteered or been drafted to fight in the war ahead. They quivered in their hooves, wearing layers upon layers of winter coats, scarves and jackets. It was the middle of summer and the pegasi still refused the blame for causing this weather. Eventually, somepony from the crowd shouted out,
“Train incoming!”

Everypony lifted their heads, attempting to search through the icy fog for the arriving train. Two lights pushed their way through the snow and became visible from the distant tracks. Ponies formed a line on the platform, shoulder to shoulder. They looked forward, waiting for the train to make its way past the snow covering the tracks. It crept toward the platform, slowly gaining shape and detail through the blinding weather. The brakes screeched into the air and the train slowed to a stop. Nearly every pony in the line turned toward their families standing behind them. Each of them hugged and gave their farewells and good wishes. Every family in the town was about to be split after the conscription was passed. Every eligible pony of a mature age was required to fight, the only exceptions being mothers and fathers with small children, in which case only one of the parents would have to go. Only a few kept looking at the train; they did not turn back because there was nopony back there for them.

Among those keeping their heads forward was a black-maned, navy-coated stallion who stared blankly into the metal sheet serving as a slide door for the train car. The door squeaked and moved along the side to show a mare standing in a snow-camouflaged uniform holding a clipboard in his hoof and a pen in her mouth. The stallion turned his head back to look at all the other ponies still saying their last goodbyes. He realized that he had to go first. The mare looked him in the eyes. She had a stare colder than the blizzard and, with no emotion, she asked, “Name?” The stallion let out a sigh and answered her. “Hopeful. Hopeful Twist.”

The mare shook her head at the irony, writing something on the clipboard. She tipped her head, signaling for him to get onto the train, so he put his head down and boarded. He heard her interrogate the next pony that he soon would be fighting beside. He walked up to the first cabin. It was nearly hollow, with only two long benches spanning the sides of the room. He went to the far left bench and sat down and looked out of the frost edged window at the crying recruits trying to spend every second they could spare with their loved ones. He sat there for a while, no expression on his face, no tears in his eyes, no emotion in his heart, only a broken spirit.

His mesmerized state was broken by the next pony entering the cabin. “Hey, there!” This sky-blue stallion with a bright yellow mane was standing beside him with, of all things, a smile on his face. Hopeful went back to staring out of the window.

“Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, because I'm excited. We’re going to kick some Pegasus and Unicorn butt!” He put lifted his hoof toward Hopeful, waiting for a hoofbump. Hopeful turned his head from the window and glanced at the stallion, unimpressed. The stallion retracted his hoof and sat down beside Hopeful, hooves between his legs and head held low. “My name is Spring Step,” he said quietly, gently pivoting his head to watch for Hopeful’s reaction. Hopeful was leaning up against the corner, unmoved by the comment. Spring lowered his head again. Two ponies passed through the cabin to get further back on the train, They chatted in an intimate way, giving the impression that they were a couple going to war together.

Hopeful became weary of watching the ponies outside. “Hopeful,” he muttered under his breath.

Spring perked up. “Well, Hopeful, it’s nice to meet you,” he said, putting his hoof up to shake.

Hopeful eyed his hoof and sat up, reluctantly putting his hoof up to Spring’s, shaking it slowly. He put his back to the wall and leaned his head against it, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. “Sometimes I worry what kind of ponies we’re sending to the front lines.” Hopeful picked his head up and turned to look at Spring. “So, tell me, why do you think you won’t just get hit by a stray magic bolt, or have a bomb dropped on you by day one? In fact, what makes you think you’re capable of even killing a pony? Huh?” Spring Step hung his head again and opened his mouth but no words came out; he couldn’t think of an answer.

Hopeful laid his head back. “I thought so.” He snuggled into as comfortable of a sleeping position he could get.

Another pony entered the cabin and sat down opposite of Hopeful, breathing heavily and attempting to calm himself down. Hopeful raised an eyelid to see the pony before closing it again. “Go on, cheer him up. Might as well do something with your optimism before it’s yanked away from you and pulverized until you’re just a bitter old pony like me.” Spring Step hesitated before hopping off his seat and moving to the other side of the cart to comfort the stressing pony. Two more ponies came in and sat beside Hopeful without saying a word.

A few minutes passed before the car began to fill up. Spring Step was talking with the stressed pony and his smile had returned. Most of the ponies in the cabin were chatting, some were looking out the windows and one even had a book they were reading. As time slowly passed, Hopeful began to drift off to sleep. More ponies boarded until the cabin was full. The train blew its whistle and began to trudge through the snow.

Soon enough, the station and town were out of sight. The train was overcrowded to Tartarus and back. After seats ran out, the ponies had to stand, leaving very little room for the general to move from car to car, inspecting his new soldiers.

“LISTEN UP, NEWBIES!” the general shouted from the doorway between cabins. A yellow Earth pony with a fiery mane, he was wearing a snow-white military coat with many medals attached and dog tags hanging around his neck. He had a holstered pistol on his right shoulder and a pair of radiator glasses which he looked menacingly through. “Get comfortable. With this weather, it'll be a good half a day trip until we reach the base, which is when you are going to begin combat training. So enjoy this free time; there won’t be much more of that from now on.” The general blew his whistle, piercing the ears of everypony in that room and waking Hopeful from his slumber. “And there will be much more of that, so get used to it!” The general stepped back through the door to the next cabin to give his speech once again.

Time crawled by and the general made a few more visits to intimidate everypony. Hopeful stared outside into the frozen winds bashing against the train. The darkness of the night was setting in. At least those blasted unicorns were useful for something. Many hours passed, but without a way to keep track of the time with the cloud cover, nopony knew how long was left. Most of the ponies in the cabin were asleep. Some of the ponies without seats just slept on the floor.

The train stopped, very suddenly launching everypony across the cabin, slamming them against the wall and each other. Everypony tried to regain their surroundings. A muffled ''MOTHERBUCKER'' could be heard from outside. Hopeful tried lifting himself off the bench, but fell onto the floor on his back. He unsteadily stood up and stumbled over his own hooves. His head was swinging back and forth and he dizzily laid himself against the wall. He breathed in and out until his head stopped throbbing and his vision sharpened once again. The door flung open and through it walked the mildly disoriented general.

“PACK YOUR BAGS, NEWBIES. Tracks are out. Looks like they were hit by a stray Lightning shell. Hope you enjoy midnight hikes, cause we got a hour long trip on hoof till we reach home base!” Everypony stood up and balanced themselves, tiredly hanging their heads and wiping their eyes. “AND NO LAZING AROUND!” He blew his whistle again. The ponies covered their ears and winced from the high pitched screech. The general shut the door and the ponies in the cabin scrambled around to gather their possessions and put on their layers of cold protection.

Soon, a hoof soldier came into the cabin. He was wearing the standard snow-camouflaged uniform and helmet. He had a rifle tied to his right side and a pistol on the top of his left shoulder. With a raised voice, he addressed the ponies in the cabin, “Alright, you’re all with me. Once we get out there, it’s a double line formation behind me. Got it?” He turned his head back to the ponies to shout “Formation!” and walked to the end of the train. He slid the train car door open and jumped down into the tall layer of snow. Ponies from the cabin followed suit, and, soon, most of them were outside. Hopeful was one of the last to leave, with Spring Step right behind him.

The blizzard raged on, the cold bashing against them. The soldier signaled to them to follow him and then he turned to the direction the train was heading and pushed forward. Hopeful squinted his eyes as he felt his body freeze up and spine shiver. The ponies trudged through the thick snow, attempting to follow the soldier in pairs. A line was forming and they were getting further. Spring Step tried to walk forward but wasn't strong enough to go against the wind, causing him to fall down into the snow looking to weak to be able to do this. Hopeful turned to see him and sighed and marched back to him. He lifted Spring Step up and placed Spring's hoof around himself and pulled him along.

The regiment joined up with the others leaving the train. The general stood in front of the troops and blew his whistle, but the sound was overwhelmed by the winds. He gestured forward and began to march with the regiments following after him. As they made their way forward, Hopeful could barely make out a crater the size of a small house cutting off the tracks, and, while it didn't faze Hopeful, Spring Step stared in horror as they passed.

The storm was easing off. The winds grew lighter and the soldiers kept pushing forward with aching bones and shivering bodies. On their journey, they encountered many more craters. They were crossing no-pony’s land. Hopeful was enduring the soreness of pulling Spring Step along with him. One hour felt like years, hiking through a barren, snowy wasteland. A faint outline of a forest broke through the blinding atmosphere.

“Pick up the pace, colts! We’re nearly there!” the general shouted back at the regiments. Everypony looked at each other and accelerated their marching. Hopeful was being dragged back by Spring Step and couldn't keep up. “Come on, just a few more steps, buddy,” Hopeful said to encourage Spring Step (and himself) to move forward. The rest of the ponies were getting further and further of the pair. Hopeful was finding it hard to walk and stumbled, falling into the snow with Spring Step falling beside him.

Hopeful’s face was covered in snow. He could no longer see the soldiers or the general. He tried to lift himself up, but the strain on his muscles was too much so he laid there in the snow. Hopeful turned his head to look at Spring Step who was forcing himself to stand. Spring Step managed to gain his hoofing. He took a wobbly step forward and then another and he kept going.

Hopeful held out his hoof, reaching out to Spring Step, but he kept moving forward, eventually turning a hobble into a sprint toward the base. “You... You can’t...” he let his hoof and head fall back down into the snow. Hopeful took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. He threw his left hoof forward and then his right. He began to crawl through the thick snow. He made it a few meters forward before he was out of breath and too cold to continue. He curled up and shivered in the small hole his body made in the snow.

Hopeful pried his eyes open and surveyed his surroundings, looking for something to save him. His attention was averted to something in the cloud cover above, a body grazed the bottom of the cloud sheets. It flew at incredible speeds, jumping from cloud to cloud, maneuvering away from something. Hopeful, knowing the horrors of a lightning shell or a rain dropper, knew, if he was spotted, he would stand no chance. He gathered the snow around him and piled it on top of himself to camouflage him from the Pegasus. He was encompassed in the snow and his insides were freezing up as the sharp cold pierced through his skin.

He waited under his icy cover, anticipating a bomb to blow him into pieces at any second and he thought his fate was finally sealed once he heard an object screeching as it fell from the sky. The explosion never came. Instead, a faint crash off in the distance was audible through the snow. Hopeful burrowed his head out of the snow and scanned the area. Two Earth pony hoof soldiers came towards him one with a smoking rifle pressed against her shoulder, observing the sky. Behind them walked SpringStep. “Right there!” Spring Step shouted while pointing at Hopeful. The two soldiers went over and lifted him from ether side to carry him toward the base. Hopeful was holding dearly to consciousnesses, but his vision became blurry and disoriented.

They entered the tall, thick, leafless forest. The trees protected the ground from the weather, meaning it had considerably less snow. The soldiers trekked through the trees, snapping twigs lying on the floor as they went. Hopeful looked to the skies to see the moon's rays grazing the clouds with a silver lining. Before he could react, he was dropped down onto a log, getting scratched and splintered by its rough edges. The soldiers turned to each other, their voices lost to Hopeful as he felt on the verge of falling unconscious. Spring Step climbed over the log and turned to look into Hopeful's eyes. “You still with us, buddy?” Spring Step said while inspecting Hopeful's condition.

“You, you bastard! You left me with a bloody Pegasus out there!” Hopeful grabbed Spring by the collar “I nearly died!”

Spring lifted Hopeful's hooves of of him, “Hey, look its not like I could carry you, I can barely keep myself on my own hooves. I got help and now your ok, that's what matters.” SpringStep fell back onto the ground heftily breathing.

“Still doesn't change the fact I nearly died to save your sorry flank!” Hopeful leaned in and shouted at Spring Step, who pushed himself away from Hopeful.

One of the soldiers, an orange mare with red mane wearing heavy armor, turned back to Hopeful and propped up her hoof on the log. She lowered himself to look right at him and, absolutely peeved off, say “Look mate, you’re not the only one that was wrecked by that journey! We got three ponies with hypothermia down there, so can you stop whining about your near death experience, cause if you don't stop, you’re not going to last very long out here!” She raised herself up. “Now, go down there, because you’re not my problem anymore. Right now, I have to go double back and make sure we don't have any more lost sheep like you.” The mare hopped off the log and turned to go back through the forest the way they came. She whirled her head and shouted back, “Oh, and one last thing. A ‘thank you’ would be appreciated for shooting down that screecher Pegasus for you.”

The other soldier, a yellow stallion wearing equivalent gear to the mare, went past Hopeful and bit down on a handle lying in the ground. He pulled it up, and, with his hooves, threw it to the other side. “Don't worry about her. She gets really peeved when she’s stressed.” He bit Hopeful by the winter coat he was wearing and dragged him off the log. Spring Step staggered up onto his hooves and went down the stairs that were hidden by the hatch.

Hopeful looked up at the soldier and said, “I can do this myself,” and slid his hooves in front of himself and pushed his hind-legs to prop himself up. He scrambled until he went into a walking stumble down the hatch, tripping on the first step and falling down on his stomach.

“Come on, mate, no need to be a war hero,” the soldier said and wrapped Hopeful's hoof around his neck to walk down with him.

The bunker was an absolute hell hole. The dull gray walls were crumbling around them and dirt had collected up from the outside all over the corridor. It reeked, a stench of death mixed in with rat feces (rats which could be heard scuttering inside the walls). The main corridor was tight and could barely hold more than two ponies walking side by side. Spring Step walked down the hallway, looking around in shock at the state of the base. He was whistled over by a pony from the room at the back. Spring went to him and entered the room. Hopeful was carried by the soldier down the long hallway, passing doors leading to sleeping quarters, firing ranges and training areas. They reached the rusted steel door and Spring Step went through. It bore the words ''briefing room'' on a plaque that was scratched up so badly it was barely legible.

The soldier pushed on the door. It was stuck until he smacked against it a bit harder, forcing it to creak open on its corroded hinges. Upon entering, Hopeful felt his own body weight again as he was dropped onto the floor.

“Here's another straggler, sir!” The soldier stood there, saluting. “Can he stand?” a grizzly voice came from the end of the room. Hopeful forced himself to his hooves, grabbing on and leaning against a table to his right, he made it up to see this husky lavender stallion wearing a puffy military vest, medals going so far down across his chest that some were hanging off. A military hat laid upon his head, with an insignia of a bowl of pudding. Beside him was the general. He stood with his legs and spine straight in the presence of this high commander clearly marked with Chancellor Puddinghead's cutie mark.

“Yes, sir. I can stand, sir.” Hopeful said through his tiresome breathing.

The commander turned to the soldier that carried Hopeful in. “You are dismissed private.” His voice was deep and gravely. He returned his attention towards the crowd of snow-covered recruits, standing in a semicircle around him. each one listened to his every word with the highest percussion. “So if our guests would like to join us, I can get back to what I was saying.” He glared over at Hopeful, who noticed Spring Step who was having his eyes inspected by a medic-pony.

She let go of Spring and walked over to Hopeful. She examined his head, pulling his eyelids wide open and flashing a torch into his iris. “Eh, you’re probably fine,” she said to him in a Liverfoal accent. He blinked heavily and stumbled into the crowd of ponies.

The commander spoke aloud. “Alright, then, as I was about to say, this underground bunker, made ten meters of concrete underneath the surface, hidden from Pegasus scouts in this forest, will be your home for the next two weeks while you go through extensive military training. You will be shown how to shoot a gun and how to kill a pony in hoof to hoof combat. You will be taught everything we know about Pegasus artillery such as Rain-droppers, the anti-soldier sonic speed explosive launcher, or humongous Thunder Cannons and the lightning shells they shoot, and more importantly how to not be spotted.” Some ponies looked around at each other nervously after seeing the carnage at the train tracks.

The Commander cleared his throat. “And you will be learning about unicorn magics, how to avoid and counter their combat tricks and how to defeat their magic weaponry. And I can say from personal experience on how useful that last bit is!” He pushed up his sleeve on his left hoof to reveal a wound made of shredded and scorched flesh coming from his heel all the way up to his shoulder. “This here beauty was given to me about a two months ago, on the first battle in this bloody war when we invaded the royal unicorn castle. This was ONE slash from a Fire-Ruby blade. The unicorn that gave me it had his neck snapped by yours truly.” He put his sleeve down and placed his hoof on his chest as he was boasting.

He made his collar and went back to his speech, “After your training, you will be sent out to fight and conquer the enemy. You have all heard of the horrors of this war and I'm sure some of you have experienced what those bastards do to us!” He looked into Hopeful's eyes, before flicking them around the crowd more. “The weather they cause, the destruction of our homes and towns, the little food we can produce that they steal from us!” The commander started shouting. The general moved one step away trying to avoid his heartfelt and enraged swinging of his hooves.

“We will win this war, and, afterwards, we will regain control over the land that's rightfully ours!” He put his hoof up into the air. “What do you say!” Everypony in the room gave a salute to the commander and replied in unison “Sir, yes, sir!”

“Under Chancellor Puddinghead's command and me, Commander Righteous Glory, we will prevail and be victorious!” He slammed down his hoof, creating a booming noise that amplified what he said next. “DISMISSED!”

Glory took a breather and began discussing with the general privately. The ponies in the room scrambled around, trying to leave the briefing room. Hopeful got lost in the commotion and waited for everypony else to leave. Everyone else was gone and the door shut. Hopeful bit the handle and swung it open feeling somewhat stronger after that short rest. The door creaked and he saw a pony pushing against the wave of new recruits making their way to the sleeping quarters. An orange mare wearing traditional brown and white clothing worn by Earth ponies of high importance, She was covered in a layer of snow and had a feather in her pointy brown hat. The bottom half of her cutie mark of a cookie was visible from underneath her attire.

“Eh, excuse me, but is Commander Righteous Glory in there by any chance? I got a message from The Chancellor herself.” The mare spoke with a farmers accent about her. Hopeful stared at her a bit while she said, “I'm her secretary. The names Smart Cookie.” Hopeful brought his wits back to him “Oh, yeah, the commander is in here.” The mare slid past him saying, “Thank ya kindly.”

Hopeful went through the door, it slamming shut behind him making him jump, and walked down the hallway to where every other pony was going, trying to find the sleeping quarters. On his way down, he could hear his hoofsteps faintly echo through the hall, gunshots from a door in the distance. and coughing fits from another. There was chatter coming from the door the new recruits went down.

He stopped at that door and looked back to the briefing room. He whispered to himself, “I hope to the fucking heavens that this war ends soon.” and walked inside.

Trained to Forget

Hopeful leaned against the railing on his porch, watching the sun glisten over his fields on this warm and sunny day. He stared out at his wife Joyful Twist, sitting on a red and white checkered blanket. She was sitting there minding their daughter, Sugar Coat, who hopped around playing in the sun. Her lime coloured coat ruffled as she skipped back and forth, her shiny sky-blue mane reflected the sun, making her look like she was sparkling. Hopeful grinned, looking upon his family, so happy and peaceful.

Hopeful looked up at the sky and saw a cloud begin to form. He reached his hoof out and a snowflake, waving back and forth through the air, floated down onto his hoof.

A shadow glanced over the ground catching Hopefuls attention, as a Pegasus wearing metal-plated armor landed before him with a thud as her hooves hit the floor.

Hopeful pushed off the railing and stepped toward the Pegasus, “What are you doing here?! We already paid the rain tax this month!”

The Pegasus lifted her head and looked Hopeful in the eye, before she snorted, saying in a tough mare's voice, “Then consider this an advancement for next month.” The Pegasus chuckled and turned her head toward Hopeful’s wife and daughter. Hopeful looked at the sky once more and saw two Pegasi drop down and slam onto the ground beside his wife and take out pistols. Hopeful jumped off the porch and ran toward them. He was tripped by the Pegasus, falling down into the dirt and reaching out to his family who were still so far away.

He watched as one of the Pegasi nodded to the others and flew up to the trap door beside the barn where they preserved food. He tried to fling the trapdoor open but it wouldn't budge. After striking at it with his hoof, making it rattle, the Pegasus holding Hopeful down shouted to him, “Stop messing around you numbskull, use your bloody dropper on it!” He nodded and began to fly up and take out a long, metal weapon. He loaded a shell into a canister on the top of it and bit down onto a thin metal handle, pulling it up as high as he could, before letting it go. A screeching, apple-sized grenade propelled itself down onto the trapdoor, blowing it to smithereens. The explosion echoed thunderously around the planes. Wooden shards went flying before the dust began to settle.

Joyful Twist stood up to the Pegasus soldier holding her at gunpoint and tried to block them from reaching Sugar Coat, who was quivering behind her. The Pegasus struck Joy across the muzzle, making her fall into the grass, and walked past her toward the filly. Joyful Twist leaped up and bit down on the soldier’s armor, trying to knock him over. Hopeful scrabbled to his hooves, only to be kicked back down by the Pegasus behind him. He rolled over onto his back and could see the sky was completely covered in thick, snowy clouds. He tried to swing at the Pegasus and managed to knock her helmet off, exposing her face. She was a yellow Pegasus mare with deep green eyes and a flowy, golden mane. Hopeful tried to push the mare off of him, but she kicked him in his ribcage, paralyzing him as he gasped for air.

Two gunshots rang through the air. The mare looked up where the other Pegasi were and shouted “I TOLD YOU, NO CASUALTIES, YOU IDIOT!” Hopeful had just enough strength to turn his head around, but all he saw was blood staining the grass before his head was grabbed by the mare. “Sorry for this, but just know it’s nothing personal.” She grabbed the pistol from her shoulder and stretched her head back before swinging it into his skull.

Hopeful jolted up out of his bed, impacting his head on the metal bars holding the top bunk. He inspected himself. He was sweating and breathing heavily as he rubbed his bruised forehead.

“UP AND AT 'EM, NEWBIES!” the General from yesterday hollered at the doorway of the bunk room. The ponies moaned and groaned as they were broken out of their dreams. “I said, UP AND AT 'EM!” The General grabbed his whistle and furiously blew into it, “YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO GET YOUR SORRY ASSES OUT OF BED AND IN UNIFORM!” The General sighed and a chuckled to himself. “Ah, I love my job.”

Hopeful scanned the room, a dozen or so bunk beds on each side. Each bed had a green duffel bag, which were given out to everypony to hold their gear and personal possessions. Hopeful pushed off the side of the bed above him, landing on the floor and unzipping his bag. He heard Spring Step jump down onto the floor from the bed above his.

After the ponies frantically getting in their uniforms, two rows of ponies quivering from fear formed in front of the beds. The general smiled and took out a pocket watch. “Fifty-seven seconds. Well, it ain't no academy record.” He then walked down the center of room, looking left to right at the soldiers.

“At ease.” Many ponies let go of the breath they were stomaching. “We will begin with simple routine and command training, then field tactics and self defense. After that, if you do well enough, we will have a round of weapons training.” The general halted suddenly and swung around, his back to the recruits. “SINGLE FILE LINE, DOWN THE HALL, BEHIND ME, NOW!” He blew his whistle and strode down the the room, punching the door open, looking forward with a ferocity in his eyes.

The recruits followed instantly, and, with the line formed, they went through the underground labyrinth-of-an-army-base and down some stairs into a large hall. The cavernously high ceiling was supported by many steel beams protruding from the wall. Body bags hung from the walls and another twenty ponies were at the back, being drilled by another general.

The general they were following lead them to a corner of the hall and addressed them. “FORM UP!” The ponies created several rows in front of the general, who began walking in circles, going back and forth down the group. “Since I haven't formally introduced myself, I am General Fire Halo and I will be training you from the weak, emotionally unstable, scared little ponies you are into strong, brave soldiers. You will follow my orders to their full extent, and I don't care if I tell you to clear the fucking skies, you will do it! IS THAT CLEAR?” Fire Halo stared sharply at his regiment, which replied with a “Sir, yes sir!”

Fire Halo stomped his hoof down. “I DIDN'T HEAR YOU!”

The ponies took a breath to reply “SIR YES SIR!” unanimously.

“Good, now we will begin by giving you each a copy of this hoofbook.” Halo went to a table that was overflowing with equipment, from guns to armor, canteens to maps and the books that he’d spoken of. He bit a book and slung it over in front of his troops before walking up to it. “This right here is a standard issue of 'Military Guidelines and Orders,' which you will be required to know by heart by tomorrow. You may take one each right now.”

The ponies stood and looked at the book lying at Fire Halo's hooves, one pony at the front gulped when inspecting this book that was thicker than a Pegasus with half a brain.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Halo crossed his eyebrows. His eyes stalked the ponies as they went over to the table and picked up their individual copies, storing them inside their uniforms.

“We will begin training with a simple jog around the room. I will be giving orders as we run to do turns and formations mid-run, so I want you all on high alert!”

The troops looked around the room. While it was very large for an underground bunker, it sure wasn't any track running pitch.

Fire Halo shouted “FORWARD, MARCH!” and spun, stomping on the concrete going down the room. The ponies hastily followed the general and began to match his speed.

Hopeful found himself at the back of the line once again. He glanced over to his side where another pony marched, a brown-coated Earth Pony mare with a short and messy red mane. The mare glanced back. Their eyes locked and Hopeful quickly turned his head away, the mare gazing curiously at him.

“So... ah, whats... heh... your story?” the mare inquired through her breathing to Hopeful. They’d been running for nearly an hour. “Somepony like you... hheh... looks like... heh... they must have... some kind of story.” The mare gave a pleasant smile.

General Fire Halo blurted out, “READY, HALT!” He took one step and stood his ground to take out his pocket watch. “One hour,” Halo glanced behind him, “and only one pony couldn't take it.” He glared at Spring Step lying across a wall after being unable to run with the group for more than 30 minutes, panting out of exhaustion.

“REST,” Halo said to them while he walked by, after which he went to Spring Step. “And you, you'll be resting while you clean out the lavatories this evening!”

The ponies slumped down and relaxed. The mare turned to Hopeful again. “Name's Wicker Oak. I used to be a journalist before I volunteered to fight. I am an only child from Manechester with no children myself and no special somepony. Most ponies would call me a workaholic and I'm a known talker.” Wicker took a breath. “That's me, now you.” She stepped one hoof towards him and angled her head, looking at him.

“Well, Wicker, if you haven't noticed, there's really no need for newspapers, so I think I'll skip this interview.”

“Who said this was an interview? I just want to know.”

“And why do you want know my life story?”

“You can't be a good journalist without having some curiosity of your own, and I'm a very good journalist.”

“And you're curious about me?” Hopeful looked flatly at her.

“Yeah, you have that look about you, like you have a lot to tell. So I'm curious to know, what happened?”

“I must be the first pony you've spoken too then, or you would know what happened. The same fucking thing that happened to every other pony in this army.”

“Well um, Sir-”

“Hopeful,” he said while turning his head away.

“Well, Hopeful, I know what you mean, that this war has affected everypony, but you can't tell me that your story shouldn't be heard because of that.” The mare put her hoof onto his shoulder, “And if you're worried it’s not worth telling, trust me, there is no possible way your story is any less interesting than that rock-farmer pony I sat beside on the train ride over here.”

Hopeful took a second to think while the mare inquisitively looked at him.

“I owned a farm in the countryside, near Buckingham,” he said blankly, trying to appease her.

“You were a farmer? No wonder you didn't break a sweat during that run. Anypony waiting for you back there?”

“No, not anymore.” Hopeful lowered his eyes as the mare had just pulled a heart string.

“Oh, you..?”

“I… I had a daughter...” Hopeful said in a deep, quiet voice of remembrance staring straight through the ground.

“Is she..?” Wicker leaned away. Hopeful nodded slightly. “I'm very sorry.” Wicker lowered her head trying to think of a question. “What... was she like?”

“She,” Hopeful wiped his face and took a breath. “She was very strong… and so brave. She would stand up to anypony...” Hopeful shook his head in his hoof. He always tried to keep his mind on other things so he wouldn't have to remember.

He smudged the few tears that left his eyes and spoke as sternly as he could. “I don't care about how curious you are, just back off and don't ask any more questions, alright?”

Wicker jumped back, “Oh, uhh… yeah of course... You know, she sounds ver-” Wicker was interrupted by Fire Halo's overpowering voice.

“THAT'S FIVE MINUTES! FORM TWO LINES FACING EACH OTHER AND WE WILL BEGIN BASIC HOOF-TO-HOOF COMBAT TRAINING.” Fire Halo shoved Spring Step into the rest of them.

The ponies did as they were told, creating two long columns facing each other as fast as they could in an attempt to sate the General.

Halo blew his whistle. “Now you all might think that fighting on the battlefield will be all bullets and trenches, and you’re right for the most part, but if you get caught off-guard or don't have a firearm at your disposal, you need to know how to defend yourself.”

Halo walked down between the lines, “You will need to be able to take down a pony in seconds, especially when dealing with a unicorn ‘cause once they have prepared a spell, you’re as good as dead.”

He began eyeing the ponies, looking from side to side before stopping at Hopeful. “You, you look like a strong stallion, you probably could hold your own, correct?”

Hopeful nodded, keeping the rest of his body utterly still and eyes fixed forward.

“Good, now I will demonstrate a take-down on...” Fire Halo read the tag on Hopeful’s vest, “Private Hopeful.”

Fire Halo took a few steps back forcing Wicker to sidestep, and twirled in place to face Hopeful. “Now try and do your best to stop me.”

Hopeful nodded again and changed his hoofing into a fighting pose.

In a swift charge, the General came up to him. Hopeful raised a hoof in front of his face once he saw Fire Halo going for a punch. To Hopeful’s surprise, Fire Halo turned his hoof up and pushed against and away from the hoof Hopeful was blocking with. Fire Halo spun and with his other foreleg swung against Hopeful’s stomach. With his left hind-leg, he swept Hopeful's remaining fore-hoof on the ground. Hopeful fell onto his side and Fire Halo kept his momentum to fall down and wrap his hoof around Hopefuls neck. Fire Halo was lying on top of Hopeful, pinning him down, making any struggle a futile action.

“And from here one quick pull would snap the Unicorn's or Pegasi's neck.” Fire Halo looked around at the ponies that were in shock and amazement, before loosening his grip and standing up. Hopeful hobbled up to his hooves, rubbing the back of his neck to dull the pain.

“All of you, get a partner and do it!” Fire Halo picked up his whistle, and, even before he blew it, everypony went back to looking at their partner and standing up straight, Hopeful moved to another pony’s spot to avoid having to partner with Wicker. Fire Halo smiled. “BEGIN!”

The combat training started slow. Most of the ponies that had never even hurt a butterfly had a hard time hitting their fellow pony. After some time, some of the recruits had successfully performed the moves Fire Halo was showing them. Eventually the ponies were split into two groups, those who were performing well and those who weren't. Fire Halo took the proficient group and went over to another side of the training hall. A private was called in to help and teach the ponies that weren't learning well. Both Hopeful and Wicker went along with a few other ponies with Fire Halo.

Fire Halo addressed them. “All of you have been doing well. While the others continue to learn the basics, I will be teaching you more advanced moves.”

He went over to a stack of fold-up chairs at the side and took one and unfolded it and sat down. “But first I want to see what you can do.” Fire Halo pointed at two ponies “You two go first. I want a proper fight, no restrictions. The rest of you form a circle and watch.” He swiftly blew his whistle. “GO!”

The two ponies turned to each other and went into a battle pose.

Wicker walked up beside Hopeful and whispered, “I'm sorry about earlier. I'm not very good at being sensitive.”

“No shit, Star Swirl.” Hopeful whispered back.

The two ponies began hitting each other, trying to knock the other down they were blocking and attempting attacks. Hopeful and Wicker weren't paying attention to the fight.

Wicker jumped back offended at Hopefuls racist remark “I'm apologizing, there is no need to call me a Unicorn.”

One of the ponies fighting threw the other over their shoulder onto the ground, pinning them down. Fire Halo blew his whistle and pointed at two more ponies. “You two, you're up now.” The ponies then looked at each other awkwardly before walking forward and getting ready to fight.

Hopeful let out a sigh “Look, I just... I just don't like to think about the past anymore.”

Wicker looked off into the distance before whispering “My father was the one that got me into journalism, he was the reporter in our town and I always wanted to follow his hoofsteps. He died when I was young and it took me a long time to deal with that.”

She shifted closer to Hopeful, “I know what it feels like to lose someone so if you need to talk, we can talk. Trust me it will help.”

The ponies fighting took a second to engage each other. Once they did one of them swung a punch throwing the other a few meters. Fire Halo blew his whistle and stood up, trotting over to the thrown pony and checking if they were still conscious before walking over to the winner “You got a strong foreleg on you, what's your name?.”

“Fury Temper, *heh*, Sir,” the pony replied.

Hopeful turned to Wicker. “This is the army. I'm not here for therapy, I'm here to protect our nation. So if you really want to help me, stop talking, ok?”

Fire Halo popped up from outside of Hopeful’s line of sight “I THINK YOU SHOULD STOP TALKING, PRIVATE.” Hopeful stood up straight and looked forward at the general. “You’re next.” Fire Halo looked to his right at Wicker. “And you’re against her.” He blew his whistle in Hopefuls face “NOW!”

Hopeful gave a slight nod and walked toward the fighting area. He watched Wicker hesitate before walking to him. Fire Halo returned to his seat and blew his whistle.

Hopeful looked at Wicker and lowered himself into a pouncing position. Wicker didn't change her stance, she just rolled her eyes and waited for Hopeful to attack.

Hopeful was very confident after the training earlier, he could easily perform the take downs Fire Halo showed them and he was far better then the pony he trained with from before.

Hopeful sprinted up and tried to perform the move Fire Halo did on him. He ran up and spun, trying to slam down his hoof into her stomach. Wicker turned with him and wrapped her hoof around the one he was attacking with and purposely fell onto the ground to flip Hopeful around her. Hopeful was thrown to the other side of her onto his stomach and she rolled onto him, holding his hoof into the air and quickly standing up to place a hind leg onto his neck.

Wicker lowered her head trying to whisper to Hopeful while he struggled. “Back when my father died, I didn't want to talk to anypony either.”

Hopeful rolled from his stomach to his back pulling Wicker down onto the floor. He twirled around onto her and pushed his hoof alongside Wicker’s neck before he whispered back, “Just because you lost somepony too doesn't mean you know how to magically make it better by talking about it.”

Wicker wiggled, trying to get out. She kicked the ground with her hind legs and threw Hopeful over her. Both of them stood up and Wicker got the first punch in, forcing Hopeful to stumble back. Wicker ran at him and got him into a choke-hold. “You'll have to talk about it sometime, you know.”

Hopeful ducked under her hooves and swept her remaining legs, knocking her down before he pinned her. “Maybe I do, but not here, not now, and not with you.”

Wicker tried to struggle but couldn't escape and after a few seconds Fire Halo blew his whistle. “Very good performance from both of you.”

Hopeful shoved off of Wicker and walked to the other ponies.

Fire Halo looked at the two ponies that hadn’t fought yet. “After you two fight I will train you on advanced moves and maybe even on knives.”

Fire Halo stared back at the ponies to say, “Go on, FIGHT!” and blew his whistle.

Hopeful laid on the mattress of his bed, staring into space. The other ponies all chatted and laughed, relaxing before going to sleep. Everypony was exhausted after a long day of training and Hopeful was emotionally exhausted (and a bit peeved) after being questioned by Wicker. “Curious? What kind of pony gets curious about a stranger’s story in the middle of a war!.. And then that Spring Step guy? All the ponies in this base are crazy!”

Spring Step slammed the door open. He wobbled over to his bed with a piece of toilet paper trailing behind him, stuck to the back of his hoof. He climbed up the stubby ladder onto the bunk above Hopeful and instantly passed out and began snoring.

“Look at him. He probably won't even last the two weeks.” Hopeful thought to himself as he watched Spring Step’s arrival. He went back to lying on his bed and let out a sigh.

Many minutes passed as Hopeful fought a battle in his mind, trying to stay calm and collected while he tried to suppress the memories that have been surfacing recently. He wiped a tear running down his the side of his face as he heard more hoofsteps outside the door.

Wicker kicked the door open and walked into the sleeping quarters covered in blood. A light grey mare with a navy mane walked over to her. Wicker closed the door and told the mare “Don't worry, Basalt. I carried Quick Draw to the infirmary. He’s going to be fine. I still don't understand how you accidentally stabbed him, though. He wasn’t even your fighting partner.” Basalt gave a sigh of relief and a half smile as she shrugged her shoulders.

Wicker walked over to the ponies congregating around the only table in the room against the back wall, glancing in Hopeful's direction.

She looked at him and thought about how she acted earlier and had an idea. She trotted over to Hopeful smiling. “You alright?”

Hopeful rolled his eyes “I told you I don't want to talk.”

“You look lonely”

Hopeful groaned, “I said I don-”

Wicker placed a hoof over his mouth. “I know, you don't want to talk. But you still look like you need some company sooo...”

Hopeful knocked her hoof away. “So what?”

Wicker peeked over her shoulder at the crowd of ponies. “What if you didn't have to talk at all? I know me asking a bunch of personal questions was rude and you don't want to talk about it. So if you want you can just listen to me talk. I have one hell of a story about a colt in my old class that accidentally set the school on fire.”

Hopeful thought about her offer, it would be a good distraction for the time being and as long as he wouldn't have to say anything it might be fine. “I guess, but...”

Wicker hopped over to the side of his bed and sat down, interrupting him by beginning her story before he finished his sentence.

“So, I was a just little filly when I began writing stories for my school’s newsletter. My first story was about this colt who got his cutie mark in helping other ponies their cutie mark, and ironically...”

Hopeful laid there, listening to Wicker's story, Well… he wasn't really listening to it, but he enjoyed not being alone with his own thoughts anymore.

It took a few minutes and a few other ponies dozing off but Hopeful slowly drifted asleep to the sound of Wicker's stories that acted like white-noise to him. He smiled as he retired into his dreams.

Hopeful was on his porch back on his farm near Buckingham. He stood watching Sugar Coat play in the fields while Joyful Twist prepared a picnic.

He felt the strange sensation of tears running down his face before a hoof was placed on his shoulder. He turned to see Wicker standing next to him. He turned back to the photograph he was just looking at, a photo of his wife and daughter lying in the field with their blood scattered across the fresh snow. He put it down into the green bag beside his bed that he was sitting on.

Hopeful turned to Wicker. He wanted to say something.

“She was very brave...”

Changing Weather

Closing his left eye, Hopeful focused on the target across the long hall. He held his breath, steadying his aim. Hopeful pulled back his hoof against the side of his rifle. The weapon recoiled, hurtling a bullet through the head of a Unicorn that had been poorly painted onto a thin metal sheet.

Hopeful slumped his shoulder down and perched forward, letting his rifle slide off his hoof and lean against the faulty wooden barricade in front of him. He squinted his eyes to get visual on the tiny hole the bullet had left behind.

The mare to his left nudged his shoulder. “Nice shot!”

Hopeful glanced to his left at her. The mare had a light, limestone-grey coat and a deep, rocky blue mane. “Thanks, Basalt,” he replied before raising his gun, preparing to fire another round. Hopeful propped his leg onto the barricade to aim up at the Pegasus target, staggering slowly side to side via elaborate sequence of ropes.

He focused past the iron-sight, pivoting his body and gun left to keep up with the target. Hopeful shifted his hoof onto the thin lever mechanism on the side of the gun stock, he took a breath and pushed back against the trigger.

*Click*

Hopeful raised his head up in surprise. “Shit.” Hopeful never paid attention to how many shots he has fired, Fire Halo keeps telling him that one day he will have Princess Platinum in his sights and and he would try to take the shot with no bullets in his gun because he forgot to count them.

Hopeful turned his head to the right at the white stallion with a old cloth tied up and around his right shoulder. The cloth had a faint red stain in the center. The pony was firing with the pistol held in his jaw.

Hopeful looked past him at the ammo box at his hooves, and nudged the stallion on his good shoulder. “Quick Draw, pass me a clip.”

Quick Draw turned slightly toward Hopeful, making sure to not point a gun at him, “ya shur” He tried to say despite the gun in his mouth. He holstered it and leaned over to the box. “M1?” he asked Hopeful.

Hopeful let out a quick and quiet sigh to himself. “Yes, M1 Gallop,” he said, impatiently tapping his hoof on the concrete floor.

“Well hold your hooves there, buddy,” Quick Draw replied and stuck his head into the box, pulling out a magazine. He tossed it over to Hopeful.

“You've been lightening up recently, and props to you for that, but word of advice, buddy, lose the attitude. We’re here to kill Unicorns and Pegasi, to protect our land, not be at each other's throats,” Quick Draw said before pulling his pistol out of the holster once again.

Hopeful spit out the clip onto the barricade, flipped his gun to its underside and leaned it against the side of the barricade. “Yeah, yeah, I know...” He picked up the clip, popped out the empty one by pushing against it with the new one then slotting it in with a satisfying click.

Hopeful searched around for the target he was going to shoot at. Seeing that it had moved to his right, he aimed at it once more.

Hopeful noticed General Fire Halo walked up to the side of Quick Draw from his peripheral vision. Fire Halo was giving Quick some pointers on firing a pistol. Hopeful returned his focus to his target. It swung back and forth, making an accurate shot difficult. Hopeful shut his eyes, took a breath in and opened them before easing his hoof back, shooting the rifle. The bullet, flew at an incredible speed through the Pegasus’ head, right between its eyes, causing a *plink* noise as the bullet hit, stopping its mechanism for a moment. The rope tied behind the Pegasus started to stretch down revealing its torn up condition. The Pegasus target slid down and then after reaching the end of its rope, swung to the right slamming against the wall, scraping its way down as the rope untangled and piled on top of the metal sheet target.

The room fell silent.

Everypony stared at the fallen target, quietly.

Quick Draw broke the silence by firing his pistol, hitting a close range target in the chest-shoulder region. Another pony took a shot, and after a few moments everypony was shooting.

Unfazed and somewhat happy with himself, Hopeful moved on to the next target. Just before he was about to fire, the general came up to him. “You are one darn good markspony, definitely best in the group.”

Hopeful stood himself up straight. “Thank you, sir.”

Fire Halo smiled at Hopeful's obedience and formality, “At Ease.” Hopeful dropped his stance to stand more comfortably

Fire Halo turned his head around the room “You know, over these past two weeks, I've watched you all very carefully,” he looked back at Hopeful, “and I think I will be making you this regiment’s leader.”

Hopeful perked his head up surprised.

“At first I was considering Wicker or Fury, but for the past week, I've seen you talking a lot more with the others and frankly they seem to respect you. I've watched how you lead during group exercises and how you work under pressure in the timed exercises. I have no doubt you are able to lead these ponies to victory when we send you out tomorrow.”

Hopeful was not sure whether to be happy or confused. “Oh, eh... th- thank you sir! I won't let you down.” Hopeful lifted up his hoof for a salute.

“Don't worry, Captain Hopeful. I trust you to succeed.” Fire Halo lifted his hoof and gently saluted Hopeful. “You can tell the others while you eat in ten minutes.” Fire Halo spoke so calmly and casually that it amazed and confused Hopeful. Over the course of their training, he hadn't heard Fire Halo say anything without shouting. Could it be that Fire Halo has... respect for him? It was an interesting development to Hopeful.

Hopeful smiled. “Yes, sir, thank you, sir.”

Fire Halo nodded with his own smile and moved around him to walk up to Basalt, when he stood beside her he turned back to Hopeful “Oh, I nearly forgot, NEXT TIME YOU DON'T COUNT YOUR FUCKING SHOTS, PRIVATE HOPEFUL, I SWEAR TO THE HEAVENS I WILL RELOAD YOUR GUN FOR YOU AND SHOOT ALL EIGHT OFF THOSE FUCKERS INTO YOUR SKULL AS I COUNT THEM DOWN!” Fire Halo took a deep breath and looked at Basalt “Now, Basalt, I saw you missing those shots at the Pegasus. You have to aim where they’re going to be, not where they are.”

Hopeful nodded, turned away and shook his head lightly with a grin on his face. He picked up his rifle and placed it against his shoulder, aimed up at the roof, expecting to have something to shoot at. Remembering his shot earlier, he shifted to the pegasus target lying on the floor.

Hopeful took aim and a deep breath, then pulled the trigger.

The soldiers arrived at the mess hall, where they served the highest quality, stale, rationed hay.

Each one of them waited in line as all the hundreds of ponies took their trays and sat down in the gigantic concrete cellar of a cafeteria.

Hopeful waited in line behind a pony from a different regiment, standing beside Wicker, who was rambling to him.

“You know, this entire military base was built by nothing more than rock farmers and their bare hooves! From what Basalt told me, a lot of rock farmers are sooo strong that they can smash into stone with the strength of a jackhammer! So when the war started and most of the above ground bases were bombed to oblivion, all the rock farmers were hired to mine out these giant, empty chasms that they then filled with concrete to make floors and walls!”

Hopeful pulled himself away from staring at the hay and glanced in her direction “Wait, as strong as jackhammers? Like digging machine jackhammers?”

“I know, I didn't believe it either so I asked Basalt to demonstrate and she smashed the wall so hard it cracked!” Wicker was bursting up and down with energy.

“Wasn't that the earthquake?” Hopeful remembered a loud rumbling while he was walking around the base yesterday.

“Don't tell anyone, cause I don't want to get her in trouble, but... that wasn't an earthquake, that was just Basalt.”

Hopeful stood bewildered until the pony behind the counter shouted at him to get his attention. Hopeful saw he was at the front of the line and picked up a dish of hay and walked toward the tables.

A mostly vacant table waited in the center of the room. One pony that was in Hopeful’s regiment was sitting at the table, captivated by what he was drawing into his Hoofbook. The messy, green stallion was scribbling in between the text in the book, drawing doodles of a pony (presumably himself by how glorified the drawing was) fighting off unicorns. Heavens knows where he found a pencil.

They went over and sat at the table across from him. Hopeful poked at his food, ending up displeased by the stale, old, brittle hay on his plate.

Wicker tried to lean over the table and smiled at the pony. “Hey, Sharp, whatcha drawing?”

The pony's mesmerized state broke and he looked up “Oh, ah... Nothing, it’s just... something, its... it’s nothing, really.” Sharp Eye folded his book closed, slid it back to himself, picked it up and put it into a pocket in his uniform jacket. He stared at a tray of unappealing hay by his side.

Wicker twirled to Hopeful who was munching on some hay “So, where was I? Oh, right! Now imagine, turning boulders into dust within seconds with nothing but your hooves! Wouldn't that be awesome!?”

Basalt trotted down between the tables to them, and sat down beside Wicker.

Wicker swung around “Hey Basalt! We were just talking about you!”

Hopeful rolled his eyes and joked to himself “Yeah, ''we'' were talking...”

Across the table, Sharp grinned at Hopeful’s remark, but when he glanced his way, Sharp dropped the glee of his face went back looking down at the ground, trying to avoid their attention.

Basalt smiled. “Yeah, I bet you were. So... how was target practice?”

“It was great! Well, the pony beside me nearly shot himself in the hoof, but he's fine, I think.” Wicker leaned over Hopeful to tell her.

“I was, I umm... nearly shot... my hoof...” Sharp's voice faded to almost nothing.

“Well I think somepony here had an especially good day...” Basalt nudged Hopeful on the shoulder.

“Look, I think we should wait for Fury before I say anything. He might want to hear this.” Hopeful pulled Wicker back onto her seat.

Basalt cocked her head back, “Are you sure? Fury might not take it very well.”

“I know, but it will be better if I told him now, personally, instead of him finding out later.”

Walking down the cafeteria three ponies talked to each other, on the left Quick Draw listening intently. On the right, a white coated mare with a deep black mane, And in the center a very large, beefy, red pony who was just finishing his thought.

“We're getting sent out tomorrow, so he is going have to pick the squad Captain today.”

The mare replied to him, “Fury, Darling. There are nineteen other ponies that could be chosen. If you keep being this cocky, you could end up very disappointed.”

“Glitter, please. There isn't a chance in Tartarus anypony else could be chosen!” Fury Temper exclaimed.

Glitter Shine stared at him blankly, annoyed, but not surprised.

“What?” Fury asked confused by her expression as they got to the table.

Fury and Glisten sat together at Sharp's side of the table, while Quick Draw went over beside Wicker.

Hopeful leaned back to look over Basalt's shoulder, He look around at the cafeteria line. “Hey, have you guys seen Spring anywhere?”

Fury chuckled “That coward hasn't eaten in here for a week now. He's too nervous to show up. Probably ‘cause of how bad he is in training. I mean, have you seen him shoot? His aim is worse than a blind pony.”

Glitter rolled her eyes. “Anyways... If you don't mind me asking, for what could you possibly want Spring for?”

“I thought he should also get to hear this first hoof also...” Hopeful put his hooves together on the table around his tray. “I guess I'll tell him later.”

The ponies sat quietly at the table, most with intrigue on their faces, except Basalt, who had a cheeky grin, and Fury, who was paying more attention to his food.

“Fire Halo and I had a conversation at the end of training today,” as Hopeful spoke, he saw Fury raise an eyebrow while munching on his hay, “and he decided that he wants me to lead the regiment...” Hopeful pulled his head back to look at everypony, fixing his gaze toward Fury.

A cold silence poured over them.

Fury slowly lifted his head until he stared directly back at Hopeful. A small breath came out of his nose, he slammed down on the table with his right hoof and then with his eyes closed and head down he spoke out. “What?...”

“Fury, I know you really wanted to be the Captain. Fire Halo said he was considering you...” Hopeful saw he wasn't getting anywhere with Fury and stopped talking. Hopeful hasn't spent much time with Fury over the past two weeks, but he has learned to just let Fury get it out of his system for him to calm down.

Fury smashed down onto the table several times in a row, Breathing in and out heavily. Fury spoke in a low growl “Are you telling me that Fire Halo thinks you're better than me?” He stared Hopeful down, eyes ablaze with inner fire.

“No, just... Look, you'll have to speak with Halo and ask why, because I was just as surprised when he told me.” Hopeful looked concerned for the table which had an ever-growing dent where Fury had been hitting it.

“I guess I will...” Fury Temper pushed out from the seat. He stood up and stomped out of the cafeteria. An awkward silence hovered over them until he had completely left their sight.

“He was in a fine mood this morning too. Pity I'm going have to deal with him like that, now,” Glitter commented nonchalantly while picking at her food.

“I think he took it quite well, actually,” Quickdraw muttered threw a mouthful of hay. He spent a second concentrating on chewing until he swallowed with a gulp and wiped his muzzle, “But I do think congratulations are in order.” He turned to his side and looked down onto his jacket while he pulled something out from a pocket with his hooves. Quickdraw took out and raised up a flask, “A toast, to Squad Leader Hopeful and the destruction of our enemies!”

“To Hopeful!” The ponies raised glasses of water and their own canteens into the air to clink off of each other. Sharp Eye even raised his glass off his table, but he kept it to himself not wanting to spill his water.

Wicker jump up out of her seat. “This is going to be AWESOME! I mean, finally going to fight after so long is exciting enough, but to have YOU lead us? It's going to be fantastic! Ooo, oo! we can have a special salute or something, like a...”

Hopeful smiled as Wicker went on. He thought about how strange this whole thing was. Even though they will be sent off to fight tomorrow, he felt happier than he'd felt in a long time. He never expected to enjoy the company of anypony here, but after Wicker wore him down and he opened up he, felt glee. He could even say he felt... joyful.

Hopeful was walking back to the dormitory. They had just finished eating and the rest were off telling all the other ponies about Hopeful’s promotion. The whole cafeteria, in fact, was on the topic as all the other regiments also had their captains chosen. Hopeful, instead of celebrating, was looking for Spring Step.

Hopeful went around the labyrinth of a military base trying to find his way back to where they slept. After two weeks, the layout of the base was still a mystery to him. After finally finding the sleeping quarters, he opened the door to what normally was a very lively room, but there wasn't anypony inside right now. Hopeful poked his head threw the door. “Spring? You here, buddy?” Hopeful's voice echoed slightly around the room, he heard nothing in response.

He pushed the door as open as it would go and glanced around the room. He slowly walked forward, taking in his surroundings. “Huh, only one more night sleeping here before it all begins... ain't that a buck to the head.” Hopeful looked at the beds individually. Glitter's bed was made very neatly and with care, Sharp had a small pile of comics underneath his, and Basalt had decorated with many photos of her family and her rock farm around hers.

Hopeful let out a sigh and turned around to go look elsewhere. While leaving, he noticed that Wicker had left her bag open beside her bed. He decided to make the slight detour to close it, but as he put his mouth over the zipper he got a peek into the bag that made him stand in place. He curiously gazed at the stack of papers inside it. He nudged the sides of the bag to open up more so he could read the title at the top of the first paper. Hopeful read in an aloud whisper, “Wicker Oaks - My, Little, Part, of... War?”

It took a second for him to put it together, but when he did he shouted. “She's writing a book!?!” He lifted up the first paper to get a closer look at the paragraph underneath. “The story of how I... blah blah blah...” Hopeful started skimming through it until he came to the bottom of the page “An interview, with... HOPEFUL TWIST! That lying little...” He shook his head trying to keep a grin off his face. He placed the paper back onto the stack, he then noticed the small box of pencils in the side of the bag with one missing “Ah, so that's where Sharp got it from.” Hopeful thought while zipping up the bag.

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him with a heavy metal thud.

Trotting back down the hallway, Hopeful wondered where Spring could be. A loud clanking of a metal hatch echoed through the base as sudden shouting arose from behind him. A soldier stumbled as he ran toward him, carrying another pony around his shoulder. The mare being carried was bleeding profusely, a gushing wound in her side left blood dripping down the edge of her flank and all the way down her foreleg streaming on the floor. The injured pony had her eyes closed and her face was pale as the snow.

The soldier running towards Hopeful shouted at him “WHERE IS *heh* THE FUCKING INFIRMARY, *heh* QUICKLY!”

Hopeful's eyes widened and he tried to answer “Oh, it's ahh, it's umm, follow me!” He frantically searched for the door to the infirmary, he ran up the hall until he skid to a halt at the side of a door. He barged through it with his shoulder and turned around to wave the pony in towards him. The soldier ran into the room and pushed past Hopeful. He looked around the room to see he this was the correct door.

The room had white painted walls and surgery tables running in two rows, several doctors and nurses were all busy patching up and treating patients. The soldier ran up to first open table and rolled his friend onto it. As the mare was placed down, blood poured over the previously spotless table.

The doctor, who was treating a patient, gently kicked the nurse behind her with her foreleg and the nurse moved to take over for her as the doctor ran over to the bleeding mare. She bit down onto the mare’s clothing and ripped out the side with the wound, revealing a zig-zagging puncture in her side with small, jagged, metal pieces embedded into it.

Hopeful thought it best to leave, as this made him somewhat queasy. When he turned around to leave, he heard the doctor shout, “SPRING, MORPHINE, STAT!” Hopeful stopped and twirled his head around to see Spring Step wearing a nurse's apron slide across a cabinet and grab a bag of vials and rush over to the doctor.

Hopeful nearly took a step toward them, but stopped his hoof midair and realized he probably shouldn't interrupt. In fact, when the doctor took out a scalpel and tweezers, Hopeful backed out of the room into the hallway to avoid watching what happened next.

He stood outside the door very uncomfortably, especially when the injured mare inside woke up. She starting screaming, even with the morphine racing through her veins. While it wasn't the first time Hopeful had heard screaming coming from inside the infirmary, it was the first time he had no distraction and was forced to listen to it, so he did. He sat there and listened to a mare have shrapnel ripped out of the side of her body.

Many minutes passed before the screaming stopped. To Hopeful, it almost felt like an hour. He edged the door open and peeked in to see the mare was resting and the doctor had gone. The soldier that carried her in was by her side, holding her hoof comforting her, Spring Step was cleaning blood from the mare and the table with a thick cloth.

Hopeful took a step in. SpringStep turned his head to notice him but went back to his duties. Hopeful began walking toward him. “Umm, H- agh!” Hopeful was hit by the smell of blood, but he kept walking until he’d crossed the room. Putting a hoof to his nose, he caught the young stallion’s attention. “Hey Spring, what are you doing here?”

Spring replied in monotone. “Helping.” Spring's concentration went back to cleaning.

“Helping? I didn't know you were a nurse.” Hopeful avoided looking at the mare's wound and stepped to the side.

“I'm not, I'm just doing what I can.” Spring almost sounded depressed when he talked.

“Why were you not at lunch then?”

“You wanted me at lunch?” Spring blankly stared into his eyes.

“Yes! Look, Spring, I know we got off on the wrong hoof 'n all and I'm sorry for that, but it doesn't mean you should avoid me.”

“I wasn't avoiding you, in fact you're probably the one of the nicer ponies from the regiment. I was avoiding Fury, Glitter, Quick, Basalt, all of them.”

Hopeful looked puzzled “But, why?”

Spring stopped wiping the table. “Because you were right. I'm not a soldier, and they know that. They all mock me for it, so why should I hang around them?”

Hopeful was a bit shocked. “What do you mean you're not a soldier? Look at you!” Hopeful gestured towards Spring's uniform

Spring sighed. “You know what I mean, I'm not a real soldier. You were right, I can’t kill another pony, can’t shoot, can’t fight and can’t run to save my life, so I started coming here during my free time, ‘cause if I can’t hurt ponies, then I'm gonna help them.”

“When did you start coming here? Because I remember you were at lunch, before.”

Spring finished cleaning and started walking past Hopeful to the sink to wash off the cloth. “About a week ago, Doctor Iris asked me to help her out cause she needed another pair of hooves in here.” Spring finished washing the cloth and placed it down onto a drying rack, he then slowly trotted up and looked Hopeful in the eyes “So, why did you want to see me?”

“I just wanted to let you know I was promoted to lead our regiment out in the field...”

Spring Step let out the tiniest of smiles and spoke in a low tone. “Well, isn't that exciting? Hope it all goes well, buddy.” He gently raised his hoof.

Hopeful grinned slightly and gave him a slow hoofbump, then became slightly concerned while looking at him. “Spring, what happened to you? You used to be so jolly.”

Spring chuckled to himself. “Well, Hopeful, I've seen a lot of ponies die in here recently. It's kinda hard to keep up the optimism. Guess I've just become a bitter old pony, a bit like you...” Spring had a wide smirk as he turned around and walked over to Doctor Iris, who was checking on a sleeping patient.

Hopeful shook his head, smiling. His attention was turned to the soldier sitting by the mare's side. The Private asked “You guys trainees?”

“Yup, last day, too.” Hopeful replied.

“Good, we need some reinforcements. Shits hitting the fan out there. We were just attacked by a screecher on our way to Flankfurt. Lucky we were close this base.”

“My condolences.” Hopeful gave a quick bow of his head.

“Yeah, thanks.” The pony went back to caring for the mare.

Hopeful looked around the room at Doctor Iris and the other patients for a while longer before he finally turned around and left the room.

When he came out, he was met by Wicker walking down the hall. “Hey! Hows it going? Did you find Spring?”

“Yes, yes I did.” Hopeful strolled over to her.

“Well, good. Anyway, Fire Halo told us that there’s going to be an assembly in the briefing room with all the regiments. It starts at 8 and it’s where you and all the other ponies are gonna get promoted officially and we all then get sent out! And guess who's gonna be there!”

Hopeful started walking with her down to the dormitory. “No idea.”

“Chancellor Puddinghead, herself! She's gonna be there to give an inspirational speech to everypony! Isn't that great? I can write it in my... oh, I mean It'll be an amazing experience!”

Hopeful chuckled. “Yeah, I bet it will.”

They walked down the corridors finally arriving at their bedroom, Hopeful watched as Wicker went over to the table at the end of the room and sat down “Come on Hopeful, I got a story to tell ya! Its about the time Chancellor Puddinghead visited Manechester and I got to interview her! Well, sorta. I got to interview her assistant, Smart Cookie, but since she was speaking on her behalf, it was almost real!”

Hopeful trotted over to sat down in the chair across from her. “Hey, Wicker.”

“Yeah?” Wicker smiled at him.

“Whatever you do, don't ever change.” Hopeful found himself smiling back.

Sour Lemon

A pure, humble silence settled in the room like a soft blanket, only broken by the recurring rustling of bed sheets along with the subdued snorts and snores coming from the other soldiers.

Hopeful focused on the great battle between quiet and noise. The war carried on, seizing and securing ground with every ruffle, ripple and riffle coming from each twitch and turn from ponies in the room. A familiar feeling as Hopeful sunk into a state he was well accustomed to, just his like on his old farm, when he stood on his porch and listen to the wind fly over and flow through the wheat fields, making a hushed, whistling sound.

He glanced around the room, pondering why he had awoken early. It probably was just the eventfulness of yesterday, all the days prior were just a dulling routine of waking up, training, eating and sleeping. In that order. Nothing that would keep the mind buzzing awake, but yesterday was truly a distinctive day.

That thought bounced around in Hopefuls mind for a moment until he wondered exactly how early it was, it didn't feel like like it'll be that long unt-

“UP 'N AT EM NEWBIES!” This, coupled with the horrifying scream of Fire Halo's whistle, made Hopeful jump up in fright, impacting his head off of the metal bars holding up the top bunk of the bunk bed.

Hopeful fell back into his mattress, his bed sheets bouncing up into the air and floating back down onto the pain struck earth pony.

Everypony else in the room got up and out of bed, putting on their uniforms while still half asleep, relying on muscle memory to slide each leg into separate sleeves and button the buttons on their shirts in the correct order.

Fire Halo walked into the center of the room and proudly smiled at his soldiers, then he noticed Hopeful still in his bed and walked past Spring to get to him. “What's wrong, newbie? Nerves getting to ya?” Fire Halo picked up Hopefuls uniform. Hopeful groaned in pain and looked over at the general with one hoof on his forehead. “There ain't nothin' to worry about Hopeful.” Fire Halo threw the uniform onto Hopefuls face then leaned in close to shout in his ear. “EXCEPT ME GETTING YOU DISOWNED AND SHOT FOR NOT FOLLOWING COMMAND!”

Hopeful tried to scramble up and ended up tumbling from the side of the bed where he was supposed to have been standing. He propped himself up and began putting his uniform on. Fire Halo walked back into the center of the room and turned around to look at a drowsy Hopeful in full uniform saluting.

He began pacing back and forth, looking at each of the soldiers for a few moments before moving on to the next. “Today is it. Today, you will be sent out and fight for what is right. You will put everything you have learned and trained to work at the front lines. I am wholeheartedly certain that you are prepared.” He crossed his eyes when he came back around and eye'd down Spring. “Some more than others... But prepared never the less.” He marched up to the door and turned to face them “I'm sure you have heard by now that Chancellor Puddinghead will be giving a speech to you before you get stationed in the fight.”

The door squeaked as he opened it behind him. The light from the hallway formed a shadow lurking over the ground in the shape of the general. “I WANT PEAK BEHAVIOR FROM ALL OF YOU, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE BASKING IN THE GLORY OF OUR GREAT NATION'S LEADER! THAT MEANS NO BULLSHIT FROM ANY OF YOU! HOPEFUL, WAKE YOUR SORRY ASS UP! FURY, NO BREAKING ANY PONY’S LEG BECAUSE THEY PISS YOU OFF, AND, WICKER,” He scowled at Wicker as she casually tried to hide a guilty smile, “NOT ONE. SINGLE. WORD!”

He took a deep breath “Everypony behind me, two file line. NOW!”

“Where do you think The Chancellor is?” Wicker whispered to Hopeful. “Righteous Glory, he said this would start in five minutes, but it's been six and a half and I'm getting worried!”

Hopeful sighed and rolled his eyes before whispering back, “Not a single word, that's what Fire Halo said.” He looked at her with disapproval as you would look at a dog that has peed on the carpet.

Wicker tried to speak in hushed tones and dramatically shout at the same time “But what if she got captured! Or, or assassinated! Or, or or...”

Hopeful put the tip of his hoof over his lips. “Sshhh”

Wicker twitched from side to side, looking around the room for The Chancellor. “But, but but...”

Hopeful kept making a hushing noise as he edged his hoof over to her and put it over her mouth. “The Chancellor is fine and you have to be silent. Got it?”

Wicker dropped her head to look at the floor and nodded.

“Good.” Hopeful turned back to the pedestal in the center of the room, brought in especially for The Chancellor. Fire Halo's regiment and the four other training regiments in the base all stood in their respective squads, forming a semicircle around the speaking area of the briefing room. Each of the generals stood in front of their soldiers, several other high-ups chatted in the back behind the pedestal, one of them being Commander Righteous Glory, who was looking concerned about something himself.

Echoing steps came from the hallway outside. They drew closer at a very fast pace until the door slammed open. Smart Cookie, The Chancellor's personal assistant stood in the doorway, exhausted. She caught her breath before asking, “Any y'all seen The Chancellor around? I can't seem ta find her anywhere.”

Everypony in the room's eyes widened and heads pulled back in shock and confusion. Wicker nudged Hopeful and whispered into his ear, “Told you something's up!”

Cookie saw their reaction and started shaking a hoof and her head side to side. “Nah, nah nah, don't y'all fret, The Chancellor is fine.”

A unanimous sigh of relief waved through the room.

Cookie turned her head back to check the hallway before attending the crowd again “It's just, well...”

She took a second to think of how she was going to word her explanation “The Chancellor and I were 'bout to get through the entrance there and she said she'd come around the back, I asked her why and she told me it smelt fishy or somethin' an' anyways, she said going threw the front door is what ''they'' will be expecting us to do. Next thing I knew, Puddinghead had ran off somewhere an' I can't find her since.”

Righteous Glory walked up to the pedestal and addressed Smart Cookie “Not to interrupt you, Miss, but this base doesn't have a back door.”

Smart Cookie sighed and rubbed her forehead. “That ain't exactly ever stopped The Chancellor, sir.”

The Commander edged back puzzled, looked around and after finding nothing turned back to Cookie. “Miss, what do you mean by that?”

“I’LL TELL YOU WHAT SHE MEANS BY THAT!” a sudden, excessively loud and greatly high-pitched pony shouted at Glory from behind.

Glory fell forward, his head sliding down the pedestal to the ground, where he turned around and looked up at Chancellor Puddinghead wearing her comically large, trademark bowl of pudding hat on her head, a traditional royal ruff around her neck and a brown and yellow cloak around her body with a pink bow where her tail should’ve been.

She switched to a more pleasant, still high pitched tone. “It means that I, your gracious leader, am a tactical genius! Not only can I smell an ambush from a mile away, I can find a way to infiltrate any building as easy as lemon squeezey-ing.” As of saying this she pulled out a lemon from underneath her cloak and put it between both of her hooves and with her eyes closed squashed it, spraying lemon juice all over herself. She then opened her mouth and her tongue whipped around licking all of the lemon juice off of her muzzle, she then cocked back her head with a “Aghh!” and started wiping her tongue with her hooves frantically trying to get the sour taste off of her tongue.

She ran up to the podium stepping past Righteous Glory “WISE COOKIE! I told you to get the sweet lemons! That was clearly a sour lemon!”

Cookie rolled her eyes and dropped any enthusiasm in her voice and replaced it with snark and sarcasm “Sorry, Chancellor, I'll be sure to get the right lemon next time.”

“That’s THE Chancellor to you, Smart Biscuit.” The Chancellor raised her chin up and shut her eyes looking very snooty.

She peeked one eye open and that eye darted around the room “Oh! Right, my speech...”

The Commander made it to his feet behind The Chancellor, “Yes, Chancellor, these are the recruits that are going out to fight tomorrow.”

“Ah! Fresh meat!” She scanned the room like a hawk on prey, leaning on the pedestal, she perked up and smiled. “As I can see, you all look like brilliant fighters! Just what we need to show those meanie Pegasi and Unicorn doo-doo heads that want to take all our delicious food!”

Hopeful hung his head sideways and had his eyebrows pulled down and head pushed back in confusion, he shifted over to Wicker. “Did she just call our sworn enemies... doo-doo heads?”

He didn't hear a response and turned to look at her, she stood wide-eyed and memorized by the Chancellor “Hey, you-”

“Shhh!” Wicker snapped interrupting him and went back to her enthrallment.

The Chancellor cleared her throat. “Now, it will be difficult, and it will be messy, but we have to work together and fight as one force if we wish to achieve the great victory we deserve!” She slammed her hoof onto the top face of the pedestal “I as Chancellor will not stop until we stomp those stupid other races that keep messing with our land!”

The recruits began cheering, the row of Generals Stomped their hooves. Smart Cookie made her way up to The Chancellor while the commotion died down, she moved around and up to the side of a Chancellor bathing in praise and glory and whispered something into her ear.

Puddinghead jumped up. “Oh, yes, Scone Cookie, it’s time for promoting the squad leaders!”

Smart Cookie placed a list with names onto the pedestal for The Chancellor to read.

“First we have...” The Chancellor squinted at the card, prolonging her sentence as she tried to read the name. Once she was certain she could say it, she played it off like she was adding dramatic effect.

“Private Ron-De-Vu, General Iron Sights' regiment!” A built up purple stallion was guided up to the center of the room by his General. He walked up to The Chancellor and took a bow at her hooves.

He jumped up with a beaming smile from being in the presence of a pony of such excellence. “Thank you, Chancellor, this...” He took a breath trying to not stumble on his words. “This is a great honour.”

“You’re welcome, Rundefu. You will be doing your nation proud!” The Chancellor was poked on the shoulder and then passed a ranking medal by Smart Cookie.

“Umm, it’s Rondayvoo, by the way.” The medal practically imprinted onto the stallion’s coat as Puddinghead threw her hoof into him to attach it.

“Yes, yes, thank you, RonSeafood. Let's see, who we have next?” As Puddinghead went to the pedestal to switch the cards, Smart Cookie guided the stallion back, comforting him. “Don't worry none. Been working for her three years and she hasn't gotten mine right yet...”

“And the next promotion goes to...” She began playing a drum roll on a pair of drums she seemingly pulled from some kind of void. “Private Glass Cannon!”

Hopeful leaned out to try and look at the Mare on the other side of the room walking up for her promotion until he was tapped on the shoulder by Wicker “Hey, are you excited? I am!”

“About what?”

Wicker looked shocked and whispering became very difficult for her. “ABOUT WHAT?! You're getting to talk to the Chancellor! How can you NOT be excited, probably nervous too, Are you nervous? Is that it? that's probably it, I wonder if there is a word for that, being both excited and nervous about something at the same time... Excitous? No...”

Fire Halo, Standing in front of his soldiers, stopped looking onward at the Chancellor and turned to growl at Wicker.

Wicker turned away from Hopeful, stand straight and looking forward with her mouth zipped closed.

Fire Halo, pleased, went back to observing the promotion ceremony.

Hopeful spoke softly to Wicker “I am excited to be promoted it's just... I don't think The Chancellor is everything she is said to be. She seems kinda, well... silly...”

Wicker stared at Hopeful as if he had killed her entire family. She went to open her mouth but saw Fire Halo out of the side of her peripheral vision watching her. She started wildly gesturing with her legs. Hopeful couldn't make out what she meant but her frustration was practically blinding.

“Wicker, it’s just that I don't see why everypony says she is such a great leader.” Hopeful tried to calm her down, his attempts were futile.

“Haven't you heard the stories?” Hopeful was startled for a moment and turned to listen to Spring talk.

Hopeful waited for him to elaborate. After a few blank expressions he asked “Um, stories?”

Spring smiled, surprised as he says “You really haven't heard of how Puddinghead saved more than a hundred civilians in the Great Zebra Migration war?”

“I've heard of the war. My grandmother hated zebras. She wouldn't shut up about it when I was a colt, but I assumed most of that was just her delusional rambling. Never heard a word about Puddinghead.”

Spring has a smug smile as he leaned over to tell the story “Believe it or not, Puddinghead was in a scout group near Mount Great Stable, they were there because part of the Zebra army was spotted advancing into that area. When they saw an army of hundreds of Zebra warriors at the hoof of the mountain, This was a problem because there was an enormous cavern in Mount Great Stable that was being used as a bunker to for the ponies from Southoofton, which was evacuated after an attack from the Zebras. There were hundreds of civilians in there and they were about to be discovered. Puddinghead knew that they couldn't fight the army alone, but if they didn't act immediately the ponies in the cavern would be slaughtered. So, with her ingenuous thinking, Puddinghead decided to make the greatest distraction ever performed in any war ever. Puddinghead ran into the Zebras, well some say she shot herself out of a cannon but that hasn't been confirmed. Anyways, Puddinghead used a bag of confetti, an orchestra of musical instruments, and her own voice to confuse the enemy so much that it gave the others scouts time to sneak around and extract the civilians. It's said that not a single Zebra turned away from Puddinghead for a whole hour, she even apparently made the Zebra's Warlord, Zecoro Bloodsplatter, so bamboozled that she booped his nose before running away and having the entire army chase her for 10 miles before they finally gave up. Not a single pony died that day and it was all because of her brave actions and swift thinking. She was promoted to a general after that, eventually made it up the ranks to High Commander before running for Chancellor.”

Hopeful nodded slightly in awe with a dropped jaw. “Wow, that... that's actually really fucking cool.”

Spring grinned. “Well you don't get to be Chancellor without being really cool.”

“PRIVATE HOPEFUL TWIST!” The Chancellor exclaimed joyfully, finally reaching the final promotion.

Hopeful walked up with a smile and a newfound respect for the Chancellor. He stood in front of her, as he went to open his mouth to thank The Chancellor, she went to sweep the medal from Smart Cookie and pinned it over his mouth saying, “Proud, Nation, you're doing, blah blah blah, Thank you!” She turned to Cookie. “Thats a wrap! Let's go, Cookie Dough!”

Hopeful picked up the medal and attached it to his uniform. “Thank you, I guess,” he said, watching Puddinghead hopping down the room rapidly with Smart Cookie trailing behind her, Cookie turned around at the door to wave farewell to the crowd.

“BISCUIT, STOP DILLY-DALLYING!” was heard from far back behind Cookie as she finally closed the door.

Hopeful awkwardly stood along side his newly promoted soldiers in the echoingly empty briefing room. After The Chancellor left the Commander told the rest of the soldiers to go back to their sleeping quarters and pack up, The regiment Captains were kept to discuss their first assignments. They gathered around a map being held up by an easel. The map was labelled with Earth Pony towns, suspected Pegasus Military Cloud-camps and recently bombed areas. They had just been receiving a lecture on command structure and how to organize their soldiers for the past hour or so. Eventually, the Commander moved on to their mission.

Commander Righteous tapped on the map with a pointer. “As you can see, Pegasi have been advancing on this front, which is putting these towns at risk of a bombing raid. Evidence of Unicorns has also been spotted in the east, coming from Maneich, here. If the White-Tails are in that territory, then the Pegasi will be forced to deal them before we do. This gives our troops already on the ground an opportunity to make a break through Pegasi territory, as they will be distracted with the Unicorns. This would allow us to recapture Furford, where we know major amounts of stolen food are. Now, this is where you come in. Sending our troops in will leave us wide open from the west. If the Pegasi catch onto our plan, they will most certainly attack one, if not all, of these towns. We suspect the Pegasi have a barracks north of Mount Great Stable here. That makes Coltchester and Trottingham the most likely targets. We will be sending forty soldiers to each to set up defenses. Ron-De-Vu and Glass Cannon, you two are being sent to Coltchester. Razor Chain and Catalyst, you two are going to Trottingham. Also, as you can see, the town Glascow is also a plausible, yet unlikely target. That's why we're sending only one troop there. That will be you, Hopeful. Any questions?”

A cream-brown pony raised their hoof.

“Yes, Razor?”

The pony cleared his throat before asking his question. “If there are already soldiers in the front lines stopping Pegasi attacks on those towns, why are we not just moving in on Furford?”

“Because, Private,” the Commander growled, “the Pegasi will only be distracted by the Unicorns for so long and a conflict could break out at any moment. Getting you from here to Furford will take several days, while the soldiers already on the edge of it can push in and take it in an afternoon. Sending you to protect the towns is risky enough, as there will be a day's gap in between our defenses being down and up again, but it is the best chance we've got right now.”

A light blue mare lifted up her hoof.

“Cannon?”

“How are we supposed to ‘set up defenses’ in the towns?”

Righteous sighed. “You will be sent out with mortars and machine guns. Set up nests and just watch for an attack. If one comes, then shoot it down.” He crossed his eyebrows “And let me state the importance of these towns. While they are small and by themselves not very important, the next towns include our biggest farming city and our capital! We've lost enough land early on in the war when we were forced to retreat and give up all the Rock farms we had up North. WE WILL NOT LOSE ANY MORE LAND TO THOSE DAMMED, WINGED SKY-FREAKS!”

Hopeful reluctantly brought up a hoof. “Ah, when are we being sent out?”

The Commander menacingly smiled. “In less than an hour, once we have gathered all the equipment and troops.” He glared around at all of them. “So, if that's it with the questions, DISMISSED!” He saluted and the soldiers saluted back.

Hopeful turned around and went to the exit. He trotted down the hallway, trying to get to his dormitory quickly without actually running. He made it down the gray, barren hallways for what he'd hoped would be the last time, walking until being met by a door.

Hopeful leaned into the heavy door, edging it open until it swung around. He looked up and was taken back as he saw everypony standing aside their beds, saluting Hopeful as they would do to General Fire Halo. Even a frustrated Fury Temper abided.

“Wow, thanks, guys, but really, it's not necessary.”

“Sir, would you like us to be at ease, sir?” Wicker smirked as she tried her hardest to remain serious.

“Umm, yes?” Hopeful replied confused.

Everypony loosened up and some began walking up to Hopeful to congratulate him.

Wicker shook his hoof energetically and vigorously, “Howya doin! What were you talking about back there? Can you tell us?! Or was it super secret leader stuff?”

Hopeful stuttered as he was shaken up and down “No, It, was-ss, jusst a briefffinggg.” He pulled away his hoof. “A briefing about our assignment. We’re being shipped out in less than an hour.” Hopeful glanced around the room swiftly counting heads, “...seventeen, eighteen and with me that's nineteen...”

Hopeful eyelids dropped to an annoyed stance in realization. “Basalt, can you go get Spring from the Medical ward?”

Basalt tilted her head back. “What, is he sick?”

“No,” Hopeful said entering further into the room. “He's fine, probably.”

Basalt shrugged and trotted off to search for the missing Spring.

Hopeful went over to the table on the opposite end of the room and sat down, back to the wall, facing everypony. “Alright, listen up! Were heading out in one hour and I'm gonna tell ya whats happening. We are going to be sent to the town Glascow to set up defenses in the case of a counter-attack by the Pegasi.”

The others began to crowd around the table, the door opened and Spring walked in with Basalt.

“We’re gonna be given mortars and machine guns, the rest is up to us to set up. Sharp, Gearbox and Tripod, I want you setting up mortars inside the town. Glisten, Basalt, Quick, Brass and Spectacle, you're gonna be patrolling on the watch for any Pegasi.” He looked around at the ponies he is yet to assign and saw Fury waiting, staring at Hopeful with reluctant patience.

“If we are getting attacked it will be from the North or west, Fury, I want you setting up a machinegun nest covering the west, me Spring and Wicker will be taking the North with three more. The rest of you, will be with Fury so each group has six.”

Ponies shifted back, forward and around to organize themselves into groups. A grin appeared on Fury's face as soon as it disappeared before he saluted Hopeful.

“Good, You should all pack up your things as I doubt we will be back here anytime soon.” Hopeful jumped down off his chair and once everypony dispersed he went to put away his possessions.

Once he got to his bed, he looked over onto the other side to see Spring “Hey Spring?”

“Yes, sir?”

Hopeful chuckled, still getting used to being a higher rank “Come on Spring, you don't have to call me sir.”

“Well, Halo stopped by here earlier and one of the things he said was that we should treat you as we would him, but if you don't want me to call you that, it's fine with me.” Spring grinned and stopped packing his rifle to look up at Hopeful “Sir.”

“Whatever, Spring. I just wanted to say that, if you want to, you could possibly be a field medic...”

As Hopeful finished his sentence he witnessed Spring's smile grow like an explosion and stare opened eyed at him. “Does this mean I won't have to fight!?!” He jumped and down with glee.

“You'll still have to come with us, carry all your equipment, the medical supplies and possibly have to heal an injured soldier in the middle of a bombing raid, but yeah, your job won't be to fight.” Hopeful opened up his bag to begin packing.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Spring Step went down and pulled his rifle out of his bag.

Hopeful saw him and quickly stopped him “Hey, just ‘cause your job won't be to fight doesn't mean you won't have to. If it comes down to it, you still might need to kill a pony to survive, I'm sorry to say that, but that's how it is.”

Spring, with a depressing, long face, let go of the rifle he was holding in his mouth and it fell into his bag with a thump. “Thanks anyways...” he said dishearteningly.

Hopeful turned to his bag again and packed away his rifle. As he was packing, he stopped when he looked to his nightstand, having his eye caught by what was standing on it.

He took a step toward the nightstand and took a hefty sigh as he looked at it.

His nightstand was bleak when it came to his personal items, only two lonely gray-scale photographs stood encased in a hoof-crafted oak frame. The picture on top right of the frame was of his farmhouse and the lush wheat fields surrounding it. The second photograph was one of his daughter as a foal, snuggled up in her cot when she hadn't even turned the age of one. Hopeful kept the pictures in his bag for most of the first week. When he took them out Wicker loved to squee and comment on the cuteness of his daughter.

Hopeful picked up the picture and with a smile, almost interrupted by tears beginning to form as he stared at them. He gently put it into his bag and proceeded to sweep the rest of his belongings in: his two-way radio, a picture of a barn drawn for him by Sharp, a book he thought he might read in his spare time but never got around to, and the few other things lying around his bed.

A while later, Hopeful was talking with Wicker when another soldier came in, telling them all to follow him and begin loading the equipment onto the train.

With buckled up coats and thick, fur-lined helmets, they made their way up and out of the the base for the first time in two weeks. The air was chilling and dry as a gentle breeze blew into them like a nova of ice. Shivering began quickly, but hauling several crates filled with explosives kept them warm as they trudged through the forest.

After an exhausting push, they made it to a snow covered train with a lone carriage at the outskirts of the forest. To the front was another train and carriage and a troop loading the last of their soldiers into it.

The other train pedaled down the tracks and had departed by the time Hopeful’s soldiers began loading into theirs.

The carriage was similar to the one they were brought in on two weeks ago, with two benches on each side. The difference being this one had a sliding door that cut out a section of the bench on its side to allow entry.

They brought up each crate with a pulley mechanism attached onto the rim of the carriage’s ceiling, and pushed each one into the center of it until they had a clean line of cargo pressed up against the back.

The ponies finally got to sit down as another soldier, who would be driving the train, sealed the door and relieved them from the outside elements.

Hopeful sat down in the same corner he had chosen before as he had found last time it provided good rest from leaning on the wall next to him. While some of the other ponies were forced to stand with lack of seating, Wicker did manage to get the seat beside Hopeful. Spring stood up beside one of the box's checking on a medic-bag he had prepared with all of the medicine he could get from his fellow soldiers added onto what they were given for the assignment (Which wasn't much as it was a very unlikely target so few supplies were spared)

The train surprised everyone when they were swept backwards as it suddenly began chugging. Wicker was pushed into Hopeful, pressing him against the wall.

Wicker pushed off of him. “Oh, excuse me, didn't know the train was gonna move...” Behind the fur collar on her jacket she was blatantly blushing.

“Don’t worry, it's fine. At least we're finally moving.”

“Yeah, loading boxes sucks! I'm all for sitting back and relaxing for twelve hours!” Wicker leaned back against the wall, folding her front legs behind her head.

“Twelve hours? Seems short.”

Wicker closed her eyes, resting. “Well it's more like eighteen hours or something. Dunno, though, with this weather it could be a full day before we arrive.”

“Do you know what we're gonna do for that long?”

Wicker Shrugged her shoulders. “Sleep and talk, I guess.” She leaned forward and opened her eyes, resting her hooves on her lap. “Don't know about the sleeping part though. This cart is a lot colder than the one we came in on.”

“Probably because there are less ponies in here, less body heat and all that. The carriage over here was crammed full, felt like a fucking radiator.”

Wicker's eyes floated around in the clouds for a moment before she got a smirk on her face. “What did you say about body heat?”

Hopeful was taken back slightly and questionably glared at her. “What are you implying?”

“I'm just saying that if two ponies wanted to stay warm and were close enough to not care about personal space...” Her eyes darted back and forth, not suspiciously at all. Especially not suspicious when her smile grew wider.

Hopeful was exhausted after all of the manual labour and Wicker did have a point when she said it was to cold as he could feel shivers running down his spine anytime he moved.

Hopeful sighed and rolled his eyes smiling. “Sure, why not.”

Wicker scooted over closer to him and snuggled up beside him, It felt like a giant fluffy kitten with all of the clothing she was wearing.

Hopeful leaned back against the wall then put his hoof around Wicker and held onto her tightly. As they snuggled up and got comfortable, they began chatting about the day, what future lies ahead, and when Wicker became particularly curious, about themselves and their relationship.

It lasted for a while, Hopeful talking about them being friends and Wicker hoping they could be more than that but not mentioning it, at least not yet. Nearly an hour passed before ponies started dozing off and when he became weary enough, Hopeful closed his eyes and slowly but surely drifted to sleep.

The last thing he heard from Wicker before he slipped into his slumber was a very simple statement, although he may not have heard it, but in the end that might have been what she was going for.

“I love you...”

The next morning, a single beam of faint light glitters through the window as the sunrise begins.

The train has been traveling all night, peacefully undisturbed by anything.

Hopeful and Wicker lay, un-awoken, wrapped in each others hooves.

Hopeful dreams. He dreams of someplace he hasn't dreamt about in a long time. Not of his farm this time, somewhere new, with a pony that wasn’t Joyful, somepony new.

The cracks of sun rays dash across Hopefuls face, causing his eye to twitch.

Only a few moments pass before a hushed whistle can be heard in the distance, as if from the heavens.

Hopeful twitches again, this time gently opening one eye.

He looks down at Wicker as she mercifully and softly lays on top of Hopeful, with two hooves hooking over his leg he is holding her with. She had a shy smile as she dreamt of sweet things, her eyes gently shut, her chest pushing out lightly Hopefuls leg with every delicate breath she took.

Hopeful pears around the room, everypony asleep, only he sits awake.

A gracious smile appears on Hopeful as he spends a second to enjoy the moment. He knows things won't be this nice in a very long time.

Hopeful glances out the window, listening to the whistle.

His smile grows as he is reminded of the wheat fields and their hushed whistle as winds blew through them.

A shadow wisps by the window, too fast for Hopeful to make it out.

Hopeful squints his eyes to try and see what it was.

His heart suddenly stops.

The whistling increases.

He screams.

“SCREACHER!”

A crash, as the train suddenly stops.

A moment of zero gravity as they are flung up into the air. Wicker slips out of Hopeful’s grasp. She turns as she is launched in front of him and she reaches her hoof out to him in the air, he desperately tries to grab her as he is thrown with her.

A blazing inferno, as the front of the cabin is shredded, launching shrapnel in every which direction. The flames flashed, blinding them all and opening a hole, revealing a pile of smoldering scrap previously known as the engine.

A moment of shock as everypony screams, getting flung out of the gaping hole and into the dirt. Some land at the edge of the cabin, some get thrown past the gutted engine and the rest directly in the bulk of roasting metal chunks.

A wet patch of soil, soggy from melted snow as Hopeful lands face first into the dirt in front of the wreck of an engine.

A moment of despair, anger and love as Hopeful lifts himself up and turns his head toward the wreck.

A brown-coated Earth Pony mare with a short messy red mane, lying in front of him, tirelessly grasping for air, which she would be getting if not for the jagged metal sheet sticking into the side of her neck.

A moment of helplessness as Hopeful crawls to the side of the mare. He looks into her eyes as they fill up with blood and she coughs out a dark red, gooey mixture of blood and saliva, dripping out of her mouth and onto the damp earth beneath her.

A last goodbye as Wicker reaches out her quivering hoof, unable to speak. Hopeful grabs it and holds on dearly. Wicker cries her last tears that bleed out of her eyes as she grows cold and stiff. Snow glides down softly, glazing her body with a thin icy layer that grew over her unmoving, innocent eyes.

A moment of darkness that begins to set in as Hopeful moves closer to her, embedded shrapnel digging into his shoulder, painless due to adrenaline, yet still bleeding and causing him to lose consciousness.

A fade to black as Hope is lost.

Hushed Whistle

“Wake up.” The gentle voice of a mare spoke to Hopeful, nudging his shoulder as he slept on the sun-dried dirt underneath a blazing sun. “Hopeful, wake up. We need to talk.”

Hopeful flickered his eyes. They opened wide as he jumped up to hug Wicker. Tears poured, rolling down his face.

He was surprised when Wicker slowly shoved him away from her. He fell down onto his back and looked around at the train crash. There were no corpses. The fire had been extinguished from the engine and snow had grown to nearly a meter in height. The sky was a gloomy gray, savory light snuck through small separations in the clouds.

Wicker stared into Hopeful, her eyes bloodshot and frosty. She dropped her head down. “You made a mistake...”

“What? Wicker, whats going on? I thought you were dead!” Hopeful scrambled up out of the snow and to Wicker.

A tear dropped down from Wickers face, fell until it hit the snow and made an indent. She eased her head to her side, showing a jagged scar that ran down her neck.

“No, n-no no no. Th-theres no, this can't, y-you can't... but, you're breathing! You're talking!” Hopeful struggled to comprehend what was happening. He panicked, looking over his shoulder as he saw shadows fly by.

“Why did you do it, Hopeful? Why?” Wicker moved over to him and placed a hoof on his cheek to comfort him. “You knew it was going to hurt...” Hopeful felt a sharp sting as Wicker softly stroked her hoof down a scar on his shoulder.

“Wicker, what are you talking about? Why are you acting like this?!?” Hopeful wrapped his hoof around the one she put on his shoulder and held onto her.

More tears began to swell up in Wickers eyes. She stuttered and sniffled while she spoke. “You... you jus-just had t-t-to... let-t me fall in love, di-did-didn't you?” She looked into his eyes, staring at his soul with crossed eyebrows. Her voice became more sinister as she continued, “And, you... you just had to love me back...”

Hopeful felt his heart sink when Wicker pulled away her hoof, her voice became softer, a subtle amount of anger showed in her tone. “Love is to fragile of a thing Hopeful. Too fragile for such a harsh time...”

Hopeful felt his own tears form as Wicker turned around and started walking away from him. She stopped to look out into the distance before turning her head to Hopeful. “You should have learned that after what happened to Joyful...”

A hushed whistle enveloped the atmosphere. Hopeful, in a panic, stumbled, trying to run to Wicker, landing his face in the snow. He rolled onto his back, trying to search the sky for a Screecher Pegasus, but was bewildered when he found the clouds had gone once more. He made it up to on his hooves, jolting his head around in terror as he found himself on his farm, the wind gently flowing through the wheat field, creating the soft whistle.

Wicker glanced around, unnerved by their surroundings. She spun around to Hopeful and shouted, “Why are we here, Hopeful? WHY ARE WE HERE, AGAIN!?” She stomped down to him. He, stunned, fell backward, slamming his shoulders into the ground in excruciating pain.

Wicker stared him down, all kindness was gone from her expression, only leaving behind disappointment. “I said her name, Hopeful. Then you brought us here.” She moved her face closer to his. “I thought you were over her, Hopeful. Weren't you? TELL ME, HOPEFUL, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GET OVER HER?” Wicker ground her teeth, frustrated and in tears.

Hopeful's jaw dropped when he caught a glimpse of what was behind Wicker. He turned his head to see Joyful and his daughter, Sugar Coat, being harassed by a Pegasus soldier. Hopeful tried to pull himself up and run to them, but was pinned down by Wicker, who pushed down on both his shoulders. He screamed out in agony.

Wicker whispered to him, “Last night, Hopeful. When we were together, you didn't dream about her, I thought you were finally over her...” Wickers tears fell onto Hopeful and she began whimpering as her composure broke down. “You should... you should have just listened to that Pegasus, Hopeful. She told you, and you should have listened. She told you it wasn't personal...”

Hopeful tried to push Wicker off of him. She slammed him back down, bashing his head into the earth, dazing him. He shook his head and stared up at the golden-maned, yellow Pegasus holding him down. The Pegasus pleaded with him in Wicker’s voice “IT WASN'T THEIR FAULT HOPEFUL! YOUR WIFE STRUGGLED! SHE TRIED TO FIGHT BACK, HOPEFUL! THE SOLDIER WAS JUST DEFENDING HIMSELF! YOU SAW IT! STOP LYING TO YOURSELF! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT PERSONAL!?”

He pulled in his hind legs and then launched them up, kicking the Pegasus in the stomach. She was thrown off and Hopeful ran to Joyful.

As he galloped to Joyful, she jumped up at the Pegasus, trying to grab his pistol with her mouth. They were caught wrestling until the Pegasus bit down on her mane and shoved her down to the ground.

Frightened and flustered, he pulled out his pistol with his left wing and covered his eyes with his right as he went to shoot. Hopeful’s daughter sprinted to her mother, putting herself in front of the gun in an attempt to save her. Hopeful screamed, “NOOOO!” He collapsed as two gunshots echoed through his head, causing his ears to feel like they were bleeding with a horrible migraine. He skidded across the ground with his hoof reaching out to his family.

Hopeful sobbed, lying on the dirt as the soil grew soggy with his tears.

He flickered an eye open to see Wicker sitting by his side, looking out into the deep, black fog that surrounded them.

Hopeful tried to pull himself together. “S-she... She was too young...”

“I know, Hopeful, I know...” Wicker patted him on his back trying to comfort him.

“F-fff-first Joyful, an-and Sugar-r... and, and now you?” He gazed up at Wicker, her kind, soft eyes ruined with blood, her pupils gray and cold. Her scar was fresh, exposed and bleeding.

“Hopeful?” she spoke gently.

“Y-yes?”

“Stay with me.” She dropped her head down.

“H-h-how?” He propped himself up on his uninjured leg.

She faced him and smiled. “Don't die.” She leaned toward him with closed eyes, going in for a kiss.

Hopeful shut his damp, weeping eyes, leaned in compassionately and felt the tender touch of Wicker’s lips. When they kissed, he was filled with a breath of new life.

He felt a weight on his eyelids. It became unbearably difficult to lift them back up. He felt hazy and noticed a pressure against his shredded shoulder. Wicker drew back her muzzle. He felt two thrusting hooves press down on his chest several times.

The slimy earth rustled against Hopefuls clothes. He heard Spring’s voice come from above him. “DON'T DIE ON ME, HOPEFUL!”

Spring leaned back down to Hopeful's mouth and breathed into his lungs, trying to keep him alive.

“COME ON HOPEFUL, STAY WITH ME!” He kept pushing onto Hopeful's chest, keeping his heart pumping, forcing the blood to circulate through Hopeful’s veins.

Hopeful powered through, peeling open one eye. He watched as Spring frantically tried to save his life.

Spring had a huge, open mouthed smile when he saw Hopeful blink at him. He chuckled in delight. “Well, shit, YOU'RE ALIVE!”

Hopeful, on the other hoof, felt horrendous. His wound had been stitched and bandaged very rapidly, a jagged, pointy slag of metal drenched in blood had been tossed to his side after it was pulled out of him. The shape of Wicker was indented in the snow was near Hopeful, with a long, bloody trail where they had dragged her body to the flank of the train.

Hopeful coughed, spitting blood out onto the ground. “Spring... I, I admire your persistence... but you should have left me...”

Spring wrapped a hoof around Hopeful and pulled him up. “Come on. That's the blood loss talking...” As Spring tried to hoist him up and around his shoulder, he noticed Hopeful staring at where Wicker was.

He tried to carry Hopeful away from the scene. Realizing he was too heavy for him, Spring set him down. “Hopeful, look at me.”

Hopeful, with a distant and dazed stare tried to focus on Spring but kept leaning his head to where Wicker died.

“I swear to the heavens, Hopeful, I know that this is devastating, but you can't just think about yourself now! I didn't spend the last half an hour trying to stop you from bleeding out and perform CPR to walk over there just to tell everypony that you don't have the will to go on!” He took a lengthy sigh. “They need you, Hopeful... I need you.”

Hopeful shook his head in pain as two of his soldiers walked up, Fury and Quick.

Quick turned to the rest of them and shouted, “HE'S ALIVE! HE MADE IT!”

Fury went to his side, looked up at Spring “Can he move?”

“Not on his own, no.”

“Well then, let's get him out of here.” Fury picked Hopeful up and carried him with ease. “Spring, make sure none of the others need any more medical attention. Quick, get the headcount of who's left. We need to get moving as fast as we can to Glascow.”

Hopeful, weak and helpless, was carried by Fury away from the incident. The winds were calm and the sun shining enough for some heat to get past the clouds and onto them. Hopeful was brought to a small hillside where he was laid down in front of his soldiers.

Some of them were scanning the skies with their rifles ready, watching for pegasi attacks. The others were mourning the dead, saying their last goodbyes to fallen soldiers that faced death too early.

When Hopeful was brought, most of them gathered around him. Looking around, he could see most of them bruised and scratched. Only a few with debilitating injuries covered in bandages.

After a headcount, it was clear from the twenty soldiers he originally had, only fourteen survived.

Once Spring completed his check-ups on everypony with the more brutal injuries, Fury rallied them up around him.

Fury spoke out gallantly and firmly. “Everypony, listen up! After fixing the radio connection, we have gotten word that the Pegasi retreated from Maneich. This was very unexpected, as the Pegasi are notoriously bad at knowing when to surrender. So, as far as we know, the Unicorns managed to actually scare them off, somehow. When the Pegasi retreated, they apparently kept going west and bombed everything they could on the way, which is why we got hit. We don't know how Trottingham and Coltchester are doing, but we can safely assume they're as fucked as us. Right now, our objective is to get to Glascow before night sets in and temperatures drop. We begin moving immediately. ARE WE CLEAR?”

The soldiers peered at each other, uneasy in their stomachs, but a “SIR, YES SIR!” was eventually professed.

“Excellent.” Fury stared down at Hopeful, who seemed somewhat lost in his own thoughts. “Hopeful will be carried by me and Quick. The rest of you get everything in order quickly before we move out.”

Fury crouched down at Hopeful's side and inspected his condition to move.

Hopeful smirked. “You know, Fire Halo was wrong. You really should have been captain...”

Fury replied in an almost ominous tone “You don't think I knew that, Sir?”

Quick brought a makeshift stretcher that looked more like a hammock from the supplies and Fury helped hoist Hopeful onto it. Fury and Quick picked up each end and lifted it onto their backs.

The troops gathered around Fury and he commanded the beginning of their march.

Hopeful eased in and out of consciousness very irregularly as they went on, ponies forcing themselves to travel through tall, thick snow, fresh from the morning snowfall, wind blowing lightly.

Not a single Pegasi was spotted as they walked.

Glascow was a town built on as a trading post between the rock farms of the Northern Stone Plains, its masonry constructed homes were a pleasant sight for merchant caravans bringing jewels of many kinds to barter with. The town was renowned for Unicorn visits. Royal Unicorn workers came regularly to satisfy their unquenchable need for shiny, colourful rocks.

Now though, Glascow had been starved. Its only provision of income had been harshly ripped away from the village, causing starvation and deterioration of the stone buildings with lack of maintenance. Once the war begun, the town had to be supplied food by the government to stay afloat. However, bombing of railroads and the ever-advancing threat of the Pegasi and Unicorn armies had impeded supply runs, leaving the town on its last legs.

The soldiers, hobbling to the town after an exuberantly exhausting half-a-day march, felt the joy of an old merchant caravan seeing the stone peaks of the houses.

Fury quit his marching to observe the crippled town. Hopeful’s soldiers swiftly jogged up to his side to stand with him. They stared out in glee and turned to Fury, waiting for their orders.

He spoke out, “Quick, Glisten, stay with me. The rest of you go scout out the town and report back after 0100 hours in the center. Find places to set up mortars and machine nests. UNDERSTOOD?”

“SIR, YES SIR!” The more exhilarated ponies blitzed off into the town, smiles visible on their faces. While the rest like Sharp, relieved, tiredly walked into the town, eventually stepping hoof on the snow and ice covered cobblestone pathways, mazing around in between the small rock homes. Ponies from the town, one by one, exited their homes at the soldiers arrival, joyful to see their own forces back to defend them. The civilians quietly cheered for them, making the soldiers feel confident and at home.

Fury watched them, almost cracking a smile of his own. Glisten approached him. “Fury, what did you want me for?”

“I need you and Quick to find a place for Hopeful to stay until he gets back on his hooves.” Fury crouched down and shifted the two handlebars, lifting Hopeful’s stretcher off of his back. Glisten walked over and Fury lowered the bars onto her back.

Glisten looked worrisome when she glanced at Hopeful. “Are you sure he’s gonna make it Fury? He doesn't look his finest.”

Fury scoffed. “I'm not a doctor, but I don't see a negative side. If he lives, woopty fucking do, good for him. If he dies, then I become captain officially and can actually lead what's left of this troop.”

Glisten and Quick were taken back, Glisten was especially appalled with Fury, “He is right here Fury, at least have the decency not to speak like that to his face.”

“He can't hear shit. He’s out cold.” Fury turned his back to them. “If you don't mind, I'm gonna go check up on my soldiers’ progress.” He trotted off.

Hopeful flickered an eye open, rolled onto his other side and saw the town. With a low defeated tone he asked, “Is this it?”

Quick replied. “Yes, Hopeful, we're here. You still with us, buddy?”

Hopeful rolled back to the other side and tried to curl up to sleep. “Sadly, yes.”

Glisten nodded to Quick and they began walking, she kept checking on Hopeful as they went along, highly concerned about him. “Hopeful, we're gonna find a place for you to rest. Don't worry.”

Hopeful barely responded, “Uh huh...”

They traveled through the town, looking for a hospital or an inn. They stopped at the center of the town, a forum with a stone, frozen fountain. They spotted a building larger than the rest, looking like a town hall and trotted up to it. They walked inside through the huge, oak double doors, peeking around in an empty, echoing reception hall. The walls were built with huge, stone chunks and lined with oak support beams, a patch of fresh wood cut into the wall and filled in a hole that was probably created from a small explosion. There were basic wooden chairs and tables at the sides, with straw pillows on the seats. A burning fireplace on the left side of the building gave a warm, cosy feeling.

Quick shouted out, “Anypony here?”

Shuffling of hooves could be heard from the room behind the main desk. An elderly mare opened the door and strolled over and around the desk to greet them. “Why, hello, there! You don't know how glad I am to see reinforcements arrive. Especially after those Pegasi bombed us last night.”

She reached out her wobbling hoof to Quick to shake. He did and quickly moved on to their agenda “Ma’am, do you have any spare rooms? Our captain he was injured in a train crash.” He gestured toward Hopeful, lying between him and Glisten.

The old mare fixed her spectacles and inspected Hopeful. After seeing his bandaged shoulder, she nodded. “Why, we do have guest rooms in the back. I'll go get the keys.” She slowly shambled around the desk and searched under it. She eventually brought her head up, holding a key in her mouth, and walked to the right side of the building to a short hallway.

Glisten and Quick followed her down the hallway, having to walk sideways because Hopeful made them too wide to fit. They were brought to a room at the very end and the mare opened the dusty, creaking oak door. “Here she is. You can lay him down over there.” She pointed at a bed frame stuffed with dry hay for a mattress. The old mare walked out of the room and let them pass. “If you need anything, just call.”

They walked in sideways and went to the bed. They slowly tilted up and Hopeful slid down onto the hay.

This woke him startled, “WICKER, WAIT NO, WICKER!” He sat up, breathing heavily and beginning to sweat.

Glisten quickly took off the stretcher and turned to Hopeful “Hopeful, stay calm, everything is ok!” She placed a hoof on his shoulder.

Hopeful slowed down his breathing and fell back down onto the bed.

Glisten turned to Quick. “I'll go get Spring for a check up. Stay here and make sure he is ok.”

Quick nodded a yes and Glisten galloped out. He then walked to Hopefuls bedside. “Hopeful, you're gonna get through this.”

Hopeful looked up at the ceiling. His eyes watered up and tears blurred his vision as they poured down the sides of his face. “It doesn't feel that way...”

“Captain, I know how you're feeling, sir. I lost my younger brother to a Pegasus attack. That's why I joined the army. I'm here to kill as many of those winged, murdering bastards as I can to make sure they never hurt anypony else.”

Hopeful leaned his head to stare at him “Your point?”

“My point is that we need you to fight. Fury thinks he's a great leader, but as somepony who spent the last two weeks with him, I can tell he will not do half as well as you. He keeps talking behind your back and saying you're weak, but I believe in you, and so do most of the others. Think about it, Hopeful, the Pegasi killed Wicker and all you can do now is avenge her. It's what she would have wanted.”

Hopeful crossed his eyebrows. “You know, you're fucking right.” He strained himself as he sat up and spun his legs out to hop off the bed. He pushed himself off, stumbled forward, and fell onto the floor when he put pressure on his bad leg.

Quick reached down and lifted him up, wrapping Hopeful’s injured leg around him, and walked with a proud smile. Walking with him to the door, it opened with Spring Step running in. “Hopeful! you're... you're walking? You should be resting! Quick, go put him down.”

Hopeful pulled his hoof off of Quick and stepped on it, he nearly collapsed on his shaking hooves. “Spring, as you can see, I'm perfectly fine.” Hopeful coughed vigorously several times, “And if you don't mind, I have a regiment to command.” Wobbling, he fell as he tried to walk. He reached for Quick, who put Hopeful’s hoof around himself again, and they both walked out together.

On the outer ring of homes in the town, a vacant building stood on the very outskirts of the village, empty due to a very unlucky bombing, leaving it irreparable with a collapsed ceiling and half-standing walls. Standing around it were several soldiers, including Fury, who was talking with them. “This will do just fine. If we can clear some of the rubble and lay some camouflage over it, this will do nicely as a machine gun nest.”

The soldiers nodded in approval but became unsettled when he shouted at them again. “WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?”

They unerringly moved to begin work. Fury, pleased with himself, turned to look back at the town, and after a few minutes of gazing, he looked to see a huge surprise.

He took a step back. “What in the world?”

A limping Hopeful, being carried by Quick with Spring and Glisten at his side, shouted out, “THAT'S ‘WHAT THE WORLD, SIR’ TO YOU!”

He slowly made his way to Fury, and said, directly into his face, “And if you don't mind, I'll be taking command. You're dismissed, Private.”

Fury growled at him, Hopeful growled back and grinned. Fury shook his head and stomped away, going back into town.

Basalt and Sharp stopped working and ran over to Hopeful. “Hopeful, Sir, you're walking!” Basalt said joyfully.

“Yeah, yes I am. Now, Sharp, how are the mortars coming along?”

“We have two set up here, Sir. There are two at the other nest and one near the center of town.”

“Good work! Now, is this where we're gonna burrow the guns into?”

“Yes, Sir!” Basalt replied saluting.

“Good, good. After you are done I need to round everypony up and give out scouting and gunning shifts.” Hopeful looked out past the building and onto the landscape.

“Sir, Fury told everypony to meet in the town center in about thirty minutes.” Glisten walked up and told him.

“At least he was useful for something.” He stared at all of the soldiers, his friends, that surrounded him.

“All of you, get to work. We're not letting another pegasus fly above our heads without leaving a bullet in theirs.”

“Sir! Yes, Sir!” They all went to help build in the rubble of the house. Hopeful looked at Quick Draw. “You can set me down, Quick. Go help 'em; they need you.”

“Yes, Sir.” Quick gently set down Hopeful beside the wall of the building on some tarp before jumping into the rubble.

Hopeful gazed up into the clouds. He felt tears forming and anger rising as he watched the winds blow the chunks of black, frozen puffs of storming water across the sky. He clenched his hooves and furrowed his eyebrows.

He silently whispered to himself, “Don't you worry, Wicker. I won't stop until I've killed every single one of them... For what they did to you.”

He looked down into the dirt, feeling his heart being crushed and pounded once more with the agonizing memory resurfacing. Tears flowed ever so slightly quicker and bountifully. He rested his head onto his hooves and closed his eyes. Trying to keep his mind away from it, he began humming a lullaby that he used to sing to his daughter when she was scared and alone.

The humming helped, but it wasn't as distracting as he wished. So instead of humming, he tried to go another step up.

In a hushed tone he began to whistle to himself.

Bullet in the Chamber

The night felt dead and eerie. The atmosphere was depressed from both weather and emotion. It was an immensely dark night as the sun had just set and the sky as black as the ceiling of the deepest cave. The forum of the town had ice formed between the cracks in the stone pavement. A storm came from the horizon, blasting a hurricane of winds throughout the plains, fiercely making its way toward the town as it became enveloped by gusts of crystallized rain.

The soldiers stood out in the forum, noses red and quivering from cold, their hoods worn over their helmets and coats tightly strapped.

Hopeful stood, charismatic, on the stone fountain’s steps, looking at the ponies forming his regiment. His mane blew violently as the wind as it picked up speed. Spring stood beside him and made sure Hopeful didn't fall over on his leg and hurt himself any more than he already had.

He watched as the last of his soldiers arrived from the second gun nest. Trailing behind them was Fury, shamefully trying to keep himself away from the rest. His soldiers were bunched up in front of the fountain, huddling together for heat in a clean formation, save for the ponies at the back.

Hopeful shouted out, defying the wind with his voice. “Alright, everypony, now that we have finally settled down and I am back in charge, we can start running this like an actual regiment. I'll be assigning roles in a moment, but first I would like to set the ground rules. Every day that we are here, I want everypony gathered here, like this, every sunrise and sunset for a headcount and report. Second thing, while I am not a harsh leader, I will not tolerate a single bit of laziness, or lackluster performance.”

He lifted his voice even higher, belting out over the ever-growing gale. “We are here to protect every single pony in this town and I swear to the heavens if you even once hesitate to follow command, YOU WILL BE COURT MARTIALED. I need all of you to be prepared to lay down your life, not just for me but for your brothers and sisters in war.”

The ponies looked at one and other, concern running through their minds.

“DOES EVERYPONY UNDERSTAND?” Hopeful strained his voice to be heard.

They nodded, ruffling their fluffy coat collars in the process.

“Good, now so we can all get back inside let me quickly give jobs out.”

He spotted Fury in the back eyeing him with suppressed anger and disappointment, and turned away from him. “Sharp Eye and Gearbox, take the west gun nest. Basalt and Quick take the north.”

He rubbed his shoulders trying to keep warm, forcing himself to deal with the pain from his injury. He shook his head and looked up again “In the morning, I want Glisten and Spring to be the first scouting party. Spectacle, Brass Buck, Tripod and Fury take over for day shift of watch while Night shift sleeps. Crike, Apple Drill and Carry, After sunrise I want the three of you each on one of our mortars and prepared to fire at all times. Is everyone clear?”

Many of them took part in a salute as their reply.

“Excellent. Everypony, DISMISSED!”

The frosty midnight air seeped sneakily into the cracks of every house. The cold was forced out by the lit fires in every building, heat flowing out of every room, but dissipating slowly as lumber became black and burnt in every fireplace. Windows were covered over with thick sheets of hay, stuffed to stop light escaping from the homes and revealing them to Pegasi. Inside the town hall lay Hopeful, restless. Sitting up on his bed, as tired as a bear just before hibernation, he had given up on trying to fall asleep once the dark of night set in. His nightmares hadn't been getting any better, so instead of sleeping, he stirred on the hay mattress, thoughts flashing between disbelief, anger, and paranoia.

He lifted his back to sit up. Drowsily, he stared at the patched over window on the other side of the room, eyeballing it curiously and cautiously, as if he was expecting something to break through the window at any moment.

He watched...

And waited...

And with a groan, he gave up, falling back onto the mattress.

While lying down with his head turned to the door, a thought came to him. “What if one of the ponies on night watch fell asleep, or both of them? I should probably go and check to be sure...”

He turned to his coat and gear lying on a slightly lop-sided oak table. “It would be the responsible thing to do...” He propped himself up on his foreleg.

Slowly slipping off of his bed, suspending the leg of his injured shoulder in the air to not put pressure on it, he walked to the table and picked up his coat and helmet, wrapped his rifle around him and put his head around the pistol holster for it to slide down and rest on his shoulders.

He hobbled to the door and turned the doorknob with his teeth. He shuffled down the hallway, trying to not wake the mayor and anypony else that could be asleep in the building. Despite his efforts, his hoofsteps echoed gently throughout the reception, only masked by unending crackling of fire.

He pulled the bulky door open and stepped out into the blizzarding cold. The frost gave him a kick like an apple farmer, waking him up and making him tense up as the winds blasted across the town, getting frosty air blown down his neck, causing him to shiver. The houses around him were blurred and distorted by the icy gusts. Not sure whether or not to regret his decision, Hopeful marched forward.

He tried to trot up through the thick snow on the outskirts of town, going to the edge to one of the machinegun nests. While this ending up being a limping shamble due to his shoulder and the weather conditions, but alas he endured through.

He arrived at the nest, a shabby structure built with sheets and stone to form enough of a shelter to hold back the wind and camouflage them. He walked up to the loose cloth sheets acting as a tent-like entrance.

lifting a layer up with his hoof he revealed the two ponies inside, lying on the dirt in the cramped hole about half the height of a pony and the wide width of the floor above it, staring down the iron-sights of two Bucker Machine Guns. Basalt and Quick, with Quick watching like a hawk (even though he could not see past the blizzard) and Basalt forcing herself to stay awake by whispering to herself. “Falling asleep... is a death... sentence... don't... fall asleep...” her eyes fell and jumped back to place like a bungee cord.

Hopeful crouched down and nuzzled through to get into the burrowed hole, with the only surfacing being the entrance and the two hole where the gun barrels stuck out off.

Basalt jumped up and scrambled around before realizing it was Hopeful. “Oh, Sir! I was not sleeping, Sir, I was... definitely not... no...” she yawned very blatantly.

Hopeful sighed and shook his head at her.

Quick pivoted his head to face Hopeful, “Sir, what are you doing here, shouldn't you be resting?”

“I should.” He crawled further and peeped out of a firing hole. “But can't.”

Quick returned to his aim while speaking. “Still having nightmares, Sir?”

Hopeful lowered his eyes and sighed. “Eyup.” He looked at Basalt and how difficult it was becoming for her to stay awake “Basalt, if you want I can take over for you here and you can go get some rest.”

She rubbed her baggy eyes “Really?.. *yawn* Sir?”

“Yes, you're dismissed, Private.” Hopeful crawled in behind the gun as Basalt moved around.

She looked at the exit and she got chills just from thinking about leaving. “Do you mind if I...” She rested her head down and snuggled into a corner “Sleep...” she closed her eyes “here...” She said as she began gently snoring.

“Well Sir, I've ne-”

“Please Quick, you know I prefer if you call me by my actual name.”

Quick grinned “Well, Hopeful, I was about to say that I've never heard of a Captain doing night watch.”

“I've never been a Captain before.” Hopeful tried to focus down the sights but couldn't see a single cloud past the storm. “And, what else am I going to do if I can't sleep?”

“I understand perfectly, Sir-I mean, Hopeful. Filling a Pegasus's brainless skull with lead is a good thing to do anytime.”

“Doesn't look like that'll be happening today.” Hopeful rested his chin on the stock of the machine gun with a sigh.

“Don't worry, Sir. We'll get some eventually. Those bastards can't hide forever.”

With another disappointing sigh, he looked down and spoke dishearteningly. “No, no they can't.”

Quick looked concerned at Hopeful, “You don't sound very well.”

Hopeful burrowed his head into his foreleg, “I haven't had a proper sleep in the last day and a half because of a recurring nightmare caused by the fact my first friend since my wife's death bled out in front of me after a train explosion killing several of my other soldiers...” he reluctantly moved back to his gun “I'm not gonna ''sound very well'' for a while.”

Quick, now with his mouth shut, watched the blizzard blow bits of snow through the air, dancing in a cold, dead atmosphere, warmed only by the occasional small talk between the two of them, and eventually the night itself grew warmer.

A few hours passed, the sun was rising and with that the blizzard easing. What once was a violent storm tugging and ripping away at everything in its path had dissipated to an unrecognizable calm. One pony on the other hoof was very uncalm, In a rush Spring galloped up the town to the north gun nest.

As he got closer he shouted to the ponies inside, “Basalt! Quick! Guys, Hopeful disappeared, he wasn't in his room this morning but some of his stuff was left there and I asked Glisten and she hasn't seen him either!”

He got to the cover of the door and crouched down to pull them up, then stuck his head threw. “You don't think a Pegasus could have g-”

“Mornin', Spring,” Hopeful interrupted him. He kept watching the clouds, now that the storm had ended he had something to concentrate on and didn't budge from it. It helped him to get her of off his mind and put him in a better mood that he didn't realize he was in.

He let go an enormous sigh of relief and knelt down to rest, “Hopeful, how many times are you gonna make me think you've died before this is over?” he grinned, then looked over at the sleeping Basalt in the corner. “Sleeping on the job, I see.”

“Hopeful let her, took her shift,” Quick answered back while continuously scanning the sky.

Spring turned his head to look out then twisted back. “Well, since you haven't been fillynapped or killed, I guess now I can tell you that everypony is waiting for you at the town center as ordered.”

Hopeful looked around the room, confused, almost as if he'd forgotten where he was. “Right, right... Sunrise.” He rolled his shoulders, the sting of the injury not nearly as painful as it used to be. He flexed his hind legs and crawled out of the gun nest with Spring.

Quick Draw went to go with them to but stopped to move over to Basalt to gently nudge her shoulder. “Up 'n at 'em, Basalt.”

Her muzzle flinched and she went to rub her eyes, then she fully woke up in a sudden fright. “Aah!!! Shit! Did I fall asleep?! Fuck!.. Did anypony see?!?”

Quick chuckled loudly and ignored her pleas as he crawled out. She cried out to him as he left, “Quick! Where are you going?! This is serious!”

She crawled swiftly after him. Once she got out she stood up while speaking. “If Hopeful finds out, I could get in deep shit. I could get shot for this!” She lifted her head up to see Hopeful with one eyebrow raised a hint of a smile. “AHH!” Basalt instinctively tried to run backwards and found her back pinned against the wall. Her hooves kept trying to move as she ended up just shuffling snow and dirt from the ground until she slouched down and sat. “Shit,” she said, annoyed at herself.

“Come on, Basalt. You don't want to be late to the headcount.” Hopeful spun around and began trotting to town slightly limping, leaving Basalt dazed and confused.

Spring walked after Hopeful. “Sir, I keep telling you that you shouldn't walk on your own like this.”

“And I keep telling everypony not to call me Sir. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen.” Hopeful's smile grew and he spoke cockily.

Basalt and Quick caught up with them, Basalt still worried about how Hopeful would punish her for sleeping on Night watch. She hopped up to his side nervously “Sir, umm... did you happen to, umm... me uhh, it won't happen again Sir, I, I...”

Hopeful rolled his eyes turned to Spring and with a grin. “See?”

Spring just laughed under his breath, this worried Basalt even more. “Sir, I'm so sorry! Please don't court martial me... I-I-I'll do anything, Sir!”

Springs laughter became more intense and even Hopeful cracked a chuckle.

Basalt raised an eyebrow and cocked her head back. “Umm, am I in trouble or not?”

Hopeful held back his laughter. “No, Basalt. You’re fine.”

She sighed with relief. “Thank you, Sir. I won't let you down again.”

Spring kept snickering.

The town square was chattering with casual conversations between the soldiers gathered. Glisten noticed Hopeful and the rest coming toward them and alerted everypony else. They turned around to face him and saluted.

Hopeful stopped in front of the cobblestone square, looked over to Quick and spoke. “Quick can you go get the ponies at the other gun nest and tell them they can go sleep? Then you can too.”

“Sure thing.” Quick gave a fast salute and galloped away.

“Alright, now. Since everypony else is here we can get started with the day shift, do you all remember your assignments?”

Hopeful was pleased by the unanimous nod.

“Great. If you’re on day watch for the guns, you're dismissed and can go to them now.”

The four ponies including Fury went off as commanded.

“Mortars, before you go, I want to just make sure each of you know how to fire them properly and to remind you that they are only to be used on Thunder Cannons. We do not have enough explosives to just waste them on singular Pegasi and that's even if you could hit them. So, are you each confident with a mortar, or do I have to reassign you?”

A pony by the name of Crike spoke up. “We are confident, Sir.” The other two nodded along with him.

“Good, now go. There's one at each nest and on up on that building.” Hopeful pointed up at a stone house with a ladder leading up to the tarp-covered roof, underneath the nailed down tarp was something bulging out, presumably the mortar.

The trio left with a salute.

Now the only ponies around him where Glisten, Spring and Basalt.

He looked over at Basalt with a grin who shifted her eyes back and forth, confused why he'd want to talk to her.

“Hey, Basalt?”

“Yea...” She grew frightful of what he could ask.

“Since you had such a good night's sleep wouldn't you like to leave with Glisten and Spring and go scouting for Pegasus activity?”

Relieved, she replied, “Sure, sounds fun.”

“What did you expect? You looked worried for a second there.”

“That I might get latrine cleaning duty or something like that.” She gave an innocent smile.

Hopeful shook his head gently and turned back to Glisten and Spring. “You guys ready to head out?”

“Of course, Darling.” Glisten replied back, showing off her two saddlebags already packed to leave.

Spring looked at her and remembered he didn't have his bags. “Oh, right, about that. I got caught up with finding you and didn't get the time to pack.”

“That's fine, you and Basalt can go get ready. Me and Glisten will meet you at the north gun nest.”

They nodded, then walked off to the house they were storing their supplies in at the opposite edge of town.

Hopeful twirled around to face north then looked back at Glisten inciting her to follow him. She skipped up to his side and they walked together. As they went along Glisten became inquisitive, “So Basalt fell asleep on gun duty, did she?”

“I let her, yeah. I couldn't sleep, so I took her shift and she went out like fire in a thunderstorm.”

“I see. Do you think she can handle night watch? Not to be harsh to her, especially when she's not here, but she doesn't seem like the most reliable of ponies, and I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust somepony like that with my safety, either while I sleep or on a scouting mission.”

Hopeful jumped up at the question. He was unclear about why she would think this, “What are you saying? Basalt's reliable!”

“Darling, she once stabbed poor old Quick Draw in a training exercise, how can you trust her with a machine gun in a real fight?” She raised a hoof up and leaned it out looking at Hopeful questioningly.

“She fucked that up, yeah, but everypony messes up now and a then. Besides that was the first day. She's gotten a lot better.” Hopeful spoke confidently.

“How about one week into training when we did those group exercises and she was in the same group as me and put in charge of the ammunition and ended up forgetting it at the first obstacle?”

“I never heard about that...” Hopeful said in disbelief.

“We were talking about it all day! Well, me Fury and Quick were, but me and you hadn't talked at that point, so I guess you wouldn't know about it.”

As they reached the nest, they stood a fair bit to the right of it, looking down from the gentle hill they stood on. “Either way, I trust her completely and she is coming with you.”

“I don't wish to argue with you, Hopeful, Darling, but just know I disagree.”

Hopeful quietly laughed to himself. “That’s arguing.”

She was taken back by the statement, “What?”

“You basically said ''I don't want to argue but you're wrong'' that's arguing.” He looked at her with a cocky grin.

She rolled her eyes and smiled back, “I haven't seen you smile in quite some time, its good too see you getting over the incident.”

Hopeful became still, stunned by the memory stabbing him in the heart. He put a hoof on his chest, sure that he felt an actual knife, then dropped his head and placed the hoof above his nose rubbing it, straining his eyes and shaking his head.

“Oh, I'm so sorry, Darling. I-I shouldn't have mentioned it...”

“No, no... it-it’s-s fine.” He wiped his eyes to wipe the few tears that escaped and he raised his head trying to keep himself together. “I just... hadn't thought about it in a while...”

He looked up at the clouds with furrowed, crossed eyebrows, nose pulled back and eyes squinted with rage while a tear still ran down his face. “Hey, you don't want Basalt coming with you right?”

“Yes, but it’s fine, she can follow along if you wish her to.” Glisten took a step back from Hopeful.

“How about I leave her here and put her in charge of talking to command? That's what I was gonna do. And then I can come with you, instead.” Hopeful kept staring out at the skyline, watching for one of those bird-fucking, murderous sky-rats.

“If you say so, Sir, that would be splendid...” she said, unsure of herself or Hopeful. Her unease was settled by hearing Spring’s voice from behind her.

“We're ready, guys!” Spring Step and Basalt galloped up behind them with saddlebags filled with ammo, food rations for a day, a map, camouflage sheets and other supplies.

Hopeful turned around, his face showing beaming determination mixed in with outrage. “Basalt, do you know where the radio is set up in the town hall?”

Basalt was taken aback by Hopeful’s expression, “Agh... yes! Yes, Sir, I do.”

“Good. You're going to go talk to command and get any information you can and give them everything we have. I'll be taking your supplies.”

Spring jumped up, excited. “Does that mean you're coming with us?”

“Yes, Spring, I am,” he said while he got Basalt’s bags thrown onto his back. He then fell to a knee.

Spring's joy from this surprise was relapsed by a sense realism and worry by this, “Are you sure? You're not in a good condition to travel...”

“Spring, I told you I am,” he said on the ground in strain, then forced himself back up with the strength of his anger. “Now let's get going. The more ground we cover, the better chance we have of spotting one of them.”

Basalt nodded and then waved to them as they solemnly marched away.

Hopeful looked down the sights of his rifle, bored out of his mind and angered out beyond reasoning. “Where the fuck are they?!?”

Spring, who was eating a brick of rationed hay, glanced around at the sky casually, then back at Hopeful. “I think that's a good sign, them not being anywhere near. It means the town's safe.”

“No, no no... they’re somewhere around here. THEY'RE JUST HIDING LIKE COWARDS!” Hopeful shouted at the heavens, his voice echoed threw out.

He sat back down beside Spring, tired and defeated. A few moments of silence passed before Hopeful felt the cool breeze brush by the back of his neck. “Wind’s picking up. Better get a move on.”

Glisten, who was walking about looking at her map tracking their progress around the town, trotted back with the map in her mouth. She got to them and put it in her bag then spoke. “We've covered the entire perimeter of the town, and thanks to Hopeful’s refusal to take breaks, we've done it before sunset.”

“We've covered all around the town?” Hopeful questioned in disbelief.

“In a kilometer radius from it, yes.”

“Does that mean we get to go back early?” Spring said so and then took another bite from his hay.

“NO! There has to be some around here, I can feel it!” Hopeful walked away from the two of them, scanning the skies away from them once more.

Glisten took some steps forward, “Darling, I am very sorry I brought the incident up again, but shooting a Pegasus won't help. Protecting the ponies still behind, that’s what matters now. And we’re doing that. We're protecting them and they are safe now because there aren't any of those ruffians nearby.”

Hopeful squinted at the clouds, watching as the shadows moved around their fluffy bumps.

“Let's go back Hopeful. We'll try again tomorrow.” Glisten walked closer, she was about to place a hoof on his shoulder but he lifted it up, lifting his rifle up.

“Darling what are you doing? There's nothing there!” Glisten looked around the clouds that Hopeful was facing and saw nothing.

Hopeful steadied his aim, crossed his eyebrows and shut his left eye.

Spring hopped up to him, “Hopeful put the gun down, come on, no need to waste ammo.”

Both of them were startled to find that Hopeful began grinning, and in a sudden eruption of noise the bullet flew out of the barrel after he pulled the trigger, piercing the sky.

Hopeful lowered his gun.

The other two were shocked and didn't know how to react.

But as they watched the clouds, they watched as a Pegasus fell down to earth, in the distance. Frantically flapping one wing and eventually their other as they desperately tried to stay away from the surface and fly back up to the barrier of clouds surrounding the sky.

Hopeful smiled, gaining clear enjoyment from his actions. “I thought that shadow looked funny.” He lifted his gun up again and watched as the Pegasus made a shoddy attempt at flying, trying to book it.

Hopeful lined up a shot with a near-perfect line up, but instead of shooting, Hopeful watched and wondered. Eventually he turned around to the two of them. “You two, I need you to run back and assemble half of the troops we have and get a mortar to assemble and two machine guns. Then return back here as fast as possible.” He took out the cartridge of his gun and one bullet out of his bag and replaced the one he had just shot. “That fucker is bleeding like a pig and we're gonna follow the trail, because if they're gonna go anywhere, it's home base to report back and get healed up.” He pulled back the bolt of the rifle and had it primed to fire before turning to them. “What are you waiting for? We've got Pegasi to slaughter!”

Glisten and Spring looked at each other and then began their gallop back home.

Hopeful turned back to where the Pegasus had flown off to and took out a pair of binoculars, he could see blood splatter form a line going out across the snow. He set the binoculars down and whispered to himself menacingly.

“You're going down motherfuckers. One by one, bullet by fucking bullet.”

Bang, Rattle, Thud

Hopeful trotted with a fire in his eyes. A burning, hypnotic sensation of revenge pulsed through him. Hopeful was never a violent pony, but after everything he had been through, everything he had been told, he now wanted to put an end to the Pegasi more than ever.

From them causing the blizzard that destroyed his crops, to the murders of his wife and his young, innocent daughter. For the time he had spent grieving, to find somepony who finally broke through to him, somepony he loved and just to have her taken away again. He knew that what they always said about Pegasi was true. That they were heartless, greedy dimwits with no morals, with only a lust for blood and war.

That was of course why they started this, the war. They changed the weather to make it snow, then raided towns for food. All to get rid of Earth ponies, to starve them to death. And the Unicorns, they attacked the Earth ponies too, trying to take the opportunity to take them out as well, like they almost worked together.

Hopeful’s head had never been clearer. The Pegasi deserved to die.

These thoughts showered his brain as he stomped forward, following the scarlet trail like a viscous bloodhound. Nearly quarter an hour had passed since he sent out Glisten and Spring. After they left, he packed up and stayed on watch for a while, until he couldn't sit there anymore and decided to slowly follow the trail.

His ears perked up as he heard a shouting from behind him. “HOPEFUL! OVER HERE!”

He twirled around and saw Glisten and Spring with Quick, Fury, Sharp, and Basalt behind them, Fury and Quick hauling a Bucker Machine Gun each on their backs and Basalt and Sharp carrying separate parts of a mortar in their saddlebags.

Hopeful limply sprinted up to them, delighted.

“Got everything you asked for, Hopeful,” Spring said then saluted Hopeful as he reached them.

“Brilliant! Now we just have to follow the trail.” Hopeful glanced over his shoulder back at the speckles of blood leading away.

Sharp lifted up a hoof sheepishly and waited to be noticed by Hopeful.

Hopeful turned back. “Yes, Sharp?”

“Umm, sir... not to interrupt you, but... agh but...” As Sharp stuttered, trying to formulate his question, he was interrupted by Basalt, who finished Sharp's sentence for him. “But we haven't been told exactly what we're doing out here. Glisten just grabbed me out of the town hall and said something about shooting a Pegasus before we ran here.”

“We're doing what we’ve been trained for. We're gonna take out a Pegasus military base.” He spun around to face away from them and pointed in the direction of the trail. “A Pegasus was watching us, I put a bullet in him and he flew back to where he came from, leaving a blood trail. We're gonna follow it and once we reach the end of it we'll know the base is above us. Then it's a matter of shooting it out of the sky.” He gestured his hoof towards the looming clouds.

Quick raised his hoof in excitement, “Finally we get to dish out some justice!”

The rest of them nodded and smiled in agreement except Sharp Eye, who shifted his eyes around at the rest before joining in and Fury, who stood there with a cold deadpan stare at Hopeful.

Hopeful turned back to them and spotted Fury acting as the odd one out, “There ain't gonna be no problems from you, are there, Fury?”

Fury turned his head outward to the clouds. “No sir there ain't. I'll follow orders. Even though I know what you think of me, I'm here to do my duty to fight for The Nation of Great Bridleton, not make friends.”

“Glad to hear it.” Hopeful turned to Glisten. “You still have those camouflage sheets? Everypony is gonna have to use one if we don't want to be spotted.”

“Of course!” She bit open her saddlebag and yanked out a few thin, snow-white cloth sheets.

They gathered around to each get one. Spring took out some of his own, and as Hopeful went to get his own out of his bag, Basalt walk up to him.

She spoke to him quietly. “Sir, I reported to command, just like you asked.” Hopeful looked up at her and listened intuitively as she kept speaking. “It went fine and all, they're very glad that we managed to get here so quickly after our train crashed, but they weren't very happy that they couldn't speak with the captain. Said they didn't want to talk about ''classified'' information to a low-class private. They did tell me that they recaptured Furford with minimum casualties, but that's about all I got out of them.”

“Don't worry, Basalt, you did your best. After this I'll be sticking to home base. Thanks for doing that for me though.” Hopeful then pulled his sheet around his body and inspected the others as they put on theirs.

Basalt spun around to Spring, “Hey, pass me one of-” She was cut off as Spring flung a sheet at her. It landed on her head and covered her face.

She slowly lifted up the front to reveal her one raised eyebrow directed at Spring.

He replied with a simple “What?” and a smile.

Everypony eventually wrapped themselves in the cloaks and fitted the built-in hoods above their helmets. The edges of the cloaks fell and touched the snow at their hooves to prevent obvious shadows. The cloaks were loose and covered all of their gear, blending them into the blank landscape.

Hopeful briefed them before their excursion. “Okay, everypony, remember your training and stay low. Stick close to me and don't make any noise. Last thing we want to do is get spotted with a Thunder Cannon above our heads. Speaking of, keep an eye on the sky. Watch out for any pony-made thing poking out like a periscope.” Hopeful lifted his hood above his head, a tight fit with his helmet. “Once we find them and get close enough, we're gonna blow them out of the sky. Lets teach them how to really make it rain.” Hopeful smirked. “Are you ready?!”

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

The march was slow.

The crawl was painful.

The watching of the skies became tiresome.

But every step Hopeful took was a step towards doing the right thing.

They had been following the blood for seemingly ages at this point, so long that the gentle snowfall was beginning to cover up the tracks. Early on in the journey they found a spot where the Pegasus must have landed and bandaged himself, evident from the hoof prints, the hole in the snow and the large amount of blood, after which the trail became much harder to follow, with only a few drops of blood every couple meters. The snow kept growing, the red splashes fading into a light pink.

This just led to Hopeful concentrating harder, as he refused to give up. He was on the prowl, watching for any trace, like a hawk. His soldiers, behind him in the triangle formation, similar to a flock of birds, following to what might have been the end of the world if he hadn't stopped.

Which he did, eventually. Once he couldn't see the blood anymore, he turned back and he couldn't see the blood there either, the snow had become too thick. Hopeful felt the rage build up in his gut. He stomped his hoof into the snow angrily, cussing under his breath.

The wind began picking up, pushing the cold breeze into them.

His soldiers laid down onto the ground, the snow making a satisfying crushing noise as it collapsed, cupping around their bodies. They were tired, especially those hauling the heavy weaponry, which weighed a ton, irritating their backs.

They were almost at the point of shivering, their winter coats and camouflage blankets held out the snow and kept in the heat decently, but they wouldn't keep hypothermia at bay forever.

Hopeful raised his head and wandered forward, then in a circle trying to find anything he could. The rest watched him stomp around for a while, then frustratingly give up.

“Shit! Fuck...” Hopeful trotted up to the rest, head hung low. “I shoulda went sooner, dammit... How far do these fucks live!?” He fell to his knees and let himself fall onto his side. “I should have just killed that Pegasus, instead of letting him get away... fucking hell.”

The clouds began shifting as a blizzard began forming. The soldiers got to their hooves and watched the winds in the distance get more violent.

Spring went and sat down beside Hopeful, “Hopeful, can we go back now?”

“That's probably best, yeah.” Hopeful sighed, defeated, and pulled himself up to stand. “Come on, everypony, let's hurry. Weather is picking up.”

As a group, they turned around to go back the way they came, re stepping into their own hoofprints.

All of them were disappointed as they walked dishearteningly back. Quick Draw swore under his breath, being livid alongside Hopeful, who went between them to get to the front of the pack. On his way, he asked Glisten a question. “Do you have your map? We're gonna need to follow it when the snow covers up our steps.”

“Let me get it out, one moment.” She sat down and the rest of them waited, she lifted up her camo blanket to open her bag, once she did she reached down to bite onto the map sticking out of her saddlebag.

She brought the map out and was surprised by the wind smashing into her, as it sped up instantly and without warning. Glisten shut her eyes and tried to block the winds with her hoof, she collapsed into the snow and the map flew out from between her teeth. She reached out a hoof trying to grab it as it flew upwards. “No! Aw, shoot.”

“Fuck! What are we gonna do now?!” Spring, wide-eyed, watched the map float up into the clouds.

“Calm down, Darling, I have another. But let's get out of the wind before I take it out, agreed?” Glistens voice was nearly drowned out by the weather.

Hopeful said, now shouting. “Actually we might have to start running; this looks like it’s gonna be a big one. Everyone ready-y-y... What the fuck?” He glanced a look at the floating map getting thrown about in the air and behind it noticed something quite peculiar. An almost glowing, white substance that blended in with the clouds with shining blue eyes. It moved upward into the skies, blowing the clouds with a powerful gust of wind. It flew strangely gracefully and majestically and looked as if it had ghostly legs and body. Hopeful could have sworn it was galloping.

Everypony spun around and watched in awe as the creature blew a massive barrage of wind into the clouds, separating them. Then it disappeared, just like that. The sun beamed light down the gaping hole, the snow lit up to be almost blindingly bright. While the rest rubbed their eyes in both shock and the shift in light, Hopeful stared up into the crater in the cloud. He reached down for the binoculars hanging around his neck and lifted them up to his eyes.

There he saw, standing on top of the clouds, holding a pair of their own binoculars, staring right back at him.

A Pegasus, in full steel battle armor.

Behind them were buildings made from steel, flags of the Pegasi nation of Pegassia and a clear-as-day Thunder Cannon at their side.

For a very brief moment in time, the Pegasus and Hopeful stared at each other.

Hopeful could feel in his heart a gentle build up of realization.

He blinked, shook his head and saw that the Pegasus did the same.

Hopeful bellowed. “FIGHTING POSITIONS!”

He jumped onto his stomach, kicking back snow with his legs, digging into it for cover. Glisten and Spring did the same, practically synchronized.

“GET THOSE MACHINE GUNS UP! BASALT, SHARP, SET UP THAT MORTAR!”

Fury and Quick ripped off their camouflage sheets and threw the guns down into the snow, landing with a sudden indent and crunch into the snow, but then turning into a gentle descent down further. They jumped into the snow beside the guns and hurried in setting them up, raising them onto their bipods and loading them.

In the same moments, Basalt and Sharp struggled with the mortar, fumbling pieces and dropping them into the snow, before frantically scooping them up. Together, they began assembly, standing it up and trying to get it ready to shoot. Basalt threw down her saddlebag down onto the ground, it was filled to the brim with mortar shells, some spilling out into the snow.

Hopeful, now aiming his rifle, watched as the Pegasi did the same. Desperately trying to prepare for attack before their enemies did. He watched as the Pegasi shouted out orders and his soldiers ran around, some preparing for a fly-by, some arming and steering the Thunder Cannons, all in the span of a few seconds.

Hopeful transitioned into a state of deep concentration and took his first shot, aiming at the Pegasus General. The distance was too great to see where the bullet had landed, he could only barely make out the Pegasi's shock of a bullet whizzing by as they ducked for cover. He instinctively counted the shot by saying “One...” to himself.

Hopeful glanced at the Thunder Cannon, a monstrous death-machine. It consisted of a driver's seat connected to a humongous metal cylinder with shiny steel containers attached for cooling and reloading. A thick steel ring ran around the chamber, slowly rising up it. Once it had reached the top it would be armed, ready to fire. Once it would fire, the ring would crash down, creating the iconic thunder clashing noise. A periscope was dropped through the clouds for aiming as the cannon was flown into other clouds using razor sharp propellers that spun at hundreds of revolutions a second.

A platoon of Pegasi flew threw the hole, prepared to fire their droppers onto Hopeful and his soldiers once they had gotten above them. Some of the Pegasi looked terrified, flapping their wings ferociously in a nervous breakdown to pure instinct. They could taste the cold cancer of death in the back of their throats as they knew they could be shot down at any moment.

For one instant in time, Hopeful felt an exuberant rush of adrenaline, mixed with the malice joy of being feared. Then it quickly turned to a strange sympathy, as he felt the cool chill of a possible death run down his own spine, the grasp of ''What if'' had filled his mind like the ongoing storm. What if this is where he dies? What if any of his friends die? What if this was all a massive mistake? A thousand questions blinked through his mind.

He pulled back the bolt of his rifle.

He set those thoughts aside, realizing his situation and how his only option was to fight. He pushed the bolt back, readying his gun and aiming at one of the six Pegasi flying toward them.

He heard two shots go off, from either side of him. One of the fleet stopped flapping, nosedived and smashed into the snow, leaving a gory mush of a corpse in a tiny crater in the dirt. Spring, who was to Hopeful’s right, was in a rush cocking his rifle, angrily shouting to himself after he missed. “Fuck, Fuck!”

Hopeful fired his round, yet again counting, “Two...” He hit the center flier as they zigzagged in the sky, trying to dodge the bullets. The Pegasus fell and crashed into the ground similarly to the last, only much closer this time. The stench of death hit them all as the wind blew the scent of the desecrated Pegasi corpse towards them.

The four remaining fliers pushed against the tormenting winds, nearly above their targets they armed their Droppers seconds away from Hopeful's regiment.

As they grew closer, Hopeful, Glisten, and Spring managed to fire their shots once more. They were all shaking from the chilling fear and nerves.

They missed all their shots.

Hopeful braced for an impact, waiting for the screech as the Pegasi reached them.

Instead he heard a rattle from directly behind him causing his shoulders to jolt up in surprise as Quick Draw managed to ready his Machine gun. Hopeful twisted his head back to see Quick with a stomach-curling calmness on his face, leading up to a grin as he kept firmly holding the trigger. Pointing the gun practically directly upward, each of the Pegasi hadn't the chance to drop their grenades before they were shot down. Blood stained the bottom of the cloud-cover as the Pegasi dived to the earth, barely overshooting Hopefuls group.

Once they landed, their grenades triggered, one by one as they hit the dirt.

Each of their bodies went down with a focused explosion, devastating the ground along with each carcass of the Pegasi as the impact of the explosion shredded their bodies, launching blood and guts into the air.

The stench was toxic to Hopeful’s Troop. Holding their breaths was a slim mercy as eventually their lungs demanded air and their mouths fell to their demands. They opened their mouths, inhaling the vile, polluted air. Most of them held back the need to vomit as their throats clogged with the infectious, dreadful taste of the air.

Hopeful willed through, looking back up, realizing the snow around him had been splattered red, and without-a-doubt so was he. He could not feel it though, as the dampness of his sweat washed out the feeling of anything else that grazed him.

The hole in the sky that had once been there was now gone, covered by the propelled clouds. The Thunder Cannon could be anywhere.

He turned back to Basalt and Sharp, just now finishing the mortar, focused on its assembly like their lives depended on it, because they did.

“FIRE A C.C. SHELL ABOVE US NOW!” Hopeful barked the order at Basalt.

“CLOUD CLEARER COMING UP!” she shouted back as she found a mortar shell with the two letters ''C.C.'' imprinted on.

She nodded to Sharp, who nervously nodded back, holding the mortar in position, then dropped the shell into the tube and leaned back, covering her ears.

The C-C shell ripped through the sky. With its uniquely carved tip, it was designed to spin through the air while creating a wide cone of air that would burst through and separate the clouds, finishing off with an incendiary detonation, burning as much of the clouds as possible.

The eruption of flame came from the newly opened hole above them, hitting a group of Pegasi by surprise. One directly under the blast got set aflame, his mane and coat coated with napalm.

They caught fire and this Pegasus panicked, jumping into and rolling in the clouds, screaming his lungs out before deciding to jump down to the cool snow below.

Halfway through his descent he was mowed down by Quicks machine gun. A burning, bullet-riddled body lay in the snow a short distance away from them.

Fury cocked his now assembled machine gun, noisily racking the first round.

He looked up at the unsuspecting Pegasi running out of their dormitories, lunch halls and armories, trying to prepare a defense.

He held down the trigger, firing round after round into the sky. Pegasi collapsed left and right.

Fury began shooting through the clouds themselves, no-longer aiming through the hole as the ponies standing around it had ran away or been shot.

Hopeful, Glisten and Spring joined into the bombardment, firing their rifles into the sky.

Sharp and Basalt took initiative and armed their mortar again, this time with a H.E. round.

Sharp looked down the sights of the mortar, a tiny angled scope that pointed upward with distance markings embedded into the sight.

He waited to spot the Thunder Cannon, adjusting the sights around the cloud breach until he saw the tip of the Cannon peak out from behind a building. Aiming the mortar in the Thunder Cannon’s path, he gave the go ahead to Basalt and she launched the round.

It screeched through the air, barely grazing its barrel. It scratched the paint before knocking against the ring at the very top.

It erupted and instantly killed the pilot. The Cannon was bent and disfigured, the seat on its side blown off. only a short second passed before another explosion was heard, this one much larger as the chain reaction of the Mortar round set off the primed Lightning shell in the Cannon itself.

The explosion blew away everything in its path. The shockwave nearly erupted Hopeful’s eardrums as the air flung him down into the snow. His vision blurred and he felt both a migraine and a fuzzy tickle in his muscles. Several massive buildings were flattened around the blast, nothing more than smoldering scrap. The tremendous boom, in an aftershock, emitted lightning. The Pegasi that had been outside of its large blast radius, and the ones that were not disintegrated instantly, got hit by bolts of lightning, killing most, if not, paralyzing them for what short amount of life they had left.

Hopeful stared at the ravaging destruction they had just caused. He watched as the incredibly tall Thunder Cannon blew away the cloud it had been held up on. The smoldering metal chucks of the death machine began falling through the sky, along with scraps of other buildings all around them.

Hopeful shouted out.

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!”

Slags of steel collapsed around them, still sparking with electricity.

They all tried to dig themselves into the snow, as far as possible, as fast as possible.

But it seemed like the winds were on their side, as chunk after chunk fell and missed them by a hair’s breadth.

They waited until it became relatively quiet, the wind had calmed and the blizzard came to an abrupt ending.

Once the snow had settled, they popped their heads out of the ground. Hopeful watched as shadows coming from above the clouds flew away, retreating.

Quick swiftly shouted up at them. “RUN YOU COWARDS! WOO!”

Sharp stared upward, looking at the vast crater in the clouds left after the explosion. He scanned from side to side until he looked directly above him. He saw red hot metal slag, stuck into the cloud over his head, melting through it slowly. “AHHH!” He screamed louder than he ever had in his life as he fumbled up out of the snow, trying to jump out from its path.

The chunk fell, its razor-sharp, jagged edges flying toward him. Everypony scrambled away, Sharp only making it so far before it landed on top of his hind-leg, slicing it into two clean halves.

“AGHHH, AGHHHHHH” His screams deteriorated into sobbing. “Aghhhh... agh... ahhh...”

Spring jumped to his hooves, taking out medical supplies. He jumped in and pulled Sharp away from the slag and began patching up his leg.

“SHARP! Are you ok, buddy?” Hopeful kept switching from watching the Pegasi escape and Sharp bleeding, unsure of what to do next.

Basalt and Glisten gathered around Sharp.

“It’s ok, darling, deep breaths. You're going to live.” Glisten sat beside him, holding his hoof. She glanced up at Spring. “He is going to live, right?”

Spring took out disinfectant, simply a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured some onto his own hoof before applying it to his stump of a leg. Spring waited for Sharp’s ear piercing scream to end before answering. “Yeah, he'll live. Might have to get him a pegleg after, but he'll live.”

Basalt looked up from the ongoing field-surgery and at Hopeful. “We have to go back. Sharp needs to get into a bed and shelter fast.”

Sharp pleaded threw the pain. “Please-eeees....”

Quick, who had been watching the Pegasi retreat also turned to Hopeful. “We have them on the run. If we go after them now, we could finish them all off for good.”

Hopeful shook his head between them before shutting his eyes. He thought for a moment before opening them again. “Alright, Spring. Can you carry Sharp back to base?”

“I can help him walk, yeah,” he said, and returned to stitching up the wound.

“Great. The rest of you, we gotta pack this stuff up and then go finish the job.”

Basalt looked, questioningly, “Are you sure Hopeful, wouldn't it be best to go again another day?”

Glisten stood up. “And what if somepony else gets hurt and Spring isn't be with us?”

“Don’t worry about getting hurt. This happened way too suddenly and we're lucky as shit to not all be dead. We'll keep our distance this go around, take our time. Also if we wait till tomorrow, then they’ll have time to prepare for us, it will be much harder to fight them then. We should go while we have the advantage.”

Quick began packing up his machine gun away. “Yeah! Let's do this! Come on, Glisten, I know you wanna.”

She let out a sigh. “Not particularly... but if you all think it's what's best, then I’ll come.”

Spring began lifting a nerve-shot Sharp Eye from the ground and put his hoof around his shoulder to help him walk, “Don't worry, Hopeful. I'll be getting him home safe. Just make sure no one else dies, especially you. Promise?”

“I promise, nopony is going to die. Do you have a map to get back?”

“Of course. We packed like five.”

“Great... Everyone else ready?”

As Glisten and Basalt began packing the Mortar, Basalt replied, “Yes, Sir, one minute.”

Hopeful watched as Spring and Sharp hobbled away.

He eventually turned to face the direction the Pegasi flew. He pulled out his binoculars and could spot the shadows. He counted about twenty, all flying in the same direction.

Hopeful was snuck up on by Fury from the side. “Well, Sir, what's your brilliant plan this time to find where those Pegasi went?” he asked mockingly, meaning it to be a rhetorical question.

“They’re going to be going to some smaller base or scout camp, or just set up temporary shelter on a cloud. Which should be easy to spot their shadows as they don't have time to camouflage the clouds, so building foundations would be easily seen. But to be completely honest with you...” He paused as he stared at another glowing white substance gliding away, same as the one from earlier, flying the same direction as the Pegasi.

He set down his binoculars. “...I’ve got a gut feeling.”

Two Birds One Stone

After they had packed, reloaded and rested, Hopeful and his crew yet again found themselves traversing the snow-capped landscape. The only thing differentiating this journey from any other was their unusually happy moods.

“... and at the last second, BANG BANG BANG, they all fell and then their grenades went off, blowing them up all around us!” Quick recounted the battle as exuberantly as he could with gestures and sound effects, excitement beaming off of him.

“Yes, we understand, Quick, you're a hero. But would you mind not walking so close darling? You still reek of blood.” Glisten held her nose as Quick hopped around. While most of them ditched their camouflage, which protected them from the blood splatter, Fury and Quick's clothes were drenched.

Quick stepped more to the side. “As blindingly awesome as I am, the real hero here is Hopeful. Not just his excellent command, but he's also the one who found the base, after all.”

“Please, Quick, you give me too much credit. I was about to give up before whatever that thing was blew away the clouds.” Hopeful watched the skies, wondering if it was around.

“You guys saw that thing too?” Basalt asked. “The big, wispy, glowing thing.”

“I thought that was just the sunlight bouncing off the clouds in a weird way. I mean, when's the last time we've seen proper sunshine like that?” Quick added.

“I've heard of many-a-creature from books and such. Manticores, Hydras, Ursas, but I've never read anything about a snow-ghost,” Glisten said, trying to think of more monsters.

Fury sighed aloud. “Can you stop talking about this like it was a living creature? It was shiny snow in a blizzard. Nothing more to it.”

“Well, Darling, it seems to me like you lack imagination,” Glisten smirked.

“And it seems to me you lack realism,” Fury retorted.

Hopeful piped up, “You two, no bickering. Basalt, you got the time?”

Basalt took out a small, standard issue pocket watch. “Three hours till sundown, sir.”

“We've got an hour left to search before we gotta go back. Keep your eyes peeled, everypony,” Hopeful spoke aloud to everyone.

“What exactly are we looking for again?” Basalt asked him.

“A patch of cloud that's darker than normal. They'll be setting up tents and weapons and we should be able to see their shadows,” Hopeful answered.

They kept trotting along, side-by-side, searching for the Pegasi and chatting. But after a while, as their legs grew weary, they took rest at the roots of a dead thicket. They split their last rations and Quick and Fury went to try and wash out some of the blood out of their uniforms using the snow.

The temperature began falling as the sun lowered. The adrenaline of the battle had faded away and the shivers returned to the ponies. They lit a small fire to huddle around, warming themselves to prepare for the rest of the journey.

Fury came back to sit next to the fire carrying his jacket in his mouth, he dropped the soaked jacket close the the flames to heat it up. Glisten looked around to see if Quick was coming back too, Fury then said to them, “He's nearly done, and he said he wanted to talk to you, Hopeful.”

Hopeful lifted up his head from staring at the waving flames in confusion. “Why?”

“He didn't say.” Fury lifted up his hooves, pointing them into the fire for warmth.

Hopeful reluctantly stood up from the fire and trotter a short way to where Quick was scrubbing his jacket off a tree trunk.

“Do you know how hard it is to get blood out of wool?” Quick smiled.

“Not really,” Hopeful said as he got closer, looking over his shoulder at the fire then back at Quick.

“Really fucking hard.” Quick stopped scrubbing to show a light pinkish red staining his jacket.

“You didn't bring me away from the comfort and heat of the fire to talk about laundry, did you?”

Quick stood up and threw his jacket onto his shoulder. “I wanted to see how you were doing. Before the fight you got pretty fucking angry. I won't lie, I was somewhat concerned, but you seem to be coming back to your regular self. So really I just want to ask how you're holding up.”

“Alot better actually. I will admit that fight was a huge relief, you know... After what happened...” Hopeful let his head fall down.

Quick walked up to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Wicker would be proud, just like my brother would be proud of me.”

“She would, yeah... you're right.” Hopeful nodded.

“We still got work to do though. There's still Pegasi flying up there and we gotta fix that. As my father used to say, ‘only good kind o' Pegasus is a dead Pegasus.’” Quick gave him a hearty hoofshake. “We should go, we're shedding daylight.”

“Yeah go get warmed up, I'll join you in a bit...” Hopeful then watched as Quick trotted back to the group and was welcomed back in delight.

Hopeful took a breath and leaned a hoof onto a nearby tree, he dropped his head downward and sighed. “You're doing the right thing, Hopeful.” He said to himself in reassurance.

“She would be proud.”

“So, there it is...” Hopeful watched through his binoculars as a flurry of shadows crossed the sky in the distance.

A machine gun was cocked behind him and shortly after, the other gun too.

Hopeful spoke silently, almost to a whisper. “We're doing this one by the books. Quick, I want you on offensive fire. Fury, defensive.” The two of them nodded to his order.

Hopeful looked over at the two mares building the mortar. “Basalt and Glisten, once you're done assembling it we're gonna start by focusing on that large shadow over there.” He pointed up at the clouds where a very large dark patch stood, and slightly getting bigger as things were brought there by the Pegasi. “From the looks of it, it's a couple of tents, or maybe they're building a cannon. Either way it's our target.”

Glisten and Basalt finished putting the mortar together and began aiming it.

“Alright, on my mark we clear those clouds up and begin firing. We need to do this fast if we want to get them all this time. Fury, keep your eyes open. If they don't get shot down by Quick, I want you to make sure to get 'em before they get close. I don't want to be killed by a falling corpse.

“Ready with the mortar?”

Basalt nodded with her eye in the sight, right on target.

“Make sure to account for the wind, it's picking up again.”

“Yes'sir,” she said, gently tilting the mortar to the right.

“Well, if everyone's ready...” Hopeful crawled down onto his stomach and equipped his rifle.

“FIRE!”

A ground pounding thud blasted as smoke popped from the mortar and the shell pierced the sky. The clouds were swirled in a beautiful fluffy cone and a burst of fire which lite up the sky like the morning sun. Revealing what looked like cloud-brick buildings and ponies on the other side, the gap in the clouds landed just before their target, giving Quick a perfect area to rattle his machine gun into.

Quick sprayed his gunfire. At this distance, it was difficult to see what was going on up there, but as Pegasus after Pegasus fell, it became quite clear their plan was working perfectly.

Hopeful watched through the iron-sight of his rifle, smiling at his troops’ performance.

Fury saw several shadows scatter around. He started taking them out one by one, starting with the closest ones and making his way to the further Pegasi, taking several shots for each one until they fell.

The Pegasi rained from the sky. Splats of blood were seen in the distance, dotting the landscape.

Hopeful, though pleased, became worrisome. As he counted Pegasi after Pegasi, there seemed to be far more then they saw escape from the military camp. Hopeful thought to himself, “This can't be another base, can it? Why would they have two so close to each other?”

Hopeful laid down his rifle and inspected the clouds with his binoculars again. He tried to find what their original target actually was, “It can't be...” he whispered to himself. He could no longer find what was causing the large shadow. As bullets kept whizzing by, mortar shells were shot at a constant, tight pace and more and more Pegasi kept hitting the dirt. The Pegasi began retreating. Several small flight groups could be seen flying directly away from them.

As Hopeful saw them escape, his attention was grabbed by something even further away. Where the Pegasi were flying was an immense, brooding storm.

Hopeful gasped at its size, the wind thrashing so quickly it formed together into a supercell. A supercell that began swallowing up the clouds and snow as it became coated white with them. Its size and power could be heard and felt from where they laid. His astonishment was interrupted by Basalt shaking him on his shoulder.

He shook his head and turned around to look at her.

“Hopeful, what do we do now? They're flying away and they started a twister!”

Quick marveled in horror. “How the fuck did they make that so fast?”

Hopeful stood up. “They didn't.”

“What do you mean they didn't? Who the fuck else controls the weather?!” Quick shouted over the loudness of the winds.

“They couldn't make something that big that fast. Something else made that thing... And we're going to use it to our advantage.”

Fury stood up to face Hopeful. “What the hell makes you think they aren't controlling it? And even if they aren't, how are we going to use a fucking storm against Pegasi!?”

“Firstly, I have fucking binoculars and I can see it's not them!” Hopeful walked up right into Fury's face.

“And second, we're going to use it ‘cause they can't go through it, can they? If they did, they would end up dead, or a minimum of breaking a wing. So they're gonna have to fly away from it. They certainly ain't flying this way to us so they're gonna scatter to the left and right. All we have to do is go there and shoot 'em down.”

Glisten looked up from the mortar. “Darling, I believe you're forgetting, we can't outrun a flyer.”

“We can in this fucking weather.” Hopeful grabbed his helmet and held it to his head from the fear of it blowing off of his head. “Quick and Fury, both of you run in opposite directions for a few hundred meters or so with your machine guns. Hopefully you'll be able to pick the rest of them off. We'll all meet back up where we set up camp earlier.”

“Whatever you say. Hope you're right about this,” Quick said as he pulled his gun out of the snow and began running to the left.

“I doubt it. There are Pegasi in that twister. Maybe not the ones we we're shooting at, but there are still some in there.” Fury picked his gun up. “But if you want to waste time with this, then I guess I'll see you all at the rendezvous.”

Fury turned and galloped the opposite way.

“So you're absolutely sure that storm isn't the Pegasi..?” Glisten asked before seeing Hopeful throw his binoculars at her hooves.

She stepped a hoof on it and slid the strap around her head as it flapped in the air. She lifted it up and blinked her eyes, adjusting her sight.

Hopeful watched her reaction of terror. Her head edged back, eyes widened and ears flinched down.

She zoomed the binoculars in further and then let out an “Oh my...” before jumping back and letting the binoculars fall and hang around her neck as she put a hoof against her muzzle and shut her eyes, holding back the urge to vomit.

“What? Whatcha see?” Basalt hopped up.

“Umm... Nothing darling... Just a pony getting ripped in half by a flying tree...” Glisten returned the binoculars. “I believe you, but now what are we going to do?”

“Split up, try get any Pegasi Fury and Quick miss. First, we're gonna need to disassemble that mortar.”

“Yes, Sir.” Basalt saluted then kneeled down and began packing up the mortar. “But, Sir, umm... where do you think all the rest of those Pegasi came from? You said only twenty or so escaped, but there seems to be at least a hundred up there.”

Hopeful peered through the binoculars and watched as Pegasi struggled to fly against the high speed winds, they were so far away that even the binoculars struggled in showing detail due to the growing blizzard. “It could be another military base... although those buildings were made of cloud and not metal... I honestly don't know...”

Hopeful jumped as he heard rattling echo in the distance.

He brought up his rifle to the front of his chest, “If I can trust you two to pack that mortar, I'll be off.”

Basalt lifted her head from what she was doing to salute, “You can count on us.” Then the tube of the mortar fell on its side as she let it go.

Glisten sat down to help, “You can count on one of us at least...” she said, giving Basalt a sly look.

Basalt was taken back, insulted. “And what's that supposed to mean, Miss Fancy Glitter?”

This just confused Glisten. “Did you mean that to be an insult? You said it like it was, but it did not sound like one.”

Hopeful rolled his eyes.

They both saw and apologized, quickly returning to dead-eyeing each other.

“Be at the rendezvous in twenty minutes.” Hopeful began trotting slowly through the snow in the direction of Quick's gunfire. As he went off, he shouted over his shoulder with a smile, “AND NO KILLING EACH OTHER!”

Basalt jokingly replied, “No promises!”

After a hearty jog, Hopeful found decided to lay down where he ended up, nearly halfway between where Quick was and where Basalt and Glisten were.

He dug himself into the snow, with a shiver he aimed his rifle up at the skies.

The distant rattling kept on banging in irregular patterns. From the distance, he could see the tornado not just moving closer to them, but growing as well.

Every few far off shots was complemented with a Pegasus flying to the dirt, far away like specks of mud being cleaned from the white sheets of the clouds.

Hopeful aimed his rifle and watched for any Pegasi coming his way.

After a lengthy wait, he saw a pegasus, flying underneath the clouds to not deal with the winds above them.

Hopeful raised his rifle, took a breath and shot it out of the sky, cocking the bolt-action like clockwork. “One.”

The Pegasus never saw it coming as Hopeful lay in the snow like a cold-hearted, unseen assassin.

Another Pegasus flew not too far away from the one Hopeful had shot. It tried to push through the clouds to fly above them, but alas, on its way up it was shot in the wing, causing it to nosedive.

Again like clockwork.

“Two.”

And again...

“Three.”

...it continued...

“Four.”

...like clockwork.

Then a silence, for a brief moment.

Hopeful stared, with cold, dead eyes. Still looking.

Nearly a minute later, a whole group of them flew in his direction, with ten or so Pegasi shadows blending in with each other and the ever-darkening cloud as the sunset drew nearer.

Hopeful knew he wouldn't be able to get them all, but he didn't care.

He wanted as many as he could get.

So he shot the last four shots in his clip in sequence, “Five, Six, Seven, Eight...” As far as he could tell all of his shots missed, his last one was aimed directly above him as the Pegasi whooshed past him.

He dropped his head down to reload his gun. He popped the empty clip out and from his belt he took out a new clip and slipped it into the top of the rifle.

His spine then flinched as he heard the sound of his nightmares once again.

A screech.

Right above him.

He winced at his own stupidity, he shouted at himself in his own head. “FUCK, WHY DID I REVEAL MY POSITION, FUCK, I SHOULDN'T HAVE GOT GREEDY, I SHOULDN'T HAVE... FUCK! FUCK... FUuu...”

The noise became loud enough he could feel the bomb looming over him, but a gust of wind came from behind in a swoosh, brushing along his mane, the screeching stopped.

“Huh..?”

He raised his head from between his hooves.

Slowly.

Ever so slowly.

His head shuddering and body trembling.

His breath left his mouth in with a frosty white fog.

He arose onto his shaking hooves.

In front of him were skid marks scraped against the snow and unearthed the dirt beneath it.

At the end of those skid marks was something Hopeful wished he never had saw again.

There stood a pony, a Pegasus specifically.

She had a yellow coat, covered in patches of snow.

Her mane was a smooth, golden colour. Although it had been made humble with the passage of time, it had lost its flowy complexion and instead looked rough and ridged underneath her steel helmet.

She was making it too her hooves after her impromptu landing. She was holding something gray and shiny, Hopeful put two and two together and figured she was holding the bomb that nearly ended his life.

Hopeful watched in awe as she opened her wings powerfully, spreading them far and wide, and like a majestic hawk she pounced into the air.

“HEY, GET FUCKING BACK HERE!” Hopeful cocked his newly loaded rifle and shot at her as she made it only a few meters into the air. “ONE!”

The bullet whizzed by her, shocking her, she turned her head and locked eyes with Hopeful and they exchanged enraged stares.

Then she blasted away, directly upward. Faster than any Pegasus Hopeful has ever seen.

Hopeful kept shooting, but even he could not hit such a swift and nimble target. “TWO, THREE, FOUR!”

He shot one last round just as she touched the cloud, holding dearly onto the bomb in her left hoof.

The bullet pierced her armor and shattering her shoulder-bone. The impact force spun her in a circle and begin falling. “FIVE, BITCH!”

She regained control from her spinning nosedive, using the speed of the fall to propel herself forward and away from Hopeful.

He jumped down onto his back, facing away from the tornado and towards the Pegasus.

She was making her escape, again nearly at cloud cover, this time much further away from him.

He panicked at the thought of her escape and shot two of his rounds, “Six, seven... shit.”

Both shots missed as she weaved back and forth against the winds.

Hopeful pushed off the snow and flipped over onto his stomach, he took a deep breath, inhaling the blisteringly cold air into his lungs.

With his last shot, he felt the adrenaline flow through him, the feeling of fire in his heart and pure concentration made time slow for him.

He saw every flap of her wings, she was only getting faster and would be gone in only a few seconds.

He had the shot lined up.

Hoof over the trigger.

Slightly hesitant.

He found himself tearing up with anger.

Her voice echoed in his head.

“...its nothing personal...”

He clenched his eyes shut.

He dismayed the though with a shake of his head.

Opened his eyes, now flowing with tears.

With the flick of the trigger, he sent his last bullet careening at her.

“Eight... Huhhhh...” Hopeful dropped his head into the snow with shut eyes, breathing heavily.

His ears perked up, the hushed screech of a Pegasus falling in the distance made him smile.

He raised his head to see the explosion he was expecting from the bomb she was holding.

But once he heard the thud of her body hitting the cold earth hidden behind a hill, no explosion erupted. The sound of the ongoing storm muffled any other noise and consumed the atmosphere.

Hopeful wiped his eyes with the side of his leg, and stumbled up onto his hooves. “What the fuck?”

He tried to walk forward, collapsing into the snow, feeling weak.

He tried once more, forcing himself up. He gained pace and starting making his way up the hill that the Pegasus landed behind. He began running until he reached the top, tripping and sliding down in the snow a few meters.

Standing himself up against the ground with his quivering hooves, his injured leg almost collapsed before he rolled over to sit on his behind.

Snow covered him, stuck inside his clothes and helmet. His jaw shook and body shivered powerfully.

He threw his helmet off to the side and looked out, trying to find where the Pegasus landed.

He found himself sitting at the edge of a short drop. Beneath him lay a broken Pegasus.

The bullet had gotten her in the side, spilling blood all around her. The impact of the fall disfigured her body; her ribs were smashed, a bone of one of her legs had been broken, shattered and poking through her skin. The wing she landed on was crushed completely into the dirt, leaving feathers around her. Her other was still trying to flap in a meaningless last effort. Her helmet had fallen off in the landing and some of the joints in her armor stabbed into her and made blood seep through small gaps in the metal sheets. She limply winced on the ground. The hoof she was holding the bomb in was empty, and a small, messy, bloody trail led away from her and beneath Hopeful where there seemed to be a short cave.

Hopeful scooted to the very edge before hopping down, landing on his side and then standing up. He tumbled toward the Pegasus. Once he had gotten close enough he could see her cutie mark.

Three small suns, each with a smile on its face.

Standing above her, she looked up at him in hatred.

Her jaw quivered, chest inflating and deflating trying to catch a breath. Blood dribbled out of her mouth as she pushed herself to speak. “Fufufff... Fff... Fffuck, Y-yyy... Youuu... Heartless-sss... Ba- bastards...” Her eyes swelled up in tears.

Hopeful looked down at her, enraged. “You kill my wife and daughter, in cold blood, and you call me heartless...” He placed the tip of his bayonet onto her throat.

Unfazed by his threat, she replied. “I-iiv'e done... Aa-a lot of shit... I-ii... I re-regret... Bubbu-but never like wh-wha... What you just did...” She looked directly into Hopefuls eyes, inciting a small flicker of fear. “Kill... Me... Already...” she said as loudly and angrily she could.

“What have I done that could even POSSIBLY compare to you murdering my family?!” He pressed the blade against her neck.

“Mmmu-murder… ering a ff-few dozen.” Blood soaked her slowly blinking eyes.

Hopeful raised his head, face covered in shock and realization. He inspected his rifle, it was splattered with blood. “Did... Did we attack..?”

“An-nn, innoce-cennt-t, civ... civilian town, and you kn-nnew... You fuffu...fucker... Don't you dare lie.” She coughed violently several times, blood oozing out of her mouth.

“I-I... D-did I just...” He felt the surge of tears bursting up again. He spun and chucked his rifle behind him. It landed in the snow with a crunch. “Why..? Why did you retreat to a town? Not a military base?”

“We di… didn't go there to retreat… We went th-tthere to evacuat-tte it… What, didn't-tt think... of… that..? T-ttipical fu-fucking ant... now finish y-your damn job and JUST, KILL, ME-EE-eee... And leave...” shouting took a lot out of her, making her take a moment to catch her breath.

Hopeful turned back to her and looked at the bloodied trail leading from her hooves. He walked up right beside her. “What were you holding? That wasn't a bomb was it...”

She glared at him as he said that. She gestured to him to come closer, which he reluctantly did, leaning down beside her. While he wasn't looking, she brought her wing to her side reaching down to something. She shouted into Hopefuls ear, “I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER!” And with a flick of her wing, she brought out a grenade, holding it straight up.

Hopeful's eyes jumped, he instinctively turned and kicked the wing holding the grenade with his hind leg and and threw himself backwards and while he fell the explosion launched him outwards, rolling toward the cave.

He stared up at the sky, on his back. Feeling the freezing, looming of death that he barely avoided. Looking up he saw the Pegasus that was still in the blast radius had been killed. Her corpse even more horrifying than before as parts of her flesh were blasted off, revealing bone.

Hopeful sat, terrified.

His head shaking, he eased it down to rest in his blood covered hooves.

He never had felt so full of fear and confusion. He opened his eye and brushed the trail beneath him with his hoof. He found himself sitting next to his rifle, which he wrapped around and behind his saddlebags without thinking. He began making a thorough inspection of the dirt as he saw hoofprints between the blood and cleared snow. He saw they were small, but the shock had left his thoughts a scramble and he could not grasp what it was.

Then he heard something from behind, something more fear-invoking than a screecher bomb, something more intense than a machine gun rattling at his side, something that Hopeful heard every night in his nightmares.

A young, tired, scared voice came from behind him inside the cave. It was very gentle and innocent, quiet as a butterfly.

“Mommy..?”

Hopefuls spine shot up, mouth open. With great caution he turned his head, leaning on a hoof to see behind him.

A filly, she stood at the edge of the cave entrance, only poking out a curious little head. She had a grey, shiny coat and mane. Her cheek had a streak of blood across it. She looked the same height as SugarCoat, she most likely the same age as Sugar when she was killed.

She saw Hopeful and was terrified. She ducked her head down behind the corner.

Hopeful stood straight up. Walking up to the shadowed entrance, he could hear her shiver and whimper as she hid, frightened for her life.

He gently moved forward, placed a light hoof onto the cold stone edging the entrance.

He leaned his head in and saw the filly.

She covered her face with her wings, trying to conceal herself. Keeping back her cry's as best as she could.

Hopeful stood a hoof into the cave, the step echoed loudly.

The filly screamed. “AAAAAAA!!!” It was unbearably high-pitched, so much so that Hopeful had to cover his ears. She crawled backwards until she reached the stone wall behind her, she climbed against it and covered herself with her hooves. “P-Ppplease d-d-dd, don't hurt m-me! I-I, I didn't do anything-inggg...”

Hopeful ran up to her, his fatherly instincts rushing back to him as he watched this little filly plead for her life. “I'm not here to hurt you, I'm... I'm here to help...”

She saw him get closer and tried to curl up into a ball, “NO! Yy-You're one of the bad ponies! You hurt mommy and now you're going to hurt meee-eee...!” Her hooves were soaked in tears.

“No, I-I...” Hopeful could not bare to see her cry, he ever-so slowly lowered a hoof to her shoulder. “I'm not here to hurt anypony.”

She flinched down into the ground when she was touched, expecting to be hit. But as nothing happened she opened an eye to look at him. Her head shook at first, slowly calming. “You're n-nn, not one of the bad ponies?”

Hopeful took a look at himself, knowing what he was about to say was a blatant lie. “No, I'm not one of the bad ponies.”

He sat down and tried once more to comfort her, this time she let him place his hoof on her shoulder.

“Y-you're a Pegasus?” She smiled, blissfully full of relief.

Hopeful panicked, “Ugh... Y-yes... Yes! I am, I'm here to help you.” Something in his stomach churned as he said that, it almost disgusted him on a primal level, yet he found that disgust quickly turned back onto him as he began hating himself for what he had done to the Pegasi. He was no better than them, if not worse.

The filly sat up and gaped at him, “But where are your wings?” Fear began returning to her expression.

Hopeful knew there was no going back now, “Ugh, their... Their under my clothes.”

This still had not put her at ease, “Bu-bu, but that's the bad pony clothes.”

“It's... It's a disguise! I'm trying to hide from them... The... The bad ponies...” As much as Hopeful hated referring to his friends and his race like that, he agreed with the statement more every time he heard it.

“But why don't you just fly away?” She had stopped trembling, but still wisely cautious.

“I, I can't, my wing is hurt... I got shot...” He turned his side to her, showing his bloody overcoat. While it was Pegasus blood, it surely wasn't his own.

“I... I got shot too.” She raised her left hoof, whimpering. Hopeful saw there was an entrance and exit wound from a M1 Gallop rifle round in the center of her leg.

“Here, let me patch you up.” Hopeful turned to drop his saddlebag on the ground, as he searched through it to find his bandages she screamed again. “AAAAAA! You are a bad pony! That's a gun! You have a gun!” she fell onto her back.

Hopeful jolted up out of his saddlebag and saw his rifle that he had dropped along his bags.

“No, no! That's just part of the disguise! It's not even real!” He went and picked up his rifle swiftly.

“It, i-it looks real. If it's not, then prove it!” she raised herself up slightly.

“Uh...” Hopeful looked at the one-hundred-percent real gun in his hooves, he then remembered earlier, “Eight... Eight... EIGHT!” He thought to himself, realizing the gun was empty and he had not reloaded it since.

“Look, of course it's fake! It doesn't even shoot!” He pointed the gun at the ground, clicking the trigger several times.

The tiny filly sighed, she looked up at Hopeful. “I'm sorry mister, I get easily frightened... My mommy taught me how to be safe... She told me to hide in here and not make a peep and wait until I can't hear nothin' from outside... But I became scared when I heard the boom so I peeked out... I'm sorry...”

“It's fine, don't apologize. Let me just bandage you up.” He brought out a roll of combat bandages and crouched down beside her. She squeed in pain when Hopeful first touched the wound, but became calm soon enough.

While he bandaged her Hoof, he tried to reassure her as much as he could. “I'm going to get you all healed up, then bring you home. Don't even worry SugarCoa-” Hopeful shook his head and held back a wave of emotion, the filly raised her head in curiosity.
Hopeful quickly tried to make up for his slip up, “I think I meant to ask you what your name was, little filly.”

Sheepishly she replied, “I'm... I'm Shine, Celestial Shine.”

“That's a beautiful name Shine... Very beautiful.” Hopeful felt the tears swell up as he bit of the end of the bandage.

“Now Shine, we're going to have to get out of here, its... it's not safe for a young filly...”

“Mommy can fly me away! She could help you too!” The filly stood onto her hooves, testing her bandaged leg.

Hopeful glanced over his shoulder at Shines mother's corpse, laying in the burnt snow. It was just as revolting as when earlier. The scent seemed to also have attracted a crow, as one was pecking on her crispy flesh.

Hopeful lowered his head. “I'm sorry, Shine...”

She twisted her head from side to side, confused, innocent.

Her eyes became watered, her vague smile melted into a tormenting frown. “Bubu-but mm, mm... Mommy?”

She collapsed onto the floor, sobbing. Hopeful reached down and wrapped his compassionate hooves around her. Lifting up the weeping filly to his shoulder, for her to cry on. He hummed a song to her, the song he always sung to his daughter to comfort her.

He stood up, picked up his bags and walked out with Shine as she balled her eyes out. He stepped around her mother's body, hiding the horror from Shine with his hooves, and began walking into the distance.

“Let's get you home.”

Hopeful had been walking for ten or so minutes. Celestial Shine had fallen asleep on his shoulder as he trudged along.

Tired, cold and confused. Hopeful had no idea what he was going to do. Although one thing he knew for certain, he would not let this filly die in his care as long as he lived. He had taken off his jacket once she fell asleep and wrapped her in it, keeping her warm and more importantly her wings concealed. Without his jacket, the weather was far harsher than he ever remembered, but every shiver and painful step was worth it.

He eventually stumbled onto the small patch of trees that they had set up camp at, and currently acting as their meeting place. As he walked up to the fire pit he found he was the first to arrive. He set down the filly, peacefully asleep beside the fireplace and stood up to go search for sticks and branches to act as firewood.

As he walked in the general direction in which he came, picking up sticks in his mouth, he spotted a pony running up to him.

“Hopeful! You were right! We got 'em all!” Quick Draw, very excited, galloped to Hopeful. “Did you see any of that?! I mean wow ri-” He became curious about Hopefuls condition. “What happened to your helmet, and jacket? Did a Pegasus take them? Did you get into a hoof fight?”

Hopeful dropped the sticks and put a hoof onto his forehead, trying to speak through a migraine. “I just... It's been... I-I dunno... It's complicated.”

Quick looked over at the fire pit, seeing the filly. “Hopeful, is that a child?”

“As I said... it's very complicated...” Hopeful squinted his eyes at the headache he was developing.

Quick sprinted up to the fire. Hopeful ran after him in a panic. “Don't worry about her! I found her in a cave, she's hurt. I'm gonna bring her back and try find her a home.” Hopeful put a hoof in front of Quick, blocking his path to her as they stood around the fireplace.

Quick pushed Hopefuls hoof away, “Chill out, I just want to see her.” He crouched beside her and watched her as she gently snored in her sleep. Hopeful became frozen in the spot, he didn't want Quick to know she was a Pegasus but he also knew that Quick would know something's up if he acted suspicious and tried to stop him.

“She's...” Hopeful felt his pounding heartbeat as Quick inspected her, “She's adorable.” Quick said standing up, letting Hopeful release a sigh.

“Whats her name?”

Hopeful shook his head, trying to remember, “Sh-sh... Shine, her name is Celestial Shine.”

“Well she looks cold, better get this fire started, and maybe then you can tell me how in the heavens you found her.”

Hopeful shook from the lack of heat, “Yea... lets.”

“Didn't you drop a bunch of sticks over there?” Quick pointed.

“Yeah, let me get them...” Hopeful hobbled to where the sticks were, slowly arching down to pick them up.

Quick shouted to him from the fireplace, “Hey, my lighter is out. I'm gonna use yours.”

Hopeful raised his head, patting the side of his chest where he kept his lighter in his pocket.

The pocket in his jacket.

He turned around and saw Quick, a shocked expression on his face as he stared unblinking at the filly with a newly exposed wing.

Quick turned his neck to reach for his pistol.

Hopeful galloped, through the pain.

Jumping onto Quick, leaving both of them rolling in the snow.

Quick tried to get to his hooves and reason with Hopeful in a cold, angry tone. “That's a Pegasus, Hopeful! How the FUCK did you not notice?” His reached down to pick up his pistol.

Hopeful attempted to reason back. “Are you really going to shoot a filly? Are you a psychopath!?!” Hopeful stood up with him.

Quick holstered his pistol. “I can snap her neck if you don't want to waste the ammunition.”

Hopeful was disgusted. “It's only an innocent little filly. She's done nothing to you! She can't even defend herself! Don't you care in the slightest?”

“Hopeful, they killed my brother in cold blood, he was just as young. DO YOU THINK THEY CARED?!” Quick walked up nose-to-nose with Hopeful.

“And do you want to stoop to their level? If you kill her, you’re no better than them.” Hopeful kept blocking his path as Quick tried to walk around him.

“ITS CALLED REVENGE, HOPEFUL! THEY FUCKING DESERVE IT!”

“But she doesn't. She didn't kill your brother.” Hopeful placed a hoof on his chest, trying to keep him away from her.

“Hopeful... I want you to think about what you're doing right now... Do you really want to defend a Pegasus?” Quick shoved Hopeful to the side, “Now let me deal with this.” He drew his pistol at Shine.

Hopeful leapt in front of Quick's gun barrel. “If you want to kill her, your going have to kill me.” Hopeful looked Quick dead in the eyes, so fearlessly Quick could see the fire in them.

Quick shook his head.

“Come on! How many Pegasi have you killed today? Twenty? Fifty? A hundred? And you can't kill one Earth Pony?!?” Hopeful could see Quick become conflicted, he switched between anger and shock rapidly in rotation.

Over the hill, Basalt Glisten and Fury walked together, seeing that Hopeful was being held at gunpoint, they charged towards them.

“That's what I fucking thought.” Hopeful slapped the pistol out of Quick's teeth, launching it to the side. “You're dismissed, Private.”

“What is all this? Quick why were you pointing a gun at Hopeful?” Basalt ran in front and asked Quick.

Quick replied in anger, “Hopeful’s a fucking traitor! He’s stopping me from killing that Pegasus!”

Hopeful turned his head to see Celestial, she had been awoken and began crying.

Hopeful reached down to pick her up. “Come on, we gotta go.”

She swiped away his hooves, petrified. “Yu, yu-yu you're a bad pony!” She began trembling again, seeing his lack of wings.

“We don't have time for this, honey...” Hopeful attempted to grab her again, yet again swatted away.

“I SAID WE HAVE TO GO, SUGERCOAT!” The stress had brought Hopeful to his breaking point. The filly began Hollering and screaming, Hopeful grabbed her much more aggressively, holding her down on his shoulder.

He looked at the other four, Quick glaring at him, Basalt and Glisten riddled with confusion and Fury, watching with his stone cold, unmoved expression.

Glisten took a step forward. “Darling, what's the meaning of this?”

Hopeful shouted over the screaming filly, “We'll talk back at base.” He then turned and Hopeful began humming a song, the song he used to sing to his daughter when she was scared.

“Hopeful, you know I'm never gonna shoot you.” Quick said, holding back his rage. Hopeful turned to face Quick, holding the filly as close to his chest as he could.

“So I'm sorry... for this.” Quick said, before pointing a hoof behind Hopeful, shouting the word of his nightmares. “SCREECHER!”

Hopeful felt the tingle down his back and instinctively he began turning his head to look behind him, wide-eyed at the clouds.

Quick, using this as a distraction pulled up his rifle, and in one fluid motion, thrusted it forward at the filly. The bayonet slid into her head. Quick lifted her up, hanging from the end of his gun like a loose towel and threw her unmoving body into the snow.

Hopeful felt this happen, turned around and tried to grab the filly before she was thrown off. “NOOOO!!!”

He then stood, frozen like an ice sculpture, staring down at the filly he had let down, the filly he had let die.

Moments passed, silence from everypony.

This continued until Quick walked up right beside Hopeful and spoke. “This was the right thing to do, this is what Wicker would have wanted.”

Hopeful crossed his eyebrows, infuriated beyond reasoning, he slammed a punch directly into Quick's face, throwing him off balance and stumbling backward. “DON'T SAY HER NAME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”

“Hopeful, calm down. Let's talk!” Basalt walked up to Hopeful and put her hoof on his shoulder.

In a split second, Hopeful twisted his hoof back and slapped Basalt, causing her nose to bleed and knocking her to the ground. He then charged Quick Draw, who tried to plead. “Hopeful look what you did to Basalt! Think about what you're doing!”

Hopeful however did not stop, he pounced onto Quick, knocking him onto the ground and sitting on top of him. He began punching Quick repeatedly, who tried to block himself but was no match for Hopeful’s strength. “YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE FUCKING DOING!”

“Fury, stop him!” Glisten nudged Fury for him to do something.

Fury tried to run up, but as Hopeful saw Fury run out of the corner of his eye, he reached and pulled out his pistol from his shoulder holster.

He aimed the pistol at Fury and shouted at him, “STEH DHE PHUCK OOT OPH DHISH!” Fury stopped in his tracks, then slowly started backing away.

Hopeful slammed both of Quick legs down and held them down with both of his. He looked at Quick's disfigured, bleeding face. He was coughing blood and missing teeth, his eye was bruised and blood covered his face, he stopped speaking and began sobbing and gargling on his own blood.

Hopeful taught about shooting him, but that would be to fast of a death for him. So instead Hopeful restrained Quick's legs while bashing his face with the but of his pistol.

He swung at him.

And swung again.

Blood being splashed out with each hit onto the snow.

Glisten screamed out, “HOPEFUL, STOP! THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR!”

But Hopeful kept hitting.

He could feel Quick's last breath escape his lungs as his body grew still and lifeless.

Hopeful then stood up, dropped the gun and began kicking his head in, fracturing Quick's skull and eventually collapsing it entirely. “DIE, DIE, DIE!”

Then he fell back, sitting next to Quick. Looking at the damage he has done.

He looked up to see Basalt with a bloody nose, pointing a rifle at his forehead.

“Captain Hopeful, you are under arrest on charges of high-treason.”

He fell onto his back, looking up at the cloud-cover, whispering to himself.

“I'm sorry Joyful... Wicker... SugarCoat...”

He began to cry.

“I'm so sorry.”

Cold Dark Night In October

Nightfall approached steadily. Basalt, Fury, and Glisten took the time to bury and pay respects to their fallen comrade. Despite Basalt’s argument against it, they lit a fire for Hopeful to lie beside in his restraints.

Hopeful gazed into the dirt, grieving silently.

“Was it worth it?” Basalt eased down to sit beside him, holding a blood sponged hoofkerchief to her nose.

Hopeful remained unflinching.

“Do you honestly believe that what you did was right? Justified..? Whatever..?” She sounded disconnected, speaking without a minuscule of energy. “You killed my friend, Hopeful. I know he shouldn't have done what he did to that child, but you have to understand his reasoning. It was a Pegasus. You shouldn't have brought it here, let alone help it.”

Hopeful whimpered quietly, feeling like he should be crying, but he felt a void of tears in his eyes. Under his breath he spoke quietly. “I was... We were all, wrong... It's all just... Wrong...”

“What are you gonna say? Pegasi are the ''good guys'', that they don't bomb our villages and steal our food and aren't the whole fucking reason for this war in the first place?!” Basalt lifted her voice at him, at the brink of crying, still attempting to process the two friends she lost today.

Hopeful tilted his head up to the fire, “There's no reason for me to tell you why I did what I did... Telling you won't change your mind about the Pegasi, about us or even about the war...” Hopeful looked upon his blood-smeared hooves. “And if I did tell you... I would just seem like I've gone insane... And I can't even blame you... Before today I would have shot that filly... I already commanded the culling of that village...” He lifted his eyes up to the sky. “Maybe I have gone insane... Sure feels like it... Just had my whole world turned inside out...”

“Hopeful?” Basalt said gently.

“Yeah?” he replied, lowering his head once more.

“I used to think about how I'd die, a lot. This young, clumsy mare going into a war... I thought I would die dropping a mortar shell at my hooves and it exploding or something like that.” She looked upon Hopeful with cheerful eyes hiding her sorrow, “But then you became the leader... I saw you and I was inspired. I knew that under your command I would die fighting, like a real soldier... by your side...” She sighed, returning her gaze to the ground as it became hard to face him. “But now... Now you're going to get executed by a firing squad, which I'll likely be in, and then I'm probably going to get blown up while I sleep and then be shouted at by Fury for slacking post-mortem.”

Basalt sat quietly for a few moments, debating in her mind.

“I don't believe you’re crazy, Hopeful.” She picked up the bloody cloth for her nose. “I believe you were under a lot of stress. I believe that you saw your daughter in that Pegasus. I believe what you did was out of confusion and instinct, and I just hope you can forgive yourself before... you know...”

Hopeful looked at her. “Are you saying you forgive me?”

Basalt sighed. “No, I'm not. I don't think I ever could. That's why I'm hoping you can forgive yourself, so at least one of us can.”

Basalt looked toward Glisten and Fury, packing up their things to finally leave. As she went to stand, Hopeful grabbed her with his hoof. “Basalt.”

“Yes?”

“You’ve probably lost all your respect for me, but this comes from a genuine place in my heart.” He put his hoof down. “Don't die a soldier. I will. You don't have to. I know it’s been glorified, to serve your country and die for it, but it’s no good death. After this is over, go start a family. Find somepony that you love with all of your heart and marry them. Have children and find out you somehow love them even more then you could have ever dreamed. Die as an old grandmother, one that told her grandkids stories from 'back in her day' and plays with them, even when it’s past their bedtime. A pony that is respected by others. A pony that dies a hero, not because she got blown to bits by a Pegasus bombshell, but because they made other ponies smile. Because you planted flowers and baked cakes for everypony. Be an inspiration to others. Write a book or poetry about how you survived the war. Play chess with your friends while you chat about the weather. Go make surprise visits to your family every day, just 'cause. Live the life I was denied. You don't want to die like me, just a name on a list, with nothing more for a legacy than a gravestone that reads ''Traitor'' in some old, forgotten graveyard... As I was told by some private on my first day, there's no need to be a war hero. I sure as shit ain't one. For your own sake, don't try to be one either.”

“I...”

Basalt whipped away a tear from her eye.

“I promise.”

In the following hours they walked back home, silent the entire journey. Glisten couldn't face Hopeful, Basalt used the time to think, leaving Fury in charge of their prisoner.

Fury devilishly smiled as he forced Hopeful forward with the threat of his bayonet looming behind Hopefuls skull. Fury knew that he would finally claim leadership after Hopeful's execution.

They arrived a while past sunset, approaching the town from its north, all shivering. It was pitch black. If not for the small slit of light leaving the gun nest, they wouldn’t even see the town.

At their arrival, they were met by Spring galloping up to them with a lantern from his post in the gun nest.

He shouted his greetings as he ran. “YOU’RE BACK! Oh, I was getting so worried once the sun went down. I thought you might...” His lantern emitted a faint orange glow, illuminating the faces of Hopeful, Fury, Glisten and Basalt against the contrasting black abyss at their backs. “Wheres Quick? Did he..? Hopeful?” Spring became concerned with spotting Fury holding Hopeful at gunpoint.

Hopeful lowered his head, then began trudging past Spring and going toward the town. Fury quickly followed suit. “Hopeful ain't your captain anymore. He betrayed us,” he said to Spring, passing by.

Spring turned to the two mares. “What? But, but... What do you mean? What happened to Quick?”

Glisten decided to follow Fury, hanging her head low. Her eyes were moist and shining against the lantern flames from her frozen tears.

Basalt replied to him, “Quick didn't make it... Hopeful, well... He fucked up, and I don't think there's a saving him anymore.” She put her hoof onto Springs shoulder to comfort him.

Spring rapidly turned his head to watch the faint outline of the group walking away. His jaw dropped, eyes widened as he realized the severity of the situation. His jaw shook as he tried to formulate a sentence. Giving up, he grabbed Basalt's hoof and pulled her in for a hug.

She hugged back tightly, shutting her eyes.

Fury brought Hopeful to his room. Getting a key from the front desk, he locked Hopeful inside, leaving Glisten to guard the door as he went to the radio to report Hopeful’s crimes against Earth Pony kind.

Once Fury had gone, Glisten threw down her rifle to the side, leaned back against the door, and covered her face in her hooves.

Hopeful, on his side of the door, found himself doing the same.

“Glisten?” Hopeful said turning his head to the door, hoping she could hear him.

She did, but chose not to respond.

“I know it doesn't mean much... But... I'm sorry... I can't imagine what you must be going through...”

Hopeful paused, listening for any signs of life outside of his prison.

“This is the last time we'll get to talk alone. I don't have much time... And I know you don't want to talk to me now, but... I'm asking just in case... I want you to have the chance to tell me anything you need to before it’s too late... Even if you want to tell me to go fuck myself cause I'm some sort of Pegasus sympathizing bastard, I'd want to hear it.”

Glisten felt her heart sink into her chest, eyes falling and head becoming heavy.

She did not respond.

“I get it... You don't have anything to say... I'm just making sure... So I don't leave any loose ends when I go...” Hopeful sighed, allowing the silence to prevail.

Fury's voice came barreling down the hallway from the other side of the town hall. “Glisten, I've talked to the ponies at command. They say they'll be sending over a general as a judge, but if what we’re saying is true, then it certainly calls for capital punishment!”

Glisten was almost mad about how happy Fury sounded, like this was a good thing that was happening.

She stood up, reached down for her rifle, and wrapped the strap around her chest. Looking back at Hopeful’s cage, she leaned into the door. “I wish things went differently, Hopeful. I really, really do.” She then turned and trotted down the hallway.

Hours passed. Soldiers came and went, taking shifts in guarding Hopeful. Hopeful stayed silent, lost in thought.

Around midnight, when Spring arrived, which Hopeful knew as Spring told whoever was standing outside the door that he would be taking over for now.

A few minutes later, Hopeful heard his voice again from outside the door. “Psst, Hopeful? You in there?”

He paused for a sigh before answering. “Where else would I be?”

They Hopeful's ears perked up from hearing the click of the lock sliding open. He sloppily made it to his hooves and turned to face the door, which Spring opened gently.

His face was splashed with blood. He had a black eye and his mane was messier than usual. He had a wide smirk on his face. “I've got some news.”

“What in the heavens happened to you?” Hopeful's worries for himself quickly evaporated, replaced with concern for his friend.

“That's part of the news!”

Hopeful rolled his eyes. “Well, go on then.”

“So, after everypony was caught up on your crime... what you did earlier, Fury started making claims for leadership, and it seemed that no pony was going to go against him. But then I thought ''What would Hopeful want me to do?'' so I decided to stand up to him and told him I should be the new captain, which he really didn't like, so we ended up in a fight!”

Hopeful gasped. “YOU BEAT UP FURY?”

“Well, no... I say ''fight'' but really he just punched me in the face and knocked me unconscious.” Springs smile dimmed for a moment before picking back up. “But then apparently while I was out, the others rallied up behind me and voted for me to become captain out of pity!”

He let out a sigh, and with a half smile Hopeful said, “That's good for you, Spring. At least one of us benefited from this.” Hopeful slumped down onto the ground. “So is that everything you wanted to tell me..?”

Spring looked awkward. “Well, there is something else...”

“I know... It’s the only thing I can think about anymore...”

Spring walked into the room, the floorboard giving a gentle creak as he walked. “I was... Told all about... 'it…’” Spring sat down in front of him. “The way they said it... It was like they weren't talking about somepony they knew... Neither Basalt nor Glisten mentioned your name once... Like they were speaking of a stranger...”

“I don't blame them... I don't feel like myself either...” Hopeful began staring into the void in his heart once more.

“Hopeful, I'm not very good with touchy feely stuff, as you know. Can we just skip the bit where we act all sad together?”

Hopeful gazed up at him. “You’re not mad I killed Quick?”

“I'm sad about it, but I'm not peeved or anything. I wasn't that close with him, so It'd be hard for me to hate you for it... Really, I just wanted to know why. They said it was something to do with a Pegasus Filly that Quick killed, but they didn't go into any more detail than that.”

Hopeful squinted his eyes closed, trying to remember the events without crying. “I was...” He sighed and placed a hoof on his forehead. “I’d just shot the pegasus. Just by dumb luck I saw her. She was the one who killed Joyful and Sugarcoat... I shot her down and I found where she landed to make sure she was dead. As it turns out she was protecting her daughter from the gunfire, my gunfire... I hit her in the leg earlier when I was just shooting into the clouds... I never got her mother’s name. I guess she never got mine either... Didn't stop us from ruining each other’s lives...” Hopeful’s focus shifted to his flank, pondering his cutie mark. “Three smiling suns... Not the cutie mark of a heartless villain... I wonder what it meant, who she was... She died defending her daughter, so... Whoever she was, she was good. She was willing to give her life for Celestial... I would have done the same for Sugar.”

Hopeful looked up toward Spring, noticing that he has been going on a tangent. “When I saw the filly, I knew what I had done. I realized something... I know it'll sound crazy but... Pegasi and Earth Ponies are no different, not in motives, not in fears, and that probably also includes the Unicorns to be honest... We're all just trying to do what’s best and pointing the blame on each other... That's why I tried to help the Pegasus. That's why I lost control and killed Quick. I just couldn't believe the mindset that all Pegasi are evil anymore.”

Spring stared in marvel. “Is that really what you believe? The Pegasi don't want us dead?”

“I didn't say that, of course they want us dead. The same as we want them dead, but it’s not about food or weather. It’s because we don't trust each other enough to believe that the Pegasi aren't causing the snow or to share our resources.”

“Hopeful, while I may not agree, I understand what you’re saying... But how can anyone apart from the Pegasi be the cause of this weather? It’s not like Earth Ponies or Unicorns can touch clouds and fly.”

“That's the one part I've still got to figure out. Why all of this is happening now? Why was there peace before and what changed that?” Hopeful dropped his head into his hooves. “Sadly it doesn't matter to me anymore, getting executed tomorrow and all.”

“Yeah...” Spring stood himself up. “Thank you for talking to me about this. I honestly wish I could stop having to fight anypony. Be it the Pegasi or Fury...” Spring turned to door.

“Thanks for understanding...” Hopeful turned to the window in his room, boarded up from the outside with wooden planks. He watched the snowflakes fly past the cracks in the barricade.

Spring left the room, spun around to the door and looked at him. “You know, it’s a shame that you can't just walk out of here...”

Hopeful raised an eyebrow at his tone of voice.

“The only way to get out would be to knock out the guard, and even then you would have to bust through the door to do that...” Spring raised the but of his rifle in his hooves. “I mean, it shouldn't be that hard, this lock being just a regular, flimsy door lock, seeing as it wasn’t built for a prison. I bet it could come loose with one or two...” Spring Slammed his rifle against the side of the door, the lock that was embedded in the wood tore away, “good hits...” Spring looked up with a beaming smile at Hopeful. “But then taking out the guard, that could be a problem... Unless you happen to be guarded by some fool with a history of being bad at military stuff, somepony like that would probably even fall asleep on the job.” Spring slid down against the wall and shut his eyes. Yawning, he said “Somepony like that might even leave the key to the backdoor just lying there next to him...” Spring dropped a steel key to his side, opening one eye to see if Hopeful was catching on.

Hopeful grew tiresome. “Spring, I get what you’re doing here, but there's no real point to it anymore. Even if I got out of this place, I would just die of starvation, or freeze to death, or get bombed... I appreciate the thought, though.”

Spring sat up, trying to beg him. “Come on, Hopeful, there is no way dying here is better than even a chance of survival out there. I know you feel like shit and you've lost a lot very recently, but please, don't let this be all for nothing. You said it yourself that there is still something you need to figure out... Plus, I doubt you'll be starving or freezing to death with all this camping gear.” Spring reached behind the door in the hallway to pull a bag into sight of Hopeful.

Hopeful looked surprised. “Did you... Did you plan this ahead..?”

“Of course! I've even got the rest of the troop distracted, nopony else, apart from the mayor, is even in this building.”

Hopeful stood up and trotted toward the bag. With further inspection, he could see survival gear, camouflage and some food rations. “I can't believe I'm about to say this...”

Spring bolted up with happiness. “Am I right? Or am I right?”

Hopeful said, with a sigh, “You’re right... But aren't you worried you’re letting out a Pegasus sympathizer and a murder?”

“Well, I thought about that a lot while I was trying to find an extra, non-bloody, camouflage sheet and I've come to the terms that. While I may never believe the Pegasi aren't out to kill me and everypony I know, and while I do think what you did to Quick was horrible, I do know you’re my friend, and I know you’re a good pony at heart, so, Hopeful,” Spring put a hoof on his shoulder, “I forgive you.”

Hopeful then brought him in for a hug. “At least one of us can.” He vaulted the bag onto his back and walked around to where the hallway turned for the back exit.

He turned at the corner to look at Spring one last time. “Is this goodbye?”

Spring, getting comfortable in his knock-out position smiled back. “It’s not a goodbye... hmm... it’s, it’s an ‘until next time.’”

“Well then, until next time, good buddy... And hey, promise me you won't screw up as bad as I did being Captain.”

“Not screw up? An unarmed prisoner just knocked me out and is about to escape! I've already screwed up!” His grin was infectious, leaving Hopeful smiling with him.

“Till next time Spring.” Hopeful saluted.

“Till next time, Sir.” Spring saluted back.

Hopeful looked back at the town, only visible from the flicker of lights in window cracks. He stood there a moment, wondering if this was going to be the end of his journey, wondering if he would see his friends again. Wondering what he was going to do now that he was alone, cold, and singled out by his own race. He was no longer an Earth Pony as far as he saw it. Now, he was just pony.

He swirled around, facing away from the village to see the path ahead.

It was pitch black. His path was one he could only follow blind. He sighed, and began trudging through the snow once again. Once he would get far away enough from the village, he would start a fire in some forest or cave to keep him warm, but until then it was only his own heartbeat keeping him warm. He forced himself to continue on forward, stopping himself from looking back.

Thoughts of his wife, daughter, and Wicker emerged again as he tried to fill the void of his mind to distract him from the numbing, frosty burning his hooves felt as he went along.

Something strange happened though, he began smiling.

He had just cheated death and it was time for him to start his life over. He finally figured out how to make Wicker proud, what he could do that would make Sugar Coat smile and what it would take for his dreams of Joyful to stop turning into nightmares.

It was not about getting revenge, it was about forgiving and making amends.

He looked up into the black abyss of the clouds, grinning with delight. A weight has been lifted from his shoulders like never before, the burden of hatred had gone from his mind. He felt like a new pony with a new mission. The fact he had no idea how he would accomplish it didn't bother him. The joy of freedom, both mentally and physically had put an end to all doubts he had held.

He felt a new purpose. He even believed he had finally figured out what his cutie mark means. Ever since he had gotten it, the day he met Joyful for the first time and gotten those bullies to apologize to her back in playschool, he’s always felt somewhat out of place with it. He knew it meant he was good at teamwork, but the last few days had given him a brand new perspective on it. Maybe he thought, just maybe, helping end this war was his destiny... Just doing it in a less conventional way.

As he wandered he remembered that one song he loved to hum to his daughter, he loved the tune but never really understood the lyrics until this moment.

So for the sake of it, and since no one was around, he decided to sing it aloud as he walked.

“My legs are weak, my heart grows old, the battle is over and done.
As hope seems bleak, I have been told, that tomorrow bares a rising sun.

“If you wonder why I act like a statue, it’s because nopony warns that you, will fall with nopony to catch you. But then again all is fair in love and war.

“That is why I do not fear, when I remember you my dear, for I can see you right here, if I were to just look through death’s open door.

“Until the day I die,
I will always wander.
Never asking why,
I will never find her.

“And I will try,
to rest in slumber.
On this cold dark night,
In October...

“I just hope that you know, I miss you to this day, even in the darkest times.
It just goes to show, that whatever I say, will never pay for my crimes.

“I loved you more than the world, more than a Diamond, a Pearl, or any other girl. But now it seems you have gone.

“It is now I am left alone, with nothing but my sins to atone, with no pony to call my own, I'll wander till my time is done.

“Until the day I die,
I will always wander.
Never asking why,
I will never find her.

“And I will try,
to rest in slumber.
On this cold dark night,
In October...

“I can’t see the path ahead
so I'll follow your voice.
I am sorry for what I said,
but it surely was no choice.

“To see you again I'd give anything I own,
for you, I'll never stop to fight.
But sadly I'll just wander alone,
On this cold, dark October night.

Mare of The Moon

Hopeful sat on the rubble of the train crash, the crimson embers floating in the air, the smoldering sound of spilled oil burning in the distance. He sat on the jagged pile of smashed steel, waiting.

He gazed upon the clear skies, the sun shining in his face. He inspected himself, completely healthy, with no sign of injury or scarring. Neither had he his uniform, or any other clothing, for that matter.

He stared quizzically at his cutie mark, “One day, you're gonna make sense...”

He lifted his head to the heavens. “I hope.”

In the distance, a wheat field gradually appeared from behind a retreating fog. The snow suddenly cut off at the grain, and a-ways into the field was flattened portion with a red and white checked picnic blanket. A pony sat on that blanket watching a young filly hopping around, laughing and playing joyfully.

Hopeful sighed.

“Waitin' for somepony?” Wicker tapped him on his back to get his attention. Sitting down next to him she said, “What's got you looking so worried? Anything I can help with?” She scooted closer to him, leaning her head against his shoulder trying to snuggle.

Hopeful lifted his hoof up and around Wicker, holding her tightly. “I wish you were here...”

Wicker wondered, “What do you mean? I'm right here.”

He kept holding onto her. “I mean really here... Not just a memory.”

Hopeful lowered his gaze onto the snow covered dirt beneath the train wreck. There were three body bags, drenched in blood, lying directly beneath him. Two of the bags were marked with black ink reading ''Lover'' and ''Wife'' and the third, a much smaller bag reading ''Daughter.''

Wicker became concerned, “Hopeful, I know I will never be her. I can't be, but you know what I am? The closest pony to her you'll meet again. So if there is any problem, please, talk to me.”

Hopeful gazed toward the sky, inhaling some clear air as the sun burned brightly onto him. He then lowered his head back down to look through the wide gap in the clouds he was just staring down from, onto a train crash's rubble. “I'm scared.”

As Hopeful gently swayed his hind legs back and forth with the wind, hanging off the cloud he sat upon, Wicker slid from his grip, then flew in front of Hopeful. Her wings spanned widely away from her, flapping them periodically in a majestic and gentle manner.

“Hopeful, what could possibly be scaring somepony so fearless?” Wicker moved in close enough to place her hoof onto his, gently rocking it as she flew.

“I'm alone now, for the first time. It's not just that I don't have you anymore... It's just... just look at me, no Earth Pony will ever accept me again.” Hopeful spread his right wing out, then began picking at it with his hoof, feeling his feathers and stretching his wing as he folded it back and forth.

“Do you really believe you are the only pony that has realized the war isn't a one sided story?” Wicker leaned her head to the side, a pleasant smile on her face.

“I don't know what anypony else thinks anymore.” Hopeful fell onto his back, feeling like he was laying on a bed of loose cotton and wool.

Wicker flew above him and landed on top of him, with her hooves on each of his sides. She looked down onto him playfully. “Well then, Mister Life-is-Pain-and-I'm-a-Hurt'n. Answer me this, do you think Wicker would forgive the Pegasi?”

“Of course she would, she never hated anypony for anything.” Hopeful was dodging Wickers eyes, trying not to look into them.

“So if Wicker could, that means other ponies should be able to, right?”

“I guess...” The signs of a hopeful grin began showing on his face.

“Good, now that that's settled, I have one last question... if Wicker was here, do you think she'd still love you?” Wicker had a cheeky smile.

Hopeful stopped avoiding her and stared back up into her eyes with a smile. “Is this a trick question?”

“You know me too well.” Wicker leaned down and kissed him. He grabbed her and she held him back, wrapping each other in their hooves.

Soon, Hopeful felt his hair blowing in the wind as he started falling through the cloud and to the ground, but he kept kissing her, trying to savour the moment.

But as he fell faster, the wind blew harder against them...

Their bodies making a screeching sound against the wind...

And soon enough...

The ground drew closer...

And closer...

Untill...

KABOOM

Hopeful jumped up, woken by a distant explosion that rocked the ground beneath him. He found himself in a cave, a catastrophically small grotto in the side of a mountain. The cave's ceiling shook above him, dust falling and setting on him, leading him to cough uncontrollably. He panted, trying to calm himself he wrapped himself in his cotton and wool blanket.

Minutes past before Hopeful got up again, picking up his map to see where he would plan to wander next. While more shells blew in the distance, Hopeful began packing, squeezing all of the blankets tightly into his saddlebags. He threw them onto his back and popped his head out of the entrance.

He looked to where the blasts were coming from, too far for the blizzard to allow him to see. “It's not your battle, Hopeful, you gotta move on...” He spoke to himself under his breath.

He hauled himself up onto a rock that was partially blocking his exit. Sliding himself past it, he stood up prominently.

He reached for a compass in one of his front pockets. “Okay. Northward it is.”

On the north-eastern corner of Great Bridleton, the proud land of the Earth Ponies was a small town by the name of Prance. The town edges on the border of Germaney, the land of the Unicorns. The ponies of Prance had been quite used to the presence of Unicorns before the war. The town was a farming village, one of the many that primarily sold to the Unicorns. After the war started, the small town was ransacked and left to rot by the Unicorns. Some Earth Ponies chose to remain, using the town to hide from the war, as it lay in a very secluded valley. The size of the town meant that it was practically invisible to both the Unicorns and the Earth Ponies, both tribes believing it was gone completely.

In this town lived mostly Earth Ponies, but there was one Unicorn that also called it home: Lunar Stargaze, but most ponies just called her Luna. She lived in a cottage on the far side of town. While she was given the odd look for her race, most of the ponies in that town knew her for years prior and accepted her. As she was raised by an Earth Pony, they all knew she was not like other Unicorns. In fact, for all of her life, she was kept oblivious to the existence of other Unicorns. Her mother kept her inside the house for all her childhood, and even in her adulthood all of her time she spent on taking care of her elderly foster-mother. The only time she regularly left her home was to get food from the town store.

Back when all the food was ransacked by the Unicorns, the villagers were forced to find a new way to grow their own crops, as the government seemed to have forgotten about them completely. They tried growing food in caves lit and heated by fire. They tried building a roof above their crops to stop snow. They even trying to grow wheat inside their own homes, but nothing to any avail.

As the village ran out of whatever they had left, ponies began to flee in search for a source of food. Luna, while scared of the outside world from being told many stories about wicked monsters that lived outside the village, she wished to do the same. But alas, her mother was too sick to get out of bed anymore, and there was no way she would ever leave her side.

One starved, chilling night, Luna couldn't sleep, for her hunger grew too painful. So instead, she went to her mother's room to check up on her. Luna looked into her weary eyes, Luna's mother was dying and she knew it. She could barely keep her eyes open enough to see her daughter. Luna stayed by her mother's side for as long as she could, holding her hoof the entire time. But as midnight rolled around, she noticed her hoof grow colder than before. Luna checked, but could not find a sign of life in her mother. After that, in a frustrated tantrum against fate, she ran out into the closest field to scream at the heavens. The field, covered in thick snow was completely baron. Not even grass lay under the snow.

Luna stood there, in the middle of the night, hollering at the sky, until she spotted a beautiful full moon just past the cracks in the cloud cover. She began crying, thinking about her mother. Once her tears hit the ground, something strange happened.

Luna was always taught that the horn on her head just meant she was a special type of Earth Pony, and nothing else. But she knew that she could do things with it, magical things that nopony else could. She would sometimes lift objects with her mind, but most of the time she would be caught by her mother who could hear the gentle sparkling noise and see the glow emanating from her horn. So she was taught to never use it like that again.

But when her tears fell, that burst of emotion jolted up threw her veins. Her horn began to glow and the spots where her tears landed became clear of snow, and then grass sprouted from the newly rejuvenated soil.

Once she had noticed what she had done, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of green grass.

Her horn began shining bright like a star, a magical pulse blasted out around her, blowing the snow on the ground and the clouds in the sky apart.

From that day on she used her magic to grow crops for her friends in the village.

That village has thrived ever since, without anypony else, be it the Unicorns or Earth Ponies, finding out about this small town that could grow food.

Luna named her farm ''Blossom Orchards,'' after her mother's name to honour her.

Now, everyday, Luna goes and clears the snow, using this powerful magic she had developed out of love and sadness for her mother.

That was at least, until today. The day her world would be shattered.

The day that would reveal all the lies she has been fed her entire life.

The day she would meet another Unicorn.

“Luna! Luna are you in 'ere?” an old light-brown coated farmer stallion with a dirty grey mane shouted toward the wheat field.

“I'm right here, Mr. Gravel!” Gravel could see the tip of Luna's horn as she jumped up in the wheat.

Luna ran through the grain as it brushed alongside her ears and face. Once she appeared out of the other side, she skidded to a halt. Gravel saw her royal-blue mane in a mess, her dark blue coat ruffed up and her bright orange eyes bursting with joy. “Hey, sir! Isn't it a lovely day?”

Gravel chuckled. “It's always a lovely day in there.” He gestured to the field, which was brightly lit by the sun, the yellow wheat glittering. “It's the only place that gets any sun anymore.”

“So what did you want me for, sir?” Luna, even while she matched his height, spoke to him childishly, her legs moving up and down energetically.

“Well if this were any other day, I'd tell you off for playing in the field and flattening the crops, but today being a special day, I'll let it go.”

Luna became instantly curious, “What's happened today, sir? Has Ol’ Lady Bell finally found her dentures?”

Gravel laughed, his old voice wheezing as he did so. “No no, heavens knows she'll never get those back. It's much more special.”

Luna bursted up and down like a Pogo stick. “Well, don't keep me waiting!”

“Luna, honey, settle down.” Gravel placed his hoof onto her shoulder.

“It's your birthday.”

Luna became frozen with surprise, shock and joy, with a smile engraved on her face. Her eyes out-shone the sun.

“20 years ago today, your mother, bless her soul, found you in a basket outside a berry bush orchard. And now look at you, you've become such a beautiful mare. Blossom would be proud of you dear.”

Luna giggled into her hoof, then flicked her mane away from covering her eye.

“What 'r you wait'n for? There's presents sittin' at my store for ya!”

Luna pounced at Gravel, hugging him strongly. “Thank you! Thank you!”

Gravel patted her on the back, “Aw, ain't nothin' for my special little Earth Pony.”

The hug eventually ended. “Now let's open some birthday presents. ” Gravel said, laughing as Luna hopped forward, then turned around to wait for him to catch up with his slow, elderly walking pace.

Once they got to the general store, Luna saw every townspony inside. Most of them were the elderly, who weren't healthy enough to leave the village, or those who wanted to starve to death where they were born and where they lived for their entire lives.

Luna burst through the door and was greeted by a cheer. They had decorated this old wooden cottage with pink flowers grown at the edges of the field, strung across the walls. In the center of the room lay several cardboard boxes, sealed with duct tape around the seams.

Gravel made his way to the door, where he stopped Luna, who was prepared to shred through the boxes. “Hold on there, lil' filly. Before you start opening those presents, we got one last surprise for ya.”

Luna swept her head around the room, looking for this ''surprise'' until the town's baker, Mr. Flour, walked in front the back store room. In his teeth, he held up a plate with a succulent, sweet, shiny slice of cake with a single candle on it.

Gravel hobbled up beside a mind-blown Luna, “Wouldn't be a proper birthday without some birthday cake now would it? We used up our last sugar to make it. Consider it as a thank you for everything you've done for us.”

“OH MY GOSH, YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!” She squeezed Gravel in another spontaneous hug. Then she levitated the plate towards herself.

As she went for a bite, Luna noticed that everypony else in the room looking at her in discomfort. “Oh, I'm so, so sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude.” She let go of her magic, letting the plate land on her hoof and she ate the delicious slice of cake while holding it up like a proper Earth Pony.

After she ate the most beautifully tasting meal she ever had, Luna began opening presents. She got one from nearly everypony in the village.

They then chatted and laughed the night away, playing board games and telling stories from their youth. As the sun began to set, and ponies left to go to bed, only Gravel and Luna remained at the party.

Luna struggled to remain awake, leaning her head on a table and jolting her eyes up every now and then, before slowly easing them back down.

Gravel, after just finishing polishing his counter, he went to get something from the storage. He walked out sliding a large box, as he moved it the sound of clanging metal came from it, waking Luna. “What do you got there, Gravel?” She yawned as she lifted herself up and wiped her eyes.

“Just my present. I wanted to save it till last.”

Luna hopped down from her chair, trotting over to the curiously big container.

“I thought you might want something to help you with that lil' cutie mark of yours.”

She blinked to her cutie mark, staring at it with great pride. A star-constellation of a heart. “It couldn't be...”

Gravel grinned. “It is.”

Luna ripped of the top of the box, dropping her jaw and becoming wide-eyed. “A TELESCOPE!”

“I got it when I was a young colt. My father gave it to me. Now, I think you should have it. Seeing how you love your stars.”

She vaulted it out of the box, laying it on the floor. “Can I use it tonight?!? Can I? Can I?!?”

“Of course, go ahead. I'll finish up cleanin' the place.”

“Thank you so much!!! I love you!” She shouted as she slung the telescope onto her back and began her gallop to the wheat field.

Luna looked up into the sky above Blossom Orchards. Clouds started patching the sky up above it. Soon, Luna arrived at the very center of the field, a small circle of wild flowers and tall grass where she would cast her spell.

After setting up the telescope she walked to the very center and shut her eyes. Tilting her head closer to her heart, she tried to remember her mother.

Her face tensed up, she felt the emotions flowing and the magic inside her building up. Soon her eye watered up and she strained them closed, her tears falling to the ground. Her horn lit up brightly and a large echoing explosion of wind blew the clouds apart, piercing the heavens.

She opened her eyes and stared up at the stars, gorgeous shining balls of light in the sky, all aiming at her. She nearly got carried away and forgot about her telescope, which she jumped to. Looking into it, and adjusting its zoom on the side, she could see the stars up close.

And they were fucking beautiful.

More tears began to form in her eyes, tears of joy at the awe of such beauty.

She could observe entire star systems with impossible detail, the shifting colours against the pitch black of the sky only complemented the sparkling of the meteors and stars gliding through the sky.

Luna couldn't look away...

Lunar Stargaze, after sitting out in the middle of the night for many hours, still had no interest in leaving. She was too captivated by the mysteries space had to offer.

But then, then she heard something.

A rustle in the field, a rabbit perhaps nibbling on some grain.

Whatever it was, it was distracting, and Luna would not have any of it.

She stood up and walked through the field, searching for the source of the commotion.

“Hello?” Luna spoke aloud, which made whatever the source of the sound stop what it was doing.

“Hey, who's there? Ms. Applegate are you lost again?” Luna became scared, it wasn't responding.

“S-show yourself! I... I'll find you!” She twisted her head around, she was surrounded by very tall wheat grain, unable to see anything threw it.

She began panic. “Whoever you are, I have to warn you... I... I have special powers... I-I dont want to use them... B-but if I have to...”

Then she heard a crunch of a hoofstep to her left, where she turned and a primal instinct inside of her caused her to cast a spell, collapsing all of the wheat directly in front of her with a strong gust of wind.

Once she raised her head after the cast, she could see a faintly glowing bubble in front of her, it was not the colour of her light-blue magical aura. No, this bubble was bright yellow.

The shield quickly evaporated away, revealing a White-coated Unicorn with her horn primed for casting.

The unidentified Unicorn lifted her head, her mane in an absolute mess after Luna's spell. The mysterious mare wore a gold necklace around her neck, a shiny gem hanging from the end in the shape of a sun. She spoke quite properly, with excellence and grace. “Oh how glad am I to see another Unicorn... I thought I finally reached the border and arrived in Earth Pony territory, I see I have more ground to cover before that.” The Unicorn let her magic dissipate and trotted up to a fearful Luna.

Luna stepped back, quivering. “Y-y... Your...”

The Unicorn's eyes jumped in worry. “I know, I know! I'm not supposed to be out this far, but please! If you can find it in your heart to trust me and not report this to my mother then I'll make sure it'll be worth your while.” The Unicorn advanced towards Luna, who found herself retreating into the wheat.

“B-but... You're like me!” Luna pointed her hoof up at the Unicorns horn.

She took a step back and an odd look at Luna, “You mean... My horn?”

“Y-yea! Look I have one too!” Luna lit her horn up with a dim light.

“I know, Darling. You're a Unicorn... Are you alright, Miss?” The Unicorn raised a curious eyebrow.

Luna's fears quickly fell to make way for her curiosity. “What's your name?”

The Unicorn was taken back by this. “You really don't know who I am?”

Luna shook her head innocently.

“My name is Aurora Sunshine... And what may I call you?”

“Lunar Stargaze... But most ponies call me Luna.”

“Alright, do you know by any chance where we are exactly?” Aurora began marveling at the wheat.

“This is my town, Prance.”

Aurora trotted back and forth, “Prance... Prance... I'm afraid I've never heard of a Unicorn village by that name...”

“Ms. Aurora?” Luna sheepishly tried to ask her a question.

“Yes, Luna?”

“What's a Unicorn? You keep saying that word.” Luna had her head down and eyes up at Aurora, who crossed her eyebrows in absolute confusion.

“You... Don't know... What a Unicorn is?”

“Well, I 'ave heard it before. Uncle Buttersquash says it when he is really drunk and starts swearing. I just don't know what it means.”

“Luna.”

“Yes, Miss?”

“Buttersquash is an Earth Pony name.”

“Well, of course, ain't like it's a Donkey name.”

Aurora looked side to side. “Luna, dear, would you mind showing me where you live?”

“Sure! Just don't use any of your powers while your around the others, it's rude.” Luna hopped off happily.

“Right...” said Aurora, slowly trotting after her.

“So what brought you here Miss?” Luna politely asked as they made it out of the field.

“I'm... Traveling... My fiancée is in the war and I'm going to see him...” Aurora spoke exclusively, holding something back.

“Well what brings you to town?” Luna spun around to watch Aurora's head pop out of the wheat.

“I saw this field actually... And I'm very curious how anypony could manage to keep it.. You know, growing.”

“That's my job here in town. I use my powers to do that.” Luna turned back to walking obliviously.

“But, the clouds... Only the most powerful of magic could stop them like that...”

Luna giggled. “Mama always told me I was special, didn't know that this is what she meant until after she passed.” Luna sighed. “I miss Mama.”

The two of them made way towards the town, leaving the orchard through a large gate in the snow-topped fencing. The small thatch and wood huts became visible as they reached the top of a small hill between the town and farm.

Aurora saw the homes. “Looks like I did cross the border...” she whispered to herself, gazing upon the Earth Pony dwellings.

Luna kept walking until she realized that Aurora had stopped, Luna twirled around, “Whatcha wait'n for? Are ya nervous? Don't worry, I used to get nervous goin' into town too.”

“No I'm not nervous... Lunar... my dear, were you... raised by Earth Ponies?” Aurora trotted over and looked into Luna's eyes

Luna thought this question was quite strange. “Well, duh. Born an Earth Pony, raised an Earth Pony.”

Aurora grew worrisome. “Darling, you're not an Earth Pony! You're a proud, strong, magic wielding Unicorn! I don't know how you ended up here, and I don't know why you think like this, but whatever you've been told, it's a lie.” Aurora put both hooves onto Luna's shoulders, trying to get through to her.

“How dare you!” Luna threw Aurora off of her, “I am an Earth Pony! Stop telling me that I'm some kind of 'Unicorn,' alright?! No pony in my village would ever lie to me! Never ever!” Luna shouted aloud, her echo returning from the mountain sides.

“Luna? Whats all the shoutin' for?” Gravel ran from his store, galloping toward the two Unicorns.

Once he had gotten within talking distance, he ground to a halt. Seeing Aurora's horn. “LUNA, GET AWAY FROM THAT MARE!”

“Yes, sir!” Luna ran towards Gravel, in fear of getting into trouble. “She's been tellin' me all sorts of wicked lies!” Luna shouted as she nearly reached him.

Aurora shook her head in disappointment, then her horn lit up.

In a bright yellow flash she appeared in front of Luna, stopping her mid-gallop. “I am not lying to you! I just can't let a Unicorn grow up believing they are some sort of good-for-nothing Earth Pony!”

Aurora stood between Gravel and Luna, shifting her head back and forth to eye both of them down.

“Luna, don't you listen to her! Just get back 'ere.” Gravel shouted over top of Aurora.

This gave Luna a burst of energy as she shoved Aurora to the ground and ran to hug Gravel. “I wasn't listen'n to her, I swear.”

“I know, you're a smart lil' filly.” Gravel patted her on the back.

Behind Gravel appeared more of the citizens of town, hearing the commotion and going to inspect its cause.

Aurora stood up, frustrated. “Luna! You were born with a powerful gift. On your head is the most powerful weapon and tool known to any pony. Do not let yourself be tricked into thinking you're one of them! You're better! And I can prove it to you!”

Gravel, kissed Luna on the forehead and let her walk off. Then, filled with rage, he walked up face-to-face with the Unicorn. “Now you listen to me, darlin'. Luna may be born like one of you heartless, privileged, stick-up-your-arse'd Unicorns. But she was raised a humble, hard working Earth Pony. She loves us and we love her, and you're gonna have to kill me first.”

“No, Gravel! Please don't!” Luna cried out, being held back from running in by one of the other ponies.

Aurora lifted herself up with telekinesis, slightly above all the Earth Pony scum. With an amplification spell for her voice, she addressed the crowd. “Luna! I know you're better than this. Every Unicorn is. And if you all don't believe she is your superior, let me point out that you'd starve to death without her! Not just has she the magic to defy the winter, but she is capable of a lot more! JUST WATCH!”

As Aurora's horn grew in brightness, Gravel began to glow as well, his throat being forced shut. Gravel gargled for air, scratching at his neck to try and stop it.

“NOOOO!” Luna screamed out, throwing the pony holding her to the side and galloping to Gravel.

“LUNA! SHOW THEM YOUR POWER, STOP ME AND SHOW THEM ALL!” She shouted to Luna, pleading to her not with anger, but with hope.

Luna ferociously glared at Aurora, moving past Gravel and jumping at her. But as she pounced into the air, she was blasted back onto the ground.

“USE YOUR MAGIC, DO IT!” Aurora stared at Luna with pride.

Luna looked upon herself, tears flowing from her face as she held back her rage, but then with a glance at her glowing cutie mark, she screamed out a battle cry and her horn blasted out light.

In one swift motion pointed her head up at Aurora, a blast of pure magic, twice her own size, leaving her horn.

Aurora instantly formed a bubble around her in the air, having Luna's magic smash against it and spill over the sides.

After a few seconds, Luna collapsed to the floor, along with Aurora. Gravel felt his breathing return and rushed over to help Luna.

Aurora forced herself up onto her hooves. “See?”

Everypony saw, the entire town stood in shock and awe.

Aurora spoke to the worn-out Unicorn, “Luna, don't you see now? This is what I meant. You belong in Marelin. You'd be a feared fighter and respected hero! Don't listen to any more of their lies!”

Luna, quivering from the cold and pain, looked up at the Unicorn. “No.”

“No? Luna! You can't tell me you want to stay with these... these inferiors!”

Luna lifted up on leg and stood on it, “Even if I am talented,” She then picked up her second, “even if I am a... 'Unicorn,'” Luna stood up strong, “I would never turn my back on the ponies who love me... And no matter what you say, I will never leave their sides... Even if we are different.”

Aurora looked at the crowd, gathering around Luna, in shock. “If you wish to have it so, then let it be... I understand you know... Loving somepony who isn't a Unicorn... But that doesn't change the fact you have so much potential that will never be used because of them! But fine, I'll leave. But let me warn you, once the Unicorn Royal Guard realize I am missing, they will look for me. And if they find this town, then you'll have to make a decision like this again... except that time, it'll be to die an Earth Pony, or live a Unicorn... I can only hope you choose the latter.” Aurora began walking past them. Once she reached the other side of the crowd she turned her head. “I'm sorry for what I did. I got carried away... but don't waste your gift, Luna.”

As she passed through, everypony eyed her in silence, faces filled with anger and fear. Luna looked at Aurora menacingly, charging up her horn while Aurora had her back turned toward them.

Just as she went to blast Aurora's brains out of her skull, Gravel put a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

Just as she went to do it, Luna broke up into tears and hugged Gravel instead, who watched in patience as Aurora walked through the town, leaving behind only her hoofsteps in the snow.

“I-is it true? M-mm-am I a Unicorn..?” Luna looked up at him, seeking help.

Gravel pulled her close, “Of course it ain't...” He looked to where Aurora was, now gone out of sight.

“A Unicorn wouldn't have spared her.”

The Princess, The Soldier and The Fool

The wholesome warmth of the new day's sun flickered onto Hopeful’s skin through the looming overcast of the clouds. He lay on his stomach, watching it from afar.

Hopeful pressed his tongue against his teeth, trying to concentrate on its movement through the sky. It wisped back and forth, its eerie and cold body floating aimlessly. The thing toyed with the winds, bashing them like it was playing.

Hopeful watched through his trusty binoculars, with which he had been studying this beast for a long time. The days that had passed were treacherous. Hopeful ran out of his rations long since his passage through the Hollowood Forest. He was forced to scavenge abandoned houses, barns, and towns. Once he had found the beast, however, he would not let anything stray him from his study. Even if that meant he didn't have enough food to last the night, or the week.

He had not heard another pony's voice since his escape, and with Wicker keeping him company in his dreams, he was left alone to his work. He dropped his binoculars for a brief moment, glancing at his journal. He sketched out a portrait of the beast’s head onto the page with a soggy, chewed pencil in his mouth.

Swiftly lifting his binoculars to try and recapture the beast in his sights, rapidly shifting back and forth, he searched the sky, eventually finding its wispy streak floating off toward the horizon.

“Can't ever slow down, can ya?” Hopeful lifted himself up, scooping all of his items into a bag. He wrapped up a thick plastic sheet that was being heated by a small oil fire to melt snow. Making sure he was thoroughly packed up, he awed upward at the heavens, staring down the small glimmer of light reaching the horizon.

Hopeful learned many things about the beast, including confirming it could control the weather, that it was indeed a living creature, and that it always remained in the vicinity to some form of pony life. He also formed many theories on how it feeds, how it acts or more importantly, how to kill it.

Jokingly he shouted out to it, “Wait up for me, cloudhead!”

He began galloping after The Beast.

Deep in Pegasus territory, in the heart of Pegassia, in the city of Koltzan, a young, tan-coated Pegasus, named Silk, lived as a recruit in the grand Pegasian Army. He was trained from birth in the art of war. Despite having a gentle, compassionate soul, he was relentlessness in battle. He had learned to let his heart sink, becoming fearless and unthinking during combat, feeling no remorse or empathy toward his target.

Of course, that was what all Pegasus soldiers were taught. He was no different. He was one of the many orphaned fillies and colts forced into the military, and like most of those fillies and colts, he was sick of it.

Every day, he would train. Every day, he would get up and strap on his armor and lift his spear from the weapon rack. It was identical to all the others, but that one was his. Well, until he lost track of it and began taking whichever one he saw first, as it really didn't matter.

Silk was about as social as a rock. The bans on speaking during training, eating, or past curfew didn't help with that either. He went nine years without learning a single other pony’s name, referring to his superiors by rank was the closest he got to it.

It was quite normal for these types of fighters to be blank flanks. Very few got their cutie marks in fighting, and the rest grew up into adults before dieing cutie mark-less. Which is why some may call Silk lucky, for when he was 12 years of age, while sleeping, a young Snowcrow found its way into his barracks in search for a few crumbs. It burrowed its way into Silk’s personal storage trunk, smelling a few leftovers he had not eaten from yesterday. Once he was awoken by its scattering feet and repetitive jabbing, he searched for the critter tunneling into his belongings, which consisted of nothing more than his uniform, some half-eaten rations, and a multi-purpose knife.

When he first found it, he was merely surprised. But after he gathered himself, he went down to pick it up and snap its neck. Although, once he grabbed a hold of it, it stared into his eyes, with innocence and fear. He could not kill such a little bird, its glossy white feathers were gentle to the touch. He stroked it along the neck, it then chirped back, hopping onto the side of his hoof and gripping on, its jabby feet sticking into his leg.

He realized that the bird was not safe. If it were to wake anypony else, it would surely be the end of its life. Without knowledge of how it entered though, he had to hide it, leaving it in his trunk. The lid managing to muffle its many sounds of pecking at crispy hay and pattering around in the darkness.

The next morning, Silk awoke to discover his haunch decorated with a new medal: that of birdseed being dropped to a white, feathered bird creature, and the Snowcrow from last night standing atop the steel beam arch currently supporting his pillow. It squawked to greet him as the sun rose, waking everypony in extreme annoyance...

It took a while for them all to get used to Silk's new pet and best friend being a part of the troop. Despite the arguments to kill it that came from most ponies that enjoyed sleeping, the bird was accepted by the Centurion as it was tied to Silk's new found talent, mercy.

Of course, the military used him to his full extent, putting him into the official citizen protection unit of Koltzan. Which simply meant they left him to deal with civilians opposed to actual fighting, to use him to calm ponies down and deal with all of the annoyances of civilians like crime and nosey Pegasi who asked too many questions.

The Snowcrow, Silk suitably naming her Mercy, slowly became a known symbol of Silk and his legion among the ponies of Koltzan. The legion itself being refereed to by the general public as the Snow Birds.

Mercy was trained to scout the land underneath them, watching for Earth Ponies. She also served as an alarm, calling out for the Snow Birds to a scene of a crime. Mercy was always happy to fetch small things for Silk that were out of his reach too, and he didn't mind when she would practice her singing early in the morning, waking him daily.

Silk and Mercy lived in as much harmony as a soldier could live in, their bond growing with their age and respect. He still didn't enjoy the military, but he had learned to look on the bright side, dulling the boredom of his work.

He didn't care anymore, and more importantly...

He was happy.

That was, at least, until today. The day his world would be shattered.

The day that would ruin his perfect balance of life.

The day he would meet his murderer.

“Mercy! Mercy get down here!” The elegant Snowcrow glided down from bathing in the glazing sun, landing on Silk's blood red, cloth shoulder-pad. Mercy dug her sharp claws into it, adding to the years of wear and tear.

She chirped joyfully to him. “I know it's a beautiful day, but we have work to do... And you know what happens to slackers.” Silk carried his spear across his shoulder with the feathers of his right wing, strolling down a cloudy path warmed by the sun to a pleasant radiance of heat.

Mercy tweeted uneagerly in reply, having her buzz spoiled.

“Exactly, and you don't want that happening to you now do you?” Silk turned his head towards her, his bright green eyes only amplified by the sun's rays.

Mercy nodded, then once he had turned his focus, pecked at his ear playfully.

“Why you little!” He shrugged her off from his shoulder, leaving her bobbing up and down in the air next to him. “Hey, get back here!” He laughed as he swooped his hooves around her.

She bolted upward, hovering above as she taunted him.

“Two can play that game!” He swung open his wings, dashing after the small critter.

But as he lept from the ground his attention was drawn towards himself. He wrapped his hooves around his stomach, floating to the ground from the ache. “Mercy, I'm sorry... I can't play right now... Still very weak... Not eating for a week will do that for ya...” He gathered his breath, head down to the clouds.

Mercy swiftly floated down in front of him, trying to chirp a tune to cheer him up.

He smiled and glanced upward. “Don't worry, girl, I'm alright... Should probably avoid too much activity for now.” He began a steady march again. “Food’s getting scarce again after that attack on Furford, but we'll get by. We always do.”

He stopped for a moment, taking some strong breaths. “Despite that, being hungry as shit still sucks.” Silk could feel his stomach tightening like a rope. Along with a frequent rumble that he had learned to ignore.

They kept trotting forward, further into the city. Reaching a small gathering near the center of the city. A raucous held the ponies watching in the circle around the scene. Silk sprinted up and lept atop the crowd, using his wings to descend into the drama.

He saw that the situation was being taken care of by two fellow Snow Birds. They were separating two outraged citizens from each other.

“Whats going on here, Century?” Silk walked toward the two of them.

“Attempted robbery, it seems.” One pegasus in gleaming metal armor held back a Pegasus from what looked like a bread basket. The pony he was holding back shouted out, “IT WAS NOT A ROBBERY, THAT BITCH HAD MY BREAD AND SHE REFUSED TO GIVE IT TO ME!”

The other slagged back, “YOUR BREAD? YOU COULDN'T AFFORD A SINGLE SLICE OF THAT BREAD WITH YOUR WAGES, THAT'S WHY YOU'RE SO DESPERATE TO GET MINE!”

Mercy trumpeted a beautiful melody, shutting everypony up. Silk then took a deep breath before giving a steady and hearty yell. “Everypony, please! We are civilized and we will resolve this as so. Firstly, that would require both of you to yield for the moment.”

The two ponies shoved off the Centuries and stood their ground, growling at and eyeing each other.

One of the Pegasian soldiers looked to Silk, “Thanks, Century. If you can deal with this then we'll take the evidence and return to base.” The two other soldiers nodded at each other and one grabbed the basket of fresh bread.

Silk drew back, stunned by confusion. “Take the evidence? That bread is what we are trying to find the rightful owner to! You can't just leave with it.”

The century said aloud, “We’re keeping it for safety until you find the rightful owner, then it will be returned.” The soldier began trotting by, as he slid across Silk he spoke in a whisper, “If you want a slice, you better fucking go with this.” He continued trotting by as if he had said nothing.

Silk threw an enraged stare over his shoulder at the two leaving, before realizing how hungry he actually was, subduing his thoughts.

He looked up to the civilians, both clearly outraged by the bread being taken away. “Alright, now let's get all of the facts why don't we?”

“Why don't we? WHY DON'T WE? MAYBE BECAUSE YOUR BUDDIES OVER THERE JUST RAN OFF WITH MY ONLY MEAL THIS MONTH!” the accused thief barked out at Silk.

Silk sighed, hating the moral boundaries his job forced him to cross. “You heard the soldier, he will return the bread once a rightful owner is found.”

“I ain't buying into it, Shithead. You're probably going to use it to feed that stupid bird of yours,” the other pony blurted out.

Mercy, who had flown off his shoulder to take on crowd control duties and keep the spectators at bay by fanning air into them and chirping demandfully until they complied, wisped around back to Silk, her feelings having been hurt.

“Leave Mercy out of this!” Silk stomped towards them. “And I would like you two to stop whining and start complying if you ever want this matter resolved!”

“Fine! Let's get this over with.”

“Thank you, let's,” Silk replied, taking a out a quill and paper...

Silk slammed the door open, entering the barracks. “I could have used some help, you know...” He wandered in, exhausted. He landed, hanging on the edge of the table where the Centuries from before were gathered.

“Did you handle it?” One of them asked, lacking care or empathy.

He rested his face on the table. “YES, yes I did. It took two hours. Two hours of angry shouting. But I finally got the story straight,” he said, raising his head at the two and the basket in the middle, “and I have returned to give them their bread back... which I see isn't going to happen.”

The basket was empty.

One of the soldiers reached down to their bag from which they took out a small square, wrapped in cloth. Sliding it across the table to Silk, who unwrapped it with his teeth. A single slice of bread lay in the wrapping-cloth.

“Thanks...” he said, defeated as he grabbed the slice with a wing and began chewing on its flavorful, fluffy, fresh flour flesh.

After finishing it, he became curious. “What in the heavens is Commander Hurricane doing with all the food?” Silk sat down at the table.

“Feeding the military,” the one who gave him the bread replied.

“We're the military.” Silk blatantly stared at him.

“No, we're the Civilian Military, a fancy title for police. As far as Hurricane is concerned, if you’re not fighting Earth Ponies, you’re not worth the resources.”

“A great deal for getting new recruits. Fight for Pegassia, get fed,” the other soldier added.

“What is she thinking? If Hurricane starves out our population, then the Earth Ponies win!” Silk shouted in rage.

“Hey! Calm your ass down if you want to keep it. You know they take slandering the Commander very seriously.”

“Yeah, especially when with the Lieutenants showing up any minute,” they warned Silk.

Silk folded his hooves on the table and rested his head in them. “What do the Lieutenants want with us?”

“Not us, the ponies out there... It's a recruitment drive.”

“Another? They had one just a few weeks ago,” Silk said, unimpressed.

“The war is not going as well as we'd like it... Or at least as well as Hurricane would like it.”

“Well, I'll go out with Mercy and try to get her to spot them coming.” Silk slumped out of his chair and whistled for Mercy, who has been patiently waiting outside. She bolted through the door as Silk opened it and sat on his shoulder.

“Here, girl. Have some.” Silk offered a small clump of bread he had saved to Mercy, who looked at him in shock.

“Don't look at me like that. I know it's wrong, but we all have to eat... That includes you,” Silk said in silent whispers.

She unenthusiastically pecked at it as he strolled through the door.

“Mercy can you do me a favor and fly up? There are some Lieutenants coming over, apparently.”

She tweeted at him and dashed upward, beginning a large arc around the city. A while passed before Mercy chirped down at Silk, seeing a battalion of Pegasi flying in unison far off in the east. She then flew down to await further orders.

Silk stroked her wings as she landed on his outstretched hoof. “Thanks, girl. I'll go greet them. You go make sure nothing else in the city is going to shit.”

Mercy lifted her right wing, giving an ironic, yet adorable salute before flying off.

Silk took a breath and spoke to himself, “Alright, Silk, make a good first impression. Lead them to the city forum and let them do their thing...” He spread both wings and flew.

Silk the Century, after sitting out in the middle of the city for many hours, couldn't wait to leave. He was too bored by the long and tiring recruitment process.

But then he heard something.

After hours of asking for ponies names, measuring their heights, strength and much more dull information about the ponies signing up, he began listening to what the Lieutenants were talking about. Back behind the Snow Birds, the Lieutenants set up a small table where they had lunch, which only enticed ponies to join, while also salting Silk’s wounds.

Mercy was only, well... a small mercy right now, only appearing every now-and-again to give him periodic reports and cheer him up. Sometimes he would whistle as loudly as he could and wait to hear her distant squawking back at him.

Silk sat at his makeshift desk out in the middle of the forum, filling in a recruitment form for a Pegasus named Wobble, or at least that is what he wrote down with the minuscule amount of attention he lent to Womble while filling out his application.

His ears were drawn to a conversation that two Lieutenants were having, they seemed to have parted from the others to speak in private, which put them standing off to the side, the side Silk was at. This put them barely into his earshot.

One of the Lieutenants, a charcoal black Pegasus with eyes of blue flame and a sharply-cut pale navy mane, Silk could recognize, and even by name. He was known as Midnight Eclipse, and every Pegasus knew Midnight Eclipse.

The pony he was speaking with on the other hoof, the crimson red, young warrior Lieutenant, was not known by Silk, and probably most other ponies. They spoke in whispers, while trying to act as if they were having a friendly bit of banter, but from what Silk could hear, it was anything but.

“Midnight, I know I promised you I would help... But tonight? Are you sure?”

Midnight shook his head lightly, “Tonight would be perfect, I can't leave while out there in the front lines. It's too guarded, too chaotic. I'd surely be shot by the Ants or caught by our own.” He spoke proudly, with strength.

The Lieutenant smiled awkwardly, “You're still going to have to cross the front line. Leaving here would just delay us.”

“That's the point. With the delay, they'd stop looking, assume we're dead. Then we can just grab some civilian clothing and go by land.”

“But the Ants!” The Lieutenant was reaching the brink of shouting he became so frustrated.

“They're idiots. They won't bat an eye at two travelers just going to the next town up, unlike our own army... You know how brutal we are to trespassers and rule breakers, even if they are Pegasi.” Midnight reflected on his past, many scarring memories to be relived...

“Fine, fine... But why are we having this conversation now? Why here? There are ponies everywhere!” His whispering grew in volume with every word, and he was right. Ponies casually walked by, some stopping to look at Midnight, but nopony dared to disturb him. They also were speaking only a few meters from the recruitment desks.

Midnight motioned his hoof downward to try and calm him down and get him to be quieter. “In base, it's harder to speak because the others will hear us. Out here, everypony is busy with their own duties. Even if somepony heard us, what could they do? My word is far more powerful and trustworthy than anypony's here... And who would ever believe that I of all ponies is planning to desert.”

Silk's jaw dropped at the mention of deserting. “Desert? Midnight Eclispe..?” he muttered under his breath.

“Umm... Sir?” Womble waved a hoof in front of Silk, failing to get his attention. Silk swirled around in his chair to lean closer to the two chatting.

“I hope she's worth it, Midnight...” the Lieutenant sighed.

“She is... I'd fly further than this world has air for that mare... And it seems that I'm going to have to...” Midnight looked into the heavens with a hopeful smile.

“I still will never understand your taste in mares, I'd fly that far just to get away from her, and not just because she would melt me with what she's packing.” The Lieutenant chuckled and Midnight brushed him off.

The two stood silently...

...and then Silk leaned too far and fell onto his face, his steel stool falling onto his side and making a crashing noise heard by all.

Midnight turned to look at Silk, then began stomping over with strictness in his eyes.

Silk's heart started to pound against his rib cage. His hooves wobbled and fell in an attempt to stand up, fearing that Midnight might have seen him listening into his conversation and is now going to have him executed.

Midnight towered over Silk, blocking out the sun in a stunning Eclipse... He then reached down with his hoof, picking up the stool and raising it in the air and inspecting it. “What kind of faulty stools are we making?!? These legs are weaker than those of an Ant!” He proved his point by lifting it with both wings and with ease he bent one of the legs up in a U shape.

Midnight lent a hoof to Silk, lifting him from the ground. “Somepony get this Century a new stool! We still have a lot of recruits to get processed” The line behind Womble went on with dozens of ponies, and so did all of the other lines at the several recruitment booths.

“Thank you, General.” Silk took his hoof and stood up prominently.

“You know my name, Century. You may call me by it.” Midnight looked down at him with seniority.

“Thank you, Eclipse.” Silk stared upward at him, he was much larger than any regular pony.

“That's better, now get back to work.” Midnight trotted back to his friend.

“Yes, sir...” Silk said aloud, even though Midnight had already left.

He muttered to himself, “Planning to desert...”

Silk stood like a statue, unblinking, unmoving, unfeeling, outside of the barracks, a grand cloud structure with steel accents that housed all of Koltzan's soldiers and military guests.

It was the dead of night, Mercy's song filled the entire city, a sugar-sweet melody that numbed the boredom of Silk as he stood for nightwatch. Silk wasn't meant to be on nightwatch tonight, either, but he greatly insisted and the Century did not waste his chance to get a good night's sleep.

He waited for the major portion of the night before he saw got what he wanted.

As the large steel door to the outside slid open, his head perked up, peeking to try and see whoever opened it. The mightily physiqued pony Midnight Eclipse and his friend from earlier strolled passed, paying no mind to Silk, they walked with purpose outward to the city.

“Sir!” Silk spoke authoritifically, trying to keep up the ''loyal soldier'' act until there was no turning back.

Midnight's attention jumped; he was not used to being stopped by a measly Century. “Me and my comrade here have urgent business to attend to. What is it, Century?” Midnight's friend stared at him, made uneasy by nerves.

“Would you allow me to know where you are going? To ensure your safety at these hours.” Silk still wasn't convinced Midnight would be deserting, he had to be sure before doing anything rash.

“We are off to... Speak with your Mayor. He said it's a matter of urgency. It cannot even wait until sunrise.” Midnight then shrugged it off and went to continue on his way, expecting that to be the end of things.

“She said it's a matter of urgency,” Silk said aloud, perfectly calm.

“What did you say soldier?” Midnight turned his head.

“She. Our Mayor is a mare. I believe you meant to say that she said its a matter of urgency.” Silk thought that he could have been lieing, or a simple slip of the tongue.

Although this left Midnight quite annoyed. “Yes, soldier. She said it was a matter of urgency.” He walked up to face Silk. “But you should learn your place and not correct your superiors, especially on a slight bit of misspeaking. Do you understand, Century?”

“I am quite sorry, Eclipse. I shan't correct you again... would you like an escort to the Mayor's office?” Silk held back his cocky smile, the excitement was almost getting to him, and nothing exciting ever happened to him. Mercy on the other hoof wanted no part in this, averting her gaze from the beefy General Pegasus that could crush her easily.

Midnight, burning with frustration, replied. “I do not require an escort. Now get back to your guard post and STOP QUESTIONING ME.”

“Yes sir, I apologize,” Silk yielded.

Midnight turned and began trotting once again along side his Lieutenant friend. He thought Silk’s interruptions had come to an end once he had gotten a few dozen meters out, passing an intersection on the path he was walking, an intersection that lead around the barracks, to the front of the city.

This was when Silk saw the validation that Midnight did indeed tell a lie.

Silk shouted out, “The Mayor's office is the other way,” and he let out a cheeky smile.

Midnight twisted around, staring Silk down. “DID YOU JUST TRY AND CORRECT ME, CENTURY?” Midnight was grabbed by his friend, who was trying to restrain him as he attempted to gallop at Silk in anger. Eventually, he broke free and the mountain of a pony charged directly at an unblinking, unmoving, unfeeling Silk... And a more nervous Mercy, who began digging her claws deeper into the cloth of Silk's shoulderpad.

Midnight decelerated as he drew nearer, devolving from a charge into a stomp.

The moment he came into spear-range, Silk simply said, “I want to defect.”

Midnight halted to a stop in shock. “You what?”

“I want to defect, preferably with you.” Silk's gentle eyes along with an innocent tone discombobulated Midnight's thoughts.

“Not just with you, with your friend and Mercy as well.” Silk raised a hoof to stroke his pet softly, calming her down greatly.

“I-I...” Midnight felt stumped.

“Accept? You don't really have much of a choice.” Silk loved acting so unorthodox for a low-ranked soldier.

Midnight felt otherwise. “No choice? What are you going to do? Tell on us? Like your word will do anything before we are long gone.”

Silk whistled a command to Mercy, who bolted up into the air and out of sight as soon as she received it. “That is my Snowcrow. Her name is Mercy. She is currently standing outside of the elite guest room window, where all of your Lieutenant buddies are currently asleep. If you don't let me come with you, she will wake every single one of them and they will notice your disappearance and search for you, leaving you no time to even dig your way through the cloud before you are found. And good luck leaving again after that, because nopony will let you out of their sights. Then, in the morning, you will be sent right back to the battlefield where the surveillance is through the roof and you will never leave without being seen and executed as a coward... The rules will not be broken, and you know Hurricane wouldn't make an exception, even for you... Sir.”

Midnight crossed his eyebrows and looked down on himself, glaring at Silk occasionally with a powerful hatred.

Silk continued. “Or, you let me come with you, ensuring my safety, I whistle for Mercy to return and we leave Pegussia, going our separate ways after crossing the front line.”

Midnight sighed, chuckling to himself. “How long did it take for you to think of all that?”

“I had all night to practice, sir.” Silk returned his smile.

“Well if there's anything I know, it's a good soldier when I see one... So let me ask you boy, why are you leaving? I need to rejoin my fiancée across the border. My comrade over there is aiding me on my journey... But if you are going to travel with us, I'd like to know your motivation.”

“I don't belong here, sir. I see myself leading a charge. Not on a battlefield, but in society. I wish to escape the war and create a civilization of peace and respect between Pegasi. No need for war or crime. The perfect city.” Silk waved his hooves more wildly in the air as his vision grew clearer of his city.

This amused Midnight. “Seems you thought of everything but a name there.”

“Cloudsdale.”

“Hmm?”

“I'm going to call it Cloudsdale.”

“So you will... Now get your bird back here.”

“Yes sir.” Silk whistled out, with only a few seconds before Mercy glided down to him and snuggled into his neck, brushing her feathers along his thin fur.

Midnight gestured to his friend, who was trying to make a tactical retreat, to come to him. “Now, Century, if you truly wish to defect, I would ask you to drop down to land first, to prove your sincerity,” Midnight said while having his head turned to The Lieutenant. He turned back to where Silk had been. “And let's make this as quick as possible...” He found an empty hole in the cloud and no Silk. Leaning over the edge, he could see a dive-bombing set of Pegassian armor drop to the earth before jolting his wings to the side and with a tight arc from straight down to across the horizon, he began floating.

“Well I'll be damned.” Midnight cracked a chuckle.

“What happened, Midnight?” His friend jumped over.

“We've gotten a little extra help... So let's not dilly dally.” Midnight folded his wings tight and dropped down the hole with a nose dive.

His friend, head jumping from side to side making sure the coast was clear, leaped after him.

“I can't believe that fucking worked!” Midnight couldn't hold back his laughter, resting in the snow to regain his breath. “How did they not notice our wings?!? I never knew Ants were so stupid!”

Silk began rolling in the snow, holding onto his stomach from the stitch he has gotten from laughing. “I was ready... I was ready to kill that blue one... I was this close to doing it! I swear!” He was wheezing from laughter.

“I thought we were goners when they found my spear! I don't even know how they believed the ''self defense against Pegasi'' excuse!” The Lieutenant braced himself against a large rock, head in hooves from laughter.

“If those were Peggusian soldiers, whoo-eee! We would have been stripped and executed right there!” Midnight added, getting back up. “Also, did you hear them? Once they let us go? 'Looks like you're all clear. Be safe out there. You never know where Pegasi could be!' I nearly burst out laughing in his face!”

“That made this whole terrible week worth it, I tell you...” Silk inhaled and exhaled deeply, his laughter ceasing to a wide grin. “I guess this is it though... Time to go our separate ways.” He lifted himself up from his back.

Midnight turned to him, a pleasant smile on his face. “I guess it is so... Thank you, Silk. We may not have made it here without you. I will make sure you are remembered as a great hero.”

“Thank you, sir... But before I leave, do you mind showing me on the map where we are?”

“Why, of course.” Midnight pulled a map out of his saddlebag with his left wing, then rolled it out on the snow. “We've just crossed this border...” He looked from side to side, they had arrived in a flat rocky plane, close to a large mountain only a few hundred meters off from them. “If we'd just go to Mount Ryse over there, then go straight east, I should be able to get to Mount Great Stable... As for you, if you just keep going north, you will eventually leave Ant Territory and get to the Zebras, If you go around them, you would arrive... Well, somewhere. No pony has ever been that far up. It might just be unoccupied land where you can build your city.”

“I like the sound of that. What do you think, Mercy?” Silk lifted his head to see the energetic bird whiz around happily and sing in agreeance.

“So, since we're going the same way for now, we could just split up at Ryse,” The Lieutenant suggested.

“I couldn't agree more. We'll make our farewells at Ryse. Let's get moving,” Midnight stated, both ponies following suit in his hoofsteps toward the mountain.

It was a short journey, only a few minutes before they found themselves at the hoof of the mountain, but not before bearing witness to a horrible scene.

An Earth Pony settlement it seemed, wooden and stone houses were built around and into the mountain. The craftsmanship was sloppy and makeshift, the houses tiny and riddled with holes and patchwork. A rudimentary attempt at keeping the snow out, indeed. But the horrifying part was that it was empty, a dead atmosphere in the most literal sense as they saw blood strung against the walls and snow. Fresh blood. Upon arrival, they were hit by a rancid stench that invoked sickness even in Midnight. They saw many bodies, Earth Ponies that were ripped apart, piece by piece. Scars of teeth gave way to exposed, half eaten organs.

“What the flying fuck?!? What monster could do such a thing?” Midnight exclaimed, counting the death toll on this seemingly endless path of gore as he strolled further to the mountain.

Silk had kept close to Midnight, feeling his skin crawl with each disembodied chunk of flesh he crossed. “I think we should leave, sir, before whatever got them gets us...”

“I couldn't agree more, Century.” Midnight took his spear and ran the blade across his side, cutting the Earth Pony disguise and letting his wings spring free. “We're not going to need these anymore.” He did the same for Silk, before the both of them flew up into the air. “Storm? Storm Count?” Midnight called out for his Lieutenant, who he spotted back a ways away peeking through the door of the first shack they came across. Midnight shouted for him. “STORM, WE GOT TO GO!”

This got his attention. “I'm coming! I just thought I heard somepony inside here... It's all clear, though...” He worked his wings out of his disguise, giving them a few good stretches, but before he could fly out to Midnight he jolted around, looking back through the open door. “AAGGHHH!”

Storm turned and galloped away, spreading his wings and soaring into the sky directly away from the shack. Midnight and Silk panicked and began soaring to him. Mercy was thrown off of Silk and she dashed after him. But all three of them stopped in horror as they saw the beast that busted through doorway.

It had the head of a lion, teeth that hung like jagged bill-hooks smeared with the flesh of the innocent. Its lush, red mane was only made brighter with splashes and gusts of blood. It had thunderous wings, scaly on the inside and rough leather on the outside. It resembled the wings of a bat, but unscalably larger. Each wing bore a large claw at the height of the wing. Its tail, made of a long chain of scaled spheres, leading to a dripping stinger at the end, was soaked in venom and blood.

Storm, a mighty warrior and master of flight, blasted away from the beast, but once it spread its wings, it was very clear there was no out-flying such a horror.

It reached Storm, who had flown almost to the clouds, with ease, shutting its mighty jaws onto his hind legs. The beast swung Storm side to side, ripping his stomach muscles, before tossing him to the dirt. The beast crashed down to the earth like a meteorite, rumbling the ground with its cratering landing. It pierced Storm in the chest with its stinger, hoisted him up and swallowed him whole before slowly edging its frothing mouth to glare at Midnight Silk and Mercy in the air.

“GET DOWN!” Midnight grabbed Silk by the chest and flew to the side of the mountain, a cliff edge with a small hovel built into the side, seemingly where a cave once would have been. He bust through the door with Silk in his hooves, Mercy swiftly keeping up with them. Once inside the home, Midnight shut the door and put his spear lengthways on the door handle, barring it.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK!” Midnight pranced around, “WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO NOW?”

Silk lifted himself from the smoothed stone floor, his back aching. “Why didn't we fly away?”

Midnight grew stressful and snapped at Silk. “FLY AWAY? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? DID YOU SEE HOW FAST THAT THING IS?”

From outside, another quake shook the world as the beast landed outside of their shelter. Silk grabbed a hold of Mercy and hugged her tight. Midnight panicked and ran behind a fallen table in the center of the room, whispering to himself, “Shit, shit... shit.”

Silk joined him behind the table, “We can't die like this! This... This can't be it! Can it?”

Midnight, frustrated and shaking answered, “Trust me, I will not die like this... I NEED to see my girl again. I NEED TO.”

The beast scraped its claws along the wooden door, taunting its prey.

“Well, what's your plan then?!?” Silk said in a worry.

Midnight dropped his head, his breathing slowly calming. “I need you to forgive me... and to try and survive as long as you can. Just don't let it get you before I can escape.”

Silk stared at him bewildered, “What do you mean? Midnight what's the plan?!?”

“I'm sorry, Century. I liked you a lot, but I need to see her again. I need to see my Princess... I need to...” Midnight's eyes swelled with tears as his wing unfolded and reached into his saddlebag.

Silk's eyes widened as he came to the realization of what Midnight's plan in fact was. “NO! DON'T! PLEASE!”

But it was too late, Midnight Eclipse had grabbed his knife and swung it into Silk’s unarmored side, the blade cutting into the bone of his wing, slicing it where it met Silk’s body. Silk’s left wing then fell to the ground, lifeless.

Silk cried out in pain, attempting to grapple onto Midnight as he stood up. Mercy flew up in a panic, then tried to lift Silk up by the mane, pulling it upward and helping him stand. Silk leaned over the table and watched as Midnight ran to the door. Lifting his spear, the door blew open from the wind. A sudden blizzard seemed to have started.

The beast on the other side sniffed. Following the scent of Silk's gushing blood, it pounced into the room.

Midnight then slipped by and shut the door behind him, leaving Silk trapped with the beast.

The beast charged at him, slamming its jaws into the table, crumbling it into splinters as Silk jumped away. With adrenaline pumping through his veins, he ran around the stunned beast to the door.

Silk slammed against the doorway, but it did not give way. Midnight had barred it from the other side. Silk screamed out, “YOU BASTARD! YOU FUCKING TRAITOR! YOU COWARD!” while slamming his hooves against the door.

Mercy wisped around the beast, drawing its attention, who was playing with its prey. The monster took its time, walking step by step towards the panicking bird.

Silk kept smashing the door, eventually busting a small hole in the frame, but he could only fit his hoof threw. “MERCY!” He called out, summoning the bird to his side with terror on her face.

The beast turned and began stepping towards the both of them.

“MERCY, GO.” He left the hole open for his friend, who shook her head.

“THIS IS NOT AN ARGUMENT MERCY, YOU'RE GOING!” He forcefully grabbed her, kissing her on the forehead before throwing her threw the tiny exit. Mercy looked back through the hole at Silk, who had his crying eye pressed against it.

“I love you,” he said, before the beast grabbed him by the tail, flinging him back into the room with a shattering sound of wood and bone.

Mercy wanted to peek in so badly... but instead, followed her last command she would ever receive.

She flew away.

Hopeful found himself laying on his stomach once more, watching The Beast. It had been a lengthy while since Hopeful had a break, or a meal. But he thought of himself as incredible lucky tonight as he was watching The Beast entering a cave, and with the lethargic flying it showed lately, Hopeful assumed that it was going to sleep.

He observed as it majestically glided into a small cave at the top of Mount Great Stable. He began his journey immediately, not just because there was an old bunker in the mountain where he potentially could find food, but he was excited to be finally try and slay The Beast.

But slaying was difficult on an empty stomach, so Hopeful set his priorities to eat first.

As he reached the mountain, he searched for an entrance, which he found in the form of a rusty metal hatch with worn out text reading, ''Stable 3, '' printed along the side. He entered with great hope in his eyes. Even if he found one preserved meal, that would make him the happiest stallion in Great Bridleton.

His stomach churned and twisted as he trotted down the steps, closing the hatch behind him with a excruciating squeal.

He explored the bunker. Even though the large amount of dust and lack of lighting made it difficult, he went on by his lantern, finding hundreds of rows of unused, dusty beds, supply closets and even recreation centers before stumbling into a cafeteria.

He actually cried at the sight of chocolate pudding.

The kitchen still contained loosely scattered rationed food, along with some horribly rotten muck. Hopeful filled up his bags with anything he could find with an expiration date less than a year off and left happily.

As he strolled back through the bunker, he heard an unusual squeal. He began running to the entrance, rifle drawn.

His galloping steps echoed through the chambers, as he turned the final corner he saw a pony shouting out.

“Midnight! Midnight? Was that you? Are you there?”

Hopeful then appeared, seeing a white-coated Unicorn standing at the bottom of the staircase, lighting the place with her horn. Hopeful yelled as he saw her, “YOU THERE, UNICORN, ARE YOU A SOLDIER?”

Hopeful, though holding a lantern, was mostly in the shadows, leading to the Unicorns confusion. She answered in a panic as his rifle was illuminated from the darkness. “Please do not shoot! I beg you!”

Hopeful marched closer, nearly within touching distance. “SOLDIER OR CIVILIAN!?”

“Civilian! Civilian!” The unicorn fell back, stumbling onto the stairs.

Hopeful sighed, letting his rifle drop. “Thank you.”

“Y-y, you're not going to shoot me?” She sat in shock.

“No, now get up and go get yourself some food. Down the corridor, take a right then your third left... You are looking for something to eat right?” Hopeful had pity for her, seeing her fear.

She stood up, shaken. “I-I... I'm not here for food.”

“There's also beds if you're looking for a place to rest. It is sunset already... But watch out, it's pretty dusty, so you might wanna get a gas mask or something if you plan on staying the night.”

“Why are you being so kind? Your an-”

“An Earth Pony helping a Unicorn. Don't worry. I'm up to speed.”

“But why? Earth Ponies hate us!”

“This one doesn't.” Hopeful looked to the ground. “Not anymore.”

“Well thank you... Earth Pony... Sir... But I'm not here for shelter either. I am waiting for somepony.” The Unicorn gathered herself up, staying a cautious step away from Hopeful at all times.

“Who ya waiting for?” Hopeful walked by her, reaching the stairs before turning and awaiting an answer.

“My husband... fiancée, actually. We said we would meet here, on this date... ” The Unicorn smiled with hope.

“Separated by the war..? At least you have hope to see them again. My wife died a few months prior to the beginning of this pointless war... Good luck to you.” Hopeful went to to move out, paying no mind to the Unicorn, he couldn’t care less right now, not while he had more important matters to address.

The Unicorn took a step toward him. “Good luck to you too, sir.”

“AURORA!?!” A powerful voice came down from the newly opened hatch. The Unicorn jolted up and shoved Hopeful to the side, standing on the steps and looking outward. “MIDNIGHT!?!”

Hopeful stumbled back as he saw a pony at the speed of light run down the ongoing flight of stairs. The two ponies hugged, both beginning to cry. “I can't believe it's actually you! It's really, really you!” Aurora said to Midnight.

“I wouldn’t let anything stop me from getting to you, baby. I love you...” Midnight stretched out his wings, wrapping them around the Unicorn and squeezed her in a large wing-hug.

Hopeful lay on his back, stunned, gaped at the two of them.

Eventually Midnight opened his eyes, spotting Hopeful he flinched. “Baby, who is that..?”

“YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH...” Hopeful shouted out, despite his lack of hatred towards Pegasi and Unicorns, he still could not believe his eyes. This, this was unheard of.

“...A PEGASUS?”

Words of War

Midnight drew a short sword into his right wing, jumping off the wall and leaping around Aurora to the bottom of the stairs, his blade aimed toward the Earth Pony.

“Stay back, Aurora! I'll deal with the Ant!” Midnight exclaimed going in for a mighty slash at Hopefuls throat.

Hopeful flinched back in panic. Entrusting his instincts he slumped down as the blade flew above his head, slicing a part of his mane off. Spinning on one of his front hooves, he swung around his hind leg and it connected with the armored Pegasus' flank. With immense Earth Pony strength, he launched the Pegasus away, smashing him into a steel door and leaving an indent. He finished his spin to a full Three-Sixty and lifted his rifle as he backed up from the two other ponies.

“You bitch..!” The Pegasus fell to the ground, hooves over his vital organs, which were left shaken. Realizing his weakened state, Midnight slid his wings into his armor and pulled the sides off. Holding the two pieces with each wing like two shields he placed them in front of himself.

“STOP! DON'T FUCKING TRY ANYTHING ELSE!” Hopeful aimed down his sights at the aggressive Pegasus.

Midnight, with his face covered in steel, charged at the Earth Pony. Surprised that he was not being shot at, he reached Hopeful and pulled out his blade once more. Dropping his right shield, he went for another swing.

Hopeful, now backed up against a wall, slammed the body of his rifle vertically against the incoming sword. His defense held true as he pushed against the Pegasus. “STOP. THIS. NOW.”

“NOT UNTIL YOUR FILTHY BLOOD RUNS ACROSS MY BLADE, ANT!” Midnight threatened, slamming his left shield across Hopeful and knocking him to the ground.

Hopeful, on his side, swung the butt of his rifle across the Pegasus' face, stunning him just long enough for Hopeful to gallop away, back to the stairs where a horrified Unicorn stood in shock.

Midnight turned toward him, preparing his attack.

As the Pegasus charged at him again, Hopeful jumped up the steps next to the Unicorn, wiping out his pistol he shoved it against the side of her skull while covering her horn with one front leg and holding her from escape with his other. He pulled her head back, threatening the Pegasus by pressing the barrel of his gun against the top of her head. She screamed out to her lover.

Midnight hauled at the bottom step, seeing the Earth Pony holding Aurora, he froze. “LET HER GO, YOU COWARD!”

Hopeful's voice was muffled by the grip, “LOHWER YOUR HWEAPON!” He slowly edged back up the stairs, pulling the Unicorn by her mane as she hollered and cried.

She tried to cast some spell, but as her horn lit up, Hopeful slammed her against the concrete of the walls, scraping the right side of her face harshly. She called out to Midnight, “MMM-M-MIDNIGHT, DO WHAT HE SAYS-SS..!”

Midnight hounded at the Earth Pony, enraged. “KILL HER AND YOU WILL SUFFER A THOUSAND TIMES GREATER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE, ANT!” Midnight chucked away his sword and spear onto the floor.

“Gwhood.” Hopeful said. He threw the Unicorn down nearly a dozen steps to the Pegasus and sheathed his pistol. “I don't give a shit about what you two are up two! Go fuck somewhere in this old military bunker for all I care, just leave me out of it!” Hopeful turned and sprinted upward. He reached the open hatch and slammed it closed once he got out. He slumped his back against the hatch, sighing to himself.

After a moment of rest, he regained his wits. “Job to do... Have to kill it...” He looked up the mountain, noticing something quite odd. Standing up to get a better view, he could see the head of the beast sticking out from the cave at the top of the mountain, peering down at him. “Shit, shit shit!” He scrambled to throw his bags down and search through them.

The creature, far up in the sky, leapt from its cliff edge and dove down, the winds coming with its ghostly presence toward Hopeful.

“AHA!” He brought out a large stick wrapped in rags and tied to it via string, a canister of oil.

The Beast blew a blizzard, blasting it at Hopeful. It made it down the mountain at high-speeds, those of a hurricane.

With a panic, Hopeful bit open the canister and poured it over the torch. Then with a flick of his lighter, it erupted into a mushroom blast of flame just as the blizzard reached him. The flame flickered and waved, but it stuck to the torch. Holding it in his mouth, Hopeful swung it around in the air, trying to hit the flying Beast that circled him like a shark.

The winds grew in strength. Noticing his torch on the brink of extinguishing, he focused on trying to spot it. Looking through the thick fog, he saw its glow, he flung his head around to volley the torch in its general direction.

He was delighted with the screech it made soon after. “Yes! Howdya like that one?!?”

But Hopeful’s smile soon turned to fear as the pissed off Beast only strengthened its winds. It changed its flight pattern to rush at Hopeful, who saw the screeching ice-monster coming right for him.

His saddle bags and coat flew off as he was flung back to the mountain, getting thrown into the solid rock wall. He watched as the Beast turned upward as it reached him, flying up the mountain and covering Hopeful with a boulder of snow.

He frantically dug himself out, suffocating and shaking in the snow. He barely reached the surface, crawling out from the small tunnel he created. He squeezed half of himself out before collapsing. Freezing and exhausted, without any of his gear, apart from the rifle strapped tightly to his torso.

He gazed upward, unable to find the creature. He spotted the hatch once more, almost in reach. Terrified of the idea of freezing to death in battle with it, he pulled up his rifle and used it to latch onto the opening valve of the hatch. He yanked himself out of the snow and to it, then bit onto the frosty surface of the valve and attempted to twist it, to no avail.

He heard the Beast cry out in anger once more. He could feel the winds bash against him, knocking him to the ground.

Mostly blinded by the blizzard, he turned into the Beast’s direction. Shaking thunderously, Hopeful lifted his rifle. Loaded and primed to shoot, he aimed at the Beast.

The Beast went for its second dive, blasting toward him with its full power. A gigantic wall of snow moved behind it like a tsunami wave.

Hopeful went to pull the trigger.

“Aurora! Are you ok?!” Midnight lifted her up and wrapped her hooves around him so that she rested leaning on him. Once the Earth Pony left and shut the door, she used her horn to provide light once more.

“Yes... Just a bit roughed up...” Her legs had scratches and small cuts all over them. Small tints of blood contrasted against her white coat. She lifted up her head. The entire right side of her face had heavy scrapes, her eye twitching from the stinging pain. After taking a breath, she worked her way back onto her own hooves. “Why did you have to attack him?” she said after taking a step back.

“What else was I supposed to do? It could have shot at us!” Midnight retrieved his weaponry from the floor.

“He wasn't going to... He was helping me before you arrived.”

“Helping..? Auri, other ponies aren't like us! They don't care about anything else apart from killing the other races! I saw the way he looked at me. There is no doubt in my mind he wanted to see me dead.” Midnight had put on his armor once more, then trotted to be beside his Fiancee.

“Then why didn't he shoot at you? If he wanted you dead, he had the perfect opportunity to do that.” She sat against the wall, taking out some of her own supplies from a saddlebag and bandaging her wounds.

“Maybe he knew the bullet would ricochet off my armor? Although I doubt an Earth Pony could be that wise, it's a possibility.” He sat down beside her.

“When we were alone, he seemed nice. He didn't care I was a Unicorn... Like you.” She finished healing her legs and moved onto her scratched up face.

Midnight turned to her and stopped her, using his wing to graze her cheek and draw her attention to him. “I told you before, I wouldn't care if you were a freaking Zebra, I'd still love you...” She smiled as they had a quick kiss, before his expression turned more sinister as he looked at her wounds. “But he hurt you. That means no matter what you say, you can't stop me from killing that bastard if I ever lay my eyes upon his sorry ass again.”

She chuckled. “You're as overprotective as I remembered you were, Nighty.”

He stood himself back up, “You only study shielding magic and you're calling me overprotective?”

She returned to her self-treatment, “My mother made me learn all those spells, you know that. She is so paranoid about my safety, she actually locked me in my room for an entire week when I was a filly because one of my friends caught the cutie pox. She wouldn't even believe the doctor when they told her it is not contagious.”

“Thank the heavens I never have to meet that mare... Image if she knew,” Midnight said, laughing.

Finished with her bandaging, she walked up to him. “She would drop dead on the spot.” And she kissed him again.

What Aurora meant to be a quick peck, turned into a lot more as Midnight drew her in and their kiss continued. Both of them were unbelievably happy. Soon, tears formed as they both rejoiced in their love for each other. The hardships they faced in their journey for reuniting were forgotten in this moment. They were finally together and neither of them would change that for the world.

Aurora felt a rush of energy go to her horn. The warmth of her love seemed to be to powerful to hold in. A rosy-pink spell of lights bursted out of her, several flying around them like fireflies, sparkling in the darkness.

Suddenly, they heard the movement of rusty metal, up from the top of the staircase. It was only once they spotted the bright pink light glow from the same place that their making out was disturbed.

Midnight looked at Aurora's horn, glowing the same colour. “Auri, what are you doing?”

“I am not doing this...” She felt her magic leaving her, but had no control of its actions.

The two of them sprinted back to the stairs to witness as the hatch was being opened by Auroras spell.

It opened to reveal the terrorizing blizzard outside. Hopeful, dropping his aim, jumped through the hatch, a rush of snow poured down the stairs and Hopeful went down with it.

Aurora and Midnight jumped out of the way as the snow caved in the entrance, leaving the shivering Earth Pony at the hoof of the snow.

Hopeful looked up at the two. “Shit.”

Hopeful, getting himself up as fast as he equinely could, he raised the only weapon he had left. Midnight lifted his shield and spear in response, and with a serious look from Midnight, Aurora raised a magical bubble around herself.

“I WANT TO TALK!” Hopeful demanded, switching his sights from the Pegasus to the Unicorn and back again.

“WHAT'S THERE TO TALK ABOUT, ANT? YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE!” Midnight shouted and began side-stepping to stand in front of Aurora.

“THERE IS A MONSTER OUTSIDE! IT CAUSED THE SNOW! IT PUSHED ME BACK DOWN HERE!” Hopeful tried to create as much space between him and the Peggasian soldier as he could.

“I DON'T CARE WHY YOU'RE BACK, JUST THAT YOU ARE! AND NOW THAT YOU'RE NOT HOLDING MY WIFE HOSTAGE, I THINK I'LL BE MAKING THE DEMANDS! Now... Drop. Your. Rifle.” Midnight looked like a leopard, ready to pounce.

“I just want to walk away, mate, and this rifle is the only insurance I have to let that happen. Unless you have a better proposition, I ain't doing shit.”

“Drop your rifle and then we will discuss what will happen to you, you have five seconds before I end you.”

Hopeful swallowed. Seeing the Pegasus's fury in his eyes, Hopeful could tell he was not bluffing. He chucked the rifle.

“Good...” The Pegasus leaped onto Hopeful, his spear's path leading into Hopeful’s throat.

Midnight, just before he landed the hit, froze in the air.

“MIDNIGHT! He may not be like us, but we don't have to be like him!” Aurora scolded him.

Midnight turned to look at her while being held in her bright yellow magic. “Ugh... Fine...” He was dropped onto the floor as he let down his stance. He leaned into the defensive Hopeful, “Consider yourself lucky, Ant.” Midnight then went to Hopeful’s rifle and picked it up with a wing just to bend the barrel closed.

Hopeful just sank into a corner, shaking.

“Auri, let's find some place where we can be in private, why don't we?” Midnight went back to Aurora, walking down the hallway.

Aurora walked by his side, only twisting her head back once to look at Hopeful before going right back.

Hopeful called out to them, “It's still out there... And it's stuck us down here.”

But without regard for him, they turned the corner. Midnight shouting over his shoulder to leave the two of them alone, they left Hopeful in the pitch black.

He whispered to himself. “Stuck down here... Together...”

“We shouldn't let him live, for our safety’s sake.” Midnight looked from side to side, the Earth Pony architecture of the bunker felt confining to him, almost claustrophobic.

“After everything I went through to get here, one unarmed Earth Pony being in the same bunker as me is not a scary thought.”

“I guess you're right... You're going to have to tell me everything that happened, getting across half of Bridleton and Germaney surely has gifted you a few stories to share.”

“It has... It has... Some of them weren't as pleasant as I would like them to be.” She stared uncomfortably in remembrance. “I think I may have hurt somepony. I don't know what happened to her. I hope she is safe.”

Midnight put a comforting leg around Aurora, “I had a similar experience, although I doubt the pony survived.”

“What was their name?” Aurora looked up to Midnight.

“It was... ugh... I don't think I ever asked...” He wished not to remember him.

“I met a Unicorn. She was called Luna. She lived with Earth Ponies. She said they were her family... It made me think a lot about us.” They found themselves walking into a common room, shutting the door behind them. They sat on one of the couches scattered around the room. Aurora lit up a candle she saw on the coffee table in front of them and then letting go of her magic.

Midnight was surprised at what she said. “Is that why you wanted to leave that Ant alive?”

“Yes, well, no... It was part of it, but I don't know. It's been very confusing, this whole thing.” Aurora rested her head on Midnight shoulders.

“It won't have to be confusing anymore. You still remember the plan right?”

“What we're doing after we get out of here? Yes, I dreamed of it every night in the wilderness. It kept me going.” She gazed around, smiling.

“You bring up a good point. What are we waiting for? Let's get out of here.” Midnight straightened up his back and outstretched a hoof.

“I would, but what about the snow?”

“We'll find a map. There has to be a back door somewhere!” Midnight hopped down from the coach.

Aurora lied down across the cushions. “I was hoping we'd take a little break first... I am quite tired from walking after all.”

Midnight sat on the coffee table and scooted it closer until her was next to the couch. “What do you suggest we do, then? While we wait.”

Aurora had a devilish smile, “I mean, I have some ideas...” She propped herself up on a front leg and leaned into his ear where she whispered something that shared her smile with him.

Midnight laughed to himself, “I mean, it has been a long time since we've done that...”

She kissed him a few times, going from his muzzle down across his neck.

He leaned back to lie on the coffee table, moving the candle away with his wing as Aurora slid on top of him. “Shouldn't I take off my armor?” He said, in between smooches.

Aurora spoke in hushed, seductive tones. “Oh, but why would you take off your uniform, Mr. Pegassian Soldier? You should really worry about arresting the bad Unicorn trying to cast her spells on you...”

Aurora went down on Midnight, but just as she was going to get started, the door was slammed open. She jolted up and lit her horn. “What in the heavens!”

Her light barely shone upon the stunned Hopeful standing in the doorway. “What is..?” His eyes shot up as they adjusted to the light after wandering in darkness for several minutes, he saw the two on top of each other. “I, ugh...” He stepped back out from the door, shutting it swiftly.

“That fucking Ant...” Midnight slid out from under Aurora, rushing to the door with his weapon drawn.

“Wait!” Aurora called out.

“What? It can't even leave us alone for one moment! I'm going to fucking kill it!” Midnight shouted.

“Leave him. I don't wish for him to die.” Aurora walked up to him, next to the door.

“What do you suggest then? It has ruined every moment we have together! What do you want to do with it?”

“Let's just guide him out, find the back door you were talking about.” Aurora put her hoof onto his spear to lower it down.

“Ugh...” Midnight looked into her soft eyes, “The things you make me do... Alright, Ant! Let's get you the fuck out!” He opened the door to see the Earth Pony beside the door frame, listening in on their conversation.

Hopeful backed off from the armed soldier, “Sounds good to me, just don't get close.”

“Please, Ant, if I was going to do anything, it would be done. Now get over here and find a fucking map so we can throw you out!” Midnight walked deeper into the common room with Aurora.

Hopeful uneagerly went in after him, trying to keep a good distance. “My name is Hopeful, just so you can stop calling me ‘Ant.’”

“Do I look like I ca-” Midnight was cut off halfway through his statement.

“Aurora, and this is Midnight. I should urge you to not prod at his temper.” Aurora enhanced her spell, lighting the entire room as well as she could. Soon it felt like sunshine as the whole room grew clearly visible.

Hopeful immediately found a layout of the facility against the wall. With a quick glance, he spotted another smaller exit at the other end of the mountain. He swiftly made his way along, Aurora following him closely and Midnight lagging on behind both of them.

An awkward walk as they trotted along in silence to the exit, Hopeful attempted to gain some headway to get away from them as fast as he could and found himself at another hatch.

“Congratulations, Ant. You've pissed me off completely and still have all of your internal organs. Few have had that honour, and now, for your sake, I hope you leave for the last fucking time,” Midnight said as he caught up to the Earth Pony trying to bite open the hatch.

Aurora looked upon Hopeful’s struggle. She stepped up the stairs to his side to use her magic. She was quite surprised by the valve not budging with her attempts.

Midnight sighed, flying up to them and biting down beside Hopeful.

With all of their combined strength, they edged it open, but once it had gone loose, the hatch fell back on top of them. A wave of snow poured down the stairs, pushing them down to the concrete floor below.

“Come the fuck on! How are they both caved in?!” Midnight exclaimed in frustration, cleaning himself of snow.

Hopeful's head fell in disappointment. “It wants me to starve to death down here...”

“What is this it you keep babbling on about?” Midnight confronted Hopeful.

“It is something that lives in the clouds. I've been hunting it for a good while now. I believe it's the sole reason for this weather. I wouldn't call it a beast after my observations; as far as I can tell, it has no physical form. I've been calling it a ‘Windigo’ for my own reference.” Hopeful stood up while explaining this to them.

“Wendigo? Like the legends?” Aurora looked at him curiously.

“What legends?” Hopeful replied.

“Wendigos, the cannibal pony monsters that were turned by greed? Were you not told the stories as a foal?”

Midnight rolled his eyes, “Auri, I can't believe I agree with the Earth Pony here, but I haven't heard of those either. They’re probably just Unicorn legends.”

“Perhaps... But do continue, Hopeful.”

“Well, no these are no ponies...” Hopeful corrected Aurora, “They are more like ghosts. They possess the ability to control the weather, and as far as I can tell, they hate ponies... That’s why it tried to kill me, and now has us trapped down here.”

Midnight grew annoyed. “Great! A fucking ghost is now making me spend my time with this fucking ground dwelling dirt bag.”

“Featherbrain,” Hopeful snapped back.

“What did you call me?” Midnight walked up face-to-face with Hopeful.

“I said you're a fucking featherbrain.” Hopeful gave him no ground. Seeing that he wasn't leaving anytime soon, he was done taking his shit.

“HEY!” Aurora put herself between them, holding them off with her magic. “Midnight, leave him. I don't want to take another life by my hooves.”

Hopeful turned on Aurora as she tried to calm her lover. “And what are you going to do? You're not a fucking soldier! If it wasn't for hot-airhead over here, you wouldn't even be a threat.”

She shifted a stare of disdain upon him. “Not a threat? Are you saying you're better then me? Stronger? I've been sticking up for your worthless hind end because you were nice to me. Now I'm having second thoughts about that.”

Exchanging distasteful looks, they heard the ground rumble as more snow poured down into the hallway.

“Doesn't even matter if you kill me anymore. We're all going to end up dead sooner or later if there's no other way out,” Hopeful said after being reminded of their dire situation.

“At least it will be some good fun ripping you limb from limb.” Midnight got ready to pounce again, but first looking to Aurora for a glance of approval that he did not receive.

“Why did you try to help me earlier? Mr. Hopeful? Why was that?” Aurora took an aggressive step towards him, keeping her chin high to look down on him.

“Why wouldn't I help another stranger? I didn’t care that you’re a Unicorn. It's not like race matters very much when we're all being fucked over by the same thing out here! Now I'm not helping you because I know you know, and I know you're a stereotypical Unicorn supremacist and another Pegasus in need of anger management.”

This took them aback. “We're not like other Unicorns or Pegasi!” Midnight hollered at him after standing back straight up.

Aurora, instead of snapping back, she became curious. “You don't care about race? Is that what you just said?” Aurora was actually surprised at his sincerity.

“Yes I did. Do I need to repeat it for you, your highness?” Hopeful mocked her.

“I've never heard of an Earth Pony without any prejudice against Unicorns.”

“And I've never heard of a Unicorn going out with a Pegasus, but you learn something new every day, don't ya?” Hopeful, although finishing his statement very aggressively with snark, he soon turned to wonder. “What is it with you two, anyway? A Unicorn and a Pegasus? How did that happen?”

Midnight, seeing the tension falling, lowered his spear. “It's a long story, Ant.”

Hopeful looked at the pile of snow beside him, and back up to them.

“Good. I happen to have a lot of time on my hooves.”

Around A Heartless Fire

“It was a month before war was declared.” Midnight scraped the blade of his spear against his whetstone as sparks flew from the fire. Hopeful watched him attentively, yet with caution as he told his story.

“I was being brought along on one of those pointless tribal meetings, the ones they held in the great hall in Horsaw. It was a long week, prior. A bunch of fucking numskulls blew up a lightning shell on themselves two days before, and I had to deal with it... Anyways, it was an especially boring eight hours of watching idiots argue indefinitely. The entire time, I was sitting pressed up against the balcony on the front row, trying to occupy my mind with anything I could find.” Midnight glanced away from Hopeful to his lover, locking eyes with Aurora, still sharpening his blade.

He continued his story after a short pause, returning to his faintly aggressive tone towards the Earth Pony. “That’s when I saw her for the first time, sitting on the first row, about ninety or so degrees away from my seat, although I didn’t realize immediately that she was a Unicorn... Maybe it was because we were already six hours deep into ‘’negotiations’’ and I was too tired to realize that she was sitting in the Unicorn section, or that fact she was wearing a cro-” Midnight mumbled to a stop when he saw Aurora subtly shake her head and give a concerning eye as she realized what he was about to say.

Midnight cleared his throat and reworded his sentence before containing. “Or that what she was wearing obstructed her horn. But for a few seconds, I just stared at her, and I might have not realized it at that point, but she was the most beautiful mare I’ve ever laid eyes upon.”

“And then came the first time I saw him,” Aurora cut in to continuing telling the story. “I was in the same predicament as Midnight, being driven mad by the blandest debate that has ever taken place, so my eyes were also wandering. Eventually, I spotted him eyeing me, and as you would believe, I was both disgusted and confused in equal parts, maybe swaying to disgusted, if either... So, naturally, I flicked his nose.” She giggled, the memory delighting her.

“What proceeded was probably the silliest fight in pony history as we pestered each other like school fillies in class for the next few hours.” Her smile grew as she lost herself in remembrance, forgetting about her situation or even the fact she was telling her story to an Earth Pony. “There is nothing more hilarious than watching a full grown Pegasus flutter his feathers at you from across the room, his face progressively getting more red with every jab and poke.”

Midnight rolled his eyes and recoiled his shoulders, “I wasn’t ‘fluttering’.”

“What would you call it then? Prancing your feathers around like you were?” She turned to him with a playful grin.

He let out a sigh which quickly turned into a runaway smile. “I told you, pulling up the second-to-last feather like that is called giving somepony ‘the bird’. It means ‘go fuck yourself’.”

“If you say so...” Her horn lit up for a short moment as she nudged Midnight on the leg, leaving him irritated. She giggled once more, seeing her lover’s reaction as his eyebrows fell and head hung.

She proceeded with her story. “Anyways, after our prolonged provoking session, the meeting began to adjourn...”

The fading yawns echoed in the circular chamber of doom, better known as the Tribal Congregation, as the Unicorn’s hourglass met with its ninth rotation of the night, the Pegasi’s sundial losing its usability as the night set in and the Earth Ponies’ odd ‘’clock’’ mechanism spun around its axis, landing on the number nine with its smaller leg.

The auditorium moaned in an almost musical fashion as each groan harmonized with the few hundred others.

In the very center of attention (or lack of,) stood three very angry ponies around a triangular table, set upon an uplifted stage. The three leaders of the world, the proper yet very powerful Princess Platinum of the proud and prosperous Unicorn tribe in one corner, the beguiling, yet cruel Commander Hurricane of the cunning and vexatious Pegasi race in another, and finally the challenging to chat to, childish yet charitable, cheerful and chivalrous Chancellor Puddinghead of the cherishing Earth Ponies in the last. Each of them sunk deep into the timeless argument of who did what.

However, it was in the rafters where the real action was taking place as a charcoal-black Pegasus was doing battle with a milk-white Unicorn across the room.

He felt a cutting pain in his side as he was telekinetically pinched in his flank. His face recoiling as he attempted to mask his pain from his fellow soldiers, in an effort to not be embarrassed in front of his peers. He then gave a scolding gaze at the Unicorn that picked on him, gesturing by scraping with his hoof across his neck horizontally, as if he was cutting it with a blade as he eyed her.

She simply stuck out her tongue in response, angering him even further.

Midnight turned to his left and right, seeing that his comrades were too dozy to notice as he contrived a plan to get back at the bonehead. He leaned down into himself, putting the palm of his hoof under his mouth before hawking a glob of spit onto it, his eyes glancing up towards the Unicorn, who grew bewildered as she watched Midnight spit in his own hoof.

Then he placed his two hooves together, the spit in between them, and began pressing and rubbing them with a good bit of force, getting a small surge of nostalgia as her remembered doing this back in school when he was a colt, gaining a malicious smile as the spit was slowly formed into a tiny, hoof-sized cloud floating in front of him. Then he kicked it with the side of his foreleg, causing it to gain a black tint and put out a small crackling noise.

He turned his head up from his creation, seeing the Unicorn watch him, trying to figure out what he was doing. He gave her a cheeky smile before leaning down and blowing his cloud out into the room, aiming it at her.

The Unicorn sat, mesmerized by the dark cloud gently gliding toward her. After a few moments, it had landed at the railing she sat behind without doing anything more than just existing right there in front of her.

Aurora gazed up, her head cocked to the side as she gave a questioning glance toward the Pegasus.

All she saw was him lay back in his seat and cross his forelegs, his smile unmoved.

Aurora shifted her head down and went to blow the wee little cloud away, which she instantly grew to regret as the cloud shot out a bolt of lightning right at the tip of her nose.

She lept up, uncontrollably squealing with every puff of air in her lungs, her cry echoing throughout the entire room and awakening every single pony there.

For a brief moment, silence reigned as the entire room turned to Aurora, who was holding her hooves over her mouth in shock, seeing what disturbance she had just caused, along with seeing the Pegasus that had set her up stick his tongue out at her.

“AURORA!” Princess Platinum herself turned over her shoulder and yelled up at the rafters. “I TOLD YOU NOT DISTURB THE CONFERENCE!” She turned to the table and sighed, addressing the other two leaders. “I do believe that is quite enough for me, today. I am absolutely sick of you two. Farewell.” The princess slid off of her chair with the grace of a feather, stepping down the stage and leaving the hall.

This lead the Unicorns to collectively pick themselves up and make their way out of the hall, Aurora only slightly hesitating out of embarrassment, but quickly pulling herself out, once she saw the black Pegasus taunt her once more, feeling as if he had won.

It wasn’t long before Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead also left in a fit, having their respective councils follow suit.

Midnight flew out of the great hall, delighted. He sure showed that Unicorn.

The following hour was completely occupied as Midnight and Aurora both met with their respective tribe’s leaders, along with other ponies of high importance, all being caught up on new plans and policies and what they were going to tell the ponies back in their home countries from today.

Then came the time to finally time to call it a night. Each of the tribes split up between the many inns that the town had built for this exact reason.

Midnight, as he was finally dismissed by Captain Hurricane, flew out of their meeting room and out onto the street, taking in the fresh air as he landed at the hoof of the his inn. The moonglow gently warmed his coat while the soft breeze left him relaxed. He stepped through the clunky wooden door, finding himself out of his comfort zone as he was met with a strong orange shine from the torch-lit Earth Pony tavern.

Once he spotted the bar, he did not hesitate to stroll in and slide onto a stool, calling the bartender over. They were speaking with another customer, swaying their hoof toward Midnight to tell him to wait.

He took a breath and his eyes started searching around the room. Unlike in Pegasia where all the buildings were made of steel and cloudbrick, the tavern was built of wood with a stone accent at the hoof of the walls. Many large tables were all placed down in a block pattern, filled nearly completely with all sorts of ponies. Each table had six or eight ponies of one race or another, Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies, all sticking to their own. These conferences were the closest any of these ponies came to being in such close proximity to other races, with everyone remaining cautious and discomforted as they began spending the night sleeping in the same building as each other.

He sighed, turning his head back to the bar as he heard the bartender begin trot over, but he was displeased to find that their attention was taken by a pony who was just arriving and sitting down on the stool next to him.

“An appletini, please,” Aurora said as she hopped up beside the Pegasus, not even giving him a glance before she leaned onto the bar and moan. The bartender went off and to make her drink.

“Oh, fuck off, you again?” Aurora heard coming from her side, peering up to see the charcoal-coated Pegasus from earlier.

“Oh, no...” Aurora let her head drop onto the table with a gentle thump.

“Not happy to see me, sweet cheeks? I'm not really too psyched, myself, to be honest,” he exclaimed, turning to the barkeep, who placed a fresh appletini onto the counter. “I think I'll just go up to my room, please.”

“Reservation name?” the barkeep asked, pulling out a clipboard from under the counter.

“Eclipse,” he stated.

“Room seventeen.” The Earth Pony threw a key toward Midnight, who claimed it with his right wing.

“Goodnight, madam. I hope I never have to see your face again.” Midnight stood up and gave a disheartened salute, then began trotting away to the stairway.

Aurora lifted up her head, an eye peering at the stallion walking off, feeling absolutely dreadful after today, this Pegasus only making things worse for her. She levitated her short, triangular glass and swiftly chugged it down, flinching as the alcohol poured down her throat. “My room... Please...” She coughed out.

“Name?”

“Sunshine...”

“Room seventeen...” The barkeep responded, their words trailing off as they looked down at their clipboard.

“Excuse me?” Aurora stared at them with unamusement.

“Ugh...” The Earth Pony was boggled as they peered closer to their list.

“Show me that!” Aurora slanted her head over the counter and lifted the clipboard out of the pony’s grasp, bringing it to her gaze. “WHAT IS THIS MESS?” she blared out at the bartender, disgusted by the collage of jumbled letters and numbers that abstractly formed a list. She discovered her own name, seeing that she was booked for room seventeen. Then she found the name ''Midnight Eclipse'' with a number scribbled at its side. It took her a moment to finally grasp what it was meant to represent. “THAT SAYS ELEVEN, YOU DIRT EATING DIMWIT! YOU GAVE THAT PRICK MY ROOM!” She let the clipboard drop to the counter before sighing heavily. “Just give me the key room to eleven. I'll take that room...”

The Earth Pony barkeep stepped back, unfazed by the blatant racism, although concern reigned over his face. “Ugh...”

“What?”

“That room... I just rented it out a few hours ago to a different pony...”

She dropped her brow, death in her face as she stared into his soul. “You mud munching rats can't do anything right, can you?” She sighed, then burst into a magical flash, teleporting herself to the stairwell and rushing up each step.

As she reached their summit, her head spun around the corner to see the Pegasus gliding past door after door, searching for room rightfully belonging to Aurora. She took a charge down the hallway, lighting up her horn as she sprinted. Then, planting one of her front hooves, she spun around while casting another teleportation spell, and with a blink of her eye she was in front of the Pegasus, face to face.

“There was a mix up. I'm sure the bartender will reimburse you for your reservation.” She said with snark as she snapped the key out of his wing with telekinetic tug.

“HEY! THAT'S MY KEY!” Midnight yelled at her, stomping right into her personal space.

“You're booked for room eleven. Go talk to the barkeep.” The unicorn swayed her head away, heading further down the hall, where she spotted her room.

Midnight became infuriated, dashing after her and stretching out his leg over the room door, “GIVE ME BACK THAT KEY!” He wrapped his feathers around the key that was gently hovering beside her.

“Get off of me, you brute!” She stepped back, struggling to yank the key with her as she magically pulled against Midnight.

“Stop trying to steal my room, then!” Midnight swung a hoof at her, slapping her horn back, releasing the key. He then turned his back to her, slotting the key into room seventeen's large, steel lock.

He then felt a tugging at his neck as the Unicorn enveloped his head with magic, trying to knock him off of his hooves. “You are not taking my room, you featherbrained inbreed!”

He resisted her, causing his throat to close against itself, beginning to strangle him. He gargled under his breath, trying to speak to no avail.

“HEY! LADY! STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!” A voice came down from the hallway, snatching Aurora's attention enough for the Pegasus to wrestle free from her telekinetic grasp.

Aurora watched as the bartender galloped up to her and the Pegasus. “What in the world are the two of you up to?!” he roared out at them.

Aurora straightened her posture up, looking down with assurance. “I am so glad you came! Now if you could explain to this stallion that you accidentally gave him my room key, that would be brilliant.”

The bartender was left unimpressed. “Ma’am, get out of my inn.”

“What? Why?!” She recoiled in shock.

“Not only have you been an absolutely dreadful patron, I just witnessed you strangle him! Now get out before I throw you out!” he growled at her.

Midnight grinned at Aurora. “Have fun sleeping outside, bonehead.” Then he turned to the Earth Pony to convey his appreciation. “Thank you very much.”

“You too, get out.”

“What?” He stepped back, “But I didn't do anything!”

“I don't want anymore hassle from either of you, and that's not your booked room anyways.”

“Told you.” Aurora smugly stuck out her tongue at him before strutting past the Earth Pony and leaving.

The barkeep motioned with his right hoof, pointing him to get out, and with a grumble he did so.

“Thanks a lot,” Aurora said with a blatant sarcasm as she sat down on the shotty wooden bench that stood a few meters out from the inn, laying across the town's main path.

“What are you mad at me for? You got both of us kicked out, not me!” Midnight flew over to hover in front of her, a few inches from the dirt.

“Maybe if you listened to me, we would both have rooms right now...” She trailed off into a depressive tone, dropping her head into her hooves. A few seconds wisped away before she let an eye peek out, seeing the exhausted Pegasus still hovering over her. “Don't you have some cloud you can go and sleep on?”

“You are a mean one aren't you?” he spoke down to her.

“No...” She saw his face not change in expression. “Not always...” she clarified.

Midnight came down like a gentle butterfly, not disturbing the dust beneath him with his landing. Aurora then continued, “Look, I'm sorry about messing with you during the conference, and for getting us kicked out of the inn...”

“Thank you, apology accepted,” Midnight said smugly. “Although I still don't have a place to sleep tonight, so if you have any suggestions, I think I'll call it even.”

“I don't even know where I’m going to sleep tonight, mother would surely be disappointed if she knew... I think I'd be best if she didn't see me...” Aurora sulked.

“You think your parents are bad? If she heard I was kicked out by an Earth Pony, my mother would literally bite my head off. I've seen her do it before.” He took a few steps to her and sat down on the opposite end of the bench, resting his legs.

Aurora poked her head up in disbelief. “You're exaggerating.”

“Honey, I'm an Eclipse. You do know who my mother is, right?” He cocked his head back, waiting for her it to click in her head.

“Wait... Like...” Her head shot up, “No... You? You're kidding, you're saying your mother is-”

“Yup, the one and only.” Midnight cut her off.

She chuckled, “You won't believe it, but I'm Aurora Sunshine. My mo-”

“W-w-wait,” he stopped her. “From the Sunshine family?” He dropped his jaw.

“Yes!” she said with a faint laughter.

“That means your mother is...” He trailed off.

“Yeah! Oh the heavens, what are the chances?” Her smile kept growing.

Midnight caught a whiff of her joy, it appearing on his face. “You know, you are exactly what I heard you are like.”

She lowered a brow. “What do they say?”

“Doesn't matter...” He dodged the question, “Although now it makes sense why you were sitting in the front row at the conference.”

“Yeah, you too... Can I ask you a question?” She now had her entire body directed toward him, a foreleg hanging off of either side of the bench as she scooted a few inches closer to him.

“Do you really need my permission for that?” He was almost mocking her. Almost.

“Why were you looking at me? Back at the conference?” she asked with genuine curiosity in her eyes.

He averted his eyes some, and with a sigh he went to answer. “I was tired, I didn't realize you were a Unicorn, and...” he scratched the back of his ear.

“And..?” she urged him on.

“And I kinda thought you were cute...” He avoided Aurora's gaze as she burst out into laughter.

“You..! You thought..!” she wheezed between words, finding this hilarious.

“Calm down there, bonehead, that attraction didn't exactly last long.” He crossed his forelegs.

She let out a few more hardy chuckles before calming herself. “Are you sure about that? Cause I've never heard of somepony's feelings ever disappear that quickly, but then again I have never heard of a Pegasus having feelings for a Unicorn!”

Midnight's voice returned to a toxic grumpiness. “They weren't ‘feelings’. I thought you looked good, that's it.”

“Whatever you say...” She continued her joking.

“If you don't mind, I have to go find an inn with an spare room for me.” He bounced up using both wings to propel himself upward, landing on his hooves.

“As much as I don't mind, I'm worried you do. I mean, you were undressing me with your eyes just a few hours ago.” She laughed under her breath, trying to keep her composure.

This angered Midnight a great deal. “Why are you being such a huge bitch? Even if I did still think you were cute, which I don't, we’re different races. That doesn't even work!”

“Why not?” she said with a cheeky grin. “Sure, we couldn't bear children, but I am fairly certain Unicorn and Pegasus parts would work just as well together up to that point.”

“You know what I mean.” He sighed, fed up with her.

“I might. That doesn't make it any less funny to mess with you,” she snapped back.

He softly shook his head as his eyes fell with an odd depression in them, enough to make Aurora feel a hint of guilt.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry for messing with you. I'll stop. I'm actually quite flattered.” She looked at him with a gentle warmth in her smile.

He turned his head back up to meet her gaze. “Thank you.”

She cocked her head to the side, inspecting him with pleasing results. “You know, for a Pegasus... You don't look too bad yourself.”

“I thought you said you’d stop,” he said, unamused.

“I did, that was serious. Out of what all the Pegasi I have seen, you look kind of ok for one.”

“It went from ‘not too bad’ a few seconds ago to ‘kind of ok’ now?” He cracked a half smile.

“It's a compliment. Take it or leave it.”

“Fine, but I do think I have a room to hunt down.” He went to leave Aurora, being stopped by her voice.

“Do you really think any inn will have a spare room?”

Midnight sighed. “No, but there's a chance.”

“There is technically a chance I'll grow wings one day. That doesn't mean I'm going to start taking flight lessons.” She hopped off the bench, trotting to his side.

“What's your plan then?” he remarked.

She gave it a few moments of thought, eventually grinning at an idea. “Have you ever slept underneath the moonlight in an open grassy field?”

“No,” he answered with a hint of snark as he found the idea silly.

“Neither have I, but I've always wanted to.” She twisted around, looking out of the town and into the hills surrounding it, all palely glowing with a blue shimmer. “And since I owe you on the place to sleep, I'll let you join me.”

“You cannot be serious,” he said, taking a step after her without thinking.

“Take it or leave it!” she announced while trotting off into the hillside.

Midnight, after a few questioning thoughts, soon galloped after her. The both of them trotted out into the country for a few minutes until they were comfortably far from the town, where they sat down atop the glistening grass, each blade acting like a feather in a pillow, creating a soft mattress for the two of them.

As they sat together, Aurora found her eyes draw upward to the stars, with Midnight soon to follow after her as they gazed up into the clear night sky, stars like sprinkled glitter upon the black velvet of space.

“Wow...” Midnight whispered to himself.

“You know what they say about stars, that each one is just another sun, and each sun has its own moon, and in between them there is another world just like this one, just slightly different.” Aurora told him while lost in the entrancing beauty of the stars.

“So what you're saying is...” Midnight prodded her to continue.

“That we are looking at millions of different worlds, each of them unique in their existence, while all resembling each other at the same time.”

“Do you think there is a world where us ponies can agree on anything?” he joked, laughing to himself.

“Yeah, imagine, a world where a Unicorn and a Pegasus would work...” She spoke softly, almost as if she was imagining it.

“You said you'd stop making fun with me about that.” He dropped his head and turned it to her with a look of disappointment.

Aurora could almost feel his glare, but when she let her chin glide down and turn to Midnight, she only had a hint of confusion in her eyes as if she was trying to understand something. “I did...” She whispered, only to find herself lost in his eyes as if they were stars, uncontrollably leaning in closer.

Midnight's annoyed brow softened as a sudden wave realization washed over him, with a pinch of acceptance as he found himself leaning toward the Unicorn.

They met each other in the center, their lips meeting without hesitation or reluctance, instead with a passion as they embraced each other. Soon, Midnight found himself being pressed down against the pillowy grass by Aurora's own warm, cloth-covered chest. A faint fizz was heard as Aurora's horn lit up, her magic finding its way to every single button on her own dress and every strap on Midnight's armor, letting their clothing fall loosely as Aurora began t-

“What?” Aurora belted out in confusion after Midnight had thumped her leg, causing her to break her train of thought as she told the story.

“Auri, I think he gets it,” Midnight stated, seeing the awkwardness swell up inside of Hopeful as he listened to Aurora's ‘passionate’ retelling.

“Oh...” Aurora said, her mind coming back into the atmosphere.

“Wow... That's really how you guys met?” Hopeful asked to break the silence.

“Yes, it is.” Aurora nodded.

“Well, damn... If it means anything, I'm sorry, for you know, putting us in this situation.”

“Apology accepted, Hopeful,” Midnight said, a sincerity in his voice.

“Although, can I ask one thing? Who are your parents? You didn't actually say their names, just alluded to them.”

Midnight and Aurora exchanged looks, then nodded to each other.

Midnight began, “Well you see... What in the heavens?!?” He hopped up in a flash after something wet touched his leg.

Hopeful turned to the side, staring at the staircase that was previously caved in by heaps of snow.

“It... melted.”

Where Roads Lead

“It's clear!” Midnight's voice echoed down the staircase.

“You sure? It hides in the clouds; look everywhere!” Hopeful yelled back up at him as he stood beside Aurora at the bottom of the water-logged stairs.

“I don't see any fucking sky ghosts, Hopeful! Get up here!” Midnight yelled back, leading to the Earth Pony scuttling up the stairs, his head popping out of the hatch like a meerkat who never thought he'd see the sun again.

Hopeful guarded his eyes from the blinding rays as he stumbled outside onto the snow, his head swaying side to side into the sky, affirming Midnight's observations.

Behind him, the fair lady, Aurora Sunshine, featherly stepped up each stair until she was met by the morning sun, beaming between the clouds down at the group. She released her breath, feeling a calming warmth flow over her chest as she felt the cool breeze of freedom. She took only a moment to take in the taste of fresh air before trotting over to her lover, leaving her hoof impressions in the newly forming snow.

The three of them stood facing one another in the snow, a comfortable silence falling upon them as they pondered the time they had just spent together, seeing as now they might be going their separate ways.

“So...” Aurora attempted to prompt a conversion.

“Yeah, well. It's been... good.” Hopeful lowered his guard, a subtle smile appearing on his face.

“Yes it has, I am quite surprised I didn't have to kill you.” Midnight slid his spear along his back into its sheath, nodding in appreciation to Hopeful.

“The same.” Hopeful nodded back jokingly.

“So, it seems as if this is it, so I bid farewell to you.” Midnight gave a gentle bow to the Earth Pony before looking to Aurora.

“Yes, I also believe it is time. It was a pleasure to meet you, Hopeful.” Aurora smiled to the both of them.

“Yeah, it is...” Hopeful turned his head outward, seeing the glossy snow landscape. He then turned back to the two star-crossed lovers. “Where are you two going? Just wondering; we never got to that part.”

“North, through Zebra territory,” Midnight answered him.

“Zebra territory?” he questioned.

“Yes, neither of us can be seen in any pony tribe's land, but I did some research, reading some old scriptures about the world written by Unicorn Scribes hundreds of years ago, and I believe there is a whole continent unoccupied by ponies or ancients. It's north of Moondust, which is where all of the Zebras were forced to migrate to,” Aurora monologued.

“Well, good luck with that then,” Hopeful affirmed.

“Where are you off too?” Midnight blindsided Hopeful with the question, “If were sharing that knowledge.”

“Oh, uh...” Hopeful's hoof wandered to his chin, gently stroking it in realization. “I just lost the one windigo I've been tracking for the last month... So, I don't know,” he confessed.

Aurora's gaze shifted over to Midnight, giving him a comforting glance to encourage him.

Midnight received the message and let out a faint sigh before turning his head up to Hopeful. “Hey, if you don't have anywhere to go... I guess we can allow you to join us, at least for a bit.”

“Are you serious?” Hopeful laughed a little, “I haven't had company in a long while.”

“So will you travel with us?” Aurora beckoned him.

“Sure, why not?” Hopeful nodded.

“It's settled then,” Midnight asserted. “We should get our bearings and begin traveling. We have a long journey ahead of us.”

And with that, the three of them moved out into the wild.

“No, you didn't. There's no way.” Aurora asked of Hopeful in awe and a playful doubt.

The evening sun gradually fell from the cloudy sky, the three of them bathing in the shadows it created as they traveled along a desecrated, frozen landscape. About half of the day had passed by as they set out for the first time together, the time passing by without them noticing as they continued to speak and laugh with one another. After each of them having to bear the wilderness alone for such a long time, the company they provided to each other was a welcomed change. Although, they did not feel the cold nearly as intensely as other times where they went alone. Between their thick fur and cloth wears, they almost felt warm. The snow felt easier to trot in, more on the lines of a soft pillow, instead of the rigid ice blocks they grew accustomed to.

Midnight hovered above and in front of the other two, navigating the group's way forward, keeping his compass steady between his feathers, along with a map strapped to his hip. Meanwhile, Aurora and Hopeful followed along, their hooves forming two potent trails in the snow, slowly being covered up as they went on. The two of them had just struck a conversation about Hopeful's childhood.

“I'm not kidding; we actually burned down the whole barn. We just wanted to sneak in there and find where Old Missus Peach hid our ball and you know, maybe mess some stuff up to teach her a lesson, but then Quake just dropped the lantern we had with us and it fell all the way to the ground floor and burst into flames. The next thing I remember is jumping out of a second story barn window into a pile of hay and running faster than I ever had before. Somehow, we didn't get caught, and I'm pretty sure my parents still don't know that it was us. But Old Missus Peach definitely got the message, cause she never stole our ball again.”

Aurora was overcame with a great genuine laughter. “That's... That's amazing, you did things like that every day as a child?”

“I didn't really burn down barns every day, no. But I was a really stupid child, and pretty unsupervised, if that's what you're asking. Parents were always busy with the farm.” Hopeful chuckled in his recollection.

“I was never even allowed outside of my room before the age of sixteen without an armed escort... I find it fascinating. Midnight has told me many stories of his childhood.” Aurora turned her head up to Midnight. “Nighty, tell Hopeful the story where you accidentally stabbed a colt when you were six!”

Midnight sighed, before shifting down to their level, still in flight. “Firstly, it wasn't an accident; that motherfucker had it coming. Secondly...” He cut off his sentence, his head jolting to the distance, eyes wide like a startled cat. “Ugh...” he moaned, uneasy.

“What's wrong Nighty?” Aurora spoke up in concern.

“Please tell me you can hear that,” he said, lacking any cynicism in his voice.

Hopeful pointed up his ear attentively, trying to make out the noise that had shooken Midnight. “I think I can...” he mumbled, concentrating on a very distant shriek, almost a cry. “Is that a pony?”

They exchanged glances, each of them equally concerned about the situation. They then turned to sprint towards the source of the sound. With the exception of Midnight, who flew ahead, they ran as fast as they could through the thick snow, rushing past dead trees and hilly landscape, flowing up and down like a cascading river.

The sound still beneath the uneven horizon, although it became far clearer as the crying pony screamed out, “PLEASE, I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYPONY, DON'T HURT ME!”

Midnight shot down into the snow and crouched down once he could see past the hill crest, watching whatever was going on. The other two quickly made it to his side and hunched down beside him.

On the far side of the snowy field, a stark contrast stabbed out at them. A deep, black smoke crackled as if a vague silhouette of a creature was made of lightning, coming from several sources, all encircling an earth pony being held to the ground, struggling, bleeding, and crying as one of the shadowy anomalies stood atop of them. Nearby, there was a busted up wooden cart filled with boxes and bags spilling out into the snow, its trail still visible.

Hopeful laid there in shock, watching this pony be beaten to a pulp by whatever horrid magic that it was.

His attention was then stolen by Aurora as she gasped uncontrollably. She tried to shout and whisper at the same time. “I know what those are!” She stumbled over her own words in her haste, pointing out at the shadowy apparitions. “Th-those are unicorns!”

“Aurora, those don't look like a unicorns,” Midnight pointed out.

“It's an enchantment on their armor! It makes them look all dark and scary. It's an intimidation tactic. They are very elite Unicorn soldiers, called the Shadow Service and they are used for assassination and infiltration...”

“But what are a bunch of Unicorn super soldiers doing this deep in Earth Pony Territory?” Hopeful questioned.

Aurora dropped her head, she almost looked guilty. “I... I think they're after me...”

Hopeful's head jumped back, “What? Why would they be after you?”

“I...” She hesitated.

“Look, it doesn't matter! Let's just beat it before we're caught!” Midnight interjected.

“But what about the pony!” Hopeful turned back to the scene, watching as the shadowy illusion stabbed a large dark blade into the Earth Pony, a fountain of blood being projectiled out of their throat.

The smokey Unicorns then began retracting their shadowy lightning that emitted out of them, sucking it back into themselves, their colour lightening from a pitch-black storm into a shiny silver set of armor tightly fitted onto a unicorn. Now four distinct ponies stood around each other, their armor covering their bodies completely, camouflaging them into the pure white of the snow.

“Quick, let's bounce.” Midnight stood up, prepared to dash away. Although he was immediately lept on by Aurora, leaving him sunk into the snow on his side. “AURORA!”

“One of them looked this way!” she whispered to him in a panic. “I think they saw us!”

Hopeful held his sight trained onto the four unicorns, seeing one motion towards their position. “Guys...” he muttered.

“We could have just outran them!” Midnight tried to keep his voice low, not succeeding as much as Hopeful would have liked.

“They are the highest ranking Unicorn soldiers in our army! They know the flash teleport spell!” Aurora pulled her head close into Midnight's face, getting more frustrated with him. “You cannot outfly teleportation!”

“Aurora...” Hopeful lifted his voice as he watched the four of them slowly trot in the group's direction with curiosity in their step.

“They may be the best Unicorn soldiers, but I'm one of the best soldiers period. I could take them.” Midnight rolled Aurora off of himself into the snow at his side.

“Midnight...” Hopeful pleaded them to stop, seeing the Unicorns begin to pick up their pace into a slight jog. His mane begging to sway as a cool breeze set in, Hopeful took notice as an icy chill rose up his back through his fur jacket. The sudden weather change stealing his attention completely, he was left searching the sky for the cause.

“Midnight, I refuse to let your ego get us killed!” Aurora smacked him in the shoulder.

Hopeful felt as the wind continued to kick in, letting his head fall back down to see that the squad of Unicorns had already covered nearly half of the ground they had between each other. Then he shifted to look to his two companions, in a heated argument.

That's when it clicked. “GUYS!” He got both of their attentions.

“What?!” Midnight almost yelled back, the wind masking the volume of his voice.

“It's arguing! That's what causes the storms!” He sounded absolutely delighted with himself, “Whenever me and my team would get into a fight, that is when the weather would turn extreme!”

“Hopeful, what are you talking about?” Aurora turned to him, perplexed.

He wanted to explain, but Hopeful was very aware that any moment now that they would be jumped on my an elite force of Unicorns. “Argue more!”

“Huh?” Midnight joined Aurora in her confusion.

“Just start insulting each other, like this!” He turned to Aurora with his big, dumb smile, prepared to say whatever would come out. “Aurora, you're an annoying, pretentious, Unicorn-supremacist bitch!”

Aurora recoiled in her offended state, not even being concerned about them being spotted anymore. “How dare you!?!”

Midnight butted in on defense for his lover, “Do you want me to peel off your flesh, Ant? Because that’s what will happen if you speak to Aurora like that!”

His threats did not phase Hopeful as he lifted his head to the chaotic storm beginning to brew around them, the snow particles being thrown around the air, adding difficulty to see far away. The other two then began realizing that whatever they were doing, it was beginning to work.

With a slightly awkward hesitation that soon turning into a devilish feeling, Aurora took the first strike at Midnight. “Nighty, you try so hard to be cool and you aren't. You look more like a deadbeat father who can't afford to bathe than a real soldier!”

He gasped, as if a stake was jammed into his heart. He quickly fired back. “You are the saddest Unicorn I have ever heard of! If it wasn't for me, you would die a virgin!”

Aurora gasped sharply, “Well, you... YOU CLAIM TO BE THIS AMAZING FIGHTER BUT YOU COULDN'T PROTECT YOUR GIRLFRIEND FROM HOPEFUL, WHO IS AN EARTH PONY! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOUR MOTHER'S POSITION IN THE MILITARY, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE MADE IT THROUGH TRAINING!”

Midnight yelled back with as much power as he could put into his voice. “WELL, YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO TRUST THAT FUCKING EARTH PONY IN THE FIRST PLACE! I'VE SEEN DISABLED FILLIES SMARTER THAN YOU!”

“YOU’RE ABOUT AS TOUGH AS A FOAL WITHOUT LEGS!”

“YOUR MOTHER IS BETTER LOOKING THAN YOU ARE!”

“GUYS!!!” Hopeful rustled both of them as hard as he could, the two of them snapping out of their trance, now seeing the full blizzard cascading around them. Their position was completely hidden from the Unicorn squad. “WE HAVE TO GO BEFORE WE START TO FREEZE!!!”

Midnight and Aurora nodded, finally noticing the freezing wind barraging them with a heap of snow and ice. They blocked their faces from the wind with little to no effect, guided out by Hopeful away from the Unicorn Soldiers.

“We should be safe in here! They're only searching towns; they won't bother with a forest!” Aurora said in between inhales as she sprinted.

“Holy shit! This is amazing!” Hopeful exclaimed as the group came to a running halt, stopping at the brim of a dead forest.

“I personally wouldn't describe being hunted down like that...” Aurora said as she collapsed down, finding herself leaning against a tree, panting in exhaustion and shivering from the cold.

“No, not that, I mean the storm thing! It all makes sense now! If only I had my notebook!” Hopeful was so excited it almost disguised the fact he was trembling completely, his face turning red, a chilly cloud steaming from his breath.

Midnight fell down beside Aurora, disregarding Hopeful as he had more important matters to attend to.

“You didn't mean those things you said back there... Did you?” A genuine and awkward concern in his eyes.

Aurora avoided his gaze. “No, no... No! I uh... Did you?”

“No! Of course not! I just made all that up.”

Hopeful looked down at their pitiful attempts to take back what they said, “I'll go... uh, get a fire... started,” Hopeful stated before wandering off.

Aurora huddled herself together, breathing onto her hooves while speaking in a shaky voice. “Alright, good. Cause for a second I was a bit worried... Especially when you said-”

“Yup, made that up. There's no reason to talk about it now...” He worryingly shivered, trying to comfort her, and himself.

“It's just, things got kind of heated back there... I know it was to make the weather get stronger, but I don't want to have to be worried about us getting into a real argument like that... My mother left my father shortly after I was born, they used to argue all the time. Still do if they see each other.” Aurora snuggled up to Midnight, setting her chin onto the frosty wool of his shoulder pad.

Midnight wrapped his leg around her, keeping her close. “I swear, baby, we won’t be like that... I want us to be together for as long as we live.” He kissed her on the forehead.

“Midnight, can I have your lighter? I lost mine with the rest of my shit.” Midnight didn't even notice Hopeful building a bare shell of a campfire at their hooves.

“I only have a flint and blade. Let me get it.” He unwrapped himself from Aurora, sliding his saddlebags out from behind him and holding out a jagged piece of flint and a miniature knife out on a wing.

Hopeful swiped the items from him and went off to work, allowing the other two to return to cuddling for warmth.

After the fire was set ablaze, the three of them huddled around its warm aura.

“So, Aurora...”

“Y-yes Hopeful?” she said, still shivering.

“You never told me why you are being hunted. In fact, you two have been kind of keeping me in the dark about some things I feel like I should know. If we're going to be traveling together, I think it would be important that I'm on the same page.”

Aurora sighed gently, looking to Midnight for approval, which he reluctantly gave with a nod. She turned her eyes up to the Earth Pony. “I'm sorry, it's just... we didn't know how much we could trust you... We were worried you might have done something...”

She prepared herself with a few breaths, “It's... well, I'm being hunted down because my mother wants to get me back. She probably has figured out I ran away...”

“And?” Hopeful motioned her on, compelled by her explanation.

“And the reason she could send the highest ranking soldiers in the Unicorn army, it's because... my mother...”

“My mother is Princess Platinum...”

Hopeful wasn't drinking, but if he was, he wouldn't be anymore. “Wait, WHAT?!”

“And Midnight's mother is Commander Hurricane,” she continued, while she was at it.

“EXCUSE ME?!” Hopeful turned to Midnight in shock.

“It's true,” Midnight confirmed.

“So you're saying that the both of you-”

“Are royals, yes,” Midnight finished.

Hopeful's utter disbelief was soon transformed into historic laughter, falling onto his back as he lost control of his upper body. “You... You thought I would... That I would try to hurt you, cause you're royals?”

“You don't need to rub it in,” Aurora said to him, unimpressed.

“I just find that priceless. I mean, that does explain a lot, but damn. That is amazing.” He slowly regained his composure.

“Alright, alright... Let’s just eat, why don't we?” Midnight asked, retrieving what was left of his rations, with a slight reluctance giving some to Hopeful, although afterward giving him a trusting nod.

They spent the rest of the evening and night there, after making sure to cover the fire and keep it as only a smolder to ensure they won’t get spotted. They slept inside the two sleeping bags they had from Midnight and Aurora, the couple having to share one while Hopeful got his own.

“Hey. Hopeful, wake up,” he heard being whispered into his ear, blinking an eye open in reaction to see Midnight sitting at his side.

“W-what?” Hopeful exclaimed, weirded out by this odd wake-up call.

“Hopeful, remember back in the bunker, when we told stories about ourselves and you talked about your wife?” He spoke with an almost fearful tone, which just made things a whole lot stranger for Hopeful.

“Yeah...” He wiggled his torso out of the sleeping bag, sitting up while keeping his hind legs in the cosy, wool-stuffed tarp.

“Well um...” Midnight actually choked up for a moment, swallowing down what seemed to be his pride. “How did you, uh... propose to her?” he whispered as he uncomfortably scratched the root of his mane from beneath the cotton-padded helmet.

“Wait...” Hopeful rubbed his eyes, not yet awake enough for this. “Are you going to...”

“Shh!” He covered Hopeful’s mouth, stopping him from saying the word too loudly for Midnight's liking. “Just, tell me how you did it... I mean, I know she'll say yes... I mean, I think she will... But how did you, you know, build up the confidence to... ask?”

“Holy shit.” Hopeful smiled, “You're unsure of yourself.”

“Shut the fuck up you, or I will gut you and string every muscle of your flesh until you look like a mangled pony meat pile.” He sighed, “Just tell me your secrets.”

“Alright, I'll help you. Calm down there, big guy.” He felt a bit nostalgic, “I had a friend back in the day who came to me with the same problem. Ended up with him being so nervous it was when he dropped the engagement bracelet and she saw it that she said yes, before he could even say a word... Do you have a bracelet?”

“I actually have one better.” He pulled over a bag and began scrounging around in it, going deep down to find a very tiny object wrapped in a velvet cloth, far too small to fit around a pony's leg. It was only once Midnight unwrapped it with his wings that Hopeful realized what it was for. “It's a ring.” Midnight stated, holding it up with care. “I stole it from a Unicorn at a Great Hall. I think that's a diamond, and it was a real rich Unicorn I stole it from, so it's sure to be legit.” He then quickly wrapped it back up, tucking it back into his bag. “So, what's your advice?”

“Well, firstly, I'm sure she will say yes. Secondly, if you are finding it hard to just do it, you just have to force yourself into a situation where you have to do it. Because once it becomes scarier to not do it than it is to do it, you'll, well... do it.”

“Right...” Midnight lowered his head, “You really think she’ll say yes?”

“Why wouldn't she?” Hopeful patted Midnight on his shoulder.

“Why wouldn't I what?” Aurora said, followed by a large yawn.

“Uh...” The two boys exchanged guilty looks, Midnight going in for the save. “Why wouldn't you help and scavenge food, we’re running low on rations and soon we'll be both cold and starving.”

“I would love to,” Aurora said, then flinching as she scrunched her face in a pain. “Actually... I think I have a stomach ache from all of that dried wheat... Would you mind going by yourselves this time?”

“Yeah, that's fine, don't worry about it. Rest up.” Midnight hopped up and trotted over to Aurora, exchanging a kiss before she snuggled back into her sleeping bag.

“Hey Hopeful, you down for some scavenging?” He turned to his comrade.

“Sure, let's go.” He hopped up as well, meeting Midnight at eye-level. “Although we won't find much out in the wild, but there is a village around here somewhere. I saw it on the map. We could sneak in and steal some hay from their hold. I did that once when I was alone. Seemed to go pretty well.”

“A stealth mission, you say?” Midnight grinned.

“So that's a yes?”

“Oh yes.”

The two took out the map. With the rustic set of navigation tools they had, they gained their bearings and left as soon as they could.

“Be safe, Aurora! Me and Hopeful will be back in an hour or two!” Midnight shouted back to her as he left the forest.

“I will! Good luck, you two!” she tiredly yelled back.

A Neighborly Visit

“Do you see the hatch?” Hopeful whispered to his comrade.

“Yeah I do. It's covered by a tarp, unguarded.” Midnight nodded back, turning to his ally. “How are we doing this?”

The two were on their stomachs on top of a far-off hill, the town barely in sight. However, Midnight's keen Pegasi eyes made observation an ease.

“Let's just be low key. Last time I did this, I just walked in and out before most ponies were even awake.” Hopeful lifted himself up by each knee, Midnight following his lead. Hopeful looked him up and down, the remains of his gallant armour shining in the rising sun. His chest and shoulders covered in the steel plates, a crowning helmet guarding his forehead and neck. “That might be a little too... Pegasian to be inside of an Earthpony town, don't you think?”

“What if we get shot at?”

“I would rather avoiding us getting spotted in the first place.”

“Armour or no armour, if I'm seen, my wings will give me away.” He flourished a feather.

Hopeful thought about it, “Hmm... Here.” He unzipped his military jacket and slid it off, leaving it hanging out on his hoof toward Midnight.

This almost made Midnight wince at the thought of wearing another nation's stripes, but then his eyes were caught by Hopeful's reassuring expression.

“Fine...” Midnight extended his wings behind his back, untying the few knots keeping his armour strapped to him. After a few moments, he threw off the panels on his sides and chest, chucking his helmet off, leaving him with only his gambeson left. He accepted the jacket and threw it over himself. It was a tight squeeze as his wings pressed against the walls of the wool and cotton. “It's a bit... Tight...” He returned his attention to Hopeful. “How do I look?”

Hopeful almost snickered at him, Midnight looking like a bright-eyed Earth Pony recruit given a uniform that hasn't been washed in the last three months. “Like a stupid, dirt-munching Ant.”

“Ah, perfect,” he said, chuckling, turning to face the town. “Let's go.” He then jumped up about half of his height into the air, leaping forward, an expression of shock and painful realization hit him as he uselessly flapped his wings as they were trapped beneath the Earth Pony paraphernalia. He bit the snow, wiping the icy mud from the fur on his face quickly as he stood up, hauking a glob of spit out into the snow a few times before easing.

Hopeful couldn't help himself, “Did you just..?” He managed to get out before bursting out laughing.

“Shut your damn mouth, alright?” he commanded as he swiped at the snow still sticking to his jacket's collar. “Now, let's walk.”

The two of them began taking a steady pace down the hill, leaving their trail in the snow as they came ever closer to the settlement.

Trotting casually closer, Hopeful began telling Midnight what they should expect. “Alright, the ponies in the gun-nest should be able to see us by now.”

“Wait, WHAT?” Midnight twisted his head around at him, slowing down his walking pace.

“Calm down, they'll see we're Earth Ponies and they'll just think we are travellers looking for somewhere to sleep or something like that.” Hopeful turned around as Midnight lagged behind.

“Just, tell me these things ahead of time, please.” He scurried to Hopeful, keeping him close as he infiltrated enemy territory.

“I did tell you, just now.” He had a cocky smile as he enjoyed scaring a Pegasus, who just spotted the mound of snow slightly angled away from them at the face of the town, two machine gun barrels poking out.

They both tried to play it cool, just trotting in the general direction of the barn, trying to avoid walking to it directly just to be safe.

Before long, they began feeling a stone path from beneath the snow as they trotted into the town, both as observant as they possibly could be, the streets clear from other ponies.

They stumbled into the farm of the town, much smaller than Hopeful's old one. It was also quite integrated into the town, as the barn was practically on main street. “I'll go down and swipe some rations, you keep watch, yeah?” Hopeful explained, slowly creeping up onto the barn.

“Fine just make it quick; I really don't like being here.” He continuously looked over his shoulder, growing evermore anxious.

Once the shadow of the barn pressed down onto them, they sprinted to its wall. They found the hatch, covered in a white tarp and a small bit of snow. While Hopeful lifted up the bottom rim of the sheet, Midnight turned his back to watch out, keeping a keen eye on the farm house especially, it being the closest building to them.

“Midnight, it's locked. I'm gonna need to bust it open.” Hopeful said half a second before he began kicking the lock in, the thud making Midnight jump.

“Just hurry up...” He found it hard to focus on his surroundings as Hopeful began pounding away, the wood cracking and the metal squeaking with each smash. “Hopeful, a pony just trotted out of the farmhouse.” He tried to keep his voice down, as he saw an elderly Earth Pony trot out onto their porch, busy lighting a lantern hanging from the door frame.

“I'm in!” He said as piece of metal audibly cracked, he then lifted up the hatch door, squeezing in between the slim opening.

“Hopeful, they're walking this way!” he said over his shoulder, pleading for help as the elderly pony sluggishly trotted through the snow toward the barn, wiping their eyes and yawning as they walked.

Hopeful, now sitting on the stone steps down to the storage cellar, turned around to poke his muzzle out of the hatch. “Keep him busy!”

“How?” he asked in desperation.

“You're in a soldier's uniform, pretend your a soldier!” Hopeful advised, slamming the hatch closed, the tarp dropping down over it again with the force of the movement. Midnight was left to fend for himself.

Hopeful took a moment, shutting his eyes and taking a few breaths. “H-hello there, sir!” Came muffled from behind the wood, an elderly, concerned voice, causing Hopeful to break his relaxation, instead beginning to gather his surroundings.

He found this quite difficult as it was utterly pitch black in this blisteringly cold cellar. Hopeful began to notice himself shiver. Without his very thick jacket, the cold hit him far harder than before. But, remembering what he still had, he took out the flint and the small knife he got from Midnight.

He struck the flint, a spark fireworking into the air, revealing his surroundings of a mouldy stone staircase for but a brief second before the darkness consumed everything once more. Now with some form of bearing, he carefully went down each step, making sure that there was ground beneath each step before he let himself glide downward.

Once he reached the last step he stumbled a little, too concentrated on safely traversing the stairs to remember when they ended, causing him a slight scare as he expected for the stairs to continue, instead his hoof being met with the floor.

He then sparked his flint once more, and in the flash of light, he saw the dozens of empty shelves stacked on top and beside each other for the entire length of the cellar.

It took a few minutes to navigate the maze-like conditions he was presented, and the clunky method he was using to see didn't make things any quicker.

He went to shelf after shelf, ignoring the generic items like firewood, rope or books that had been stocked. He was focused on his hunt for edibles, finding empty bags and a measly amount of single strands of hay trampled over, sitting beneath the dirt of the floor and the dust of the racks.

Hopeful made it all the way to the other end of the cellar until he finally found whatever scraps of food the town still had. A few dozen bags of hay, two or three of dried carrots and some stray loaves of bread hardened to the point of being unedible.

Despite their shortage, Hopeful, with an argument from his stomach, decided that he needed it more than they did, and began to stuff hay and carrots into his saddlebags. Once his bags were nearly spilling out full, he pinned them closed, throwing them onto his back to feel the new, hefty weight he had just added.

A creak echoed throughout the cellar, the exact same sound that the hatch made earlier: somepony was coming in.

He crouched down behind a set of racks, filled with, judging by their texture and shape, books. But before he could even contemplate what a load of books are doing down here, a light came into the room, an orange, flickering glow of a flame came from all places, right behind him.

He twisted around, landing on his ass as he looked up to find another staircase on this side of the cellar, a back-door.

Hopeful braced himself, covering his face as the light grew to a blinding intensity, “Whoa whoa, I'm wasn't, I'm not...”

“Stealing?” His voice was powerful, confident, but also a tiny bit playful. Like they were enjoying themselves.

“No, no, I wasn't, I just...” Hopeful stumbled over his own words, finally taking down his hoof as his eyes adjusted. “W-what...” He grew very bewildered as things came into clarity. He was able to make out that the pony was in a long red robe.

“Is it greed, if it is necessary?” The pony strode by, giving Hopeful a close view of his cloak. Hopeful was able to make out a shiny, gold dragon painted onto it. As the pony went by, he could feel the heat of the torch's flame tenderly glosen over him, making him instantly feel better.

The pony seemed friendly enough, but Hopeful would not pass up the opportunity to fix the problem, no matter how disoriented he was. He tried to be sneaky as he stood up. He tried his hardest to not make a whisper as he trotted up behind and leapt onto the pony in an attempt to grab around his neck to strangle him out.

To Hopeful's shock, the pony bucked their right hind leg into the air, kicking Hopeful in the chest and sending him stumbling back, gasping for air.

The pony didn't even have their walking rhythm disturbed as he continued down the cellar, keeping his torch in front of him. “Is violence a crime, if it is out of desperation?” he asked to what felt like nobody, monologuing to an unseen audience.

“Who... are... you ..?” Hopeful managed to fit the words in between inhales.

“Me?” The pony stopped trotting. “Ponies simply call me... The Dragon.”

“Dragon who?”

“Just The Dragon.” He twisted around on one hoof, now facing Hopeful.

It was instantly revealed to Hopeful that the pony had no torch, no... That fiery, flickering orange light was being emitted from the ponies horn, shifting between yellows and reds to make it appear like a real flame. Their fur a bright orange. Eyes of deep golden yellow.

“What the fuck?” Hopeful's eyes lit up.

“I know, I know, I get that a lot. Look, I'm on business. I'm not going to snitch on you.”

“Wh-Why are you here? What is a Unicorn doing here?” He began interogating this so-called 'Dragon'.

“I was sent here. I was told to look for a book...” One of the books on the shelf next to them began levitating in his fiery aura and floated toward him. “This one, specifically.” He showed the journal to Hopeful, who noticed the large decorated Sun on it's cover, and with a gentle rotation, he was shown the Moon on it's back, both symbols equally as extravagant. “It's quite a nice piece isn't it? No idea what in Moonstone it's doing in this shithole of a town...”

His eyes wandered up from the journal, meeting Hopeful's with a snarky smile. “But I was also told that I will be giving it to somepony as an important gift, which I believe might be you.”

“Me? What? What are you talking about?” Hopeful was catching none of it.

“Look, I'm not too bothered explaining that much, since I'm supposed to give you this in a year anyway, so I'll get you to sign the contract and all that stuff then. But hey, remember this; Once you become a father once more, meet me in the first train station on new world soil, exactly one year after the war ends, during the celebration. Then we will talk again, alright? Alright. Here, have it in writing so you don't forget.”

He hastily scribbled something on a notepad he floated out from beneath his robe and then ripped out the paper, putting it into Hopeful's hay-stuffed saddlebag. “Wh-wha...” Hopeful muttered.

“Alright buddy, take care now. I've got Moon-business to attend to.” He patted Hopeful on the forehead like a child or small dog, then strolled out behind Hopeful.

When Hopeful finally recovered enough to turn around, he went to trot out behind him up the back-door he had seen the Dragon come from. Although, the only thing he accomplished with that was getting a bruise on his forehead as he bumped into a hard stone wall.

Utterly confused, he sparked his flint again, seeing that there in fact was no staircase there.

After a long contemplation, he made his way out through the original way he had entered.

“H-hello there, sir!” An elderly farmer came towards an uneasy Midnight Eclipse, “What are you doing here, today?”

“Nothing, just you know... Guarding the Storage Cellar.” He puffed up his chest and picked up his chin, as would be expected for a Pegasian guard.

“And why would you be doin that now?” The elderly pony went up real close and inspected Midnight as personally as possible. “I don't think I remember you...” He read out the name tag written on the jacket. “Officer Hopeful, are you new or somethin?”

“I am, yes! Just sent here from the... Barracks.” He said, hoping that's what Earth Ponies called their military training bases.

“Righty then, I didn't know 'bout no guard, but that's fine. I got's to go check up on stocks, so jus' let me by 'ere.” The farmer began circling around Midnight to get to the hatch, which he could not allow. Stepping into his way and raising a hoof to stop him.

“Woah, hold on, you can't do that!”

The old pony stepped back, raising his voice. “Wha? WHY NOT?”

“Cause you might, ugh, steal... Some rations, and I'm here to stop... That.”

“I'M THE BLEEDIN' OWNER OF THIS FARM! THA'S MY FOOD DOWN THERE! You shayin' I am gonna steal my own hay?!”

“Ugh...” Midnight felt like every word in the equine language had just vanished from his head.

“I am callin' your captain, I'm gonna get him to come here and straighten ya out son!” He pointed a shaky hoof into Midnights face, before trotting off in a rage into town.

“Wait! Don't! Please! Ah shit...” He turned to the hatch, becoming frantic in worry. “Good luck, Hopeful. I need to go stab this old-ass stallion.” He whispered to himself, leaving in a hurry after the elderly pony.

He managed to catch up to him as he rambled through the street, shouting the captain's name.

Midnight surveyed the area, seeing that the street was still clear of anypony apart from the old geezer he was about to take out. They were completely oblivious that Midnight was about to jump him. Taking his chance, Midnight crouched down and went for the pounce, but as he went into the air he tried to flap his wings as muscle memory dictated. Which is what lead to him collapsing into the snow as his jump was exceedingly less powerful without the helpful boost of air his wings provided.

“Mr Thistle, what may be the bother this time?” A weary, feminine voice came from inside of one of the larger buildings in the town, soon after a Mare decorated with a neat, prominent military uniform trotted out to meet the old farmer.

Midnight lifted his weight back up. Seeing the two distracted with each other a few buildings ahead of him, he decided it was best he hid. So he dashed behind the wall of the nearest building and crouched down behind some piled up firewood covered in a fairly thin and disturbed layer of snow.

The two went by him down towards the farmhouse, leaving Midnight's vision as quickly as they entered it, the old stallion describing their encounter with a far more grandiose re-imagining of it.

Midnight sighed, seeing that right behind him was right out of the town, he could just leave...

But something was keeping him here; he couldn't leave without Hopeful... That motherfucker has all of the food we came here for! He rationalized for himself, returning to his determination to stop them from catching his ally.

He prowled out of his hiding spot and cantered after them, keeping to the awnings of the houses.

When Midnight reached the vicinity of the farm, he saw the old farmer complain to the soldier mare as they stood around the hatch, shouting and waving his hooves in the air, the mare trying to calm him down and getting him to speak more clearly.

Midnight slowed his crawl forward, prepared to intervene again only if it was needed. For all he knew, Hopeful already made it out.

Soon, the farmer went off to look around, and threw off the tarp from the cellar door. Seeing the busted lock only made him more angry.

Midnight sucked it in and began galloping up, prepared to fight them both, while not immediately being noticed and catching a glimpse of their conversation.

“Please, sir, can you just tell me, you're sure the pony's name was Hopeful?” the mare asked the farmer, trying to be as clear as she could.

“YES, I'M DAMN SURE! HE DONE BROKE MY LOCK! THAT'S MY OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY!” he yelled back, lifting his head up from the hatch. Turning back toward the mare, he saw Midnight behind them. “THERE HE IS!” His hoof sprang up once more, jittery as ever.

The mare spun around. She looked delighted as she went to see him, turning into confusion, and finally, disappointment.

“Mr. Thistle, I will deal with this. You can go back to your home now,” she said unpassionately.

“YOU BETTER! Fricken' no good military diciplined... Sons of bitches...” He began mumbling to himself and trotted past them to his house, eyeing down Midnight as he passed.

“You, who might you be?” She lowered her brow.

“I am... Hopeful.” He gave her a mean stare, seeing that she was not impressed with his answer.

“Really? What's your last name then.” She persisted, trotting in closer to stand face to face.

“It's... Umm...”

“I thought so.” She leaned in to read the name tag, “Where did you get this jacket? Do you know the soldier that it belonged to?”

“The owner gave it to me...”

She immediately stepped in, “Is he safe? Is Hopeful ok?”

“Yeah... Yes he is.” for Midnight this, conversation was going far differently than he had anticipated.

“Is he with you? I assume you are surviving out there with him, right?”

“Yes, he is...” Midnight, even through his dark fur, grew pale.

“Can you tell him that you spoke to Glisten? And tell him that I'm the captain of this town, and that he should come here? Can you do that for me, darling?” A very deep concern ran through her, practically begging Midnight to help.

“Yeah, sure...”

“Oh he must be starving out there... Is that why you were here? Were you trying to get some food from the cellar? Well, it's definitely not allowed, but for Hopeful, I'll turn the other cheek. Go take however much you need and come back here with him as soon as possible, do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand... Thank you.”

“I am so glad he is alright. Now go. I'll go tell Mr. Thistle what he wants to hear.” She finished, nodding politely with a humble smile on her face, prancing off to Mr. Thistle's home.

After a few moments of Midnight watching the mare leave, he heard a set of thuds come from under the hatch.

“It's clear!” he informed Hopeful, turning to the hatch as it squeaked open.

He watched as Hopeful crawled out from under the heavy door, coming to his hooves and meeting Midnight's eye level.

“You won't believe what just happened,” they both said, simultaneously.

“Well...” “Yeah, we should...” “Yes, we should go, fast.” “Talk at camp.” “Yup.”

They agreed and dashed off, running through the field they arrived through, not paying too much mind to their surroundings as they blitzed it out of there.

“And he called himself The Dragon, even though he is clearly a pony. What was up with that?” Hopeful recounted his experience to Midnight, “I don't know how whatever happened to you can be any more stupid or preposterous than that.”

“It might not be as stupid, but I have a feeling it's quite a bit more preposterous.” Midnight answered.

“Boys, is that you?” The voice came from deeper inside the forest they had recently entered.

“Auri! We got a fuckload of hay!” Midnight yelled over to her, flying up into the air higher to project his voice, now only wearing his gambeson.

“Sorry, I don't speak Pegasus. How much is a fuckload in kilograms?” Her laugher could be heard as clearly as her voice.

The two stallions managed to stumble onto their makeshift campsite, using the helpful tool of Aurora's bad jokes for echolocation.

“Nighty!” Aurora, who was still tucked into her sleeping bag, poked out her forelegs to spread them out wide, trying to get a hug.

Midnight strolled over and indulged her.

“Where did your armour go?” she said as they pulled apart.

“I ditched it. It was just slowing me down, really.”

“Oooh, well I like it. You've got the whole, well-worn soldier look now with the stubble and messy hair and torn armour...” She pulled him in for another kiss, keeping herself situated in her soft cocoon of a sleeping bag.

Hopeful, hearing her comments, rolled his eyes before returning to chewing on a spine of grain, scratching his stubble and mess of a hair-do.

“Are you feeling better than this morning?” Midnight asked while fetching a portion of the hay for her and himself.

“Yes, much better now. No idea why, but I keep getting those strong muscle cramps in my stomach. I sometimes even feel like throwing up... I think it's because I've been eating this peasant food for the past few months.” She said as she gladly accepted a few strands of hay, consuming it quickly.

“You didn't eat hay in your fancy castle, princess?” Hopeful mocked her from the other side of their now burnt out fire.

“We did, but it wasn't stored inside of a dirty, rodent-filled cellar beforehoof.”

“Yeah, but did you know it's Earth Pony tradition to spit on every pale of hay that we sold to another race?” He chuckled, chomping down on another hooffull of the stuff.

“What?!” She jumped up.

“Calm down, I'm kidding.” He glanced over both of his shoulders, returning to her with a even more snivy expression. “Or am I?”

“Shush you. So, Nighty, how did it go?” She turned to her lover who had just squatted down beside her.

He looked over to Hopeful, he thought about if he should tell Hopeful about the pony that wanted to see him, but he knew that if Hopeful left to go to that town, he wouldn't be coming back. So at first it felt like a good idea, he could get rid of him...

He then turned back to his fiancée, “Well, Hopeful met a Unicorn that thought he was a dragon.”

“You saw one of the Dragons? In an Earth Pony settlement?” She was greatly surprised.

“Yeah,” Hopeful butted in, gladly prepared to explain it all over again. “He wore this red robe and talked all mystical and shit.”

“I know who you're talking about!” She hopped up. “The Dragons are this Unicorn family that are all about following this code or something written by the first Dragonlord. They’re a bunch of loonies, they claim they have contact with the moon and that she is who orders them around and stuff. Kinda like what the Zebra's believe in.”

Hopeful was growing bored of her exposition. “Well, thank you for that history lesson. Now, can I just tell you the story?”

“Please, go ahead.” She motioned with her hoof to get him to continue.

“Well, I'm down in this cellar and Midnight's watching the way in, when, all of a sudden, I hear a hatch open...”

Long Trot to Nowhere

“Nighty... Please... Slow down...” Aurora lagged behind the two boys, who powered on. Midnight swiftly attended to his lover’s plea for help.

“Auri, are you ok..?” He backtracked a few steps to her, grazing her cheek with his hoof, feeling its radiant warmth standing against the chilly breeze.

The group had been making good time north, closer to their escape with every step. Although, after Hopeful calculated it carefully, he confirmed their fear of months of trotting ahead of them, as they were still barely beyond the centre of Great Bridleton, and even after that, they'd have to cross a band of Unicorn or Pegasian Territory. To their relief, the snow continued to fair mercifully to them. Hopeful figured that if hate caused the weather, positive feelings must ward it off, which seemed to be saving them time in their journey, as they didn't have to hide from any blizzards.

Although a different problem had become apparent in their first week: Aurora's condition.

“Yes, I'm alright darling... It's just... Another stomach ache...” She fought against the urge to shrivel up as her gut kicked against her insides.

“Auri, I told you and I'm going to keep saying it, we need to steal some medicine to get you better... I'm worried.” Midnight slid a foreleg behind one of Aurora's, letting her drop down to sit upon the soft snow blanket, the fur on her flanks furling as it slid into the frosty earth coating.

“I'm not sick... And...” She found that taking long breaks between speaking helped ease the pain. “We have to keep going... Can't be caught...”

Hopeful waited in his place as he watched the two confer again, keeping a lookout at the horizon to occupy himself.

Midnight crouched down in front of her. “Auri, we haven't seen those shadow guards in a week. We can rest if you're not feeling well enough to walk.”

“Fine... Just not too long.” Aurora began taking long breaths, the cool air running down against her tongue, relaxing her.

“Do you want to eat?” Midnight asked during his consolation.

“No... I might throw up if I do...” She focused on herself and her breathing; it helped.

“Alright...” Midnight turned over to Hopeful, “Just a few minutes.”

“Yeah, of course...” He responded back, disheartened by her pain but also confused by the cause. “What do you think it is?”

“The food...” She instantly pitched in.

“I...” Hopeful wasn't satisfied with that answer. “I don't think it's the food, Aurora. Me and Midnight have been eating the same stuff and were fine.”

“Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not a soldier... I don't exactly have an iron gut when it comes to stale hay.” She breathed in and out, making sure to remain relaxed.

Midnight trotted up to Hopeful, lowering his voice to only have him hear. “Hopeful, it's probably the hay, and we should go and get some medicine to help her, otherwise it might get worse.”

“It's just, she says she's been like that for months... Food poisoning lasts for a few days at most, and is much more… violent… in its symptoms.”

“Then what do you think it could be?” He let his voice rise naturally once more, turning to look at his lover.

“Well...” Hopeful trotted up closer, looking down onto her. “If the only problem is digestion, then it might be gutworms.”

“Gutworms?” Midnight asked.

“Little parasites that stick in your stomach and eat the food you store there... They tend to cause stomach aches commonly, and if untreated they can last for months.”

“Excuse me... If I may pitch in, how do you know any better about medicine than either me or Nighty?” Aurora piped up.

“Well, I had a family. Every time my daughter got sick, my wife would catch it, and then I would catch it... She got sick a lot... I spent a few days a week inside of the doctor's house. I picked up a few things... Also, there was a fellah in my town who got gutworms. Figured it out with one of those new X-ray machines they've got now, and then ordered in all the correct medicine from the capital... Doc told me all about it.”

“So you think I may have... A gutworm?” This scared Aurora.

“Well, yeah. It's definitely possible.” He nodded.

“You're saying there is a gross worm creature inside of me?” Her dry tongue stuck in disgust against the idea.

“Well, if it is gutworms, (and that is an if)... it would be more than one.”

Both of her hooves shot down to her belly, cradling it like a protective mother over her babies, a chilling fear as she realized how much worse the situation could be. “There are two inside me?!” The horror in her face spiked.

“Uh... I didn't say that... Gutworms come in the hu-”

“NOPE, NO, UH-UH, NO MORE SPEAKING, I DO NOT WISH TO KNOW!” she yelled, covering both of her ears.

“Enough, Hopeful...” Midnight interjected, stepping in between them. “Auri, you good to go?”

“Yes... Let's just not talk about it, and we can go.” Aurora was help to her hooves by Midnight, and they carried on with their journey.

The three of them looked upon the Earth Pony town. It had been a few more days of eating little to nothing, each of them getting weaker as time went on. Now that they had arrived at this slightly more built up settlement, they could snag something to eat, and hopefully even get Aurora some help.

“I hope everything goes well for you at the doctor, Auri... Hopeful, if your cover is blown, just yell and I'll fly in like a bolt of lightning.”

“I'll be careful. You just focus on the grub. Remember, in and out, asap,” Hopeful advised Midnight, then turned to Aurora who was making sure that her horn was thoroughly hidden, shaping her otherwise elegant and flowing mane to fall forward and cover her horn, making her hair look more scruffy and unmaintained than it already did as it fell over her forehead and sat casted over her left eye. Using a long cloth band as a makeshift hood, widely spreading over the outward face of her mane and more importantly hiding her horn even further, the corners tapered down to meet in a tight knot beneath her chin. It really gave her a "humble farmer" look, especially when she equipped a dirty brown fabric around her shoulders and back.

“You ready, there, Aurora?” Hopeful asked, seeing her nervous eyes double check every aspect of her outfit.

“Do I look fine?” She looked up for approval.

“It's perfect. I'm actually surprised you have such a good Earth Pony disguise,” Hopeful told her, getting a nod of agreement from Midnight.

“Well, after my first encounter with an Earth Pony village, I didn't want to have any more problems of that caliber to arise.” She bit her lip, not enjoying the memory.

“Let's not waste any more time, Good luck, you two. Do whatever you have to do to get Auri better.” Midnight turned to the village, about to move out.

“Will do, let's go,” Hopeful concluded, the three of them beginning to trot toward the town.

The three began cantering up to the town's road, slowing down as they felt the stone cobble beneath their hooves. Hopeful and Aurora continued directly into town, while Midnight veered off to go find the barn, taking the smaller paths that weaved between the houses.

Aurora instinctively stuck to Hopeful's flank. Worry grew in her as the two of them trotted toward a posted guard, where the street reached the first home in a long row of buildings.

The guard trotted over to the two of them, looking quite friendly. “Travellers?” they asked, a quaint smile appearing on their lips.

Aurora, understandably shy, took a step back and let Hopeful assert himself in the conversation.

Hopeful cleared his throat. “Yup, we're actually lookin' for the a doctor... Do you have one in town?”

“You're in luck. We got a medic situated in the soldiers’ quarters. I'll lead ya to him.” The guard motioned a hoof to follow him, turned heel, and lead them down the street, letting Hopeful and Aurora catch up and walk by his side. “What do you need a doctor for, if I may ask?”

“It's for her. She hasn't been feeling well.” Hopeful motioned toward Aurora, who let her head curve downward, while still keeping her eyes up as she shyly deflected the soldier's gaze.

A few moments of silent walking passed with pressure, eventually being casually broken by the soldier as they attempted to initiate some small talk. “So, how's the road been treating ya?”

“As rough as anypony else, I guess...” Hopeful reluctantly answered.

“Just askin', cause we get a lot of strays winding up in Trester, and comparin', you two folks look like you're doin' well. Normally, they come in shivering to the bone... Say, howdya two avoid conscription anyhow?” They persisted, seemingly very familiar with this type of encounter.

“I uh... I got kicked out... Shaky hooves, you know... Absolutely useless with a rifle,” Hopeful said, really wishing that his lying ability was better than he thought.

“Ah, yeah that'll sure do it. I heard a whole lots of stories. One pony told me that recruiters wouldn't take 'em cause their voice sounded funny and they couldn't hear a damn word they said without laughing.”

“Was that true?” Hopeful wondered.

“Oh yeah, they sounded like somepony was trying to hogtie a chipmunk with a thorny vine.” They laughed at the recollection. Then they stepped forward a bit early to get ahead of Hopeful and look to Aurora, “Say miss, what about you? Why aren't you fighting?”

Hopeful turned to her as well, seeing the uncertainty and shock seep into her as she failed to speak a word, only lightly mumbling the residue of a thought.

“She's uh, she's... a mute... Yeah, she can't speak,” Hopeful went in for the save. Aurora quickly nodded, putting up a faint smile as she enjoyed an excuse to not speak with the pony.

“Oh, well, I'm sorry there, miss.” He returned to his trotting position. “Well, you know, there's also a lot o' ponies that just dun refused to go and fight, ran away and such. I don't get it too much. War's gonna come your way one way or another. Wouldn't you want to at least have a rifle and training when it does?” He spoke genuinely, while still not seeming to be judging the ponies he spoke of.

“Yeah... That makes sense.” Hopeful nodded.

“You two married?” The question appeared way out of left field to Hopeful.

“Oh no.” Hopeful immediately responded. “We just met on the road...” His eyes wandered over to Aurora, who shook her head with the same feeling behind it.

“Just askin'... Anyways, here it is, go in there and ask to see Doctor Helix. I'm sure he'll help your mare friend however he can.”

“Thank you very much.” Hopeful nodded, getting a salute in return as the guard trotted off back to their post.

The two of them then stared down the door to this larger looking wooden construct. It seemed to be an inn that was renovated for the soldiers to use as a dorm.

“Are you alright, Aurora? Still keeping it together?” Hopeful placed a consoling hoof onto her shoulder, leaving her nodding and taking long breaths, keeping her wits about her, ready for anything.

“Okay, time to get this over with.” Hopeful began walking in first, gently pressing the door open, feeling Aurora's breath behind him as he entered the cosy, wood-scented home.

The flame-lit, traditional themed room instantly hit Hopeful with a tavern-like vibe: friendly, loud and warm. The large fireplace off to the left provided the heat and light, and a few soldiers hung around the scattered tables, cut out of large logs and shaped into their purpose. They were laughing and drinking. Things have seemingly been going well for them. Rare for these times.

One of them spotted Hopeful and Aurora as they entered, he politely excused himself from the table and came up to them, “Howdy, there. What can I do you for?” He patiently awaited their response.

“We were hoping to see your doctor,” Hopeful answered him.

“Oh, are you travellers? Well, he's just down the hall, there, room thirteen. I hope you're both ok. If you're looking for a safe place to settle here, I can show you to the mayor after. Lots of ponies like you come in sick and hungry. We take care of 'em.” He pointed down the hall, stepping to the side to let them pass.

“Thank you very much.” Hopeful grinned, feeling a nostalgic warmth of home, but Aurora seemed to be concentrating hard on not blowing her disguise, keeping her head down and having Hopeful between her and the soldier.

“Just make sure to knock first; he might be treating somepony.” The soldier left them, returning to his comrades.

“Will do.” Hopeful began leading Aurora along, looking like a lost sheep trotting among wolves, or perhaps the reverse.

They found themselves moving down a line of rooms, finding room thirteen with little struggle.

“Alright, Aurora, just keep cool. We're getting your stomach checked and that's it. There shouldn't be any reason he sees your... You know.”

“Please, just be ready.”

“Ready?”

Auri nodded.

Hopeful clashed a hoof against the thick wooden door, a meaty knocking sound filling the air.

“One second!” A surprised voice came from inside of the room, moments before the door flew open to reveal the light-blue-coated pony, wearing a bandanna around his mane and looping it around the back of his ear, it had a big red cross on it.

“Greetings! Are you two new to town?” They smiled, revealing several missing teeth.

“Yes, we are.” Hopeful took his attention, Aurora remaining to be smaller than she normally acted.

“Well, I'm Helix. We're very welcoming as I'm sure you've seen... What can I do you for?”

“We’ve been travelling for quite a long while, and my friend here keeps feeling sick in her stomach. I think it might be gutworms or something like that.”

Helix turned a kind eye to Aurora, seeing her timid posture. “I'm sure I can help with whatever is wrong. Would you like to come inside, miss?”

“Y-yes, thank you...” Aurora managed, stepping in after the doctor.

Now inside of the pony’s room, Hopeful could see every second of history this place had lived through. It was a moderately sized room with a bed along one corner, including a nightstand, just like he would expect in an inn. Although, there were also bags and boxes stacked upon one and other in an otherwise unused corner, all labelled with medical-looking symbolism. In the middle of the room, pressed up against the wall, there was a white bed held up with slick steel beams with white cousins and many nobs for adjusting things like height. It even had a slot for an IV.

“Sorry for the mess. We had to set up here, since they didn't have a dedicated medical facility, so I hope you're comfortable.” He apologized to them both, keeping his eyes locked onto Aurora. “Miss, can I have you lie down on here?” He guided her to the medical bed, which she reluctantly followed, but not before confirming Hopeful was right behind her in the room.

While Aurora climbed upon the cushions, the doctor began to collect his things in preparation for the check up. “So, what's your name?”

“Um... Aurora...” She answered while making herself comfortable while lying down face up, back against this surprisingly soft fabric.

“That's a beautiful name you have there... So, Aurora, can you tell me about this sickness you're feeling?” He popped a stethoscope around his neck, letting the cord of it loosely hang off of him.

“It's um...” She cleared her throat, feeling as if she was starting to choke up as the doctor looked directly into her eyes, with the only thing being a thin cloth and a few layers of her own hair between their eyes and her horn. “It's this sort of pressure being pressed against my stomach, like if my organs were shifting around or being squashed... But I only feel it a few times a week. Sometimes more, but sometimes less... Also, when the pain comes, I kind of feel like I want to throw up... Which I probably would if I had any more food in me.”

“And how long has this being going on for?” He continued to mannerly interrogate her.

“A few months... I remember feeling it the first time a bit after the war started and I got out onto the road.”

“Hmm... Interesting.” He reached over to a desk overflowing with medical materials, grabbing a thermometer. “You're going to need to place this in between your legpit for me.”

“Oh, ok...” She took it into her hoof from him, giving the odd device a strange glance up and down before sliding it down between her inner leg and side. Its frosty glass surface sent chills down Aurora's body.

He then lifted up the end of the stethoscope into his hoof. The receiver-like device at the bottom of the cord was foreign to Aurora. “May I?” She nodded to his request, watching him as he put the part around his neck above his ears, then reaching out with the receiver end to press against Aurora's chest. A cold shock stabbed at her at first, causing her to jump just a little.

“It's alright, I'm just checking your heartbeat.” His facial expression slowly changed over time, as though his eyes were lost in the clouds, concentrating hard on listening. “Your heart is really pounding right now... Are you not used to doctor visits?”

“N-no...”

“Well, I would appreciate if you did your best to keep calm. Take big breaths.”

She did as she was asked, the doctor immediately nodding in approval. “Hmm...” His eyes then returned from outer space to land directly onto the thermometer that prominently stuck out between Aurora's leg. “Your temperature looks normal, so is your heartbeat... As far as I can tell this isn't any sort of flu or virus... We might have to do an X-ray...” He began shifting the stethoscope further down her belly, and suddenly his face recoiled in surprise... A pleasant surprise. “Oh... Huh.”

“What? What is it? Is it gutworms?” Aurora panicked.

“Actually no...” The doctor put away the device, letting it droop back down around his neck. “Do you remember when your last period was?”

Aurora flinched away, “Excuse me?”

“Do you?” He persisted, his tone completely regular and pleasant.

“Hmm... Since you bring it up... I don't think I've had one yet this month... And I don't remember exactly when my last was...” She glanced at Hopeful, trying to see if he was being immature, especially with how personal things had become. To her surprise, he was acting very professional about it all, not even chuckling to himself.

“Would you consider yourself sexually active?” The doctor came at her with another question that Aurora squinted at.

“I... I-I... I'm in a relationship... And we have... Yes.” She gulped, “Why... Why do you ask?” She desperately wanted to know why she was describing some of her most personal information with some random Earth Pony.

“Well Aurora, I believe you aren't sick at all. In fact there isn't even anything wrong with you.” The doctor had a very genuine smile that continued to grow larger as he came to his point.

But his dramatic stalling only worried Aurora more, “B-but... If I'm not sick, then why do I feel like this?”

“Aurora, you're pregnant.” He laughed.

Aurora didn't laugh. “EXCUSE ME?”

Hopeful, standing on the other end of the room had his jaw open up without his control.

“Yeah, you're definitely pregnant. All these things you’re feeling are just your body getting ready to give birth... With what you've said, I would guess you're roughly four or so months in, so things will begin being more noticeable as your baby grows, and you'll soon even be able to feel them... I guess you're lucky that you've come here. With the war going on, it's a real trying time. So I would recommend just getting settled here for the next seven or so months. We have lots of food still, and we haven't been attacked in over two months, ever since the army has started reclaiming territory up north.”

Aurora stared blankly at the doctor, lost for words.

The doctor looked over his shoulder at Hopeful, “Congratulations, you two.”

Hopeful, also very surprised, failed to make more than a mumble. “W-we're not...”

Helix seemed to not hear him, returning to his patient. “We have an X-ray machine here, if you would like to see your baby, and maybe even figure out their gender, assuming you want to know, of course.”

“W-wwh-what?” Aurora blurted out, now fully sitting upright and looking down to the doctor for any sort of explanation.

“Here, just lie down and relax, I'll do everything.” He put a hoof onto Aurora's shoulder and guided her down, letting her rest her head upon the fluffy pillow provided. “Here, this might take a while, so you can take this off too.” He scooped up her hood and before she could stop him, he swooped it from her head, letting her mane loose. As he placed it to the side, he saw the large chunck of her mane which arched over her forehead fell loose, a distinct horn sticking right out of her head being revealed beneath.

Now, the doctor too was lost for words.

Instinctively, he stepped back, fearing the beast that sat on his operating table. “Y-y-yyou're-” Is how far as he got before Hopeful wrapped a hoof around his head and smashed the doctor's skull as hard as he could against the closest refined-wood wall. A tiny splat of blood being left behind as they collapsed to the floor, no longer moving.

“DID YOU JUST KILL HIM?” Aurora shouted at Hopeful in her distress.

“I uh...” He crouched down, feeling really unsure of himself after letting his instinct take over. He placed a hoof on his neck, checking for a pulse just like he did way back in training. “He's alive...”

Hopeful let go of a breath, slowly etching his way up to stand and look into Aurora's eyes. “What... Now?”

“Let's leave?”

“Yeah, let's do that.”

After Aurora hastily re-equipped her disguise, they jogged out quite quickly, not stopping to speak with any of the other soldiers as they made their way out of town, running past the guard who greeted them with a full sprint, not stopping when he called out to them, leaving him very confused.

“Oh by the heaven's gracious light... Could this be real life? I can not believe it...” Aurora trotted back and forth, her and Hopeful waiting for Midnight to return at their rendezvous. Both of them tried to gather their thoughts with each other. “How...” She clutched her stomach with one of her legs, feeling it's warmth and subtle movement as she breathed in and out, feeling vastly different than she had ever before in her life, as if she was a foreigner in her own body.

Hopeful sat upon a snow-covered log while Aurora paced around him, watching her intently. “Could it be Midnight’s?”

“He's a Pegasus Hopeful! You know that can't... happen...” She sighed, her head falling in defeat. “But... he's also the only one I've ever... You know.” She looked at Hopeful, despair in her eyes, desperately looking for help. “Could... Could the doctor have been wrong?”

“He sounded, really, confident...” He swallowed, hard. “And... My wife, when she was pregnant... She also felt like you've been feeling...”

That definitely did not ease her panic. “B-but, how do I tell Midnight? It has to be his... But... How can it... We're entirely different species!” She flailed a leg into the air.

“Are you sure there isn't some Unicorn...” He proposed, without enthusiasm.

“I was a virgin, Hopeful, alright!? Is that what you want to hear? Midnight was the only pony I've ever even kissed! Let alone been in bed with!” She practically growled at him, with a moment passing before she realized how aggressive she was being, shocking herself. She then forcibly calmed herself down, taking more long breaths, opening her eyes with a bit of sorrow. “Maybe I shouldn't tell him...”

“Aurora, you can't just pretend this isn't happening! We're going to have to slow down, keep you warm and safe... Midnight will find out one way or another.” He stood up to meet her eyeline, trying to convince her.

“I...” She almost began crying, sucking in air through her teeth and shutting her eyes, it all becoming too much for her. “I guess you're right...”

Hopeful patted her on the back, feeling the slightest amount of empathy from his memories of having his own child. He soon turned a chin up to the sky, noticing that the light of day was fading. “Where is Midnight? He should have been here by now... It's been at least half an hour.”

Aurora and him swayed their head over towards the direction of the town, seeing it behind the decrepit trees, bathing in a thick fog far away.

BFFUUGHhh... The sound of a blast of gunpowder and a bullet shredding through the air, came faintly from the town's direction, Hopeful and Aurora's fears escalating with a whiplash.

The second shot followed the first one, then without even a break, the third.

Aurora and Hopeful went to gallop back to the town, getting a few steps forward before Hopeful blocked Aurora's path, causing her to skid before she stopped, being pressed against his outstretched leg. “You are not going! Stay here and be safe!”

“You can't just-” She struggled against him.

“I will find Midnight, but you are not putting yourself and that foal into danger!” He turned heel and ran away from her, leaving her stunned as he galloped off.

Shots continued to fire.

Hopeful found himself sprinting back onto the icy cobblestone of the town as he re-entered its vicinity. A storm was beginning to brew over the rooftops, the wind steadily growing in speed and power. Hopeful was able to see one of those horrid windigo beasts swirling around in the clouds.

As he made it between the first two buildings, it became inherently clear what was happening.

The guard that greeted him and Aurora had gone, most likely toward the other side of town, where a cascade of bullets fired wildly. A plethora of screams and cries turned the entire place into a horror scene.

“Midnight!” he yelled out, knowing it was a long shot. “Fuck...”

He galloped further up the street, trying to get a visual on whatever battle was going on.

As he nearly reached the inn from before, he came far enough through the fog to see the other end of town. The flashes of guns erupting shone through the air, the outlines of dead bodies lining the streets, along with a grouping of what seemed like Earth Pony soldiers watching all angles around them. Each of them were jumpy and twitching as they unloaded on some enemy that Hopeful hadn't yet seen.

Hopeful felt himself choke up as a dark, shadowy cloud came bolting at the Earth Ponies. All of them fired at the being to no avail as it came into contact with them. Screams of pain echoed through the storm as Hopeful turned away, not bearing to see the poor fate that was swiftly bestowed upon them.

“MIDNIGHT!” He screamed again, sprinting from building to building, searching for his friend.

During his desperate scavenge, Hopeful was frozen into place as a blisteringly painful ricochet of ice ran down his back. A demonic voice whispered into his ear so closely he could feel the breath rustle the hair covering his ear, each strand shooting up as it felt like that side of his face actually dropped in temperature. “The... White... Unicorn...” It spoke, slowly and calmly as an incredibly intricate dagger, looking like a bolt of lighting with a number of jagged corners and long edges. It had the hue of an obsidian black. It felt like ice against his throat. “Where... Is... She..?”

Hopeful felt like a ghost was laying upon every inch of his skin, causing a feeling of blisters and frost. His peripheral vision was filled with a black smoke, he knew what this thing was. “I know where she is! I can show you!”

“You... Do..? Prove... It...” He became interested. “Do... You... Know... What... Her... Name... Is..?”

“AURORA! It's Aurora!” He pleaded.

“Good... Very... Good...” He felt their chilly grip float around his shoulder and lean upon him, forcibly turning him out to face the town.

“Show... Me... Where...” The dagger left his neck and pointed outward, floating around the general area Hopeful was facing, awaiting direction.

Hopeful looked between the buildings, most of them simple, identical housing. Although there was the inn, the only building he knew in the town.

To his amazement, as he glanced toward the large accommodation, he saw a flash of a black set of feathers dashing past the window and ducking behind something.

“There! T-the inn!” Hopeful lifted up his leg, pointing out the building for the pony, “She's in one of the rooms!”

“Well...” The blade floated back against his throat, it didn't even have a Unicorn's aura around it as far as he could tell. “You're... Going... To... Lead... Me... To... Her... Understand?”

“Y-yes!” Hopeful then felt a light push against his back, leaving him very carefully walking towards the inn.

After a minute, he had made it to the door and put his shaking hoof against the solid wood of the thick door.

“Go... Ahead...” He was prompted, opening it steadily and with great care. Taking a step into the building, his eyes darted toward the right, where he saw the wing through the glass, while keeping his head perfectly forward.

The entire place was trashed, tables upturned and seats scattered, the fire out. And, on his right, the very tip of a pale-navy mane he recognised very well.

Once Hopeful had his entirety inside of the building, knowing that the shadowy thing would be following behind, he pointed off to the left. “O-over there...”

Hopeful heard a swoosh as the creature's head turned behind him, probably confused by the fact that there were no doors, hallways or any sort of indication of where Aurora was being held. Although, they were never given the chance to act upon that confusion as Midnight leapt out from the right flank, a disgusting, meaty noise of metal cutting deeply into meat and bone as Hopeful felt the dagger from his neck collapse to the floor, clinking against the wood.

He swerved around, seeing Midnight wrapped around what now looked like an ordinary Unicorn with several pieces of a pitch-black plated armour strapped to their body, an identical copy of the dagger in Midnight's wing, and more importantly, in the Unicorn's throat.

Midnight yanked it out, the blade ripping out from the armour it so easily pierced, gorging a decent amount of the unicorn’s neck along with the daggers exit, the head only still attached by some tendons around their spine as they collapsed to the floor, the enchantment fading, now revealing a quite regular unicorn with a few black plates of armour sparingly strapped to their body, their tail clearly painted white.

They were very dead.

“Where is Aurora?!” Midnight turned up his blood-soaked muzzle to Hopeful.

“She's safe! Where we said we would meet up. We both got out of town, but I came back for you,” Hopeful explained, drawn by the mystery of where he got one of these unimaginably sharp knives. “Where did you get that thing?”

Midnight pointed the tip of the blade down toward the hall, and with a small amount of inspection Hopeful discovered a second unicorn body under the doorway, also very, very dead. “Told you I could take one.” He smiled, even though it clearly hurt him to. Leading Hopeful to be unsure how much of the blood on Midnight's body was his own.

“Thank you for coming back. That's some loyalty I wouldn't expect from an Earth Pony... I got the rations, so there isn't much point to stick around anymore. Let's get back to Auri.” Midnight said while whipping his new weapon down towards the floor, the blood being flung off of it's sleek face.

“Let's go out the back; the street is littered with them... The storm should give us enough cover to stop them from spotting us.” Hopeful peeked out of the window, still hearing screams run throughout the town.

“Okay, after you.”

Together, they went down the hall further into the building, finding a window at the back that they smashed and climbed out through. The blizzard was now in full effect, leading them to escape at barely a walking pace, but still managing to escape.

“Aurora?” Midnight called out, weaving through the trees with Hopeful quickly following behind.

“Nighty!”

The two of them met in a tight hug. Aurora immediately began to weep, a deep distress in her shaking body.

“Auri?” Midnight felt extremely taken back, worried for her as he tried to gently get her off of him, being denied as Aurora tightened her grip. She inhaled heavily through her nose, her wobbling throat finding it difficult to breath. “Auri, what's wrong?”

“I...” She took a really deep breath, letting him go and stepping back, wiping her eyes from the waterfall of tears that flooded them. “It's nothing...”

“Did you get the medicine?”

“No...” she responded sheepishly.

His confusion grew, “W-why not? What happened?” He turned to Hopeful, who stepped away, resigning from the conversation. He looked back to Aurora, who still failed to hold back her tears, extraordinarily worried about something.

“Midnight...” She sniffed. “I'm... I'm not sick...”

“Then what's wrong?” He moved up close to her.

She delicately raised her head, looking deep into his eyes, showing a conflict of extreme sadness, along with an inkling of joy in a smile more broken than shattered glass.

“Midnight... I'm...” She gulped.

“I'm pregnant.”

Shattered Glass

“You're pregnant?!?” Midnight felt a weight thrown onto him as he fell back from Aurora, “W-what..? H-how..?” His head darted around, looking to Hopeful, who was retreating away from between them, and back to his lover, as if he was going to find out what was happening by looking for the answer with his eyes.

“Nighty, I know... Just bear with me, please... I really need you right now...” She faintly tried to move after him, stretching out a hoof for him to grab hold of.

“You're kidding, right? You, you cannot be serious about this... Can you..? Are you?” He was desperately confused, nothing about what she was saying was making any sense.

“I'm telling the truth! I'm pregnant! I'm not lying, Nighty!” she explained with the utmost serious tone she could, trying to get him to believe her.

He seemed to, although, not in the way she had hoped. “Did you...” Something clicked in his head, anger pulsing threw him faster than lightning. “DID YOU CHEAT ON ME?!?” Although even through his violent shouting, obvious tears swelled beneath his eyes, feeling an intense pain, as if a knife was cutting deep into his back.

Aurora was hopelessly trying to reassure him, screaming back just to make sure he would listen. “MIDNIGHT, IT'S YOUR CHILD! I swear it's your child! I swear...” She trailed of into a desperate sob, trying to look for the brash, unfazeable warrior she loved.

He wasn't there.

“Aurora, I'M A PEGASUS! And I don't see a pair of flyers on you! So what the fuck do you want me to think?!? That for some magical fucking reason two completely different fucking species can have a child together?!?” He turned away from her, trying to think, massaging his forehead with his feathers.

“NIGHTY, PLEASE LISTEN! I don't know how, but I swear on my life I would never cheat on you! It has to be your child!” She hobbled after him, feeling a chilly breeze seem to pick up.

“THEN LET'S SAY IT IS! ALRIGHT?” He turned back to face her, enraged. “Then what kind of fucking monstrosity is it going to be? Have you thought about that? What if it has one wing and half a horn, huh? What if it can't walk or breathe properly?!? WHAT IF IT JUST DIES BECAUSE IT'S BORN WITHOUT A SUN-DAMNED HEART?!? WHAT THEN!?”

Aurora began weeping, covering her eyes with the length of her leg as she began uncontrollably bawling, her entire face in streaks of tears. “Y-y-y... y...”

“WHAT?” He snapped at her, the wind that began harassing him just made his temper worse.

“Y-you s-s... S-said we w-wouldn't f-ff-fight... L-like this...” She began shaking almost too much for her to stay standing.

“Yeah, WELL, I ALSO DIDN'T THINK YOU WOULD FUCK ANOTHER UNICORN BEHIND MY BACK!” He began yelling directly into her face, almost causing her physical pain with the sheer intensity of his voice.

“I-I t-t-ttold you...” She collapsed down into the snow, on her knees, shivering.

“Yeah, well, I don't believe it.” He turned his back to her, walking a few paces off before placing his forehead against a tree trunk, unable to process his own thoughts.

“Nighty...” she cried out from the dirt.

Instead, he turned to Hopeful, who watched it all unfold in horror. “Hopeful, we're leaving.”

Hopeful failed to speak, opening his mouth to a wordless stutter.

“Come on, we're leaving.” Midnight insisted.

“I... I can't leave her... She can't survive out here alone...” he whimpered out, seeing the pegasus grow in anger with each word.

“Fuck you!” He shouted at him fiercely, “I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED A FUCKING ANT OR A BLOODY WHITETAIL!” He slammed a hoof against the bark of the tree, breathing in the intensely cold wind, causing him to begin to shake.

Without saying another word, he glanced up into the sky, then back at his fallen lover, who was whimpering in the snow, shivering fiercely. He felt a painful remorse as he threw off Hopeful's jacket from himself, finally releasing his wings. He chucked the saddlebag of hay in their direction, as if some form of final gift, and lept upward, spreading his wings as wide as they would span, soaring upward and soon disappearing into the clouds, abandoning Hopeful and Aurora.

“He'll come back, Aurora.” Hopeful stood aside the weeping Unicorn, doing everything in his power to console her.

“H... How...” She sniffed, trying to wipe away the downpour of tears. “How do you... know that?” Her eyes were blisteringly red as they looked into Hopeful’s.

“He loved you. He really did. He wouldn't just leave like that... Not forever.” Hopeful sat down at her side, toughing out the cold for her.

“B-but... He's gone... Hopeful, he's gone! What do I do now..? I can't... I can't...” Aurora trailed off as her shivering overpowered her speech.

“We have to go, Aurora; it's getting too cold,” Hopeful requested as the steady drop in temperature continued.

“Go where? I... I can't go north anymore... Not without Midnight...” She folded into herself, whimpering. She was too devastated to move.

Hopeful attempted to lift her up, but she resisted his aid, leaving him stumped. “So you're just... giving up? After all this? What other option do you have, apart from the north? You can't just stay out here and freeze to death!”

“Why not?” She responded so calmly it was frightening, as if she had for the first time realized that as a possibility and didn't immediately reject it.

“Aurora! Come on, I'm not letting you die here!” He became more demanding.

“Hopeful, just go... I don't have any place anymore. I can't to go north without Midnight, and heaven knows I'm not wanted back in Maneich...” She sighed in her self pity, her situation slowly settling in.

“Maneich? Why not go back there?”

“Are you kidding…? Pregnant with a Pegasus' child? I'd be hanged.” She said it blatantly; it was simply a fact to her.

“Nopony would hang you for being pregnant! Come on, Aurora, you can return to your actual home, where this foal could actually live a life!”

Aurora simply stared at Hopeful. He had utter determination in his eyes. He would probably drag her to Maneich if he had to.

He placed his hooves onto her shoulders, forcing a tight and solemn meeting of their eyes. “Please, Aurora... My daughter died because of this war. I've killed someone else's daughter because of this war. I'm not letting a single other child die because of this fucking war.”

“Fine, Hopeful,” she said with great reluctance, still lost in her trance of lost love. “I'll go with you to Maneich, but not for myself or this baby... Because it's on the way north, and then I'll be able to ensure you get clear of this horrid place... You deserve to live more than I do...”

He reached out a hoof for her and she hooked her own around it, allowing herself to be lifted up. “Thank you.”

The next day, Aurora and Hopeful found themselves waking inside of a cave they had used as shelter. Everything felt a lot colder, now that there was only the two of them. Maybe it was the drop in numbers for body heat, but it felt like that wasn't the main factor in this chilly, almost sleepless night.

Aurora was completely disconnected from reality. During the night she would just fall into a fit of soft crying, eventually gathering herself up after a few minutes when it started to hurt her eyes too much.

Hopeful stretched his legs from inside of his sleeping bag, shuddering as he lifted his torso out to meet the coating of sunlight peering into the cave, the only light source they had now that their tiny excuse for a fire had died out.

“We should get going... Time isn't on our side.” Hopeful glanced over to the still-devoid-of-life Aurora lying with her back turned to him. He sighed, crawling the rest of his body out from beneath his sleeping bag and ever-so-slowly standing. “Take your time. I'll go check our maps. Make sure we're on a route that crosses the Unicorn border.”

He didn't see any immediate reaction. As far as he could tell, she was pretending to be asleep, or at the very least, her thoughts were too scrambled to answer him. Hopeful pulled out the map he had, seeing their already drawn out plan that took a straight shot north, trying to get right down the middle of Unicorn and Pegasian territory. He found a very old pen that took extra effort to click into action and began plotting out a very small detour to the Unicorn border, seeing a small valley at the northernmost point of the Unicorn nation. Not a single town, at least not one large enough to be noted, through it, meaning their chances of being caught were minimal.

“Hopeful...” Her tired raspy voice came past her dried tears.

“Yes, Auri?” He twisted his head around, trying to be as attentive as possible.

“If it's a boy... I want to name him Midnight,” she whispered, unable to forget his name.

This surprised Hopeful, an odd mix of pleasant memory and regretful reality. “That... That would be nice...” he said, trying to salvage whatever positivity he could. “What if it's... a girl?”

“I...” She sounded stumped. “I don't know...”

“Let's hope it's a boy, then,” he said, packing up his things, standing up, and equipping his bag.

He watched as she lifted herself up, sighing heavily. “Yes... Let's hope.”

“Aurora are you ok to start walking today? We can take the day off if you really need it.” Hopeful offered his hoof to help her out of her sleeping bag. She accepted, getting up to her hooves.

“No, it's fine... As you said,” she said, disjointed as she hobbled over to a hold herself against the cave wall. She grasped her stomach with her available hoof. “Time isn't on our side.”

“I know, but I didn't mean it like that. We're going to be traveling for a few months. A day off wont hurt if you really need it.”

She stood up trying to keep strong, bouncing off the wall to land on all fours and turn to him. “Hopeful, I'm perfectly capable of walking. And you need to get out of this country as quickly as possible.”

“Aurora, you can't ignore your own health for me. This is for you.” Hopeful grew worried; she was speaking as if all hope for her was lost.

“Escaping with Midnight was for me...” She dropped her head, packing up her sleeping bag.

Hopeful watched for a moment as this clearly broken mare got ready to leave. He let out a sigh and went to the exit of the cave, trudging through some snow that was building up. While waiting for Aurora, he took out his compass and map to find the path they would be taking.

He soon found it and heard Aurora begin trotting up behind him. He looked to the sky for the weather. It seemed fair. It wasn't snowing, and he couldn't see any windigos. Only a few spotty shadows coming from above the cloud sheet. And he thought he saw a small hole beneath one of the shadows, something peeking in through it.

“Wait...” It struck him. “Auri get back inside! There's Pegasi!” He stumbled back, running to Aurora, who was still waking up.

She wiped away at her eyes, trying to get any stale tears out as she realized they were in danger. “W-what?”

“Just get back into the cave and hide! I don't know if they saw us, so let's just hope they pass.” He lead her down into the deep tunnel digging into the small mountain. They reached a point where the main stream of light had not gotten to yet, and they hid down beside one of the protruding chucks of the wall.

They sat together, trying to reduce any and all noise, their light breathing gently finding its way into their ears, as only it remained.

Probably a minute passed before what Hopeful has been dreading happened. He heard a voice coming all the way from the entrance, creating a very clear echo. “They ran in here, Lieutenant!”

A new voice responded. “So it's all true, huh? Midnight ran away with some fucking Unicorn.”

Aurora's eyes jumped up and found themselves caught by Hopeful's. She couldn't help but let out a sharp gasp. Hopeful tried desperately signaling her to keep quiet as he unsheathed his knife in between his lips. With this Standard Earth Pony Military blade being his only remaining weapon, he prepared his attack.

The same voice continued, “Go get half of the fleet and bring them down here, and get the rest to bring Midnight back to HQ for his punishment. Also tell that fucking traitor we've found his...” he let out a light chuckle, “friend.”

“Yes sir!” The other one said, a swoosh of wings quickly following.

Hopeful attentively listened as the sound of a single step against cold stone bounce around the cave. “I know you're in there, Unicorn... We have Midnight. He's going to be executed for treason. But if you come out and play along, you might come out alive.”

He took another step.

“Or you can make this hard for my soldiers and make us have to drag your body out of this cave ourselves, and then I will not be able to be as kind.” He chuckled again. Soon, his speed increased, and his voice came closer to their hiding spot.

“Come on out. I'm not in the mood to play cat and mouse.” A very strong click echoed through the cave, and then immediately another one. He had just cocked his pistol. It worried Hopeful. This wasn't a fight he wanted to bring a knife to.

A short moment passed where the Pegasus didn't seem to advance. Aurora and Hopeful exchanged glances of fear. Neither of them was sure of what to do. “Alright, if that's how you want it.”

A shattering of stone complemented with an ear pounding bang met them as small shards of stone were blown off of the side of the wall they hid behind.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered to him, making sure the Pegasus wouldn't hear, and before Hopeful could stop her, Aurora launched herself up and out into the open, reaching up one of her legs in surrender. “DON'T SHOOT, PLEASE!” she pleaded to the gruffled, fully armored Pegasian Lieutenant with a loaded piece now aimed directly at her. Hopeful silently screamed on the inside, hating the fact she was trying to sacrifice herself for him.

He smiled a deeply unpleasant smile. “Ah, thank you for your compliance... Wait.” He inspected her more closely, trying to place a name. “You... You're...” He then laughed so hard his head slumped down, nearly reaching the floor. “YOU'RE THE FUCKING UNICORN PRINCESSES'S DAUGHTER!” The Lieutenant shook his head in joyous disbelief. “How happy will Commander Hurricane be when she hears we've brought back her traitor son and a fucking royal Unicorn?”

After internally patting himself on the back, he glanced up at her horn. “Now, I wouldn't try anything if I were in your position, ‘cause if I see a fucking speckle of glitter on that thing, you are getting a good few bullets in your skull. I don't care if you're the princess of wherever the fuck.”

“Where's Midnight?” she asked hastily.

“Don't worry, you'll be seeing him very soon... We have him very thoroughly tied up on a cloud up there. We found him for some reason watching this cave. He told us it was a manticore inside here, but I guess we found out he's a traitor and a liar, huh?”

“He was watching over me..?” Her eyes softened, and despite everything, she smiled.

Although her moment didn't last long as the Pegasus began laughing at her. “Aww... How adorable. You two get to be executed together.” He chuckled again as Aurora's joy faded. Soon after, a fleet of nearly a dozen Pegasi came down to the cave entrance, each of them geared from their toes to their ears.

The Pegasus Lieutenant was delighted as he heard his troops arrive, “Tie her up,” he commanded, and then two Pegasi came flying up beside Aurora, quick to get a steel cone onto her horn to prevent any magic. “Wait, don't... I'm-” She was smacked by one of the Pegasi as the other took out a rope and draped it around her back.

Although Hopeful was staying silent, it was once the two Pegasi draped a rope around her stomach and began to tighten it that he reacted. He yelled out, “STOP!” as he jumped out with his knife, slamming into the side of one of the Pegasi's helmets. He grabbed around the Pegasus and swiped his legs from beneath him, getting above him and grabbing their head into a lock, prepared to snap that ponies neck.

Every Pegasus in the cavern froze, listening to Hopeful. “SHE'S FUCKING PREGNANT! YOU CAN'T TIE THAT ROPE AROUND HER LIKE THAT!”

“Well well well...” The Lieutenant regained his cocky grin. “A second companion. How nice.”

“GET BACK, ALL OF YOU, OR I KILL HIM!” The Pegasus in his hooves tried to squirm out, failing to do under Hopeful's Earth Pony strength; he was ready to snap his neck with a hair trigger.

The Lieutenant was unamused and began slowly trotting forward as his Guards instinctively stepped away. Hopeful still didn't kill the Pegasus, despite his threats. The Lieutenant then calmly lifted up and placed the muzzle of his pistol to Aurora's forehead.

“Let go of my Pony,” he softly said in Hopeful's direction. Hopeful very reluctantly released this helpless Pegasus.

“Good.” He dropped the pistol and began walking away, not even sparing a glance as he gave out new orders to his Pegasi. “Tie them both up, and be careful with the princess.”

He glanced back with a vicious smile. “I think she might be pregnant.”

The next time Hopeful awoke after being knocked out by all of those Pegasi for struggling, he was in the middle of the air.

At first, he thought this might have been a dream, as he saw the ground be so far beneath him, but once he got a full bearing of his situation, it became evidently clear that this was in fact real life.

The reason he was not-so-majestically gliding upwards was that a rope was tightly fixed around his torso and two Pegasi with the other end were air-lifting him into the clouds. In his vicinity, he could see another elaborate pony carrying Aurora, although her restraints were tied around her legs and not her stomach. A dozen other Pegasus soldiers flew around them in formation, following the Lieutenant.

A mountain bursting through the cloud cover seemed to be their destination as the Pegasi carrying them were right on track for it and getting higher, nearly about to come up over the clouds.

Hopeful thought about struggling, but falling from this height would no doubt kill him instantly, snow or not.

“HEY!” he shouted up to the Pegasi carrying him. “WHERE ARE YOU TAKING US?!”

“Doesn't concern you, ant!” one of them yelled back as they breached the horizon of clouds. Hopeful got a face-full of freezing snow blasted into him as he was yanked through.

Before he could even get his eyes clear, he felt his weight set loose as gravity took a hold of him, inciting a slight panic that was very quickly eliminated once he slammed face first onto a very hard metal floor, hearing another body collapse beside him.

“Good work, everypony. Lock those two up, I have a date with Midnight Eclipse and the guillotine,” the lieutenant said as Hopeful wiped away at his eyes.

He found himself inside of a metal cart, along with an unconscious Aurora and all of their supplies nicely tied up, in what seemed to be a very new Pegasian Military base. Only a few buildings of any respectable size, and a singular Thunder Cannon, stuck out to him. A great armory and barracks built up from large, steel pillars stood tall beside each other, and a slightly smaller building stood directly beside the Cannon, which Hopeful could only assume held the devastatingly explosive Lightning shells. The Cannon, which stood barely taller than the other buildings, was a humongous pillar which was fitted with a mechanism to punch through the cloud it sat upon and fire one of it's bombs at great speed, the blast of which could wipe out most of a town in one strike.

Hopeful was thrown to his side as a Pegasus began tugging at the cart. Hopeful attempted to squirm out of the restrains, but not even his Earth Pony strength was enough to get out of them. He then looked to Aurora, nudging her to try and wake her up, but to no avail.

“Stop moving back there!” the Pegasus hauling them demanded.

“Fuck you!” Hopeful exclaimed back, not exactly pleasing them.

Hopeful was very quickly gagged and had a bag thrown over his head, although this didn't stop him from continuously trying to escape over the short period it took for the Pegasus to drag him and Auri down underneath the barracks.

“We’re here,” the Pegasus announced before he had his sight harshly returned by the bag being yanked right off of him.

He was in a tightly packed corridor, walls made up of smooth steel, with giant doors periodically dispersed down the length of the hall. He screamed through his gag as he watched the unaware Aurora be lifted up by two Pegasi, while a third unlocked one of the doors. Aurora was gently placed down onto the floor inside of this cramped cell with nothing more to show than a foul looking wooden bucket. Another Pegasus grabbed all of the bags out of the cart and hauled them back up the hallway and half-haphazardly chucked them into a large locker that he then promptly shut and locked by key.

Hopeful swayed his head back and forth, hoping that there would be anything that could help him and Auri escape. And to his surprise, he found that at the very end of the hallway there was a section of cloud, instead of wall, and Hopeful knew that he could move through clouds.

“What’re you lookin' at?” The pony who had been carrying him barked at Hopeful, quickly coming to a conclusion. “You want to get out of here, Ant? Here, let me help.” He went to the back of the cart and flung it upward, knocking Hopeful out onto the floor, rope around his hooves preventing him from standing up. Though, that wasn't much of a problem, as the Pegasus came and hoisted Hopeful up, dragging him toward the end of the hall. Once they had gotten to the seemingly dead end, Hopeful saw that the hallway did, in fact, lead to something: a giant hole, the width of the floor. The Pegasus, grabbing Hopeful loosely by the ropes, shoved Hopeful forward, causing him to stumble all the way to the edge and tilt forward as if he was going to fall.

He was forced to look down, and after doing so, gave a series of fearful muffled screams, trying to edge his way away from the execution pit, which lead directly down onto a very steep edge of the mountain, large jagged stones waiting to catch him after a six thousand meter drop.

“Go on, Ant, escape! All you gotta do is tell me to let go!” He laughed, enjoying himself greatly.

Hopeful shook his head to signal ''no'' as hard as he could. The Pegasus eventually put an end to his suffering and dragged him back. “I thought so,” they said, continuing to mock him.

Hopeful was swiftly taken into his own cell, right by Aurora's, having his restraints and gag removed just before.

He went to pound at the door, but it wouldn't budge. He screamed, but all of the Pegasi had left, leaving him to himself as he stared out of the small set of bars at the very top of the door, substituting a window.

Eventually, he gave up, sat down and just waited. It was the only thing he could do at this point.

Time moved on, which Hopeful could only tell because of the light ever so slowly dimming as he sat there, trying to think, but failing to have any grounded thoughts.

Eventually, after what he guessed were hours, he could hear a few ponies trot down the corridor, leading him to hop up and press his muzzle against the bars.

Although, while he was expecting to see another soldier that he wanted to just beat to death, he was put off of his thought process once he saw Midnight. Slowly trotting down with two guards on either side of him, tied up just like Aurora and Hopeful were, now without any of his armour to protect him. But what really shook Hopeful was when he noticed that on his side, where his great wings once would rest, feathers tucked in tightly, prepared for action at any second, he saw nothing but a stump. His wings were cut off the their base, leaving behind only a prideless stallion.

“Midnight!” Hopeful yelled out, getting his friend's attention.

It looked like Midnight was about to burst into tears, and like he already had, as he looked into Hopeful's eyes. The downed champion only achieved a simple “I'm sorry...” before being pushed along, thrown into the cell beside Hopeful by the Lieutenant, who found bliss in every second, mocking Midnight for the thrill of talking down to who was once his great superior. “Have a good sleep, Midnight. You better enjoy it; it's gonna be your last one.”

Hopeful heard the door to his left slam shut, and the Lieutenant, along with a few of his guards, trotted by Hopeful's cell. The lieutenant gave a big ol' grin in his direction.

“Goodnight, Ant.”

The Sun Will Rise

“I... I think they're gone...” A faint whisper came from Midnight's cell, delivered with such low self esteem, if it wasn't for Hopeful seeing him earlier, he might have mistaken the speaker for any pony aside from Midnight.

“What happened to you, Midnight? How did any of this happen?” Hopeful asked back, their voices traveling through the corridor.

“I...” He sighed deeply, sorrow and trembling regret in his voice. “I couldn't leave Auri... I just... I couldn't... I saw you two go into that cave and I was in the clouds... I wanted to go back and apologize... But, I just... I couldn't... And... Some Pegasi spotted me and a whole load of them came at me and tied me up...” He took a short break for a breath, his voice croaking, still in disbelief. “My mother has branded me a traitor... She's ordered for me to be executed in the cruelest method possible...” He was breaking down, voice cracking and breath becoming uncontrollably irregular. “They cut off my wings, Hopeful! Tomorrow they're going to throw me off a cloud and I'm going to fall... And I'm going to... Die...”

“Midnight...” He trailed off, not knowing how to respond to that.

“Where's Auri, Hopeful? They told me they have her. They said they were going to kill her too. Please just tell me she got away,” he said with a slight panic.

“She's here too... I'm sorry, I tried...”

“AURI?!” he yelled out, hoping to hear her voice.

“She's out cold... I've been trying to wake her up for the past few hours. She's in the cell next to mine,” he said begrudgingly.

“Auri..?” he tried again fruitlessly.

A brief moment of depressed acceptance was shared as he realized he might run out of time before he could speak with his lover again.

“I'm so sorry, Hopeful... And if I don't get to speak with Auri again, can you just make sure you tell her that I'm sorry for everything I said...? Tell her I love her. And I do want to have this baby...”

Midnight began weeping, leaving Hopeful speechless for a long time apart from a simple; “I promise.”

After he had cried his last tear, and a solemn silence had passed, he remembered something important. “Hopeful..?”

“Yes, Midnight?” he responded, unnerved.

“You know that bag I left you..?” He made sure to whisper, as if he didn't want any other pony apart from Hopeful to hear.

“Yeah...”

“I left Aurora's ring in there... Can you...” He gulped. “Can you give it to her? And tell her that I wanted to marry her?”

“I...” Hopeful wanted with all of his heart to agree, but he didn't have his bags, and it's not like he would be allowed out of his cell to do so. “I don't know how I would... Midnight, they have all of our stuff, and... I'm fairly certain I'm being killed tomorrow as well.”

“Don't worry about that.” Midnight said with a convection hat made Hopeful's ears perk up, even if it was a just a speck of the real Midnight, there was something there. “Hopeful, I'm going to get you and Auri out of here by the morning of my execution. Trust me.”

“But... But that's in a few hours at most... What if Aurora doesn't wake up by then?”

“Everypony, no matter how tired or sick, in the next ten miles will wake up for this. I'm sure she will too... And even then, clouds are known to float down when they're too small to sustain themselves in the air.” He had stopped crying completely. An aggressive vengeance was found in him instead. He was undeniably sure of everything he had just said.

“Midnight... What are you-” Hopeful wasn't fast enough to finish before Midnight answered him.

“If I'm going to fall helplessly to the dirt to my death, I'm going to make this entire fucking place goes down with me.”

“It's morning time, ladies!” The grizzled voice of the lieutenant came barreling down the corridor of cells. The trotting of several ponies made the air ring with echoes of hooves clip-cloping against steel. “You awake yet, Princess?” Hopeful could hear them beside his cell, trying to antagonize Aurora. He grunted in disappointment. “Century, go wake her up. I want her to be conscious for her coltfriend's party.”

A shadow overcame Hopeful's peeping window a split second before he saw the lieutenant's smug face appear. “Good morning. I can see you're all exited to get your turn, but I sadly have to inform you we haven't gotten clearance to have you killed yet, so you'll have to wait for tomorrow.” He nodded at Hopeful, who returned an unimpressed frown at the sick bastard he was.

They then moved on. “And here we have the star of the main event.”

“FUCK YOU!” Midnight yelled back through his bars.

“Hmm... You know, I normally enjoy listening to non-subordinates plea for their lives before they get chucked off, but you're just too fucking mouthy, you know that?” He turned to one the soldiers that accompanied him. “Gag him.”

Hopeful then listened in horror as many noises came from Midnight's cell as he struggled against the metal, being restrained and beaten for a few minutes before his body being dragged up to a standing in front of the lieutenant. “Aw, come on, what's with the long face?” He chuckled at his own joke, followed by a forced on laugh from his ponies and a muffled protest from Midnight.

“Come on, you have an audience to attend too,” he said, beginning to walk back up the corridor. The wingless Midnight, tied at the stomach by a rope, was helplessly dragged behind him. The door of his cell shut with a powerful bang and clang as it was locked by key.

Although, while Midnight stopped pushing back for the moment, once he had gotten to see Hopeful peering in from behind his bars, a new surge of strength left Midnight knocking the soldier to his left directly into the wall, a slight crunch as the ponies body was forced against the structure. Then he swung at pony to his left, pressing him against Hopeful's cell.

And with a skill that left Hopeful speechless. He watched as, unbeknownst to the soldier Midnight was currently bashing in the stomach with one hoof and holding their head against the cell door with the other, Midnight unhooked the keys from the soldiers chest with his mouth and allowed the far lower-skilled Pegasus he was in conflict with to reverse Midnight's move to press Midnight against Hopeful's cell door, his mouth painfully shoved against the bars as he spat out the keys to Hopeful milliseconds before he was thrown to the ground and ganged up on by four Pegasi who mercilessly kicked him down further into the unloving floor.

Through all of the chaos, and with the speed that it had happened, barely slower than a blink of an eye, none of the Pegasi seemed to notice what truly occurred.

“Midnight, Midnight, Midnight... I've got to wing it to ya, you are one hell of a fucking fighter, right to the end. I can't help but respect that,” he said, softly trotting up to the fallen stallion, swaying his now semi-injured centuries off of him. Then, lifting up his right hind leg, he continued. “Mainly because it makes this whole thing much more enjoyable,” he got out before slamming his leg right down onto Midnight's throat and holding it there.

Midnight wheezed and his head spasmed for a slight second. The incredible pain he felt poured out of his eyes in the form of tears. He tried to scream and breathe, but the thick cloth stuck in between his jaw prevented both. The acidic distaste of vomit pushed to surge out of him, barely held back by sheer force of will.

The lieutenant let go. “Come on, get him up.” He trotted on, Midnight was forced onto his hooves once again, giving one last glance to Hopeful, a smile appearing on his face as he was still recovering, followed by the cockiest wink Hopeful had ever seen.

Hopeful saluted back with a strange smile of his own as Midnight was pushed along and out of his sight, holding a ring of keys in hoof.

“Get off of me!” Aurora's voice came from her cell, quickly followed by some Pegasus'.

“The Unicorn's awake!”

Midnight screamed as hard as he could through his gag, a gargled and unintelligible rendition of “Aurora” resulting from it.

But she knew. “Midnight!?!” Hopeful heard a few thumps against metal, as if the Pegasus that awoke Aurora had just shut the door while she had just jumped to it to try and get out after them, failing miserably.

Midnight tried to call out to her, screaming, ''I love you,'' and ''I'm sorry,'' just barely understandable as he was helplessly dragged away, the steel floor creating an ear-piercingly painful screech as he scraped against it, fighting back.

“NO! MIDNIGHT! LET HIM GO!” She screamed to him out of pure desperation. “I LOVE YOU TOO, NIGHTY! I LOVE YOU TOO!” she got out before the cell blocks door shut, the two separated for the most painful and final time.

She fell into uncontrollable sobbing.

Hopeful was shocked once she yelled out, presumably aimed at him, “WHERE ARE THEY TAKING MIDNIGHT?!? WHERE!? Why didn't he have wings..?” She sounded like that had just dawned upon her.

Hopeful knew that if he explained too much, she wouldn't be able to help in their escape. “Aurora, Midnight has a plan to get us out of this! You just have to listen to me, ok?”

“O-ok...” she replied with great uncertainty.

“Theses cells are locked from the outside and I have the keys. I need you to use your magic to unlock both of our doors.” He jangled the keys for Aurora to hear.

“I can't! My horn... It's got this thing on it... I can't cast anything.”

“Can you take it off?”

“I... I don't know...”

“You need to try. How is it locked on?”

“It's really tightly fitted on... Let me try something...” Aurora placed her horn through the bars of her door, barely enough to accommodate it. She then pressed the bottom lip of the steel cone around her horn against a bar and pulled away with all of her strength, a sizzle becoming audible as she attempted to pour out all of her magic against the apparatus. “I... Nearly...”

A snap and a clink of the restraint snapping off and finally a thud as she collapsed back onto the floor.

“Auri?” Hopeful called out for her in concern.

“I’m fine... I got it off.” She slowly made it back to the door. “Throw the keys over so I can see them.”

Hopeful did so, chucking the set of keys to the right of his cell, delighted when he saw them bounce for a moment in the air as a glowing shimmer surrounded them, proceeding to gently float to her door.

Soon. the clunky door creaked open and Aurora stumbled out, sliding the door closed behind her and quickly attending to Hopeful. His door cracked open, and then with a hardy push, it let up and move out of Hopeful's way, the two of them meeting eyes.

“We need to get our things.” Hopeful focused on the plan, being stopped by Aurora.

“We need to save Midnight,” she prioritized.

Hopeful put a hoof atop her shoulder, trying to ground her thoughts. “Midnight told me that we'll have a few minutes before he gets started and we need to be ready to leave for then. You have to trust me.”

“Alright, but tell me that he's going to be ok, right? He'll escape with us?” She held onto him, looking for a glimmer of hope.

“Just trust me,” he repeated, moving past her and leaving her in a fearful haze to go down the corridor to find the locker space that held all of their gear.

“Pass me those keys,” he asked of her, receiving them from the worry-ridden Unicorn.

He went through them one by one until the lock denying Hopeful access had been thwarted. He hoisted the bundle of their items out of the locker and set it between himself and Aurora, “Here, pack up; we don't have much time.”

“Hopeful, can you tell me what Midnight is going to do? Please?” she asked while floating up her bags and coat, strapping them to herself.

Hopeful felt terrible for trying to keep Aurora in the dark, allowing himself to tell her at least part of what she wanted to know. “He's going to blow this whole place out of the air... All he needs is to set off one Lightning shell.”

“But... How is he going to do that without blowing himself up?” She was even more concerned than before.

Hopeful swayed his head away to keep away from Aurora's painfully passionate and miserable eyes.

“H-Hopeful?” She continued to not get an answer, although that quickly became irrelevant as she came to a conclusion of her own. “N-no! NO!” Aurora stepped to the side to run past Hopeful and up the staircase leading to the cloud surface. She was caught by Hopeful in a grapple as he planted his hind legs to hold her back. She wailfully pushed against him, hollering and crying, “NO, YOU CAN'T! HE CAN'T DO THAT! HOPEFUL, LET ME GO! HE CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS!”

“Aurora, there's no p-” He was interrupted as a powerful quake launched both of them onto the ground, a cackling blast ringing through the air, deafeningly loud. Then, immediately followed by an explosion frightfully larger as a chain reaction of explosives parted the clouds and then, with ease, the heavens themselves as the sounds of collapsing infrastructure above them rained through the sky.

Aurora grabbed onto Hopeful with a desperate fear, emitting a protection bubble spell around the two of them. They both felt themselves lift off the ground for a few seconds as gravity itself seemed to give way to the size of the blast. Then the flooring hit them, which quickly turned into the wall as the entire complex titled to its side. The cloud it sat upon dropped to down to the dirt below it, gently, relative to the speed they'd be going at without the cloud, but still enough to feel like their backs were breaking as they felt the prison slam into the side of the mountain, even with Aurora's masterful magic dampening their fall, a fall which could have otherwise easily killed them if not leaving them brutally and unfixably injured.

The ground fell away from beneath them as the prison aligned with the steep mountain edge, the building falling much faster. The two of them were luckily held partly afloat by Aurora. It was perhaps a few minutes before they felt the blisteringly cold kiss of a snow blanket against their backs as they landed, along with the rest of the rumble, at the hoof of the mountain. Aurora fell into a violent fit of gasps for air as she let go of her concentration of the protection spell.

It was only then that Hopeful gained the bravery to reopen his eyes, looking directly upward to where the entire cataclysm had occurred, seeing hundreds of streaking bolts of thunder creating a spherical shape, the residue sat in the sky like smoke from a gunshot as the debris continued to shower around them, the hundreds of tons of steel being knocked out of the sky to lightly sprinkle the earth, splashes of blood and flesh scattered in between the ruins of this once powerful military base.

“What... The fuck...” Hopeful breathed, still shuddering from the size of the explosion. Midnight said he'd only set one off. Something must have happened.

“Nighty...” Hopeful heard the tender purr of Aurora feebly calling out her lover’s finally honoured name.

Hopeful searched yet another broken pile of melded flesh and bone, happily surprised when he finally found an intact weapon he was trained in, sliding a pistol out from beneath this mound of dead meat, wiping the gooey viscera off the weapon, checking for bullets and priming it once he had seen its full magazine. He slid it into the neck of his jacket, easy access for his mouth for when he would need it.

It had been a good while since everything had settled down, nearing the edge of an hour. As far as Hopeful could tell, nearly every single Pegasus had been killed by the blast. The ones that didn't flew far, far away as fast as they could. The sphere of lighting stuck like a scar in the air, a faint cackling still coming from the source.

“Aurora..?” He trotted through the maze of these colossal fallen buildings, trying to find the place where Aurora had wandered off to. He found her at the edges of the rubble, leaning over something in tears. He trotted up to her side, seeing the corpse she has been weeping over. Unlike the others this body seemed to be far more devastated by the explosion to a point where it was impossible to tell which end was their head or flank. The body also seemed to not have been wearing any armour at their time of death, and neither was there a feather to be seen anywhere around. Aurora could only assume it was Midnight.

“I'm sorry.” Hopeful sat down beside her, seeing she was lost in a trance staring down onto this body.

“He stayed, Hopeful... You were right... He still loved me.” She let the words murmur from her faintly parted lips.

“Aurora, last night Midnight asked me to give you something.” He twisted around his shoulder, letting one of his bags fall onto his lap, rummaging around through it as Aurora softly turned her damp eyes to him.

Then, holding it in between the tips of his two hooves, he lifted out a small golden ring with a embedded crystallized stone on its tip, a gorgeous diamond. Aurora's eyes lit up like a sunrise at the sight of this beautiful gift.

“This is the ring he wanted to propose to you with...” Hopeful said carefully, trying to be as sensitive as he could as he felt the ring release itself from his grasp and float over to Aurora for further inspection. She lifted her hoof to cover her open-in-shock muzzle, her breath quickening and eyes swelling.

“T-thank you...” Her voice was shaky while replying to Hopeful, turning to the disfigured body of the fallen warrior, “Thank you.” She repeated to it as she floated the ring around her horn, pressing it down until it had reached the base of her forehead, the magic in her horn glowing like a shining beacon of hope surrounded by the arid frozen, death showered wasteland.

Hopeful equipped his bag, standing up. “I'll give you a minute. Just call for me when you’re ready to leave.” He backed off, leaving Aurora to her moment.

He went to see if anything else was worth scavenging, looking up and down at crumpled, fiery wreckage. Not exactly anything too interesting to keep his thoughts on while he waited for quite a long time, but once had though, his boredom was becoming an annoyance. He found his interest piquing from a collection of voices coming from far off.

Hopeful drew his new pistol and sprinted over to the outer rim of the ruins, making sure to keep to cover as he peeked out, seeing a small group of three Earth Pony Soldiers marching up to the wreckage, seemingly amazed by it all, especially the large thunderball standing in as a huge section of cloud. They all kept their awareness, along with their rifles, high.

“Hello! Earth Pony here!” Hopeful revealed himself, slotting his pistol back inside of his jacket and waving a hoof over to them.

After the initial jump Hopeful gave them, they ran over to him with enthusiasm. “Are you alright? What happened here?” She ran up right up to Hopeful and inspected him. “Are you a soldier?”

Hopeful didn't answer, having his own questions. “What are you all doing here?”

“There was a fucking explosion the size of the capital. What do you think?” one stallion following behind the leading mare blurted out.

“Yodel, please.” The mare rained her soldier in before returning to Hopeful, “We're investigating whatever the hell is going on over here, we were just on a patrol and heard the explosion. Now can you tell me what your doing here?” She persisted on Hopeful.

“Same as you, I've been looking through the place and it's all just dead Pegasi and rubble. And no, I'm not a soldier.” He said, trying to dismay them from going through and searching the place as he did.

“If your a traveler you can come back with us, but first.” She twisted around to her group, “Yodel go right and Switch go left, I want a full round and meet me back here, I'll keep watch and guard of...” Her eyes darted to Hopeful, “Name?”

“Hopeful... Hopeful Twist.” He responded.

She dully shook her head, “Right... Keep guard of Hopeful here.”

“Yes Mam!” They saluted and move to their ordered directions, their respect obviously high for their captain as they moved on without a hint of a rebuttal.

“So, sir, if you’re not soldier, what are you doing investigating a fallen Pegasian base?” She trotted a few steps into the place, her rifle stuck to her chest, keeping her keen eye on Hopeful.

He, for obvious reasons, didn't exactly want to tell her. “I... I was just scavenging.”

“What? Cloud dust?” She looked into him, seeing his worry as he tried to move after one of her troops. “You hiding somethin'?”

“What would I be hiding?” Hopeful insisted.

She eyed Hopeful down. Something was off to her. “I dunno, just seems kind of weird that an Earth Pony who claims not to be a soldier, yet wears a soldier's jacket is the only living creature is hanging around a newly blown-out-of-the-air Pegasus base. Something just doesn't add up, what kind of Earth Pony are you?” She was becoming really quite skeptical.

Hopeful was not granted any time to make up something as the soldier he was trying to keep a track of had shouted back to their captain before he could. “Captain, there's a Unicorn here!”

“What? You, stay here!” She jumped up with a ready rifle pocketed in her leg and went to sprint past Hopeful.

Then, like a strike of lightning, Hopeful jumped the captain from her side, rolling down into the snow as he wrapped around her neck and thrown against the rotation of her body, a painfully quick crumple of her neck left her motionless. Hopeful quickly stumbled up, hoisting up her rifle strap and preparing the weapon, sprinting off in the direction she was originally planning on going.

He ran up onto a scene with a emotionally distraught but still fearsome Aurora, defending herself with her magical bubble was being held at gunpoint by a nervous stallion, awaiting the arrival of his captain, getting nothing but a gunshot from Hopeful. The Earth Pony fell quite ruthlessly at Hopeful's hoof.

“CAPTAIN?!?” The last soldier cried out after hearing the gunshot, sprinting over, only adding to another Earth Pony to those taken down by Hopeful's great aim, his loyalties clear.

Aurora finally dropped her bubble, seeing Hopeful come over.

“Are you alright?” He put a hoof onto her to check for himself as she nodded. “Well, we should go... Are you ready?”

“Yes... And, thank you for shooting that pony...” Aurora tried to smile, feeling blessed for having had Midnight and at least still having Hopeful.

He gave a resigned smile. “Please don't thank me for killing a pony.”

Aurora, without words, walked right up and hugged Hopeful, shutting her no longer weeping eyes and letting her smile overtake her. The moment lasted as long as they wanted, ending once Aurora had repeated her “Thank you.”

They returned to the road, their journey to be much the same as they thought, with the exception of one pony less to keep them company as they continued north, hoping that pheraphs the sun might rise once again.

A Twisting Path

“And in the end, we never actually found out what that thing living in Missus Gable's back yard was, but it didn't really bother us cause it was just funner to mess with little colts and make them believe she was raising a baby manticore. Freaked the ever living shit out of the Bales’ kid when we showed him some kind of fabric and said it was part of the manticore's skin that it shed,” Hopeful recollected as he marched, happily reciting his story to a cheery and attentive Aurora.

“Earth Ponies will never fail to amaze me with their stupidity.” She laughed. She sounded happy. She even looked the part as her and Hopeful trotted through a large and winding valley, her belly beginning to show an outward curve as her pregnancy continued with relative health. They'd been taking their time over the past few months, making sure they prioritized being warm and fed above lowering travel time.

The Shadow Service seemed to have also lost them. Assuming they were not anticipating Aurora traveling back into the Unicorn nation, as she had been running away from it for so long, they were probably just terrorizing towns of Earth Ponies down south, which was a relief to Hopeful and Auri, giving them the necessary comfort of slower travel.

Funnily enough, even now Hopeful had not ran out of stories to tell. He wasn't even done with his pre-adolescent stories. He managed to make the most bland of scenarios memorable and fascinating. It was practically magic. “Stupidity? We had every colt and filly within a mile believing us in a week. I'm proud of such efficiency. We even got to see as the Foresters’ boy charge in there like a fucking war pony, thinking he was gonna slay the monster or something, followed by two minutes of pure silence before he came running out screaming and hollering, now missing the branch he was using as a makeshift sword.”

“Didn't you say he was the one that wanted to be the wizard?” she tried to confirm, having already too much to process.

“Nah nah nah, that was the Trotters’ kid. Hilly Trotter was his name, I'm pretty sure. He was the one that wanted to grow up to be a unicorn, and I don't think his parents ever told him that's not how it works. He used to dress up with a kitchen towel and say it's his wizard robe at school, and I know it sounds shitty, but it was sooo fun to bully him.”

“Aw...” Aurora over-dramatically pouted.

“What? It's not like we stole his lunch or anything; worst thing we did was call him 'jizzard', which was comedy gold to a twelve year old, by the way,” Hopeful defended his standpoint.

“It's not that. It's just that I never got to bully anypony at school.” She giggled at his misunderstanding.

“Weren't you in a private school?”

“Yes, I was. That's why I never got to make fun of anypony. The only other ponies I even regularly got to see were my mother, my father, and the three or four colts and a filly that attended Starswirl's classes as well. And I was told ever since I was just a foal that I'm going to marry one of those colts, which I wasn't very happy about, but still had no choice in the matter. They weren't even strong or attractive. I mean, I'm fairly certain they would rather have sex with a novel than a real pony, they were such nerds, and the only other filly was called Clover the Clever, and she was my best friend, so it's not like I could have made fun of her...” She realized that her head had wandered off into the sky, bouncing her eyes back down to meet Hopeful's wide smile. “Our youths were vastly different; that's just how it is, I guess. But do continue. You were in the middle of telling me about a pretend manticore?”

He laughed. “Well, you're right about it being a pretend manticore, but what if I told you it wasn't pretend for long?”

“What?” She jolted her head back.

“It started when Missus Sunnyside's cat went missing, but the thing is she was blind, so she didn't find that out for a good while...”

Their journey, while it could drive any pair of ponies insane with its length, seemed to have brought them together, making the moment they realized it would soon be coming to a close ever more so solemn. It was perhaps a day of being surrounded by the mountainous valley walls that they trotted, the two of them silently knowing that they would reach the unicorn border was within the day’s walk, almost denying it as it came closer. Time was the last thing they had to share, and soon even it would turn its heel on them.

“Is that a town up ahead?” Hopeful asked a few hours later, seeing a large collage of rotting wooden buildings torn to the ground peeking over the bumpy horizon.

“Yes... It looks like it...” Aurora became quite aware at that moment, looking at the shapes molding the mountains. It was something quite odd, a memory sparking. “I think I know where we are.”

“You do? Is this Unicorn territory?” Hopeful asked with a certain amount of disdain.

“Not exactly... This was the first Earth Pony town I passed... I need to go see someone.” She quickened her pace, forcing Hopeful to lag behind for a short moment as they dashed forward. The two of them came into the town feeling instantly depressed, seeing the town lined with Earth Pony Bodies, the buildings bashed and damaged from an attack. The Shadow Service had done their dirty work.

“Oh...” Aurora stopped in her tracks, dropping her shoulders in a bitter disappointment. “I warned her...”

“Warned who?” Hopeful blurted out after catching up, taking a breath immediately after.

“A girl. She was a Unicorn. She lived here. She believed she was an Earth Pony...” Her voice trailed off to a whisper, regretful.

“Oh, I'm sorry. What happened?” Hopeful tread carefully. He could feel her tense up; something painful was on her mind.

“I think we should find out,” she stated with a soft determination, and an inkling of hope that the Unicorn had chosen to live as such.

“Lead the way.” Hopeful nodded to her, giving her the prompt to find her way up the town until she could see the farm that she slowly came to remember. Sadly, the farm had died and rotted long ago, not a single strand of wheat in sight.

“I met her here on the farm... Perhaps she's hiding in one of the homes?” Scanning the area, she saw the farmhouse, moving toward it as her first logical assumption.

She nudged the door and it creaked open it's entire length, the doorframe being only having a very loose hold on it against the wind's daily barrage.

Aurora drew a sharp gasp, her heart spiking to the top of her chest as something gravely sickening struck her sight. A heartbeat passed before she trotted through the doorway, hoof frimley covering her muzzle, now allowing Hopeful to enter and also witness the rotting dark-blue coated mare body on the floor, most of her flesh beginning to shrivel up, the only thing keeping it on being the blistering cold. They lay in an unnatural position, as if somepony had stripped the body of clothing, most likely after they died of a stab wound in the head and neck. Although, the most striking feature was definitely the long horn jutting right out of her head.

Aurora collapsed in front of the body, placing a remorseful hoof on its shoulder. “I'm so sorry...” she whispered to the deceased mare. Hopeful stood behind her like a guardian, sympathetic with Aurora's pain.

“She was a lovely girl... Her name was Lunar. She was a powerful sorcerer...” Aurora recollected, sighing she rose up to her hooves, swaying a head to Hopeful. “I... I tried to warn her... That she shouldn't fight back, that she should embrace her heritage...” She gave one last pitiful look to the dead unicorn. “I guess she didn't listen.”

For a few moments, she stood there in sorrow and contemplation. She really hoped that Lunar would live...

Hopeful eventually broke the silence to give his regards. “That really sucks... Do you want a minute alone?”

“No, I'm ok. I just... I dunno.” She sighed once more, feeling greatly responsible for this. Aurora then spoke her final words to Lunar under her breath, turning slowly to face the door and Hopeful, who soon escorted her out into the open air. Hopeful made sure to firmly shut the door behind them.

“Are you alright? If you want a break, that's fi-” Hopeful was in the middle of politely offering a break from walking before he realized she wasn't listening, engrossed in some thought, which she then brought to words.

“Why would they kill her? She was a Unicorn... Why would they kill one of their own? Even if she was protecting some Earth Ponies...”

“I dunno. She might have fought back,” Hopeful offered, the explanation not satisfying Aurora.

“So? She was just a child, Hopeful. What kind of cruel monster would kill a child?”

Hopeful averted his eyes, that sentence felt like a blade to him. “I dunno,” he muttered.

“Hopeful... Why am I going back?”

The question seemed odd and out of context to Hopeful. “What do you mean?” His eyes darted up.

“Why am I going back to Germaney? Why would I want to be part of the Unicorns again?” She asked him very directly, actually wanting an answer.

“You have to raise a child Aurora. That's the safest place for you and them,” he said with prominence. This had been the plan for months. It wouldn't be changing now.

“Hopeful, I don't want to grow up to be a fucking princess,” she bluntly laid out, shaking her head gently with her disapproval, her eyes somewhat watery.

Hopeful was stunned, he never heard her speak so directly to him, let alone with such language. “I... uh...”

“Can't we both go north, Hopeful? I could raise my foal there, far from the snow and blizzards and war... And you can be like a godfather to them. Wouldn't that be nicer?” She put out her hoof to hold him, her plea coming from a sincere place in her heart.

It did sound nicer. “Yeah... Sure... We could do that.” Hopeful held her back, soon feeling her lightly pull on him, leading him into a warm hug.

“Thank you,” she whispered, pulling away after some time and placing her motherly hoof onto her underbelly. “And hey, you know how I've been trying to think of a name if it's a girl?”

“Yeah?”

Aurora twisted her head to the homestead behind them. “If it's a filly, I want to name her Luna... I feel like she deserves a second chance.”

He gave a resigned grin and a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Everypony does.”

“Shush, you,” she smiled. He was being sweet again.

“So... I guess if we're both going north, then we should get started. It's another month, you know?”

“Yes, I know. That just gives us more time to talk. More time to hear your stories.” She giggled, begging to retrace her steps. Hopeful hopped after her until he could match her pace.

“Well, that sure is true. Don't know how much more I have in me, though.” He chuckled, a slight genuine worry hidden behind it.

“Don't worry. If you run out, I'll tell you one of mine.”

Weaved between the bumpy hills bridging the Unicorn and Pegasian factions’ land was a hidden path made of burning flowers. Lines of sun roses marked each tear dropped by the Zeberian maidens as they were forced out of their homes, returning to their native land of Moonstone with grief as child after child died due the harsh journey, given no help from the Pony tribes that drove them out, deciding that the land was theirs and they would not share it with Zebras.

The only marker they left were these small flowers that grew from their tears, setting themselves on fire once they had come to full bloom, burning for as long as they stood. And since nopony had trotten this path ever, they had been there for years.

Hopeful and Aurora found them delightful as well as helpful, the best route already mapped out for them, and it included free heat for their troubles. For them, it was a blessed gift.

It had been another month. Everything from the weather to the war seemed to work in their favour. They hadn't even heard evidence of a distant battle in weeks, and with every step, they got further away from the meaningless fighting.

Aurora's pregnancy had continually grown, feeling pains nearly every day. With this pace, they would be lucky if they had a few weeks of resting in the north before the baby came. As the Moonstone forest was pretty large in itself, crossing it would be the final hurdle, a hurdle that they would be coming up to shortly. As they passed through creek and hill, the snow became shorter as the clouds grew thinner, seemingly justifying their theory of a winter-less wonderland beyond.

Another interesting detail they noticed was that the trees grew in life, their shade becoming a deep dark green as their bark darkened as well. The trees were far more resistant to the weather it seemed, slightly magical, Aurora remarked after a quick inspection.

And possibly one of the coolest things Aurora and Hopeful ever got to see, Moonstone itself. The humongous mountain stabbed into the sky like an upturned dagger. It had tall and awe-inspiring cliffs that would challenge even a Pegasus to climb. Aurora told Hopeful everything she was taught about it in magic school. Apparently, it was a shard of the moon that had fallen onto their world, giving birth to the first Zebras, Griffons, and Dragons. The forest grew around it instantly. She told him how you could actually climb to the very top of it and speak with the moon herself, but only on a full moon when it was at its highest peak.

The mountain still looked like it stood hundreds of miles away, the trees beneath it looking like strands of grass compared to its size. They set up camp atop of a hill that evening just so they could look at the view all throughout night. To their amazement, every aspect of the forest and mountain glowed a pale blue of shimmering moonlight, like a festival of lights that partied every night. Or perhaps the blood running through the connected set of roots that pumped energy and created this unscalable beast.

And it wasn't long after the sun rose that day that they saw an inhabitant of this forest as they stumbled upon a Zebra wanderer, wrapped in thick cloaks. Hopeful and Aurora announced their presence, finding a delight in that Zebra's youthful face as he spotted them.

“Fair ho, travelers! What brings ponies to these lands of ours?” He lowered hid hood, showing his ecstatic smile.

“Hello, Zebra! We are looking to pass through Moonstone in search of refuge!” Hopeful shouted over as they closed the distance. Hopeful was amazed, this being the first time he had ever seen a Zebra. Their stripe-colours, tribal clothing and large staff gave quite an impression.

“Why, if it is through Moonstone, I can lead your way. But we do not get much of your kind. Why the north, I ask, if I may?” He offered his hoof in exchange for some shakes, greeting them with joy.

“We need a safe place for my friend; she is close to giving birth.” Hopeful motioned toward Aurora.

“Why, you are blessed with child? What a magnificent day this turns to be! I was here looking for a silver fox who stole my sling of potions, but for you fine creatures, I shall postpone my hunt for ye. Follow my flank, friends and tell me your tales of travel. I have never met ponies, and if you would be so kind to share, I would be gratefully thankful.”

“So it's true that zebras always speak in rhyme?” Aurora smirked, all giddy as she felt enchanted by this new experience. They both quickly skipped after him.

“It is considered high-class and polite to, yes. And I don't know. I am trying my best.” He smiled widely, equally amazed. “What are your names? And since I know you will ask so I shall tell you the same. I am known as Zeal. I am a young disciple here in Moonstone. Now, you may go.”

“I'm Hopeful and this is Aurora,” Hopeful told him, looking at how strangely this Zebra walked, with confidence of a king and gentle care for his step like a mighty elk.

“That is brilliant, Aurora and Hopeful. I welcome you to Moonstone, the land of all things magic and wonderful.” He reached a stripped leg out from beneath his long cloak and threw it into the air, brushing against a tree as he came to it, the bark beginning to glow a bright, soft-shaded blue, sparkling with a magical dust as he brushed at it. The magic reverberated in the air for a moment before fading away. Aurora and Hopeful laughed with childish glee.

“Wow this is... This place... It's amazing!” Aurora exclaimed, breathing in the damp air. It was thick and refreshing. It had a life to it. The trees grew in proximity as they were led forward, the forest beginning to surround them with its large, swamp-like giants of trees. The sun actually shone down on them, the sky a clear blue showering over the evergreen canopy.

And the grass... Holy heavens, the grass! They hadn't felt the soft tickle of these beautiful green strands in what felt like decades. It was their carpet after trotting on coals burning with ice. It was their warm fur drying in the sun after swimming through a thousand frozen lakes. It felt fucking gorgeous.

“We made it, Auri... We finally made it.” He put a hoof around her and brushed up against her in a celebratory trotting hug.

“Do either of you need food or water? Or perhaps something other?” Zeal waited patiently for their quite hasteful response.

“Yes, please. A sip from a canteen would be amazing.” Aurora gladly accepted, expecting him to take out some form of bottle, surprised when he just diverted his path, trotting off to the left, having Hopeful and Aurora curiously follow.

“Have as much as you want.” He stopped, stepping aside a gateway of trees to show the two eager ponies a river.

“Hopeful... Is that...” They both stopped. This was the most unbelievably simple thing that they never realized they missed so much.

“Running water,” he finished her sentence, The two of them jumped to the bank of this mystical, glowing river cutting through the soft dirt, tasting like melted sugar as they lapped at it, looking like wild dogs. Washing their faces and hair, it was the warmest shower they'd had in their lives. It smelled like nectar to a bee, a rejuvenating mixture of love and life.

“Haha, you two are very weary, I see. Take a moment and drink from the moon's milk, take as much as you need.” They seemed to be making this Zebra as happy as this water made them.

Zeal watched them energetically take sustenance from this river with an endless supply, eventually collapsing into a rest.

“Thank you so much!” Hopeful gasped, realizing his heartbeat was racing and his breath hiding from him. His eyes filled with life as did Aurora's as they cried beneath the coating of fresh water she had covered herself with.

“The grove provides. Moonstone gets everything we have from it and it allows us to live our lives.” He reached out his staff, the bottom of it curving like a root to provide a grip that allowed Hopeful to be picked up by it, and then with both Zeal's and Hopeful's help, Aurora was brought to her hooves.

“This place is amazing!” She cried, laughing like a filly.

“Thank you, it is my opinion too.” He trotted to the side, angling his staff out toward their path, allowing the two of them to step past him first, continuing their final stretch to freedom.

Zeal led them down an invisible path that he seemed to know as well as his own stripes. He turned at every corner, knowing where to step to avoid each root, leaving them all undisturbed, unlike Auri and Hopeful, who nearly tripped with every second placement of their hooves, their eyes too stolen by the luscious environment's beauty to be able to concentrate on walking.

And then, to their wonderful surprise, they discovered a physical path beneath them. Lots of large, round stones cobbled between grassy veins formed a twisty path driving through the forest, dodging every tree and scaling every earthen hump. Zeal told them that the gates of Moonstone were not far off, just before he got into the historical detail of the place. He told them how this path was laid two thousand years ago by the first Zebras to walk into their home. He told them about the age of the trees and the miracles that could be performed by their healing magic.

They witnessed the wildlife frolic; rabbits and hummingbirds birds danced throughout the woods, each of them curious at the two odd creatures walking into their land, greeting them with nods, squeaks, and caws. Like a carnival of delights, everything shone with brilliance.

“Once we reach the gates, I will ask of my chieftain to permit you passage, and I will let you rest in my home before the morning when you will continue your lands voyage.”

“That would be great! Thank you so much for everything, Zeal.” Aurora insisted on a hug. The Zebra accepted it after a small amount of befuddlement.

Within the hour they had approached the immense wooden barrier. It was made of the trees, the wall looking like a tangling of roots several meters high. A gate with a matching size cut across the path.

Zeal stopped a fair distance away. Hopeful and Aurora following tomorrow. his motion and holding their ground. They turned to him, finding that his cheerful, perky eyes carried a dire gloom, the listened carefully as he muttered. “Let us hope Yazurask’s mood this evening is good...” Before announcing himself to whomever it concerned. “It is me, Zeal. I have returned from my search in the Moonstone wood!” He still looked worried.

“Zeal?” Hopeful called out, not receiving anything in return. So he tried again, being more direct with his question.

“Zeal, is something wrong?”

Turn Away

“?edih revlis fo xof eht morf snoitop ruoy demialcer uoy evah ,esirprus a si nruter tfiws er'uoY ?laer ro egarim a ti sI ?laeZ”

A gruffled, roughly accented voice came echoing from above the wall. The language he spoke was a beast Aurora and Hopeful have never heard, every syllable that entered their ear a sound that they never knew existed. It made them feel like little children that haven't learned to speak yet.

Nearly immediately did a large, muscled and defined Zebra lifted his view over the edge of the wall. His body was encased in a skeletal bone structure for armour, a skull the shape of a young dragon's topping off his forehead and a long bone-tipped spear held between his leg and chest. It was terrifying to Hopeful and Auri, who immediately stepped toward Zeal, hoping he would protect them.

“.meht ediug ot hsiw I dna htron og ot enotsnooM hguorht ssap ot hsiw yehT .modgnik ynop eht morf srelevart thguorb evah I !ksaruzaY”

Zeal began speaking in the foreign dialect. How his tongue made those noises, they did not know. Just after speaking like a fairly normal rendition of Equine, too.

“Zeal what did that Zebra say?” Aurora nudged Zeal's cloak, who in reaction showed his hooves' palm to her, trying to get her to wait a moment as he spoke with his superior.

The Zebra that seemed to be Yazurask finally got a good visual on Zeal, his face turning from careful curiosity to unrelenting anger. His spear stabbed outward into the air, snapping into a point directed toward them.

“!tort yeht dnal eht ecargsid uoy dna rehcaet a sa em ecargsid uoY !stoc dna semoh rieht fo tuo nevird srotsecna ruo dah ecar s'ohw fo esoht gnirb uoY ?SEINOP”

He yelled out at them, Hopeful and Aurora pulling closer to Zeal. Whatever he was saying, he wasn't happy about it.

“Zeal, please, what is he saying? Is there something wrong?” Hopeful tugged at him, trying to get a response.

“Give me a moment to plea your case, although I would not hesitate a preparation to flee in haste,” Zeal whispered to them, stepping forward to the Zebra beyond the wall.

“!erom on dna hguorht ssap ot hsiw yehT .ebirt eht ro su ot mrah on naem yehT !raw fo dnal eht morf emoc yeht dna dlihc htiw si seinop eseht fo eno ,feihC ,esaelP”

Zeal was beginning to sound desperate. He really did want to help them. His excitement to help a few ponies was crushed by his reality, his voice was nearly cracking at the heart-crushing disappointment.

Yazurask spat down beneath his hooves, getting those disgusting words out of his head.

“!sruoy teem ot hsiw uoy sselnu dnammoc ym ot netsil lliw uoy dna ,dne rieht ecaf ro nruter reven dna dnal siht evael llahs yehT .serutaerc nomed eseht gnitsurt ,em tnioppasid uoY”

Zeal dropped his head, accepting defeat.

The furious Zebra atop the wall then finally moved his blood-red dots for eyes and crashed them onto Hopeful and Aurora's presence. He looked at them with a blistering rage, visible from his aggravated, shaking spear. He could barely keep his speech steady as he addressed them personally. “LEAVE. OUR. HOME.” He spoke their own language with the conviction of a king.

And then he was gone, stepping down from his towering position, leaving their sight, assuming his student would honour his request and drive the two of them out.

“Zeal... What happened? Why does he want us to leave?” Aurora asked in despair, feeling her hope-filled heart crying as it was ripped to shreds.

“Zebras... Have a past with your kind... Perhaps you have all forgotten what happened those decades ago, but it has never left our minds.” He sighed. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry I have failed you... But guide you out, I must do.” He kept his head hung low as he moved past the stunned ponies, trying to prompt them to follow his steps.

They didn't.

“Zeal, we can't go back! Aurora is going to give birth soon, we won't have enough time to go around the whole of Moonstone!” Hopeful stood his ground, protesting to Zeal.

“My friend...” Zeal swayed a helpless head back, “Please...”

“No, Zeal, we can't! There is no safe place for Auri back down south, and if we can't get her to the north, then we're fucked!” He raised his voice, his argument almost trying to measure up against Yazurask's.

“My friend, there is nothing I can do. Please just follow me out before Yazurask has me cut up for disloyalty.” It was odd hearing him not rhyme.

“But Zeal, you can sneak us through! If we just found a way over the wall, and you know the layout, we can...”

“Hopeful... Please. Yazurask doesn't make empty threats...” He used his staff to shift his cloak up from his back, letting its entirety droop from his neck and hang to the side. His thick black strips were overshadowed by long, red scars across his spine, the thousand lashes it has seen staring right back.

“Zeal...” Hopeful had moved up towards him, inspecting the obviously sore wounds that time had brought Zeal in his teaching. He exhaled, this wasn't going to work. “Fuck...” He turned around, beginning to pace. “FUCK!”

Then his radar began shooting off as in his peripherals he saw Aurora sitting down, clutching her stomach. Painful gusts of air running threw her teeth.

“Aurora, are you okay?!” Hopeful dashed over.

“Yeah... Yeah... Just cramps...” She breathed in and out like Hopeful had taught her to do, but even then, she wasn't giving up her opportunity to speak up. “Let's just go... Let's not argue...”

“But Auri...” Hopeful continued to protest.

“There's no point... We'll figure something out...” She put out a hoof for him, he quickly attended with helping her stand.

“Fine, but I don't know what we're gonna fucking do...” He guided her forward, eventually letting her walk by herself once they had reached a re-robed and apologetic Zeal. “I am sorry about this, but if you wish to find out what you must do next, I know a way to assist.”

“What do you mean?” Auri gentle pushed past a whisper, still rejuvenating.

“This woods are connected to the moon, if asked upon she will grant you wisdom. Follow me out of the woods, and soon, I will be glad to share some.”

They didn't know what he could possibly do for them, but they were desperate. They agreed, following him out on the path they came in, neither of them stumbling anymore.

As all of them were about to emerge from the forest, Zeal had stopped them, asking for their patience as he took out a bone knife and cut off a slice of tree bark, then he told them to sit down on the grass in a circle, leaving only enough room between the three of them for a small campfire.

“I am going to read your future... Hopefully something from it will be useful,” he reluctantly stated, not wanting to overplay it.

“You can read the future?” Auri jumped at the question. Why didn't he start with that? she wondered.

“Only the highest skilled of necromancers are able to have a clear reading. This is not that impressive. What we are doing is more of the caliber of, as you would say, a party trick, and purely interpretive.” He placed the bark inner wood up to produce a lightly curved bowl. He then took out two small stones from one of his many packs beneath his cloak and sparked them against each other. With enough effort, he lit up the piece of bark.

While Aurora and Hopeful shifted their legs away, the flame burst out to a very impressive size. But to their surprise, the grass beneath it remained untouched. Even odder, the flame was a crystal blue, and from this distance, it didn't even feel warm. In fact, the closer they moved their hooves to it, the more it felt like the air around it was coated in ice.

Zeal then brought his dagger out, balancing it evenly on the end of his hoof. “It needs a drop of blood.”

Hopeful and Auri glanced at each other. Hopeful was the first to reach for the dagger, but Aurora insisted she'd be the one, as she snapped it to her with a flash of her horn.

“Auri you don't have to,” Hopeful interjected.

“Yes, yes I do.” She hoisted up her leg and placed the blade against her leg, scrunching up her face as she made a faint indent against it, just enough to draw a trickle of blood.

Zeal leaned over the chilly, crisp ice-fire and wiped up the drop with his hoof before placing it and the rest of his leg into the flame. He took no damage as he spread the blood against the ablaze wood carving.

Both of listened with utmost care as he shut his eyes, keeping his leg in the fire, letting it spread to his shoulder, neck and eventually head.

“I see something...” he whispered, his volume causing them to lean in forward.

And suddenly, his tone was let loose, his voice having a form of harmony behind it as he softly parted his lips to release the words, beginning his reading into the future.

‘’Two daughters, those of sun and moon, shall arise from the stone ashes quite soon.

“Gifted with the three powers of strength, flight and magic, they shall have power to enforce their will on both night and day, every shadow or sunbeam, every clock’s tick.

“Such power shall even conquer age and death. They shall be immortal. Once war is over, they shall take their roles as the true leaders of the pony tribes, bringing peace to all,

“Protecting that peace if it would mean a thousand years of hidden grief, stopping chaos in its purest, or doing battle with a soul-stealing thief.

“Such ponies shall be born by one who possesses flight, but no wings to soar with. And one who possesses magic, but no horn to control it,

“Then raised by one whose strength has caused the fall of a hundred soldiers, but turned frail from suffering as they grew wiser and older...’’

He then blinked rapidly a few times, throwing his hoof from the now extinguishing flame. Finding stares of confusion in the two of their eyes. “I'm sorry.” He continued to apologize. “I do not know how anything I saw can help, I didn't even see either of you in that vision...”

“Ww-what does that mean?” Aurora disheartened cry out for help in understanding anything came from deep inside her. Nothing he said made sense to her; she was scared.

“I'm so sorry... I don't know.” Zeal dropped his rhyming. He had disappointed them again.

“What do we do, Zeal? What did it say we should do?” Hopeful prodded him, trying to keep their safety a priority.

“I don't... know...” His eyes began to water as he stood up, trying to escape from the situation. “Just... leave... Both of you, don't come back.” He smashed his spear down against the dwindling bark fire, reducing it to ash before he bolted off into the woods, even as Hopeful and Aurora shouted for him to wait.

But he didn't. He ran and kept running. He failed them. He couldn't handle that. And with his steps, the last speckles of hope ran off at that Zebra's side.

They were, in fact, fucked.

“If we take this path through the badlands, then that would only be another month if we hurry.” He pointed onto the map. Aurora found it hard to pay attention. Her baby was acting up especially today. She really wished she had some painkillers for her cramps and migraines, but she got by just fine without them, because she had to.

It had been another night. Aurora and Hopeful sat a few minutes’ walk from the Moonstone forest's entrance, where they had rested all throughout the night, and after "sleeping on it" for a back up plan, they found themselves staring at a map. Hopeful desperately hoped that a route would magically appear that would lead them all the way past Moonstone in less than a few weeks.

“Auri… Do you think we could do that…?” He was hesitant to ask. She didn't look all too well, too busy focusing on her breathing to speak up. Which gave Hopeful his answer. “I know... I know... But what fucking choice do we have...”

“We can... Heh... We can go back...” she fruitlessly proposed, Hopeful just shaking his head as the frustration pent up inside of him.

“We can't... fucking just... give up. It took to long to get this far...”

“We won't... go far...” She tried to calm his nerves. “The closest town... Where is it?”

Hopeful unscrunched the map, scanning it side to side until he landed onto a small red dot with "Falgreen" scribbled down next to it. “Here. Maybe a week away. It's just past those hills with the fiery flower things.”

“Sounds like we'll make it with time to spare.” She smiled. She couldn't help but to latch onto whatever optimism she could find.

“Yeah, we would... But once little Midnight Junior is old enough to go outside, we're bouncing north, right?” he confirmed, getting a satisfied smile from Aurora.

“Well then, we should get going. We don't have time to waste.” He courteously lifted her up and packed up all of their things by himself, allowing Aurora as much rest as she could get before they began backtracking.

It was painful, physically, for Aurora but even far more emotionally for Hopeful as he turned his back to a land of safety and peace, everything he dreamed of sealed off behind some forsaken wooden root wall. It was pure torture, every fucking second.

It was another two nights and two mornings before they emerged from the mountain valley, the flowers guiding them back through their previous path.

Although the rear horizon was foreign to them, something in their heads just seemed off. The sun now setting to their right, while for months they've watched it fall to their left. It was one of the little things that really got under their skin. Something always felt off, their regular fears of being watched magnified.

They were trotting across a flat snow plain one morning, its snow thick and tall and their coats tight and woolly, barely keeping their core temperatures bearable. They weren't talking as much, especially not semantics.

So when something out of the ordinary happened, it got their full attention. Hopeful was quick to his pistol, and Auri quick to the ground, as a rumbling closer than they were used to ran through the ground. A bomb had been dropped somewhere quite close.

After pinpointing the direction by where the sound came from, Hopeful and Aurora quickly diverged their path, turning nearly a full ninety degrees to go directly away from the presumed battle.

But, yet again, this didn't feel exactly right. There were no Pegasi this far north when they came through here originally.

Hopeful didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do to even question it. Avoiding it was all he needed to do anyways, so giving it to much thought, especially with how common the sounds of war were, was just wasting time.

After a few more hours, as the evening began to sit in and Hopeful and Auri began searching for a place to camp, they began trotting to the hoof of the mountain range marking the boundary between Unicorn and Pegasus land in this thin strip north of the Earth Ponies.

As they began to settle into a small alcove, setting up a small fire and their sleeping bags, something even stranger happened than earlier. It was another rumbling, although this miniature earthquake wasn't followed by the blast of air like an explosion did. Neither did it cease. A full minute after they had kicked out their ragged beginnings of a fire, it continued, if anything, getting more prolific.

Hopeful, in a very reasonable panic, got both him and Aurora beneath a snow-white camouflage sheet, laying in the snow above their sleeping bags, awaiting an explanation.

And soon, one came. In fact, many came rolling into their cones of vision with their metallic, threaded wheels.

Several vehicles the size of train carriages charged over and down the steep hill faces, propelled forward by a set of rusted metal cogs twisting a spiked and threaded sheet of rubber and metal chains on either side of it. In between sat a wide base of white painted steel embedded with shining blue pipes squirming all around the vehicle's body. They seemed to be stuffed with magic, leading to several glowing containers on their backs. All of this built up to a hatch on top of its head, something a pony could crawl into. But the strangest feature that stuck out to Hopeful had to be the long, cylindrical cannon coming from the head of this mechanical beast.

These things, whatever they were, moved the earth in front of them, plowing through the snow like a sleigh, while having the effect of an elephant stampede, the brown soil becoming exposed as the tires of this machine ripped the dirt out and threw it behind. Hopeful counted nearly a dozen of them as they went by only a few hundred metres from their mostly-enclosed mountainous alcove.

And if the war machines weren't enough, a platoon of Unicorn soldiers began blitzing after each vehicle and its tracks, at least a couple hundred ponies behind lead by these colossal metallic predators.

Each Unicorn soldier wore a thick, white cloak and hood, padded with cotton and feathers for warmth. Their protection came from the shields each of them levitated at their sides, each one a metal disk that would become surrounded by an outer layer of translucent magic when activated in battle. Every single Unicorn soldier had their tail painted white for maximum camouflage.

The sun was nearly fully set before the Unicorns’ stomping had left, becoming nothing more than a distant auditory presence. Still perfectly visible in the horizon, it'd be a while before they would go beneath it.

“Oh, my goodness...” Aurora exclaimed, her breath gone.

“Yeah, that was fucking close,” Hopeful added, feeling his heart continue to beat against his chest.

“They finished the tanks...” She continued in her awe of the machines, even assigning a name to them.

“Tanks..?” Hopeful whispered the question with a sense of fear.

“That was their codename, at least...” She trailed off, still too shocked to spill out a full sentence.

“What... are they?” Hopeful dared to ask.

“You know how Pegasi have Thunder Cannons? Imagine if one of those had legs and instead of exploding shrapnel and lightning, it's explosions consist of a fire hot enough to to burn through steel. That's what a tank is...”

“That sounds fucking terrifying!” he shouted without thinking, covering his mouth quickly after.

“That's what I thought as well. I thought they were crazy trying to build them, but... I guess they finally worked out all of the kinks.” Aurora lifted herself from beneath the blanket, seeing the battalion far enough out of their range to not be spotted.

“What are they doing so far north?” Hopeful continued to prod Auto as she kept succeeding in finding him answers.

“They're probably trying to flank the Earth Ponies...” Auri got lost in her head as she imagined the amount of viscera soon to be. “If they're as powerful as I was told they'd be, I don't know how much of a fight anypony can put up.”

“Earth Ponies also have explosives, Aurora. I'm sure if they coordinated a counterattack, they could take them out. They are going in really deep behind Pegasus and Earth Pony land. They'll be dealt with, but it's not our problem... We can't stay here anyways; more troops might come through any moment.” Hopeful began packing up swiftly, only noticing at the end of his work that Auri had become entranced with watching these “tanks” drive onward, still very visible in the distance.

“Auri, come on, we gott-”

Hopeful was thrown to the ground as a sound wave with the power of a tornado thrust itself onto him, his ears feeling like they might start bleeding. He watched the bright blue energy ball shoot from the distance into the sky. Once reaching the cloud, it expanded with an extreme speed and power, turning from a single meter wide dot on his vision into a blast of orange and red fire the size of his old barn in a blink of an eye, another pounding wave of sound slamming into the two of them.

Hopeful wasn't very sure anymore.

Burning Steel

Over fifty tons of heavy, thick slabs of iron held together by magical chains that could withstand a direct impact from a lightning shell. They had a top speed of off-roading at forty miles per hour, fast enough to keep up with most ponies galloping at their fastest. Inside of the metal beast's stomach were five crew members operating it. A commander, who kept their eye on the battle with use of a periscope, a driver and their assistant, to keep the entire thing moving, and a gunner and loader, in charge of the nearly five meter long, nine centimeter wide armament jutting out of it's head, capable of shooting an unstabilized magic bomb that could annihilate any structure nearly instantly from kilometers away.

It was code named the Sunburst Mk I, but more generally known as a ''tank'', named after the large tanks of raw magical energy stored on its rear end. It was a fighting machine like no other, now seeing its debut battle, along with its eleven sisters, as it came in contact with a Pegasus bombing legion.

And as it fired the first shot of the evening, after the shadow's of the bomber Pegasi were spotted, every single pony prepared themselves for combat. The Unicorns stood in twelve rows. At the head of each group was a Sunburst tank, followed by several dozen troops in formation.

On the Pegasus side, a quite sizable battalion of a hundred or so Screechers, on a mission north in search of food by raiding Earth Pony towns, was interrupted by this assortment of bombable Unicorns.

As the first cannon fired from the Starburst tank, the tone was set and the Pegasi were put onto the defense. Unicorns nearly always found it difficult to fight against a flying enemy. Aiming their magic against such fast foes rarely bore results. Only in large barrages of magical bolts did they manage to sway off a Pegasian assault. This new weapon on the other hoof really made this an easier battle than it otherwise would have been.

The Pegasi began to disperse and surround, going off in small two-to-four pony teams, meaning their shadows would much harder to spot.

And while the Pegasi prepared their counter attack, each Unicorn, in a colourful display of light, flashed a semi-sphere bubble above their heads in an effort to displace some of the damage that would be soon dropped onto them.

The Pegasus unit had to quickly adapt to the new playing field. Regular strafe bombing was too dangerous with the Unicorns artillery, leaving them to resort to tactics they generally used against large battles against Earth Ponies, a little something they called cloak and dagger.

The Pegasi began swirling in a large circle around the Unicorns, using their wings to blow down the clouds toward the ground in an attempt to create a cloud of fog that Pegasi could see through far more easily than their opponents.

The Unicorns responded by firing their new war machines' cannons out into the air where the fog seemed to come from. Thunderous, earth-shaking blasts knocked chunks out of the sky, along with a few unlucky Pegasi, to be burned alive and turned to dust within the same second. The unicorns felt a great pride as they saw Pegasi splat down to the dirt, feeling like they had killed almost half of them with this one barrage. That's landscape quickly littering with their bodies, some even landing directly next to the unicorns, who cried out in their thirst for war, yelling to empower their show of dominance.

Boom, boom, boom. The noise rang through everyone's ears as this unstoppable force pushed against the unmovable object that was the weather. The clouds began to look like Swire cheese as they were obliterated, but slowly they did engulf the Unicorn army. The Unicorns drew their blades of sparking fire from their sheaths in preparation, their cannons now silent as they awaited an onslaught of warriors to pierce the foggy barrier that blinded them.

A scream, shortly followed by a second, was belted out by falling Unicorns as Pegasi cut them down, jumping from the blisteringly white shadows.

One Pegasi, after landing onto the ground with the fog protecting them from being melted, found themself alone at the edge of a strip of Unicorn soldiers, their luminescent bubbles of protection easily visible to this keen Pegasus’ eyes. He lifted up his dual scimitars and crawled in like a panther, leaping at a Unicorn on the edge of this several-pony-thick line leading to the butt of a tank. With surprise at his aid, the Unicorn fell with a swift blade against their upper shield used to distract them as a lethal pierce came from the underbelly, sliding into the Unicorn’s neck, their blood-gargled pleas for mercy left ignored.

The Unicorns around the one he had just eliminated aimed their horns, easily spotting him now that he was right in their faces. While their draw and fire was quick, this Pegasus was quicker, swiftly wrapping themselves onto the closest one of their allies, one blade against their throat to restrict their movement, other one cutting partway into their horn to prevent any magical resistance from his hostage.

Or, perhaps, the Unicorn he held could be referred to better as a living pony-shield as this did not discourage the poor Unicorn’s allies from opening fire, turning it into a ghastly pool of pony bits. Their legs, chest and head were burnt, frozen, and rotted by each unique magical bolt shot at the Pegasus, who also got clipped with a burning scar across an uncovered portion of his face. It felt like a nail being driven into his skull, a constant and strikingly painful heat stuck to his skin like he was being pressed against a hot stove.

But he was a warrior. He fought on, using the Unicorn’s disorientation to the highest advantage as he shoved past Unicorn after Unicorn, slashing left and right, using their bodies as protection from the out-of-stabbing-range ones. His glorious stand was echoed with the cheers of his comrades aiding him, listening to Unicorns being cut down and gutted all around him as he fought his way up to the main threat.

He hopped up with a flash of his wing power, his heavy metal armour clanking down onto the back of a tank. A quick glance behind him revealed the several Unicorns that weren't preoccupied by his brethren aim up at him in an effort to blast him off of their prized weapon.

They opened fire from their horns like machine guns. The Pegasus leapt for cover behind the mechanical giant's head, getting hit in the wings and back quite severely. His entire right wing was hit at the stem and collapsed limply beside him, along with one of his swords, detached completely from his body. While the idea of never flying again would normally terrify him, his lost appendage barely earned a gaze from him, as he couldn't care; he wouldn't have needed it any longer anyways.

The ambiance of death and destruction, the motivating spike of pain, hell, the adrenaline by itself was worth dying for. With his front legs, he grasped onto what he presumed was the hatch to enter this machine. He was given a very clear confirmation as a Unicorn wielding a levitating, burning blade shot out of it. They plunged their fiery blade into the Pegasus, who, with his only remaining wing and sword, managed to deflect the Unicorn’s attack enough to only get stabbed straight though his lower gut, feeling a sting and weakness akin to biting off one's own tongue. This strike was surely to be a lethal blow after a few mere moments, but that's all he needed as the Pegasus knocked the Unicorn’s head in against the hatch door, leaving a blood spatter mixing with his own gorey gushes splating all over the war machine.

The Pegasus lunged himself down the hatch, slumping down and hitting the hard metal floor with enough force to feel like his spine had cracked in two. He saw the four other living Unicorns piloting the vehicle. Their faces grew hollow, like ghosts, once the Pegasus brought up a spherical explosive from a pouch filled with dozens and shouted out his final words, “FOR PEGASIA!!!” And with that, he slammed the grenade down, triggering all of his own and the Unicorns’ explosives in one chain reaction of combustion and destruction. The entire tank turned into a shrapnel projecting scrap of steel as it blew up from the inside, eviscerating every living creature in the immediate vicinity.

This and every other variation of how it could have went simultaneously got acted out along the battlefield, and despite the early destruction of a tank, and with a second and third still to fall before its closure, the battle began turning to the Unicorns’ favour as the fog failed to hold and they began regaining their sight, able to spot and shoot down any flyers with relative ease.

The Unicorns battled hard for their victory, such as the one Unicorn who had spotted a Pegasus sprinting toward one of their Sunburst tanks, and bravely dashed out to block their path, raising their shield and blade, prepared to give her life if need be.

Her heart spiked to the top of her chest the second her and the Pegasus’ equally sharp edges cut into each other, a spark flying off of her burning cutlass as she engaged him, feeling her power. She was going to kill this pony, that much she knew.

A skillful display came from both of them as she struck out against him, his blade throwing hers off aim, always just nearly piercing him before he managed a deflection. They fought so elegantly it could have been considered a dance under different context, her stepping forward just to be forced back every time she did, no ground being gained for too long by either party.

They each saw the other like a perfect equal in combat for those moments, a honorable respect settling between each swing and slice, only being broken once another Unicorn sent a beam of arcane energy hurtling toward the Pegasus in an attempt to decide this battle. It looked like it would end up killing them with a direct hit. That was until the Pegasus performed a maneuver so gracefully swift and precise the Unicorn he fought could feel nothing but awe as the Pegasus sent a forceful hind-leg kick right into her chest, leaving her to slam against the tank's flank, and then a spin to angle his shot, the Pegasus struck away the bolt down its center, the mirror-like surface of his sword reflecting the magical beam towards her, hitting her square in the shoulder, nearly taking the entire thing with it. She yelled out in pain, the Pegasus kicking off of her to gain some distance toward the tank, landing on top with a determined concentration aimed toward the tank's hatch.

The unicorn pushed against the drilling pain her exposed flesh let in, using her magic to boost herself up onto the tank's surface, finding herself looking up to the Pegasus, now preoccupied with opening the hatch.

She crawled over, levitating her blade up, not bothering to put any focus on a guard as she stabbed forward, placing the blade deep into the Pegasus’ side before they could react.

Now quickly losing blood and consciousness, the Pegasus threw one of their swords at her, her adrenaline-pumped response time just barely enough to grasp a telekinetic hold of it before it flew through her skull.

In the time it then took her to twist the sword back and lunge it at him, the Pegasus managed to pull open the hatch, the blade thrusting into their newly risen makeshift shield, the sword snapping against the hatch, the Pegasus free to reach for their bag of explosives.

The Unicorn pushed through with all of her remaining strength to a stand, her blasted off shoulder an agony of nerves firing at maximum capacity, begging for her to stop as she let herself stumble and collapse on top of the Pegasus, using her magic to try and pull her flame-lashed sword from his side, successfully unsheathing it from his innards and lifting it above him. She couldn't see anything as she plummeted the long sword into him again and again, her face becoming engulfed in gore as she ripped the Pegasus to shreds.

And once she was done and had left her trusty sword deep inside of the Pegasus’ heart, she opened her eyes and saw that he'd managed to pull out a grenade, and, in fact, had dropped it during his death. The proceeding explosion killed her and everypony close enough to the chaotically huge explosion.

And that was the final straw for one of the Unicorns driving a tank, who panicked after hearing the second explosion murder some of his fellow Unicorns, his comrades, his friends. They were being killed out there, protecting those like him while he was cooped up inside of this giant metal target, just waiting to be blown to smithereens. He threw off his seat-belt and began pushing his way out of the vehicle.

“CALM THE FUCK DOWN QUE!” his co-pilot screamed at him during their tussle as he refused to let Que out of his seat.

“I CAN'T DO IT! I CANT I CANT DO THIS! LET ME OUT! LET ME THE FUCK OUT! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!” he protested. He was pushed to the point where he drew his blade and smacked his co-pilot with its hilt, knocking them down and out of Que's way, allowing him to scramble to the ladder for the hatch, keeping the other members of the crew at bay with the threat of his pointed cutlass.

Que knocked open the hatch, feeling the instant rush of blizzarding air push against him as he forced his way out of his cage, the blissful joy of freedom quickly fading as a Pegasus came stabbing down onto him, knife aimed right at his laid out heart. He shut his eyes and pent up as quick a burst of magic he could, feeling a shift in his placement as he teleported a nearly meter off to sit on the head of the tank, out of the Pegasus’ attack. Quite an impressive teleport for some pony in such a stressful situation.

The Pegasus gave a quick glance to find Que, deciding against finishing the job in order to ensure the completion of his mission. He pulled out his explosives and chucked them into the open hole, the blast to come mere instants away.

Que felt his entire life pass through his head, realizing that he knew and cared about every pony that was inside of that tank, and the bombs that were about to collide with it would kill them all. The realization that he might have just caused this would hurt more than any injury that would be sustained today by any pony here.

And then, in pure instinct, he shut his weeping eyes and curved a bubble of protection around himself, putting every ounce of his power into it, his fear to die continuously persistent.

He was blown away, his shield enough to stop any burns or shrapnel coming from the blast, leaving only its force to have an effect on his feeble body, launching him far, far out, nearly a full kilometer as he flew through the air and met the ground in a sudden and backbreaking crash. His bubble shattered on impact, the only reason he still continued to breath as he lay at the hoof of the mountain he overcame not even an hour ago.

He couldn't feel his legs–they were most assuredly broken, but those would be considered minor injuries compared to what others had gotten in the battle. The important thing was that he survived.

He survived... He survived! He would live to see another day! he realized in beautiful, unadulterated joy. He began to smile like never before past his tear soaked eyes, imagining returning home to his wife and son. I'll finally get the change to raise him, Que thought, the idea a shining beacon of hope in the godless wasteland, his son would be so delighted once he heard dad is coming ho- PHUFFFF...

The echoing puff of a rifle round rung through the air, Que falling still as a bullet found its way through his cranium. “Holy shit! Come on, Auri, we gotta just keep going! Before they begin retreating!” Hopeful remarked, carrying Aurora forward by her leg around his neck, having just shot a unicorn that was flung over all the way from the not-distant-enough battle. As Auri and him pushed forward, they heard and saw every development going on, unsure of which side was winning, but unwilling to stay long enough to find out.

The two of them sprinted down along the mountain's edge, Aurora hurting all over as she lumbered over Hopeful, who had to carry most of her weight in their escape.

The battle became a distant noise, lost through the winds, as Hopeful and Aurora made it out of any harms way within the hour, finding themselves about to reach the town they had planned on entering the next day, but plans change, and now they were galloping as hard as they could toward their safety.

It was morning by the time they had arrived.

“We're almost there, Auri. Just a few more minutes...” Hopeful reassured her, unsure whether or not she could hear him anymore as her eyes were completely shut and she was practically sleep-walking to the finish.

She mumbled something in response. Sadly, Hopeful couldn't make a word out of it. At least she was still breathing.

It was like Hopeful said: the town's worn wooden walls peeked out from layers of hard snow. It was silent, the citizens most likely in hiding from the horrifying echoes of the battle fought merely a few miles away.

But Hopeful wouldn't dare be less careful, gently lifting Aurora from around him. “I'm gonna set you down. I'll check out the town and I'll be back in two minutes. Keep yourself warm, alright?” He said as her body fell limply into the snow, Hopeful seeing her delicately nod. He made sure to snug a blanket around her weary torso and head, camouflaging her and keeping her from freezing up. Even then, she would be shivering if she had the strength to. Her skin was colder than an ice cube.

Fearing he couldn't do more for Aurora, Hopeful cocked his rifle in preparation for anything before galloping in with a second wind of resilient strength.

He came into the town's limits with a raised barrel, checking every corner for hostiles. His mind settled as nothing crossed his radar. The town seemed to be covered in an unmaintained layer of snow, large enough to reach Hopeful's upper leg, and each house was covered from head to hoof in the stuff. On further, one of the buildings, he saw through the frost-worn glass, had collapsed on the inside, snow covering every inch of every surface that called this building home.

He hopped through snow to reach another and it seemed to be in the same level of utmost disrepair. None of these houses were usable...

Hopeful punched his anger out against a wall, finding it crumbled from his blows. They were being screwed by lady luck again. Hopeful wondered what he could have done for the realm to hold such a grudge against him.

And as he went to trot back to Aurora, he gave one last glance around, wishing for a miracle.

“Wait...” Something gleaned from behind one of the larger buildings, something with a metallic sheen sparkling from the smallest rays of light that pushed past the cloud barrier.

He ran to it like a colt to a candy store, bolting past the unbearably thick snow with the efficiency of a drill, soon coming around the side of this town's train station, a full beast of an engine sitting dormant beneath a deep frosting of snow, nearly half a dozen train cars in line behind, attached to the front engine, laying on an untouched track trailing off into the horizon. It was abandoned, but as far as Hopeful could tell, unharmed. “YES!! FUCK YES!” he yelled out in joy, thrusting a victorious pump of his hoof into the air.

He ran back and lifted up Aurora in blistering excitement, her waking up to the cries of his joy. It was only once Aurora was brought into view of the train that her eyes lit up as well, a faint “Yes...” whispering out from her parting lips.

Hopeful laid her out to sit on the edge of the station's platform as he forced his way into the sealed engine.

He felt like one of those Sun-Chasers that raided old griffon tombs for gold and treasure as he busted the lock of the train engine's door with the butt of his rifle, shattering its brittle core with time.

Once he had gotten it open, Hopeful put out a platform-bridge he found inside the cabin for Aurora to trot into her vehicle with the privilege of a princess as Hopeful laid out the floor beneath her to let her in.

The interior of the engine was small, the large furnace and seats for the driver quite cumbersome in such a compact area. Aurora was left sitting down by Hopeful in the driver's seat, the cotton and wool padding of the chair being a nice change from frozen dirt and rock that she had become accustomed to. Although, it was still blisteringly cold inside of the cabin, a fact Hopeful would not let remain true for much longer as he shut the door closed and worked to light the engine, using a portion of their hay rations and his trusty flint and steel to spark a fire, and in a few minutes, the entire oven-like engine.

“HOLY SHIT!” Hopeful exclaimed as he felt the blazing fire warm his shriveling skin. The entire inner cabin turned orange with the flames. He then looked over to Aurora, who, against the contrast of the fire's light, was now extremely visibly blue, her skin almost matching that of an ocean with how bad it had gotten, but the fire boiling the crisp air in the cabin like a spa was orgasmic. She let out a long, shuddering moan of relaxation as she felt her body soak up the heat, still too weak to speak she cupped her stomach, hoping the baby in her womb enjoyed the sun-like blaze as much as she did.

“Let's see if we can get this thing moving!” Hopeful stated out in curious enthralment. While he wasn't an expert, he was familiar with the basics of how a train worked. So he searched the front for the brakes, finding that they were still locked in to prevent the train from budging.

Hopeful made sure Aurora was prepared for when he pulled it, but they were only pushed a light thud forward as the wheels began to scrape against the steel tracks they had been frozen to for all this time.

But after a short while, it was clear the train wasn't going to budge. He pulled the brakes once more, figuring he knew the issue. “I'll be right back,” Hopeful assured a fuzzy-minded Auri, who wasn't quite sure what he meant until he had already hopped out of the engine room, swiftly shutting the door to deny the frost entry into their tiny, cramped sanctuary.

Aurora looked over her shoulder, hoping to find out what he was up to. And then she heard a large clank and she realized he was kicking off their dead weight; all of the carriages attached to the train's head were useless to them and would only slow them down.

Hopeful soon popped back in, a light coating of snow he had obtained quickly melting off in the presence of the burning heat coming from the fire. He sat down at Auri's hooves next to her seat, putting both of his hooves over the brake lever, waiting for Auri to brace herself.

So she placed her hooves against the dashboard in front of her and Hopeful flung the switch up, the train jumping to life, a smoke-filled chug pulling them forward as their plow created a separation in the snow, allowing them to continue down the tracks to somewhere safer than here. Hopeful's old home town wasn't too far off… Perhaps he could take Auri and live in his farm house? Aurora jumped at the idea as he proposed it.

“That would be lovely,” she confirmed.

Hopeful smiled at the idea of seeing his town once again, a pleasure he had only dreamed of since his departure. For the first time in a long time, things were good. “Well then, it's settled. I'm coming home,” he concurred, standing up and giving a big hug to Aurora before going off to shovel coal.

For the first time in months, Aurora's baby kicked once more.

Scorched Earth

“Holy shit...” Hopeful released along with a faint gasp. “Has it always been that beautiful?”

“I honestly can not say...” Aurora added, the two of them entranced by the golden sunrise bursting out of the horizon like a phoenix returning from the ashes.

They'd been traveling for nearly half a day, about to reach the center of Earth Pony territory, Hopeful's old home town being one of the first stops they could arrive at. Which they would, in about an hour, by Hopeful's estimate.

The train’s fire had done wonders to rejuvenate them; their eyes now sparkled, their skin shone, and their voices were steady and warm when used. They had, in fact, thrown off their coats and other clothing due to the, if it were not absolutely freezing outside, unbearable heat. It was odd seeing each other in their own flesh; the wool of their coats felt like an extension of themselves and to be able to throw it off was a new, thrilling experience for both of them.

Aurora kept Hopeful updated on her pregnancy as even her baby was refilled with energy and life. Apparently kicking every few hours, the sensation was simultaneously quite painful and still delightful. Aurora giggled every time it happened.

But now their attentions were sealed in the portratesque view of the rising sun, looking through the muddled glass pane of their side-view window.

For a while, they were happy. Life just felt good again. They felt whole, made complete and tranquil. At peace with themselves.

It took a while before they were able to peel themselves away as the sun lost its golden shimmer and hid behind the pavement of cloud in the sky.

“Much further till Buckingham?” Aurora contemplated aloud, awaiting Hopeful's report back.

“We're actually coming up to it quite soon, believe it or not. I recognize these hills.” Hopeful trotted up and pressed his hoof against the slippery wet glass, singling out a mount of dirt and snow from all the others they passed by. “That there is, or at least I'm pretty sure, the place where I saw a mangy dog when I ran away from home and got so scared after it growled at me that I ran all the way back home.”

“You can remember a hill?” She thought it was a bit funny.

“Yup, that fucking dog taught me a lesson I will never forget,” Hopeful stated with pride.

“What lesson?”

“Don't fuck with mangy dogs as a ten year old. What else was I supposed to learn? The meaning of friendship?” He chuckled.

“I wouldn't be surprised. What if the dog just wanted to cuddle?” She prodded him with a jokey tone.

“It probably did want to cuddle with the torn apart remains of my little colt body, yeah. I should have just stood there and let it happen.” He stuck out a tongue, bursting out into a short laugh with a child like glee.

Aurora let out a blissful sigh. Everything felt so good again. She reflected on the hardships she and Hopeful had gone through to get here, but in a matter of minutes, it would be over. Their long wait. Sure, it wasn't to plan, but they would escape north in due time after her baby was born, and this time they had a place practically guaranteed. No mystical Zebra chieftain was going to kick Hopeful out of his own home. At least she hoped not. That would be quite strange.

“Look! There it is!” Hopeful refocused Aurora back onto the road ahead, seeing the tips of snow-topped building's appear from beneath the rising horizon.

A warmth filled his heart and eyes at the sight of his old town, he could recognize those building-tops from a mile away, which he nearly was in fact doing as their train sped into town.

Hopeful eased on the break, finding it hard to keep his eyes off the road, but it had to be done for him to retain concentration on a gentle deceleration.

A screech and grinding of metal came through the padding of snow surrounding the wheels, painfully pulling the train to rest. Hopeful excitedly brought Auri out of her seat to bring her outside.

He hoisted all of his bags and things around his back once more, retightening his coat and aiding Auri in putting hers on, including her Earth Pony disguise, seeing as they were about to enter a huge Earth Pony town. Then once they were finally ready, he kicked open the door and hopped down into the snow.

He turned his head upward and searched around, met by a familiar assortment of buildings nearing the town’s edge, all covered head to hoof in an unfamiliar coating of snow, not a single path trodden or roof wiped cleared in far too long.

“What...” He questioned to himself in a whisper.

“Hopeful…?” Aurora called for him, sharing in his confusion while simultaneously requesting his aid in descending from the top of the door's ladder.

Hopeful quickly helped her down, his worry never leaving his face.

“We need to get to my farm.” he informed her with a determined hope, refusing to believe they had gotten his town.

He quickly began guiding her into the town, the high snow making it a tedious task, taking a long and tiring length of time to even arrive at the town hall. The entire thing was bombed down to bits, not a standing pillar holding it up any longer.

Hopeful tried his hardest to ignore that sight as he pressed on right past it with Auri, visible anger and despair fighting for room in his head as his resentment grew for the ponies that did this to his town.

The place was barren and lifeless, their crunching of snow in their trot the loudest noise, bar a few grunts and coughs coming from the slowly enraging Hopeful as he spotted several other bombed in buildings, the blast seemingly random in their targets but generally focused in the center of the village. Hopeful wondered if that meant his farm was safe, being on the far outskirts.

They made it to the dead-still farmland within the hour, not a spur through the snow-topped entrance since Hopeful's departure. It gave him a small upswing in hope as they sprinted through the long, painstaking trot up to the farmhouse.

Upon arrival, they found themselves on Hopeful's old porch, the old chair he used to sit out and watch the sunrise and sunset with his daughter still unmoved, a thick snow sheet sitting on its surface.

And while it was clear no Pegasian bombs were dropped over his homestead, the weather decline showed the same luck-driven mercy.

The winds of hurricanes and blizzards had shattered his windows, along with his roof, which collapsed in some areas, leaving the house to build up with months and months of snow, making the place uninhabitable.

Hopeful didn't mourn, though. He wasn't going to bother shedding another tear, no matter how much it hurt.

He dragged Auri down to the barn, its unharmed roof a mere red-herring of hope, as once they had gotten close enough, they found a partly blown open door, the locks apparently not enough to have kept back the winter demons.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!” Hopeful kicked in some fencing inside of the barn. The two of them rested there. While it was also filled with snow and below freezing, it gave a light layer of isolation from the air outside.

“Hopeful...” Aurora called for him, feeling particularly weak.

“What, Auri? Tell me. What am I supposed to do? I have no fucking clue, ‘cause every time I think we have a fucking chance with any damn solution to this whole fucking thing, it's thrown back in our faces! It's bullshit!” He finished yelling and pacing around the barn, catching a concerned glance from Aurora. Hopeful realized he was being aggressive, which he regretted. “I'm sorry. I just... I just need a moment.”

Aurora conceded him that, finding a spot to rest against the wall while Hopeful wandered around his old barn for a while, inspecting a year's worth of no maintenance in this weather, each crack and snow filled crevice earning a remorseful gaze from Hopeful.

“We'll find some place, Hopeful... We will. I know it.” Aurora spoke up to him, trying to break him out of the painful nostalgia he held with the place.

“We have to. There's no question about it,” Hopeful agreed aloud while stroking an oakwood pillar jutting out from the barn’s inner wall. Sighing heavily, he decided it was time to let go. “And we shouldn't waste time finding it. Let's go.”

Hopeful approached her again and helped her up to a stand. He then promptly headed to the large door and held it ajar for Auri.

“Don't you want to say goodbye to your home first?” she asked, his lack of hesitation surprising her. Hopeful always seemed the sentimental type.

“This isn't my home anymore, Auri. Me and you still have to find our home.” He creaked the door open by another inch, prompting Aurora to step out, Hopeful shortly following.

They found themselves in the train before sunset.

For the rest of the day, they passed town after town in their little train engine, each of them abandoned, bombed and left to waste. Hopeful felt an overwhelming dread, knowing that this was what they were fighting against. This was the battle he had run from, and now his country had been raped. Each town or village was stripped for food and forgotten by even his own race, who he hoped would appear from behind the horizon at any second, but they never did. How far south they've been evacuated, he may never know.

The sun began to dawn and they were still traveling, the coal needed to continue beginning to run noticeably short. They rode their black, steel train head into the never ending void, which seemed to kill even the sun as it became impossible to see a thing out of their windows. They could be traveling right past a town bursting with ponies and life and they wouldn't know it.

Aurora still sat in the driver's seat, holding a hoof around her large belly, feeling the baby's warmth radiating through. “We'll find some place in the morning; I know it,” Aurora attempted to assure Hopeful's painful doubt, barely being able to keep up her own sense of hope.

“I don't know anymore...” Hopeful was too tired to cry, but he wished he could.

“We can't give up, even if it seems to be all lost. You taught me that.” Aurora tried to find the old, unstoppable, confident soldier Hopeful once was.

“I...” And while it was hard to see, deep down, he was still there. “I know...”

“Why don't you tell me another story? It'll take your mind off things,” she suggested.

Hopeful let out a losing huff of laughter, “I think I already told you them all... I don't think I can think of anything else.”

Aurora softly reminded him. “The last story I remember was when you told me how your wife and daughter died. You haven't yet told me about you being recruited.” Aurora placed a hoof onto his foreleg, trying to show her empathy.

Hopeful smirked, the sadness in his eyes being a sensation he now could look upon with nostalgia. “Yeah... Sure.” He took a minute to collect himself before he began with his tale.

“It was about mid day, a bit later when I found myself on that train platform. I had nopony. I barely knew what i was doing... I met a pony named Spring on that train, and at first I didn't like him but... Eventually, he'd save my life, so, you know...”

Hopeful sighed and motioned his gaze over to Auri, seeing her tiresome yet perky eyebrows invested in him telling his story.

“Well, we were on the train and it was about, I dunno, the middle of the night or something, kind of like it is now...” Hopeful noticed, he thought the coincidence was quite quaint. “And then the train had to stop...” His speech slowed down, becoming a whisper as he tried his hardest to remember something, his eyes growing in worry.

Aurora was made concerned by proxy, “Hopeful? What's wrong? Why did the train have to stop?” She asked, assuming his problem arose with that memory.

“Because... OH FUCK!” Hopeful leapt at the train's break, pulling it down with all of his might.

The scrape of metal rushing against metal burned through the atmosphere as they began to decelerate, the ice and snow covering the tracks making it harder as the train continued to slide forward. In the next few seconds, Hopeful and Aurora, who was already projecting a protective barrier around the two of them, felt the weight of the train succumb to gravity as it slumped down into the crater created by the Pegasian Lightning shell that was dropped on the these tracks nearly a year ago. Thankfully, they had slowed down enough for this to be a mere bump and bruise, and not a bone-crushing death caused by flying into the ground at nearly a hundred kilometers per hour.

Hopeful and Aurora took a moment to let the dust settle as the two of them now sat upon the train's upturned windshield.

“Hopeful..?” Aurora spoke out in a shuddery panic.

“Yeah, I know,” he grunted as his back cracked, bringing his body up from the rubble.

The train was sunk into a large, snow-filled bowl formed in the world's crust by the explosive magnitude of a Lightning shell. The fire in the train's engine had now gone out, and anything not bolted against something else had crashed down along with Hopeful and Aurora onto the train's downward-pointing front face.

The two of them spent a long while slowly climbing their way out of the sideways cabin door and crawling out onto the snow.

Once Hopeful had gotten Aurora onto the security of flat ground, he bothered to finally assess the damage, seeing the completely toppled over train-head stuck into this several meter deep crater made it really hard to remain positive about his situation.

“Well... Shit.” He sighed, too tired to be overly disappointed.

“W-what now?” Aurora gently asked, a shiver already drowning her frail tongue.

“I...” He dropped his head, feeling a hopelessness wave over him as no answer immediately followed.

After a few seconds of his mind reorganizing itself he struck upon something, “I have an idea...” Hopeful searched for the direction in which the tracks lead, seeing a painfully familiar treeline in the extreme distance, the weather clear enough for the trees’ outlines to stick out like an assortment of fiery beacons. “I've been here before! My old military training base is up just ahead!” he yelled out in sudden and explosive excitement, Aurora finding herself sharing in his overwhelming joy as she was lead forward.

They marched forward together with all of the energy they had built up in reserve from the comfort of their train cabin. Hopeful knew the journey would last about an hour just to break the treeline, but one hour felt like minutes, compared to what he'd been through. They passed several other craters as a result of stray Lightning shells being dropped all over nopony's land. Hopeful pushed through with immense strength, contrasting to Auri, who began to fall behind.

“Come on, Auri! We have to keep up the pace! We're nearly there!” he shouted back, noticing her stop and collapse to a knee. He quickly attended her, dashing back and hoisting her up around his shoulder; if he had to walk her there he would. He didn't care if trotting felt more like being impaled with nails than moving forward. “Come on, just a few more minutes, Auri.” He tried motivating her shaking body to keep going, but just a few steps later, she fell from his grip and into the snow, her face completely covered as she panted for air. The cold burned the inside of her throat as she forced the breath down.

Hopeful stopped and took his time as he dug his head down and hoisted Aurora's body up, pulling her onto his back so that her belly would lay on Hopeful's spine, her forelegs hanging off of one of his sides and hind legs, the other, now completely hanging loose, Hopeful supporting one hundred percent of her weight.

He continued as such, pushing their combined weight through the snow, and he did it with a grin. He didn't need anypony to help him this time as he marched all the way into the forest. Sure, his back felt like it was to collapse at any moment, and the fact that his legs were shaking with the intensity of earthquakes definitely didn't help, but he felt like a fucking war hero once he had stepped into the forest, instantly falling down, leaving Aurora tumbling into the snow beside him.

He panted and clung onto every bit of air for every moment it would last, his heart pumping like a shotgun blast every portion of a second.

They rested up until Hopeful regained his breath, stumbling into a stand as he checked up on Aurora, who looked up to him with a tiresome smile.

“Thank... you...” she praised him, amazed by his determination.

“We're not there yet; we've got to get to the hatch...” Hopeful quickly spilled out before latching onto another fleeting breath, giving Aurora the necessary help in order for her to stand.

Once she had her right hoof tightly wrapped around his neck, the two of them were confident enough to continue.

Aurora found herself in a violent coughing fit as she was dragged through the rotted, lifeless forest. She'd been getting sicker by the day, and her condition reached its peak in urgency. Her skin was below freezing, she had trouble speaking and keeping herself awake, her body beginning to deteriorate at the expense it was being pushed to.

But it's all going to get better, Hopeful thought. They were going to get into his old bunker and she'd be warm and safe. Then, in a few days, once her condition improved, she would give birth and Hopeful would help her take care of Lil' Midnight until they could finally return to their original plan and escape to the north. He was so engrossed with this train of thought that he could barely hear Aurora calling his name.

“Hopeful...” she whispered into his ear, him finally taking notice and stopping their trot.

“What is it, Auri?” he impatiently spat out, he hated the prospect of wasting time right now.

“T-the... b... baby...” she muttered. Hopeful noticed that she was clutching her stomach and contorting in great physical pain.

Hopeful swiftly eased her down to lie with her back against a tree. It provided a small and irrelevant point of comfort, and she felt the worst contractions she'd had yet. She could barely help but scream a whimpering, pain-filled scream as she felt it get stronger.

“Auri what's happening? Are you okay?” Hopeful promptly asked, trying to understand how he could help the situation.

“It's...” She struggled to speak as her pains burned again and again, small screams of agony leaving her every few breaths. While she wished to chalk it up to only be some extreme contractions that would pass soon, that was quickly changed as she felt a new and horrifying sensation.

“What's wrong?!” Hopeful yelled out as saw Auri's eyes bolt open, her mouth stuck in an open shock.

“M-my...” Her stutter overpowered her as she desperately tried to answer, mustering up the strength with a few breaths.

“M-my water... b-broke...”

A Hopeful Twist

“W-what do you mean? You're about to give birth?! Like, right now?!” Hopeful questioned the downed and pain-stricken mare.

“Y-yes... I... I... t-think so...” Aurora wasn't quite sure of herself, never having felt the sensation before, but every instinct in her body was telling her it was time; she was close and there was no stopping it now.

“Holy shit! Holy shit... Okay, we've got to get to the base fast. There’s a medical ward where you can give birth there. We'll be fine. Come on!” Hopeful went to reach for her, trying to bring her up to walk. He was highly confused when she held up a hoof to stop him.

“Will... there be... a... a d-doctor?” she asked him while keeping him at bay.

“Y-yes! Of course!” Hopeful answered as if that was a good thing.

“E-earth... Pony?” she continued, doing nothing but increasing his confusion as he failed to grasp her problem.

“Y-yeah?” he blundered out, watching her frail movements closely.

Aurora reached deep into herself to pull out a sparkle of magic that sparked off of her horn, drawing Hopeful's attention to it.

“Oh...” She broke through to him. For a second, he was frozen to the spot and devoid of movement or life, his brain clogging up with an overload of realization and emotion. “I... I... I'm so sorry! I fucking forgot!” He stuck a hoof up to rub against his head, feeling a migraine begin to swell and tears burn up from beneath his eyes. “I so fucking stupid I'm sorry!” He began his apology, sitting down in front of her and holding onto her hoof. “I forgot they'd kill you! I'm so fucking dumb. I'm sorry... FUCK!” He slammed both of his hooves into his eyes, rubbing them intensely. “What do we do!?” He kicked his way up to a raging pace, hitting a nearby tree and yelling, his face smeared from crying.

“Hopeful...” Aurora called out as he ran off to work out his emotion.

“AGHH! We're fucked! We can't... AGHH!” He kicked and bucked the tree once more before his legs gave in and he slid down against the tree to sit opposite of Aurora, finding her eye's begging for his attention.

“Hopeful...” she whispered again.

“What?!” he nearly lashed out on her with pure tone, anger and disappointment strongly projecting through the single word.

“Do... y-you h... have a... kn-knife?” The snow that had melted against her skin hid the tears that were trickling down her cheeks.

“W-what..?” Hopeful snapped out of his tormenting trance, the question really worrying him.

“D-do you..?” she repeated, a scary determination in the way she said it.

“Yes... Why? What do you...” He stopped as he saw her head fall and her horn promptly stick out toward him. “No... I... You... You can't be serious.”

“J-j... just do it-t... q-quickly...” She barely got out through the wail she found herself in, sharply gasping and quickly releasing a shuddering cry after.

“Holy shit...” Hopeful stumbled up. There was no time to argue. If he had to do this, he wasn't going to fuck up their situation even harder by stalling the inevitable.

He ran over and chucked his bags into the snow beside her, throwing the contents out wildly in search of his blade, finding it tucked in deep, wrapped in a cloth. He pulled it out and revealed the crystal clean blade from it's cloth sheath, grabbing it the handle tightly into his jaw. Hastily passing the cloth over to Aurora in order for her to have something to bite down on, this was going to hurt.

Like, really fucking hurt.

Hopeful pulled Aurora from the tree to lie straight down onto the snow, her back sitting in a crust of icy snow. She had already sealed her eyes shut, and felt the thin, crisp blade press against the very base of her horn, waiting still for her approval to remove the appendage which used to hold all of her pride.

She nodded with the little room she had to do so, awaiting Hopeful to act.

With a sharp, unforgettable, visceral instant, all pain in her body had vanished, the molten, simmering inferno of melting nerves that bled out of the chip in her horn had overshadowed it completely. The knife dug into the nearly two-inch thick bone with a bloody grit. Like a muscle being torn by its ends, a feeling of a thick ligament being brutally sliced open as the knife went back and forth its first of many times. The blade barely even indented into her horn, but the nerve it gutted didn't seem to care any less.

It hurt Hopeful to hear Aurora weep and squeal helplessly, he couldn't keep his eyes open as he held her down by the shoulders and went to dig deeper through her horn with his standard issue Earth Pony combat knife.

Hopeful jutted his head to the side and down, feeling the knife in his jaw progress further into the horn. Aurora kicked at him erratically as she lost control of the pain. The cloth gag in her mouth turned her pain-filled screams into miserable, muffled groans.

Hopeful felt the bone begin giving in, the serrated edge finding an ease to its work as it passed the hard outer shell and burrowed itself into the softer marrow.

At about the halfway point, Aurora felt a new sensation that devilishly amplified her misery. Her energy, the magic inside of her that she had spent her life becoming familiar with, began pouring out of her leaking skull. Violently sparks struck out and singed Hopeful's face. He had to back away quickly to avoid having his eyes scorched out.

In a chaotic flurry of arcane lightning, Aurora's magic fled out of her like passengers from a sinking ship.

Hopeful jumped and grabbed the knife now lodged half way through her horn, and found it shockingly easy to slam it the rest of the way through. Her horn fell into the snow, dead as a nail.

Hopeful fell down and dropped his knife, just watching Auri, making sure she was still fighting. She was panting, the pain still obvious, but unexpressed. Her wobbling hoof rose up to pat down on her forehead. It was the strangest feeling, as she found nothing there, despite the phantom of her horn remaining imprinted in her psyche.

All of a sudden, she once again jolted to her stomach, and while it did still hurt, contractions felt like pin pricks compared to what had just happened to her.

Hopeful sat up and began hoisting Aurora to her hooves and trotted with her with as much speed as they could muster in their combined efforts to move forward. Time was still of the essence, now more than ever.

They didn't even bother to pick up the detached horn before they dashed off to find the whereabouts of Hopeful's old training base.

Hopeful screamed out in joyful relief as he found the snow-topped hatch hidden in the dirt just where he had remembered it.

Aurora also rejoiced in whatever small way a grievously pregnant, barely conscious mare could as she was carried to it.

Hopeful kicked against its surface with a back leg, the dusty snow being disturbed and hopping up with the force. “HEY! LET US IN, PLEASE!” he yelled down at the hatch, hoping there was somepony to hear him.

A surprised and muffled voice came from inside, quickly followed by hooves pacing up the stairs before the hatch was flung open, a distressed, rifle-wielding Earth Pony soldier being revealed from beneath.

He aimed up his rifle at the two of them, “Who are you two?”

“She's about to give birth! We need a doctor! Right now!” Hopeful demanded, keeping Aurora propped up with his hooves.

The soldier turned to Aurora and examined her quickly, she was definitely pregnant and sick, that was clear, and a glance to her exposed sides and forehead confirmed she was an Earth Pony. The soldier dropped his rifle, it falling around to his side, hanging by its sling. He then ran up to hold Aurora by her other side. “Come on, you'll be alright!” he assured them. Aurora was effortlessly dragged down the staircase and into the dull bunker by Hopeful and the soldier.

Hopeful was overcome with an immense sense of déjà vu as he trotted into such familiar halls after so long, he would reminisce if he wasn't extraordinarily occupied with Aurora right now.

He sprinted past confused soldiers down a thin corridor, having to shove them just to squeeze past. The hall barely supported the three of them being side-by-side inside of it. He blitzed past the barracks he slept in for all of his training and several other doors before arriving at the infirmary.

“Doc, we've got a situation here!” the soldier called out and banged against the infirmary door.

It flew open to reveal a shockingly familiar face wrapped in a doctor's robes.

“SPRING?!?” Hopeful exclaimed, seeing Spring Step for the first time in nearly a year.

“Hopeful? What's happening?!?” he begged.

Hopeful shook his head. “Look, she's pregnant and her water just broke. Can you help?”

“Y-yeah, of course! Bring her in!” He stepped out of the way. A nurse came to help the soldier in bringing Aurora to a bed. Hopeful was left empty-hoofed as Aurora was taken from him. He went to step in the room, but Spring stopped him. “We'll talk after. Right now, you'd just distract me and I need to concentrate. Stay outside!” He didn't even wait for Hopeful to respond before slamming the door shut in his face.

It all happened so fast he couldn't keep up. Hopeful backed against the wall and took a moment to process the events that had just occurred.

His thoughts remaining frazzled for quite some time as he sat out there, listening to the nurses and Spring Step scream and sprint around the infirmary, along with Aurora's pitiful moans of pain underlying each tone.

Hopeful lost sense of time. He couldn't tell if he sat there for a few dozen minutes or a few dozen hours. The sounds coming from the infirmary too gargled behind the thick stone walls to make distinctions, and nopony dared to disturb the stallion that just trotted in with a pregnant mare, so he was alone in his trance, drifting across the endless horizon of his mind like a lost wanderer with the only tool guiding them being Hope itself.

Eventually, Aurora had stopped screaming. It was an event that passed so unceremoniously Hopeful didn't even react, nearly failing to realize what was occurring as a foal's first cries came muffled from inside, a sound which Hopeful had not so long forgotten, yet deeply missed.

It could have been an hour, as far as Hopeful could tell, that he continued to sit out there, not willing to screw up by busting in through the door unwanted, and with great denial neither was he prepared to see the foal, he wasn't ready for that, let alone any of this. He was honestly terrified.

And all of a sudden, as if time had been frozen up until that point and it all came crashing back into itself, Hopeful watched a tired, mentally exhausted Spring Step softly ease the door open and exit to the hall, looking down into Hopeful's eyes with great concern.

“Hopeful...” he began.

“Is the baby okay? Is Aurora alright?!” He promptly rose up to Springs eye level, his serious tone worrying him.

“I have good news, bad news, and something I can't understand...” He struggled to decide which to tell first, but Hopeful was willing to eagerly wait for him to make his decision. “Bad news... Your friend, she...” He sighed, as if he held some disappointment in himself. “She didn't make it...”

“Auri..?” Hopeful immediately felt his eyes water. In an unspoken manner, he almost expected this. He had worried about her health for the greater part of a year now, but hearing it aloud felt as if it broke bones.

“Good news... The babies are healthy... Which brings me to the other good news: it was... twins.” He trailed off into a tone of reserved confession at the end, having one last important note he hadn't her told his old friend.

“Twins?” Hopeful let out a dimming smile.

“And well... I think you need to see the last thing for yourself, because you probably wouldn't believe me if I just told you...”

Spring led a flustered and deprived Hopeful through the infirmary's seal. Once he had entered, he could see everything. An empty, stained medical bed covered in loose equipment sat in the center of the room, a dark zipped up body bag laying on a morgue stone off to the side, his lost friend presumably inside. His heart was pulled towards her, his hooves being led by Spring in the opposite way, his soul tearing in two.

But whatever Spring wished to show him was apparently incredible enough to have drawn a crowd of several nurses to observe.

Once Spring arrived with Hopeful, he shooed the others off with a short expression of mumbles and gestures, leaving whatever was so amazing alone for the two of them. Hopeful approached, emotionally unstable. He was utterly confused and scared. He couldn't survive any more heartbreak.

He stood against the polished countertop Spring brought him to, where a large, fresh, white cloth acted as a mattress to the two tiny filly foals curled up on top, newly washed and wrapped up in a blanket each.

One was a pristine, white-coated baby with the beginning nubs of a pink mane sprouting from their head, her horn slightly longer than usual for Unicorns of this age. She looked tired, as if she had just spent the last hour crying herself out.

The other bore a coat of a midnight-navy hue, a deep, dark, beautiful blue that contrasted against the lighter blue mane only beginning to sprout from the top of her head. The set of dark, navy wings poking out from beneath the towel looked powerful. Surely, she'd grow to be a proud and powerful flyer of a Pegasus. She looked snug, as if she didn't make a sound before effortlessly falling asleep after being born.

“I didn't think it was possible... For an Earth Pony to give birth to a Pegasus and Unicorn... But here we are,” Spring expressed to an infatuated Hopeful, who was probably too busy crying his eyes out to hear him.

Hopeful grabbed Spring and squeezed him into a tight hug, “T-thank you...”

Spring felt fairly taken back, but he was quick to adjust. “No worries, dude...” He hugged back, making Hopeful feel slightly better. “I'm sorry about your friend. I assume you two were close...” he added, getting a nod of agreement from Hopeful, who dug his crying eyes into his friend’s shoulder. “If you need some time alone...” Spring selflessly offered.

“No... It's okay...” Hopeful reassured him, building up the courage to let go of the hug.

They both found themselves glancing towards Aurora's covered body in the same moment, Spring speaking on it first. “Were you two... close?”

“Yeah... You can say that...” He wiped away at his face. It was soaked completely from tears. He sniffed and swallowed, trying to retain some composure.

“I'm really sorry we couldn't do much... She was already too far gone. She really fought though.” Spring began to feel queasy, staring at the corpse, swaying his head off to the side. “Where have you been? It's been... a while.”

“I was traveling for a while... I, uh... I stumbled onto these two ponies. Aurora and her fiancé... Shit went down and, well... We ended up here.” Hopeful's eyes stayed tightly fixed onto Aurora's wrapped up body, he felt a lot of emotions right now. “What about you..? How did you end up back here?”

“We had a good few battles, the old crew. Basalt got a bomb dropped on her. That was pretty fucking terrible. She didn't even get the decency of dying quickly... Fury saved my fucking life, jumping in front of a unicorn shot... We were split up pretty soon after that. I was put over here to train combat medics and I think Glisten got posted in some town north-east of here...”

They shared a respectful minute of silence for all of their fallen allies, hearts hanging low.

Behind them, a baby began to cry. They both glanced over to find that the pale-coated one had awoken and began unleashing a low-level tantrum. Hopeful found a solitude of joy in hearing her voice; at least it wasn't all for nothing.

“That one's ten minutes older,” Spring mentioned. “Just in case you wanted to know.”

Hopeful nodded, a brief chuckle at remembering how anti-dramatic Spring's personality could be. His tears being warmed. “They're beautiful, aren't they?”

“I didn't think I'd say this about foals of other races, but yeah, they are pretty precious... What do you want to do about them? I can't keep them. I'm still too young to be a father.” He couldn't help but joke.

“I don't know... I'll need to bring them somewhere safe and secluded... Keep them away from other ponies... Cause, you know.” Hopeful trotted toward the table that held the two gorgeous little fillies wrapped up in warm, clean blankets.

He saw the pale one softly cry in the innocent way only a baby can, and feeling his fatherly instincts kick in, he began cooing her back to sleep, brushing her lightly with his hoof, making a gentle shushing with his mouth. In a few moments, she was soothed, giving Hopeful the chance to give the other some attention, stroking the frail feather's of the darker filly. “Aurora told me if it was a girl she wanted to name her Luna... Good name for her, don't you think?” His voice was still hoarse and cracked, the pride of a grieving warrior shining through his sadness.

“Yeah, pretty fitting... Did Aurora by any chance have a second idea for a name? Or like a runner up or something?” he smiled at him.

Hopeful looked away from the dark-blue, small filly, Luna, and raised his eyebrow to the pale-white, still to be named filly. An idea popping into his mind. “Spring?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you remember the name of that filly that Quick killed..?” His tone dropped to a somber echo in remembrance of the pain of that moment.

“I think it was like, sun something...” he pondered.

“Wasn't it like... Celestia?” Hopeful's ear's perked up a the sound of that. It sounded right.

“I think so, yeah,” Spring agreed.

“Celestia... Yeah... I feel like she deserves a second chance...” He scratched the newly named filly behind her ear. She seemed to enjoy it as her newborn fear, which tensed up her entire body, eased.

Spring patted Hopeful on the back. “Everypony does.”

Hopeful playfully rolled his damp eyes at the corny truth Spring spoke. He redirected his smile onto the two newborns. “Celestia and Luna... Welcome to the world, girls... Let's hope you kick its ass...” He felt a warm goodness inside of his body. He wouldn't let Aurora down; he would raise these two as if they were his own.

“Oh!” Spring hopped up as an idea came to him. “I think I know what you can do... There is this expedition Chancellor Puddinghead is funding. She's gathering a small portion of our army to travel up north and see if there is good land there to grow crops, the chancellor is going herself too. A train's coming in a few days to pick up volunteers, I'm sure if you hide Luna and Cel... Cet... gimme a second I'm trying to think of how to shorten Celestia... Cel... Es... Tia, Tia! Yeah, I'm sure you can hide Luna and Tia and go up there. If there's good land, you'll get a farmhouse and all built and you three can be, practically, completely alone.”

“R-really?” Hopeful couldn't believe what he was hearing, it sounded too perfect.

“Yeah! You can hide them in my quarters until it comes around...” Spring turned to the rest of his staff expectantly. “And I'm sure nopony is going to tell, right?”

He received a dazed nod from everypony in the room. They were still too far in disbelief to be able to tell anypony.

Hopeful jumped up onto Spring and wrapped his two grateful hooves around him. “Thank you so much...” A large smile was imprinted onto his face.

“You're welcome dude... I'm just glad you're alive.” Spring smiled back.

“You know what? So am I.”

Aurora was buried later that day, outside in the forest, Hopeful got the chance to pay his respects to the best Unicorn he ever knew.

Spring and Hopeful caught up with much greater detail over the next few days, Hopeful telling him every part of his journey, and vice versa. The two of them both realized how much they had missed each other. They could chat for hours on end and at no point would they tire.

Hopeful quickly found it to be a joy to be taking care of a child again, the love for his two new nieces growing to be unbreakable within minutes. And while he was forced into secrecy while having a baby Unicorn and Pegasus inside of a military base, once he hopped onto the northbound train with a basket of blankets hiding his the two fillies he was smuggling, everything proceeded smoothly. The foals, even if little Celestia was a bit rambunctious at times, were very compromising and gave very little hassle to Hopeful in any of this. They made it out without another single pony knowing about Celestia and Luna than there already was.

Hopeful said goodbye to Spring Step, hoping to see him in the ''new world'', as they were calling it, one day. He was promised in return that Spring would get there and visit the first thing once the war had ended.

He was finally brought into the beautiful, snowless paradise he dreamed of for the last year. He cried as he trotted into clear plains of glossy grass that reached out to hug the horizon.

He was given a small plot of land by the government near the Earth Ponies’ first settlement, known as "Appleloosa", named after the native apple trees found there. He farmed once more in his life, one of the many now supplying the masses with fresh fruit and hay. The farm supported him and his two girls quite well. They didn't starve or go cold for another day since. It was more than he could have ever asked for.

Hopeful Twist, the stallion who lost more loved ones than he could forget, and his two gorgeous little girls, Luna M. Eclipse and Celestia A. Sunshine, were finally safe and happy, together. And ever since, Hopeful had not another single nightmare. Instead, he had sweet dreams of holding Wicker in his hooves every night, and she was proud of him.

The war ended shortly after, as the events of Hearth's Warming took place. The three tribal leaders, Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and their respective servants found themselves confronting each other atop the most grand mountain in the new world, freezing themselves with their hate and discovering the warmth of friendship, deciding to end the war outright. It was, in fact, a new world. A world ran by all three Pony races equally and with care and respect for one another.

They called it "Equestria."

Prologue

Long before the founding of Equestria, before Hearth’s Warming, the three pony tribes lived together, but separate. Earth ponies were the only ones who could grow crops and cultivate the land. Pegasi were able to manipulate and create weather and, as exchange for rain, they got food from earth ponies. Unicorns could raise the sun and the moon, which they did also in exchange for food. Life was peaceful for each of the pony tribes, but, apart from the trade of essentials the tribes had no further interest in each other. In fact, they were resentful toward each other, which was why they were easy prey for the wendigos.

The sky was covered in frozen storm clouds. The soil had grown infertile. The three tribes thrashed the blame on each other, saying the Earth ponies were hogging the food, the Pegasi were destroying the weather, and the Unicorns were using their magic to ruin everything else. With this, the wendigos had more hatred than they ever could have wished to feed off, creating a frozen tundra encompassing the entire homeland of the ponies.

Some say it started when the Pegasi raided Earth pony barns and stole their food supplies. Others claim it was when the Earth ponies attacked the Unicorn royal castle. The rest agree it began when the Unicorns started using magic to create super-weapons. It depends on which historian you ask, and whether or not they have wings or a horn.

Author's Note

And dear reader, that is the story behind the one we all know.

Hopeful has become a pretty important pony over the last few months, after Celestia and Luna were proven to both be in line for royalty, being the daughters of Aurora Sunshine and Midnight Eclipse (Aurora, which I was lead to believe was an Earth pony up until Hopeful had explained to me everything). Now Hopeful is a very well respected negotiator and leader of this brave new world we are watching unfold. And I do hope that this biography will allow more ponies to understand why this brilliant stallion is how he is. I'm personally ecstatic to be able to call myself his friend.

I would like to thank Hopeful in helping me to write his autobiography. It took a long time to get all of his story onto paper, so I thank him for the hours of patience he had. I would also like to thank Wicker for giving me the idea of writing this. I used the notes she was writing for her own novel about Hopeful, back when she was still with us. They were really the core of this book. But most of all, I thank the countless soldiers who gave their lives to protect others. The bravery of my fellow stallions and mares saved my life countless times during the war, and my gratitude lies with them eternally.

And, to the rest of the world, let us learn from our mistakes, and let the fear that drove us away bring us closer in the future in hopes of ridding ourselves of evil. We are all of the same blood. Wing, horn or hoof, we are all brothers and sisters regardless.

I will leave you with a photograph of my old regiment that was thankfully recovered from the war.

Thank you for reading,
Spring Step