Prologue
All was quiet that night as the teal earth pony walked down the old dirt path. The path, covered in freshly laid snow, making crunching-like sounds underneath the pony’s tired hooves. Tall grass, taller than he could ever imagine surrounded him on both sides, but he was not here for the sight seeing. As he continued down the path, he finally reached his destination; a jagged rock on top of a steep hill, the place that he would always go to when he was most distressed.
As he watched the snow continuing to fall, he began to wonder why, why it was that he had this wretched life. But his mind did not wander for long, as his eyes caught a glimpse of a shooting star. Clasping his hooves together, he shut his eyes tight and began to wish. Normally, he wouldn’t believe in such things like wishing upon a star, but tonight, he felt as though something different was going to happen.
The star shot out of sight as the pony opened his eyes, a smile on his face. The pony felt at ease once more. Satisfied, he began to walk back to his tiny home on the edge of town where his loving wife would be waiting for him.
Quite far from the world of pony kind, was a world currently being torn apart by war. Fortunately that wouldn’t be the case for very much longer. A figure laid still underneath some fallen rubble, waiting for its prey to come by. Soon enough, another figure, this time grey, came running down the street, escaping the battle it had just come from.
The figure that had been staying still held her breath, wrapped her finger around the trigger, and was ready to shoot. She watched the prey carefully through the lens of her trusted rifle, waiting for a chance to end its life. Lining up the shot and about to pull the trigger, voices came from the other end of the street, causing her to stop.
“Verräter!” (“Traitor!”) A loud bang rang echoed throughout the street as the grey figure slowly fell over dead. The sniper let out her breath, relieved but upset. Soon, three other grey figures ran past the fallen figure in the direction of battle. Another hour passed as she was forced to go back to her superior for more orders thanks to the advancement of her comrades.
The earth pony finally reached his home, a little quaint house at the edge of the forest, and only about a mile from the nearby village that was subsection of the city that was even further away. The earth pony looked over to the work-shed that he so proudly built in his earlier years, back when he had found out that his talents were in carpentry. He wished he could continue looking at his achievement, but the bitter cold and harsh realities forced him to slowly trot over to the front door of his house. Pushing the door open, he saw that the inside of the house was pitch black, his wife fast asleep in the bedroom.
Sighing out of exhaustion and depression, he began to go to the back of the house where the bedroom was. Upon entering the room, he placed the scarf that was knitted by his wife up on the coat rack on the wall, then, climbed into bed next to the navy blue unicorn who had fallen asleep hours ago. He leaned over and kissed the mare on the cheek before placing his head on his pillow, drifting into the only place he felt safe in the world.
The sniper ran through the ruined streets of the bombarded city. Careful to make sure that she hadn’t been seen, she would slip in and out of the shadows, always vigilant in the search of more potential targets.
Although she had been trained to do otherwise, she knew she wouldn’t be any help if she stayed in one spot long enough. It was the final battle of the war, and her army needed every single able body to fight in order to finally bring down the last of the Fascist reign of their enemies.
After running for some time, the sniper heard the sounds of battle nearby and began to run in the direction of which the sounds came from. Finally laying eyes on a target nearly 300 feet away from her, she took cover nearby in some nearby rubble. She then laid down on the ground to get better control of her weapon. Bringing the rifle up to her head, and peering through the scope, she aimed for the head of her target, who had been too busy focusing on the battle ahead of him. After making sure her shot would be perfect, she held her breath, and pulled the trigger.
With a squeeze of the trigger, the rifle went off, and seconds later, the brains of the enemy splattered against a nearby wall. Not realizing that more enemies were around the corner, the sniper got up from her position, ready to move again. It was a fatal mistake.
“Scharfschütze!” (“Sniper!”) A nearby enemy yelled out after witnessing his comrade’s head explode just a few feet away. Any of the sniper’s enemies who were in hiding were able to pull their attention away from the battle, and began to look around for where the shot had come from. Only looking for a few seconds, her enemies found her.
“Dort oben! Der Scharfschütze is dort oben!” (“Up there! The sniper is up there!”) One of the men in grey called out as he pointed towards the sniper. Turning their attention to the sniper, the men who were out of harms way had begun to open fire on the woman.
Cursing herself for making such a foolish mistake, the sniper quickly ducked back down onto the ground as the bullets of Maschinenpistole 40’s and Karabiner 98 Kurz’s began to fly over her head. Thinking all hope was lost, the sniper began to continue sniping her enemies, not caring whether or not she would live through it, only if it meant that she could take a few down with her.
As the bullets went flying above her head, and the sniper continued to gun down the soldiers who were stupid enough to stand still for her, neither her nor her enemies seemed to hear the sound of artillery firing in the background. It wasn’t until seconds as the shells began to fall all around them that did they realize their fate.
As the shells began to rain down all around them, the sniper got up from her position, thinking it was the perfect opportunity to begin moving once again. Unbeknown to her, one of her enemies hadn’t cared about the falling artillery shells, and aimed his rifle towards her back. With the squeeze of the trigger, the bullet was shot and hit the back of the sniper’s leg, bringing her down for her final moments.
Trying her best to get back up, the sniper continued to move, ignoring the freshly-made pain in her leg. The soldier who had shot her wasn’t as lucky as she, as an artillery shell came down on his position, blowing him and anybody around him apart.
The sniper on the other hand, continued to crawl herself away, using the walls of the buildings around her to support her weight. An artillery shell from her own comrades had hit the building she was crawling against as rubble and debris began to fall down on her. As the sniper watched the rubble fall down onto her, her life began to flash before her eyes. With one last breath, the sniper smirked, chuckling at the unfortunate irony of her outcome.
The sun was rising, and its rays penetrated the small house on the edge of the village. Having his eyes disturbed by the natural light, the earth pony from before opened his eyes from slumber. He cursed under his breath, not wanting to wake up to another wretched day of his life, not knowing that the so-called wretched life would turn for better or for worse very soon.
Alright, so here’s the prologue for my new story. Sorry it’s short, but hey, it’s not the real story (yet), so what do you really expect? Anyways, hope I can get the actual first chapter out soon, but it might be a while since this is sort of a side-project I’m doing while I rewrite and continue my ‘main’ project. I’d also like to thank truekry for translating the German in this chapter, and Super Secret Closet Brony for future updates for the Russian. Also like to thank Hydkore and Glassed for pre-reading.
Chapter 1
As the final minutes of night ended, and as the Night Princess was forced to lower her moon over the horizon, the Sun Princess smiled a bit. It was not because it was her time to shine, no, it was because she could sense that somewhere in her beloved country, somepony had gotten their wish granted.
“Is something the matter dear sister?” The Night Princess asked her older sibling as she flapped down onto the balcony where her sister stood. It wasn’t really like the Sun Princess to be smiling so early in the morning, always yawning even after all the time she’s lived and would always hate raising the sun in the morning.
The elder sister shook her head and continued to smile at her sister. “Nothing’s wrong dear Luna.”
“Are you sure sister? You’re usually so serious in the morning; either that or somewhat annoyed that you always have to wake up so soon to do your duties.”
The elder sister chuckled a bit, knowing that her younger sister was right. “Very well Luna, I’ll tell you why I’m such in a happy mood this morning. Did you happen to feel anything last night?”
“Like what?” The younger sister asked, raising an eyebrow as she wondered what her beloved elder sister was about to say.
“I could sense it last night Luna; Somepony had wished upon a star, and because they wished so hard, it seems their wish has come true.”
The elder sister turned her head in the direction of where she felt the strong magic as her younger sister do so too. As they both gazed into the horizon, and as the elder sister used her magic to raise the sun, the younger sister spoke out, knowing her sister was powerful enough to answer the question without losing focus on the sun. “Do you know what they wished for?”
The elder sister continued to smile as she finished bringing the sun up, before turning to her sibling to answer. “Not a clue, dear Luna. As old as we both are, there’s no possible way for anypony besides the pony who makes the wish to know what they wished for.”
“I see…” The younger sister said, looking down as she began to worry.
Sighing, the elder sister saw what the younger sister was worrying about, and put her wing around her sibling, comforting her. “I’m sure nothing bad is going to happen this time Luna. What happened to you all those years ago wasn’t your fault.”
“Was it really sister? Had it not been for that star, perhaps I would have not-“
“No Luna, it wasn’t your fault.” The elder sister interrupted. “You had no idea what was going to happen, and you had every right to be frustrated. It was my fault for not seeing your frustration and not realizing the pain you were going through.” She added, nuzzling her sister.
Looking back up, the younger sister smiled and began to nuzzle her sister back. “Thank you sister…”
The sniper thought she was dead, but the act of thinking and breathing had pretty much proved to herself otherwise. Not wanting to ruin the moment in case she really was dying, she laid still, and began to hear the sounds of birds chirping, no longer the sounds of war. No more gunshots, no more artillery fire, no more treads of tanks rolling over rubble while her comrades sat on the back riding their way into battle, no, everything was peace and quiet. Flicking her eyes open slowly as to not let the sun in too quickly, she began wondering why she was still alive. She knew she was alive because there was no other way to explain why seemed to be breathing and seemed to be unharmed in every way. Granted, that last part made her confused, but she knew she had to put it off for a bit as she got up from lying on the ground.
As she looked around and at herself, she saw that she was still in her uniform, still equipped with her scoped Mosin Nagant, still loaded with two bullets, and an extra twenty in her pack. She also had her trusty knife with her, the one she picked up from the very first German she had killed. She continued to look around to see that she was no longer in the city of Berlin either. She was instead in what seemed to be some kind of woods, where the ground was still covered in snow, and the area seemed to be untouched by man. As she began to let her thoughts wander, she snapped back into reality, realizing that she was lost.
Getting back to the task at hand, the sniper knew she would have to move and find shelter soon. It wasn’t the fear that she wouldn’t find shelter in time that scared her, but she knew she couldn’t be out in the open in case of enemies watching her and ready to ambush. Picking her things up from the ground, she began to move, hoping that luck was on her side.
Back in the small cottage on the edge of the woods near the bustling city, the teal earth pony had finally woken up after his restful slumber. Taking a great, big yawn, the pony turned to his side to see that his wife, as usual, had woken up before him.
Getting up and going into the dining room where his wife had just set down breakfast, he smiled and sat at the table. “Good morning dear.”
His navy blue unicorn wife turned to him and smiled back. “Good morning darling. Have a good rest last night?”
The earth pony nodded. “And you dear?”
“Fine.” She responded as she placed a plate filled with a few straws of hay on the table for her husband. “I’m sorry it isn’t much darling, but with the-“
The earth pony shook his head and placed his hoof on his wife’s lips, silencing her. “It’s not your fault dear. We’re not the only ones who have had this happen, but I assure you, things will change. Iron Bolt was supposed to have come back from Canterlot last night, and then you’ll see.”
“I see…”
Eating the straw his wife had given him, the pony got up from the table and kissed his wife on the cheek before taking the scarf from the bedroom and heading out the door. “I should get going; I want to hear what Iron has to say before work.”
“Alright then darling.” The wife responded, watching her husband walk out the door and close it behind him, before going back to her own work.
As the earth pony walked down the road towards the city, he looked at all the trees around him. It had been several months since the tress were last green, and with the ways things were now, the trees wouldn’t be green for at least several more months. The weather team and the team in charge of clearing up winter were given orders to not do so by the lords of the city. By not clearing up winter, the peasants were forced to buy food from the surrounding cities, giving more money to nobles there in exchange of buying the high-grade iron and steel from Cossackitsyn.
Things were getting worse in the city of Cossackitsyn as the nobles who ruled the surrounding areas were beginning to break various rules and laws so that they could have a tight grip on the population of the city. They had become so filled with greed, and were so far away from the capital or from anypony who cared, that the nobles were able to become corrupt without any repercussions. But that’s not all, anypony who dared to try to complain to the nobles about the way they were being treated would most likely be thrown in jail, or in the rare occasion, be deemed traitors against the state and be hung.
That’s where the pony’s friend, Iron Bolt, comes in. The pony’s friend had stashed away so much money in a secret compartment in his house where the nobles couldn’t find it, that he was finally able to buy a ticket both ways to the capital of their country, Canterlot. There, he would go before the princess they all loved and revered, and tell her of the horrible things that the nobles were doing. Then, when the princess finally heard about the atrocities that the nobles had done, she would swoop down and save the citizens of Cossackitsyn, declaring them free once more.
Suddenly, the pony’s thoughts were cut off, as he saw a fawn off to the side. He smiled at the fawn and waved at it, even though he knew it couldn’t wave back. He was sometimes jealous that he wasn’t born a wild animal, not having to worry about the politics of the world, but he shook those thoughts off as he continued to watch the fawn. The fawn seemed to have noticed him, and began to walk up to the pony. It began to sniff as the pony began to chuckle. “Well, you’re a friendly little fella, aren’t you?” The pony said as he began to brush the coat of the fawn, who in return, began to lick him on the cheek, making the pony laugh some more. “S-Stop it, that tickles.” He said between laughing and trying to push the fawn away.
After successfully pushing the deer away, he began to pet it on the bridge of the nose, continuing to smile at it. “Well, I need to get going; otherwise I’ll be late to work. See you later little guy.” He said, waving goodbye to the fawn as he walked away. Seconds later, he felt a nudge on his side. Turning around, he saw that the fawn had begun to follow him. “No, you can’t come with me.” He told it, but it only seemed to tilt its head in confusion. Sighing, the pony pointed back into the woods and spoke sternly. “Go home.”
The fawn, who seemed to have become sad at the outcome of events, understood and turned back towards the woods. When it turned, it looked back at the pony, trying to give him its best sad face. The only pony only continued to point towards the woods. The fawn lowered its head in defeat and quietly went back into the woods.
The sniper had been walking for a solid hour, with no sign of any way out of the woods so far. There were a few times where she ended up stopping and listened to the sounds around her, to see if she could pick anything up. She would constantly scan the grounds for any type of track that she could follow, but found none so far.
As she continued her walk through the woods, finally, she happened to come across a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. Not knowing whether it was safe or not, she went into a prone position and using her rifle, watched the cottage carefully for any signs of movement from the edge of the woods. Luck seemed to be on her side, as minutes later, someone finally decided to step out of the cottage. What she saw shocked her.
What came out was a small horse, but not just any ordinary small horse. This horse had a teal colored coat, and what seemed to be wearing a scarf around its neck. One final note she made was the piece of art that seemed to have been painted onto the horse’s backside, making her wonder whether or not it was some type of cruel joke. The sniper, trained to always be as calm as possible, continued to watch the small horse. After it had gone far enough for her to safely move, the sniper got up from her position. Using the tree line, she followed the small horse to observe it more.
Continuing her watch, the sniper was shocked even more when she noticed that the horse seemed to be indeed sentient. Not only did it seem to be able to live in a house of sorts, but it also seemed to have a language of its own! At least, she thought it did. All she heard was whinnies and neighs from the teal horse, but it did seem to be communicating to a fawn that had stumbled across the horse’s path.
Being far away enough to not be detected, she was able to observe both species closely using the scope of her rifle once more. She was able to conclude from watching both animals, that only the horse seemed to have the intelligence of a human being, as the fawn seemed to show nothing different from fawns of Earth.
Earth… This entire time she hadn’t even think about the planet, as there was no point to it. Everything she had witnessed seemed to have been the same back on Earth, but with the addition of the teal horse, she began to wonder if she was even on Earth anymore.
With the thought of Earth, the sniper ended up losing seeing where the horse had gone. Cursing herself, she got back up from her hiding position, not even realizing that the fawn from earlier had wandered near her. It seemed to begin cowering at the sight of her, making her wonder. Usually, deer and fawns knew that when an enemy was near, it would run away. This one seemed different.
For whatever reason, the fawn seemed to be not only afraid of the sniper, but confused. It didn’t know what the sniper was, and was too scared to run away.
Deciding to not frighten the fawn anymore and leaving it alone, the sniper turned back in the direction it came from and began to walk back to the cottage to see if anyone else lived in it. The fawn, seeing the new creature walk away without harming it, took this as a message to turn and run, in case the new creature really did intend to harm it.
Going back to where she first saw the cottage, the sniper went back into a prone position and began to wait once again.
After continuing to walk for some time, the teal pony had finally reached his destination; the large steel mill on the edge of Cossacitsyn. Even though his Cutie Mark represented him being in the carpenter field, the city really had no need for his skills, forcing him to work in a field he wasn’t all too familiar with.
Hoping to find his friend Iron before work, the teal pony looked over almost everywhere in the factory, but with no luck. With a heavy sigh, he went back to where his hardhat was, putting it on and going to work with his other co-workers.
“Heya Hammer.” One of his co-workers greeted with a smile.
The teal pony, or Hammer as he was known by, smiled back and nodded. “Hey Bauxite. Hey Alkali.” Continuing to look around for his friend, he turned to his co-workers to ask what had happened. “Either of you guys seen Iron Bolt this morning?”
Both of the co-workers stopped for a second to look at Hammer, then looked at each other with worried faces. Turning back to Hammer, the grey coated earth pony named Bauxite spoke up, continuing to have a worried face on. “You haven’t heard Hammer?”
“Heard what?”
This time, the magenta earth pony named Alkali answered. “Baron Yerik heard about Iron Bolt’s plan before he ever got on the train. He never made it to Canterlot. It’s been an entire week since it happened, we assumed that you knew.”
A look of horror struck Hammer’s face. Did his oldest friend really get captured? Did he really not make it to Canterlot? Not knowing anything else, he reluctantly continued to ask what happened. “W-What happened to him? Where is he now? What about his wife and son?”
With a heavy sigh, Bauxite answered. “Rumor has it that Baron Yerik captured Iron before he stepped onto the train, taking him back to his mansion. He was supposedly tortured there until he passed away. As for his wife and kid…”
“You’ve heard the stories about Yerik’s son, right?” Alkali asked.
Hammer seemed to have frozen up hearing this. “No…” He said in disbelief. He knew the stories, but he didn’t want to believe it.
Alkali nodded. “Iron’s kid got marched into the woods where he was left there to die. The wife was forced to… you know…”
“Fucking bastards.” Bauxite said quietly, gritting his teeth and stomping his hoof into the ground. “It’s one thing to kill somepony simply because they want to help their friends, but to kill their kid as well? He was only eight years old! I swear, if Princess Celestia knew-“
“If Princess Celestia knew what?” A voice behind them asked. All three ponies turned to see at a large, muscular earth pony with a crimson red coat and a rivet for his Cutie Mark. “You were saying?” He asked again in a deep and stern voice.
Not knowing what to say, Bauxite began to stumble on his answer, when Alkali cut in. “He wasn’t saying anything sir. We were just getting back to work.” He said, scared of the earth pony.
The earth pony seemed to smile a wicked grin before turning back to Bauxite. “Good, we wouldn’t want you three to see the captain of the royal guard about not working, now would we?” All three shook their heads in fright. “Then get back to work!” The earth pony snapped, making all three turn back to their work stations and begin working immediately.
After the earth pony walked away, Bauxite whispered once again. “I hate it when he sneaks up on you like that.”
“Shh, be quiet Bauxite, otherwise he might catch us! Then we really will go see the captain.”
Grumbling, Bauxite continued to work, but not before complaining some more. “This just isn’t fair! Both Foreman Rivets and Captain Stands being in Baron Yerik’s payroll. What happened to Equestrians being free to live the way they wanted to? Not having to live under tyranny? Isn’t that what separates us from the Gryphons? Instead, that old bastard lives in a fancy mansion with a beautiful wife who more than likely fools around with other stallions and/or mares, and a son who uses his father’s power as a way to take advantage of our women with various threats!”
“I know Bauxite, but what else can we do? Every time somepony tries to tell Princess Celestia or Princess Luna about what’s happening, not only is Baron Yerik standing in our way, but the Canterlot Nobles who are helping him as well. Face it, we don’t have any more rights, we’re just slaves for their enjoyment.”
Looking over to where Hammer was standing, Bauxite had noticed that Hammer hadn’t been working. “Oi, Hammer! What are you thinking? If Foreman Rivets catches you, we’ll all be in trouble!”
“Weren’t you just doing the same thing Bauxite?” Alkali asked, earning a glare from the grey earth pony.
“This and that are separate things. Right now we need to start working before Rivets comes back, got it? So pick up the hammer, Hammer, and get to work.” Bauxite said through his teeth, clearly afraid of what would come if the Foreman indeed caught Hammer not working.
Hammer didn’t care though, and turned around from his co-workers, walking his way out of the factory. Alkali began to call after him. “Hey, Hammer! Where do you think you’re going?”
Neither of them got an answer, and Bauxite rushed up to get in front of Hammer, stopping him in his tracks. “Hammer, I know you’re upset at what happened to Iron, but what’s done is done. If you try to walk out right now you’ll get sent to Captain Stands. You don’t want that, do you? Think of Sewzy, think of what would happen to her if you tried walking out.”
At the mention of his wife’s name, Hammer did indeed stop and began to think about it. Continue to live in an impoverished state? Or escape now and find a new place to live? Somewhere where they would be treated like actual ponies. He didn’t have long to think though, as Foreman Rivets turned the corner once again to find all of them not working. “Didn’t I tell you three to get back to work?!” He yelled, making all three flinch.
“W-We’re sorry sir! H-Hammer was just wanting to go use the bathroom, and I tried telling him that we needed to start working, b-but then he wouldn’t listen and-“
“Enough!” Rivet’s voice echoed through the factory as he cut Bauxite off, while at the same time glaring and scowling at all three ponies. Walking up to Bauxite, he jerked his head to the side, motioning for Bauxite to move and go back to work. After Bauxite was out of the way, Rivet’s walked up to Hammer. “So, you wanted to use the bathroom, didja?”
Too afraid to speak verbally, Hammer was only able to shake his head at the question.
“Well then, if you didn’t need to use the bathroom, then just what were you doing?” Rivets asked, becoming more and more upset at the moment.
“I-I-I-I-“
“Spit it out!” Rivets yelled again, making Hammer flinch in fear.
“I-Iwasjustgettingbacktowork!” Hammer answered quickly, closing his eyes tight. He thought that the answer wouldn’t satisfy Rivets, and became even more scared at what would come. It seems his fears came to fruition though, as he felt like a brick had just smacked him across the snout, making him fall to the ground.
“You honestly think I would believe that?! Get up!” Rivets yelled as he waited for Hammer to stand back up. When he didn’t, Rivets kicked Hammer in the stomach hard. “I said get up you coward!” He yelled again as he continued to kick Hammer in the stomach as hard as he could.
After multiple blows to the stomach, along with some kicks to the face and side resulting in some cuts, Hammer had begun to cough up blood. He seemed to have been saved though, when a royal guard had come into the factory looking for Rivets. “Foreman Rivets?” The guard called out, ignoring the brutal attack that was occurring on the ground.
“Yeah?!” Rivets responded, getting one final kick in before turning around to face the guard. “What is it?!”
“Lord Yerik is here to see you. He’s currently waiting in your office.”
At the mention of the baron’s name, Rivets calmed down. “Oh, I see. Very well, I’ll be on my way then.” He told the guard, before turning back around to Bauxite and Alkali. “Clean up this mess-“ He said, pointing at Hammer. “I don’t want to see a single drop of blood when I get back, otherwise you two will have the same fate. Got that?” They both nodded furiously. “Good.”
As Rivets turned back to the guard and began to walk to his office, Bauxite and Alkali rushed over to Hammer and began to help him up. “What in Tartarus were you thinking Hammer?! If that guard hadn’t come, you would’ve ended up getting killed!”
“Now’s not the time Bauxite, we need to focus on helping him up.” Alkali told his friend in a calm voice.
“Then when will be the time Al?! If he doesn’t learn now he’ll end up dead!”
“Let me go.” Hammer quietly said, coughing up some blood as he tried to stand straight. After taking such a beating, the earth pony began to wobble back and forth. The earth ponies next to him would catch him at the last moment when he began to fall, but that didn’t stop him from being able to go back to the table.
“What do you think he should do?” Alkali asked as he looked at Bauxite with worried eyes. “There’s no way he can work in this condition, but if he tries to leave he’ll end up even worse!”
“I know, alright! Celestia damnit!” Bauxite yelled out in frustration as he slammed his hoof into the ground. “Jus-Just give me a minute to think, will ya?”
“We might not have a minute. For all we know Rivets could be back any second!”
As the two continued to argue for the sake of their friend and fellow co-worker, the two ponies seemed to have not noticed that despite wobbling, Hammer was able to slip out factory unnoticed. His goal, to protect his wife from any threat that would come.
As Foreman Rivets entered the office, he saw sitting in his chair, a jet-black unicorn with a golden mane and tail. His Cutie Mark was of a two-headed eagle, each head looking in separate directions. “Y-You called for me sir?” Rivets asked in a scared voice, afraid of the pony in the chair.
Baron Yerik smiled and nodded. “It’s been a while Rivets. I am to assume that you’ve kept the peasants in line?”
“O-Of course sir! I’ve keeping them in line just you’ve told me!”
“Really now…” The smile on the unicorn’s face quickly turn into a scowl. “Then perhaps you can tell me, just why the hell one of your workers seemed to try going to Canterlot!” He exclaimed, pounding the desk as he ended the sentence.
“I-I-I h-have no idea what you mean sir!”
Letting out a snort, the unicorn leaned back in the chair. “Of course you don’t… One week ago, one of your workers by the name of Iron Bolts tried taking a train to Canterlot to seek help from the Princesses. My men were able to intercept him before he got on, and were able to take him back to my mansion for some… fun.”
Taking a large gulp, Rivets replied. “I-I-Is that right? W-Well, I-I’ll make sure that nopony here tries anything like that again sir.”
“You better… You are dismissed Rivets.”
“Very good sir.” Rivets said as he bowed to the Baron before turning around and beginning to walk out. He was stopped though, as the Baron called out for him.
“One more thing Rivets.”
Rivets turned around slowly, trying to remain as calm as possible. “Y-Yes sir?”
“I just seemed to remember that this morning my son was complaining to me about how he’s grown tired of his latest ‘meal’, and wishes to go out and hunt for some more ‘meat’. Trouble is, he can’t seem to find any mares succulent enough for him to feast upon. You wouldn’t have suggestions now, would you?”
Hammer had finally made it to the path leading to his house in the woods. Still bleeding a bit, the teal pony began to walk towards his home ever so slowly. Unaware that he was being monitored by multiple sets of eyes, including a single set that hadn’t moved since it first laid on the ground.
Seeing his house in sight, the pony began to trot a little faster, praying to Celestia that nothing had happened to his wife. As he got closer and closer, the pony had suddenly stopped, as three large black beings covered in fur jumped out of the woods in front of him, having smelled the blood that had come out of his wounds. The wolves began to circle him, making it impossible for him to escape.
The pony tried his best to look intimidating to the beasts, but it did no good. The first wolf lunged at Hammer and pinned him down to the ground, biting wildly at him. With a burst of adrenaline, Hammer was able to keep the beast at bay, its jaw just millimeters away from his throat. Thoughts of his wife and the time he spent with her began to fill Hammer’s head.
Suddenly, Hammer and the beasts heard a loud crack fill the air, and almost two seconds later, the beast that had just been biting away rolled off him, yelping in pain. With another crack, the beast was silenced as a small hole found itself in the beast’s jaw.
Not sure where the cracks were coming from, the remaining two beasts turned their heads in every direction possible. With one more crack, a second wolf fell, another hole found in its head and blood began to pour out. The final wolf, now realizing that the cracks meant death, began to run back into the woods, but not before another crack filled the air, and a sharp pain hit the side of the beast. The wolf would later bleed to death deep within the woods.
Laying on the ground and not exactly sure what had just occurred, Hammer was pleased that somepony, or perhaps something had come to his rescue. Too exhausted to get back up, Hammer continued to gaze up in the sky, watching the clouds slowly roll by. Shockingly, a new figure fell into his range of sight. Not recognizing what it was or what it looked like thanks to the sun beating down on the two of them, Hammer began to panic. His adrenaline gone, and with extra blood pouring out his wounds, he had become too weak to move. He closed his eyes tight, waiting for the final moment to come. That moment however, did not come.
“Ti v poradke?”
And that’s chapter 1, hope you guys enjoyed it. For those who are wondering, yes, this is pretty much going to be the polar opposite of ‘Into A New World’. Rather than being comical and happy and all that, this story is going to focus more on tragedy and suffering and such. The reason why I don’t have the gore tag up is because of the fact that I don’t think I’m going to be very descriptive when the ‘gory’ scenes come, which will mostly be battles and one scene that I had talked about earlier in a blog, so... yeah. Anyways, until next time.
Chapter 2
“Ti v poradke?”
Hammer stared blankly at the creature, not sure what to make of his current situation. The creature, at least five feet high, sporting some type of beigish cloth wrapped around it’s body, a dark brown mane draping down what he could only assume was it’s head stood above him as he laid on his back in the snow. He had multiple wounds over his body and has lost some blood. He was too weak to move and run away. All in all, things were not looking good for Hammer.
The figure seemed to have sighed, and then bent down and grabbed Hammer by the hooves. Hammer did his best to try to wiggle his way out of the creature’s claws, but to no avail. The grip on his hooves was too tight for him to get away. Once again fearing what the figure was going to do to him, Hammer closed his eyes in fear.
Instead of hearing the sounds of his skin being torn apart and feeling the pain of claws ripping into his flesh, Hammer could feel his body begin to move. This only began to make him think of new thoughts of, instead of eating him right then and there, the figure was going to drag him back to wherever it was hiding in the woods and eat him there. Again, he began to try his best to move out of its grip, but with no such luck.
Soon after though, the feeling of snow and the gravel underneath said snow scraping against his back changed. He opened his eyes to see that whatever the creature was, for some odd reason, it decided to bring him back to the front porch of his house! With a quick knock of its claw on the wooden door of Hammer’s house, the creature ran off the porch and out of sight by running around to the far side of the house.
Lying on the wooden porch, Hammer watched the figure run away, absolutely confused as to why it would help him. Before he could ask any more questions though, the door to his house swung open to reveal his lovely wife standing there. “Yes?” Sewzy called out, having not seen her husband at first, but quickly looked down and gasped at the bruised and bloody form of Hammer. She nearly screamed seeing him, before she realized that he needed immediate medical attention.
Knowing the horse would be safe in the hands… hooves of its partner, the sniper quickly knocked on the door to the house, and then leapt off the porch, rounding to the side and trying to hide before the horse inside would find her. Having gotten out of the sight of the porch and going to the side of the house, the sniper noticed two doors leading down to what looked like a cellar. She knew she didn’t have enough time to find someplace warm for the night, as the sun had already begin its descent into evening from afternoon.
On the other hand, if she hid in the cellar, there was a likely chance that the horses would find her, and would begin to panic at the sight of her. She also concluded though that thanks to her bringing the teal one back home after saving it from the wolves, that perhaps the teal one would be able to convince its partner to not alert others of their kind, that’s if there were more of them.
Opening up the cellar doors as quietly as possible, she was able to descend into the dark and arid room. As she finally got to the bottom of the steps, she was large enough to stretch out to the cellar doors and close them back up without having to go up much. With the best of her ability, she began to scan the small storage room for any place she could hide. Unfortunately, that seemed to be impossible as the only source of light was the crack of sunlight coming in from the doors. Feeling the edge of the wall and moving as slow as possible to avoid tripping over anything, the sniper was able to find a corner to crouch in. Leaning her rifle against the wall, she was able to find some boxes to cover her in case one of the horses would come down and possibly find her.
Why did she care so much for the little horse?
Because she didn’t seem to have the answers at the moment, she could only shrug, and began to go to sleep. Hoping to wake up in the early morn as to avoid any drama, thoughts of the sniper’s old world ran through her mind as she closed her eyes.
Sewzy had been able to pick Hammer up with her magic and quickly bring him into the bedroom and place him onto the bed, doing her best not to harm him further. “What in Equestria happened to you?!” She exclaimed, clearly panicked over his current status. She quickly got out a kettle to boil some more water while at the same time throwing some wood into the oven to keep it burning, and as the water boiled, she began to attend to Hammer’s other wounds. For several hours she stayed by his side, constantly tending to his needs throughout the night.
As the rays of Celestia’s sun shone themselves the cracked window of their home, Sewzy groaned under her breath, cursing Celestia herself for forcing her to wake up so early each morning. She laid eyes on her husband, sleeping peacefully in bed. Lifting her navy blue hoof up to the teal pony’s face, she gently stroked his mane out of the way, revealing the bruised and battered form of her husband’s face. She leaned in and kissed the tip of his muzzle, whispering to him that she would return soon.
Opening the bottom part of the stove in the next room, she noticed that she had used the last of the firewood the night before heating up the kettle. With a sigh, she put a scarf around her neck and grabbed the lumber axe with her magic as she opened the front and walked out into the cold, brisk morning. While she cut the wood meant for the stove, she stopped momentarily as her ears picked up the sound of their cellar doors being opened.
The sniper stretched her body out as she woke up, loosening the muscles that had tightened overnight, before getting up off the dusty floor. Rubbing her eyes to wake them up, she began to make out the room the best she could, and began her climb over the various boxes that were strewn across the floor. When she finally reached the stairs and climbed them, she, as quietly as possible, opened the cellar doors once more. A smile made itself evident on her face as she noticed that the sun had clearly just begun to rise.
Checking that she hadn’t forgotten her rifle, she finally climbed out of the cellar, unaware of the set of eyes that saw her as she climbed out. She stretched out once more, getting a feel for the cool air, before turning on her heel towards the woods, only to freeze when she locked eyes with the only other pony she’s seen the entire time she had been in this new world.
For what seemed to be the longest time, neither of the two creatures moved an inch. Sniper watching pony, pony watching sniper, both were waiting for the other to make the first move. The sniper, tempted to swing her rifle around and take aim, decided against it as she realized the last thing she needed was this pony dead lest the other one were to recover and find the corpse. That, and she was fascinated by something that the pony was doing.
Indeed, it was the first time for her to see the other pony using magic. When she watched the pony through the window, she had never once seen the magic be used, and had instead assumed that the horn was some type of birth defect. An extremely rare birth defect… But that didn’t matter now, as the axe the pony was clearly using to cut wood was now floating in the air, and could become a potential weapon for the pony if things were to go south.
All of a sudden, the sniper’s fears confirmed, the pony, from what she could have sworn, screamed. Using it’s magic to pick up multiple pieces of wood along with the axe, begun to chuck everything at the sniper. Resisting the urge to shoot the pony, she began to dodge the flying pieces of wood by jumping out of the way, bending her back to avoid the cut wood, and covering her head to duck, continually glancing up to the axe, hoping that the pony wouldn’t use that next. Again, her fears confirmed, the axe begun to fly towards her. Dodging out of the way of the lethal weapon by diving forward, the axe embedded itself into side of the house as the pony continued to scream and ran into the house.
Using this chance to get away, the sniper quickly used her upper body strength to push herself off the ground, kicking the snow and dirt behind her as she scrambled forward and made way for the woods. Pausing for a moment, she quickly ran back to where the axe was embedded into the house, and pulled it out with all of her strength, hoping she had enough time. As she finally loosened it and freed it from its wooden captor, she quickly made way into the dense forest once more.
“Hammer! Get up! Get up!” Sewzy screamed to her unconscious husband as she ran into their room, shaking him as hard as she could in fear that the monster would follow inside.
With an annoyed grunt, Hammer opened his eyes slowly, glancing over to his wife once he could see. He had been ready to curse under his breath for the rude awakening, but that all changed once he had seen the distraught face of his wife. “Sewzy?” He asked as he got up, grabbing his sides as pain coursed through his body. Looking down at his wounds, the thoughts of the night before and how he was saved by a strange creature came rushing back to him. That all didn’t matter now though, as he knew he had a wife to take care of. “Sewzy, what’s wrong?”
“M-Monster! Outside!” She replied through tears, burying her head into the blankets as if it was going to protect her.
“Monster? What are you talking about?” He asked again as he placed his hoof on top of her head, trying to calm her down. Seeing his attempts of calming her down was futile, he threw the blankets that covered him off, and slowly turned to the bedside. Getting all four hooves down, and resisting to scream or cry due to the pain. ‘Left hoof, right hoof, left hoof-’ Thinking the pattern of walking to help him through, he slowly made his way to the front door of their little cottage. Once making it to the door and grabbing the handle in his mouth, turning it to open it, and walk out into the brisk morning air.
Before he could take one step out though, he could something pulling on his tail. Turning to look at what was stopping him, he saw a faint, navy blue glow around his tail, which could only mean one thing in his mind. Looking up at the owner of the magic, he gave his wife a reassuring smile as tears continued to stream down her face. “Y-You can’t! You can’t go out there!”
“But if I don’t go out, then how are we to get rid of the monster?”
“Please, don’t do this!” She begged as she walked up next to him and wrapped her hooves around his neck. Rubbing her muzzle into his coat, she continued to mumble about not wanting him to go outside.
Continuing to give off a reassuring smile, Hammer nudged the door close, and turned to give his wife a kiss on the head. “Alright dear, I won’t go.” He told her as he nudged her in an affectionate way. As the two comforted each other in each other’s embrace, the two did not know of the danger that was to fall on them very soon.
The sniper ran and ran, until she couldn’t run anymore. How far she had ran she had no idea, but all she knew was that it must have been far if she was now huffing and wheezing, something she hadn’t done in a long time.
Looking down at the axe she had held in her hand the entire time she ran, the sniper was thankful she hadn’t nicked herself in the leg with it. Why she took it, she had no idea, but at least she knew she had another weapon until the day her trusted rifle would become nothing more than food for fire. Not to mention the other uses she could get out of it.
Catching sight of a cave that was nearby, the sniper thought to make use of it and perhaps make a base camp, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to go back to the cottage any time soon. Keeping her ears open for any sort of danger, she began to walk carefully through the snow and steadying her breath, making sure not to make any type of extra noise. She could only hope that in her mad dash to get away from the cottage, she hadn’t picked up anything dangerous on the way.
Peering into the cave, she hadn’t been able to see very far into it. Out of luck it seemed, the sniper could only sit in the mouth of the cavern, hoping to find a more suitable place to set up camp. With a sigh, she sat down on the cold, hard ground of the cave and began to check over the items she had once more, afraid of having lost even one bullet in the mad dash she had made. Even if she hadn’t been in this new world for long, it was always good to make sure that she still had all her valuables.
Continuing to go through her things, a sound deeper within the cave made her stop for a moment. She couldn’t exactly place what it sounded like, all she knew was that it had sounded like an animal of some kind, a large one at that. Hesitating to continue looking through her inventory, the sniper kept still, waiting for whatever sound she had heard from before. Slowly she reached out for her rifle, steadily aiming in the direction of the sound.
Closer and closer the sound got, the sniper keeping a steady heartbeat as she looked down the barrel of her weapon, below the scope and through the sights. Soon enough she could make out the distinct sound of the clopping of hooves against the cavern floor, but that wasn’t struck out most for her. What struck out to her, was the fact that she was able to make out humming soon after.
Seconds ticked, each one feeling like an hour for the young woman. The revealing of the ‘monster’ would be soon, and with it, she could hopefully put her heart at ease.
The sound of clopping stopped, and with it, so did the humming. Whatever was inside the cavern stopped right before stepping out into the light, keeping itself inside the darkness of the cave. It was evident that whatever was there saw the sniper, and knew to keep itself hidden.
“Well, you’re certainly not the mailmare, now are you?”
*BANG*
Author's Note
Well, I apologize for this chapter taking so long to release. I also apologize if this chapter wasn't as long or wasn't what you guys expected, but with the whole depression thing this past winter and me having stopped writing... yeah... Also doesn't help that I want to continue this story, but the stuff I really want to write about won't be until quite possibly much later, thus essentially forcing me to write this until I want to actually want to write the story. Anyways, hoped you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to continue writing both this and my other stories for many months (and hopefully years) to come.
