Chapters “Now, let me make sure I’m understanding this correctly. . .” Says the princess from atop her throne. She ponders in her golden chair, staring me down from behind the shadows that are cast over her. There isn’t enough sunlight making it in this room to illuminate her, thus making this meeting even more ominous than I had pictured it. She has two guards armed with spears nearby, glaring at me through their golden helmets stoic and emotionless. The air is even colder than outside, but my heart is racing so fast that it almost doesn’t seem to matter. “You took it upon yourself to draw your weapon, and interrupt another officer’s warranted arrest.”
“Well . . .” I hesitate to retort. “I-I wouldn’t say it was completely warranted.”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“W-We’re talking about a citizen who’s never been late before on his tax, and all because he’s late one time, he needs to be taken in to custody?”
“I must be failing to understand where the disconnect is between us, Officer Bough.”
“Well . . . it’s a bit unfair, don’t you think. . ? Your Majesty?”
“Not quite. Any pony that’s unable to pay the required tax, must be taken in to custody and judged.”
“But—”
“Now, say I ‘were’ to let him get by just this once. That, Officer Bough, is unfair to the rest of Equestria. For many have been taken in and imprisoned, but you feel it would be fair to give this one stallion a second chance. I’m sorry Officer, but I don’t think you understand what fairness truly is.” I clench my teeth with fury, but I know better. I must contain my outburst, as I look on without showing any sign of anger or aggravation.
“You’re right, Your Majesty,” I painfully force myself to say.
“Moving on to you, Officer, you drew your weapon and ‘threatened’ your fellow officer. That concerns me a great deal, you understand?”
“I am thankful that Officer Rain came to his rescue. Who knows what could have happened if he didn’t?”
“Your Majesty, I would never—” The princess spreads her wings, and swoops down from her throne. She lands before me hunched over, and slowly stands herself upright with a furious glare in her eyes. Hopelessly, I look up to her as she stares down at me.
“Before you finish, Officer. . .” She takes a step towards me, causing me to fearfully take a step back. “Allow me to inform you that what you’ve committed is, in fact, a crime. . .” She takes another step. “Disgraceful. . .” She takes yet another step, continuing to back me towards the back of the room. “And not to mention. . .” The fear inside me is boiling to a point to where I almost feel the need to break down. I've never felt a fear like this ever before, I can only imagine what she’ll do to me. Instantaneously, I see flashes of my parents in my head, hearing their voices. I should’ve listened to what they said, I shouldn’t have done what I’ve done. “What you’ve committed is treachery!” Her voice echoes throughout the room and rings in my ears. I fall to my stomach, and she looms over me with her gazed locked and without a blink. She steps out through the shadows, revealing her golden, shimmering dress. The sunlight gleams over the large, star-shaped jewel embedded into her crown. Her purple coat of fur, and her long violet mane; she almost looks exactly as she did when she was first declared the new princess of Equestria. However, that piercing look in her eyes has completely transformed her into an ominous, silhouette of who she used to be.
“Princess Twilight, please—”
“And now you’re going to beg? Did the officer beg when you held your sword to his throat?”
“No! No, he didn’t!”
“Perhaps you’re unstable. Perhaps you’re being ravaged by murderous tendencies you cannot control?”
“That’s not true!”
“What would your parents say if they knew their daughter nearly murdered one of her own?”
“I don’t know! I don’t know!”
“Well, I can tell you it wouldn’t be pleasant. They just might even turn their backs on you.”
“They’d never! They know what kind of pony I am!”
“So did I. Clearly, there’s a side to you that none of us knew about.” Feeling utterly defeated, and with my eyes tearing up, I choose to stay silent. “Speaking of your parents, it’s been a while since you’ve seen them, hasn’t it?”
“. . . I-It has.”
“Tell me, where do you think they are at this very moment?”
“Home. . . At our cottage, just where they’ve always lived.”
“My, you’ve truly been away from them for far too long. How times have changed.”
“What do you mean by that? I demand to know where they are!”
“You are the last pony to making demands around here, Officer!” She shouts directly to my face. “However, because I am feeling kind this day, I will take you to them.” I impatiently follow her through the halls of the castle. The shoes on our hooves clack on the cracked, dusty white tiles that make up the floor. There’s these beautiful, stained-glass windows that depict Princess Twilight in her years before her coronation, back when she was just a unicorn. Depicted in the glass are her, along with the other five Elements of Harmony. It's something that still puzzles me to this day. When she first decreed as princess, the other elements were always by her side. Then all of a sudden, one day, they just vanished. Nopony else questioned it, and Princess Twilight seemed to act like they never existed. With the lack of sunlight to light up the halls, tall candleholders have been placed up and down the halls. Hardened, melted wax is hanging down from where the new candles rest. It makes me wonder when was the last time somepony decided to clean it up a bit. Within moments, I recognize the route she’s taking me, and my heart instantly fills with dread.
We come to an old, wooden door; and Princess Twilight’s large horn glows with a deep, violet hue. The filthy, metal door handle glows with the same hue, then pulls the door open with an unsettling creaking noise to reveal nothing but pitch-blackness. “This way, Officer. I’m sure they’ll be delighted to see you,” says Princess Twilight in a tone and with a smile that rattles me to my core. I follow her inside, and the door suddenly slams shut behind me. I gasp and tremble as it all of a sudden becomes harder to breathe.
“P-Princess. . ?” I call out into the darkness. “Are you there. . ?” One after another, the torches hanging along the wall burst with flames, allowing me to finally see what’s around me: nothing but old, stone walls and cobwebs in every crevice. Princess Twilight is looking back at me with that unsettling smile of hers.
“I do apologize, I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s just this way.” I follow her as her long, golden dress drags behind her as we descend down a spiraling stairway downward. I can feel the air getting even colder, so cold that I’m starting to see my own breath. I start to shiver, but Princess Twilight doesn’t seem phased in the slightest by the drastic shift in the temperature. We reach a hallway lined with cells made up of rusty iron bars. “They’re just a couple of cells down. Go on, take your time.” I helplessly glance to Princess Twilight, then to the dreary hallway of cells. Slowly, I walk by each one, peering inside to see any familiar faces. However, most of them appear to be completely empty. Until I hear the faint sound of chains rattling, and I hurriedly rush to the cell I believe the noises are coming from. Sure enough, I find them, cuddled up with each other in the corner of their cells. Large, iron cuffs are clamped around their waists, with chains leading to the wall to bind them. I recognize my Mother’s brick-red mane, it’s exactly the same as mine. Just like how I’ve also inherited my Father’s beige coat of fur along with his ocean-blue eyes. They quiver in fear as they reveal their faces, and are instantly swept with shock once their eyes meet mine.
“Maple?” They both ask.
“Mom. . . Dad. . .”
“Maple!” My Mother rushes over to the iron bars separating us, and happily looks up at me. “My little foal, we’ve missed you so much.”
“We were worried we weren’t going to get a chance to see you again,” says my Father as he joins my Mother.
“I-I don’t understand,” I say. “How did this happen to you? All this time I thought the both of you were safe at home. It’s not like you two weren’t able to pay the tax, I should already have that covered.”
“It wasn’t that, dear. We. . .” My Mother looks to my Father, and he then looks to me.
“Maple, you remember when we told you to keep all your ‘ideas’ and ‘words’ about . . . you know, you yourself?”
“Yes, I remember.”
“Well, your Mother and I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and we realized something.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We realized that you were right.”
“W-What—? Me?”
“Maple,” My Mother begins. “You were able to keep us safe from the new tax law and just about everything else that’s been happening to Equestria, but nopony else was as fortunate as us. We watched so many of our neighbors get taken away to who knows where, never to be seen again.”
“Them, their parents, their children. . .” My Father adds. “They were taking them all away no matter how much they pleaded and cried.”
“And every passing day,” My Mother continues. “We only thought of you and that . . . ‘want’ inside of you for change. So, we decided to do something about it.”
“W-What did you do?” I ask.
“Well, when the Royal Officers made their next visit to town, we watched and waited to see if they would take anypony as prisoner. They did. They were taking away two children, and were about to leave their Mother be. The way those fillies kicked and screamed, it . . . it made us furious. So, we went after them. We fought and struggled with them for as long as we could so that those fillies could escape.”
“You. . .” I instantly forget about what I was about to say as I notice the dirt, cuts and bruises all over my parents’ bodies. It looks like their injuries were never tended to, leading me to picture them being tossed into this cell immediately after the incident.
“We did everything we could. . .” My Mother’s eyes start to water with tears. “We saved those kids. . . They took us in instead.” I can see the scene play out in my head as if it were a memory. I can see my parents being brutally battered by Officers of my own brigade. Simply imagining them being hurt is enough to bring my blood to a boil as I clench my teeth out of anger. Seeing those images in my head, and knowing that I was never there to protect makes me want to cry and weep out of pure shame for myself. My fury almost overpowers my sorrow, but it isn’t enough to completely hold it back.
“I . . . I should’ve been there. I could’ve protected both of you.”
“Honey. . .”
“I should’ve just gone to visit despite what Princess Twilight said. . . I would’ve known about this earlier.”
“Maple.” My Mother reaches through the iron bars, and rests her hoof on my cheek. “Don’t beat yourself over this. We don’t think anything less of you, and never will. You’ll always be that strong, brave, courageous girl we brought up. Just looking at you makes me so proud to see the mare you’ve turned into.” Her words bring a quivering smile across my woeful face.
“Maple,” says my Father. “We won’t ever stop being proud of you, because we know you’ll always do the right thing.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I wipe away the tears from my eyes.
“Darling, we understand how you feel, and we don’t want you to ever lose that ‘desire’ to bring Equestria back to the way it used to be; but please, whatever you do, don’t make the same mistake we did. We were careless, and didn’t think it through all the way.”
“Don’t worry, Dad,” I whisper. “I’m going to get both of you out of here.”
“Maple, honey, please. . .” says my Mother. “Listen to your Father, don’t be careless. Otherwise you’re going to end up in here like us.”
“Mom, there’s nothing for you to be worried about. I’ll be careful, I promise.” I grab hold of my Mother’s hoof to reassure her. “All three of us are going to escape this place, and figure something out together.”
“I’m afraid your time is up, Officer!” Princess Twilight calls from down the hall.
“I’ll be back soon, and we’ll be free from this wretch of a princess and her Royal Guard.” I get up, ready to leave, until my Father draws me back.
“Maple, darling. . .” says my Father. “No matter what happens. If you’re able to set us free or not, know that we will always love you. Always.”
“I won’t fail. We ‘are’ getting out of here, I promise.” They smile at me, and my heart flutters with joy to see them smile again. “Mom. . . Dad. . . I love you.”
“We love you too, Maple,” says My Mother. I turn and approach Princess Twilight, and just looking at her fills my heart with hate.
“Did you enjoy your visit?” She asks. However, I stay silent and walk right passed her without so much as an acknowledging glance. “Come now, what good will an attitude like that do for you now, Officer?” Continuing to ignore her question, I walk all the way back up the stairway and to the wooden door to leave. As soon as I open the door, I am stunned to see Princess Twilight on the other side. “You’re already in a great deal of trouble, and you choose to ignore me when I’m speaking to you? I’m almost ready to reconsider your punishment.”
“What punishment?” I ask.
“Well, considering you’re a danger to everypony in Canterlot, I’m placing you under close watch until I say otherwise.”
“Close watch?”
“That’s right, Officer. You shall remain in your room with a couple members of The Royal Guard left to observe you. . . Unless you’d prefer my other method of disposing traitors such as yourself?”
“W-What other method?”
She smirks devilishly. “Perhaps I’ll keep it a secret for now. Just be thankful I believe there’s still good in you, Maple. I can’t understand what could’ve caused you to act the way you did, but I’m positive there’s a way to help you.” I’m not sure what her definition of ‘good’ is in her twisted mind, but with this punishment it’s going to be even harder for me to set my parents free. I shouldn’t argue with her, as I feel it’ll only make this whole thing worse. I have to find some way around this, for my parents’ sake.
Well, here I am, prisoner in my own room more or less. Thankfully I have a window to gaze through to help pass the time while I think. It feels refreshing to have all that armor and chainmail off. I feel a bit more relaxed, and can think more clearly. The fading sun is close to setting, and when there used to be a beautiful, amber sky during this time, now there’s only but a hint of that golden hue. The rest of the sky is tainted with thick, black clouds and an ashy sky. I can’t help but remember how beautiful this place used to be, and I have a feeling Equestria’s deterioration has something to do with Princess Twilight. I don’t know what she’s done to create such a catastrophe, but it’s getting worse with every passing day. If somepony doesn’t do something about it, this land, and everything within it, are surely doomed.
My first idea was to try and escape through the window, but that would’ve been too easy. Princess Twilight had this window sealed and locked up tight, I’d never get through no matter how hard I try. Perhaps I could break the glass, but that would undoubtedly get the attention of the two guards posted outside my door. Within seconds they, along with many others, with be storming this room. Escape seems to be almost impossible, but there has to be some way I can get passed these guards. Lost in thought, I find my attention is caught by some movement outside. Through the window, I have a view of the castle walls, and I can see something rope-like climbing the wall up to a window. I rub my eyes to be sure it isn’t just them playing a trick on me, but the dark, rope-like object reaches all the way up to the window. Then, I am stunned to see the dark silhouette of somepony climbing up the structure. Following behind him or her, two more figures climb up the wall. My heart starts to race as I realize that this could be my only opportunity. I leave the window and race to the door, shouting for the guards. “Guards! Guards! Hello!”
“Quiet down in there! Don’t you know others are trying to get some shut-eye?” One of the stallions responds.
“This is an emergency! I think somepony has infiltrated the castle!”
“Yeah, sure somepony did sweetheart.”
“Nopony would be foolish enough to even try and break in,” the other guard adds. “Besides, how would you even know, missy?”
“Because I saw it happen from my window! You must come and see!” I beg.
“Now, now, you might think that we’re dumb enough to fall for a trick like that, but I assure you that we’re not,” says the first guard.
“Well, she could be telling the truth,” says the other guard.
“Now, why would you go and say that?”
“What? What did I do?”
“You don’t just go telling the prisoner that we think her trick might work!”
“But that’s what I’m saying! It might not be a trick for all we know.” The first guard then sighs from aggravation. “I’d say there’s about a fifty-fifty chance that she’s telling the truth.”
“That’s because you apparently ‘are’ dumb enough to fall for it.”
“Excuse me? I think you just insulted my intelligence there.”
“Good. That’s because I did.”
“I hope that was just another one of those jokes of yours, Lance.”
“I don’t know, I’m starting to think that you actually are dumber than a tree.”
“A tree?”
“That’s right.”
“Trees don’t even have brains! How are you supposed to compare an organism that ‘does’ have a brain to one without?”
“That’s the point, Pike. Trees don’t have brains, you don’t have a brain, thus you are just as dumb if not dumber than a tree.”
“Bugger off!” As their child-like bickering grows more and more heated, I awkwardly but curiously continue to listen in as this could be going in the direction I need it to. “I say we have ourselves a little wager!”
“Oh, this should be interesting.”
“We both go in and see what she wants to show us. If it’s obvious that somepony did in fact infiltrate the castle, then. . .”
“Then what?”
“Then whoever was wrong has to buy lunch for the rest of the week!”
“Honesty? You want us to go in there and risk walking right into some sort of trap all because I said you were as dumb as a tree.”
“Precisely.”
“. . . You’re on then. Step back Officer! We’re coming in!” I back away from the door as I listen to them messing around with the lock on the door. The door opens, and Lance—the stallion that started their whole argument—with his silver mane, midnight-blue coat of fur and thick golden armor signifying that both he and Pike are members of The Royal Guard. Pike follows him inside, and his mane is mahogany-brown whilst his coat of fur is a very light gray. They rush towards the window and peer through the glass. “Well, I sure don’t see anything.”
“No, no, look! See that there!”
“Probably not, since I just said I ‘don’t’ see anything.”
“Over there! It looks like there’s a rope leading into that window!”
“A rope? There’s no way somepony got a rope all the way up there.”
“And why not?”
“Do you know how high that is? Nopony could’ve thrown a rope all the way up there.”
“A Pegasus could’ve!”
“You really are unaware of the things that happen around you, aren’t you?” As their bickering continues on, I confusedly listen in as I adorn myself with my armor and sword. “Unless it was a Pegasus of our own, which it wouldn’t make sense for somepony with full access to the castle to go and try to ‘break in’ to the castle anyway—”
“Why wouldn’t it make sense? Perhaps nopony was at the front gate to let them in.”
“Somepony’s ‘always’ at the front gate, Pike! Continuing on with my point, the rest of the pegasi haven’t been around for years! So, there’s no way somepony could’ve flown up and gotten the rope into that window.”
“Unless somepony dropped the rope down from the window!”
“That. . ! You don’t think. . .”
“Uh-huh, and who’s the one with a tree for a brain?”
“That’s not—” Lance smacks his hoof against his forehead, and I sneakily leave the room as they proceed to argue. With it being nighttime, most of the guards should be in their quarters sleeping by now. I just need to be careful on my way to the dungeon. I don’t know who I saw breaking in to the castle, but whoever they were, I can only wish them the best of luck. I don’t have time to investigate, my mind is only set on obtaining the keys to the cells, and getting into the dungeon unnoticed. I hug every wall, and cautiously peer around every corner. The keys are only held by whoever’s guarding the dungeon that night, getting them is what’s going to be the hard part.
“Alright, soldiers! Give me your full attention,” says a frighteningly familiar voice just around the corner. I quietly watch from afar as a group of about six Royal Guards are standing with their backs straight and chins out as they obey the stallion before them. Ever since I was a new recruit this stallion despised me, and I despise him all the same. His deep, raspy voice echoes throughout the halls, and I recognize that despicable face of his from a mile away. His coat of fur is of a charcoal-gray color; and his mane, along with his moustache and beard, are pure white. His uniform consists of a violet, button-down coat adorned with all sorts of medals along with a red sash across his chest. “Her Majesty has informed me that she has sensed a disturbingly, high amount of magical energy nearby. It is your duty to ensure that we do whatever is necessary to neutralize the threat, and keep Her Majesty safe. It’s possible this might not be as serious as it seems, but regardless, I want all of you to be on your guard at all times. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Commander!” They all salute in unison.
“Now, I will assign each of you your stations—”
“Commander Liaison! A moment please!” Suddenly Pike and Lance come trotting down another hallway to meet up with The Commander and his guards out of breath and clearly shaken up.
“What could you two possibly need now? And this had better not be another waste of my time, because I’m quite busy as you can see. Otherwise, I suggest you two keep your mouths shut and move along.”
“Commander, we’ve. . .” Pike nervously trails off.
“We’ve uh. . .” Lance tries to speak up.
“I’ll make this easier for you two. I’m going to count to three, and when I get to three, I will take you both to Princess Twilight so that you may explain your situation to her instead. And trust me, if I was her, your faces would be the last thing I’d want to see at this hour.”
“Well. . .”
“One.”
“Y-You see, we. . .”
“Two.”
“We lost Officer Maple!” Pike squeals.
“. . . I hope I didn’t hear that correctly. Surely I misheard you—could you say that once more?”
“We . . . lost Officer Maple . . . Commander.” Commander Liaison stomps his hoof onto the floor, and glares into both Lance and Pike’s eyes.
“All you two had to do was guard the door to her quarters!” Commander Liaison fumes. “How could you have lost her?!”
“You see . . . he said my head was like a tree—”
“Search for her! Now!”
“Yes, sir! Right away, sir!” They salute as they nearly trip over themselves as they scurry away back into the hall they came from.
“Alright, soldiers! Change of plans!” Commander Liaison turns back to his group. “Spread out and hunt down Officer Maple Bough! She is a traitor to the princess, and a threat to us all!”
“Yes, Commander!” The group of soldiers shout.
“We need her alive and in custody, so that she may pay for her crime! She must not be allowed to leave these castle walls! Understood?!”
“Yes, Commander!”
“Good, now go!” With a wave of his hoof, each of the guards breaks from the group, splitting up and beginning their search. I have no time to lose, I need to get those keys and fast. If I’m captured, I can’t even begin to imagine what Princess Twilight will have in store for me. Once all of the soldiers leave the room, I proceed towards the dungeon. With the old, wooden door in my sights, I approach it as I wonder just where the door guard is. Surely he couldn’t have just left his post. I squeeze and yank at the metal handle, but the door won’t budge. I check the floor and myself to see if perhaps I may find something I can try to pick the lock with. Until my entire body shudders at the sound of metal grinding. I slowly and worryingly turn my head to see an officer with his blade pointed right at me.
“. . . Rain?” I ask.
“Maple, why are you here?” Rain asks.
“I need to get to my parents, Rain. And nothing is going to stop me. Not The Royal Guard, not Princess Twilight, and certainly not you.”
“What you’re doing is foolish, don’t you see that?”
“I don’t expect you to understand, Rain. You’re just like the rest of them, you always have been. There were times where I thought you wanted the same thing I do, I guess I was wrong.” My eyes are drawn to the ring of keys dangling from his belt, forcing me to make a decision I was hoping I wouldn’t have to. “If you are what’s stopping me from saving my parents. . .” I draw my sword from its sheathe, and point it directly at Rain just as he’s holding his to me. I plant my hooves firmly on the floor, ready for whatever might happen. “Then I will do what I must.” By the look in Rain’s eyes, I can tell he’s pondering deeply about something. I watch his body movements carefully, as any sudden twitch can lead to an attack. He then withdraws his sword, sliding it back into its sheathe. Confused, but still on my guard, I keep my sword raised. He grabs hold of the ring of keys attached to his belt, and tossing them onto the floor before my hooves.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is time for a change.” Without breaking eye-contact with him, I put away my sword and retrieve the ring of keys from the floor. “Go on and get to your parents, I’ll stay here and be on the lookout.” Rain lowers his sword, leaving me baffled and speechless. “Well? Go on!” Hurriedly, I unlock the door and enter the dungeon. I slam the door shut, and carefully work my way down the stairwell without any light source whatsoever. Suddenly, the room shudders from an intense, clamoring thunder outside. Through the darkness, flashes of lightning illuminate the dungeon for only a few brief moments. Nonetheless, it helps me navigate to my parents’ cell block.
“Mom. . ? Dad. . ?” I call out, hoping to hear a response, but the dungeon remains devoid of any other voices besides my own. With another flash of lightning, I discover the hallway containing my parents’ cell. I trot over to the iron cell, fumbling about with the ring of keys to find the right one. “Mom! Dad! I’m here! I said I’d come back, and—” Lighting flashes once again, revealing that the cell is completely empty. My heart sinks to the bottom of my chest as I stare at the floor with the loose shackles sprawled over the stone. My body goes numb as I drop the ring of keys, and my mind runs wild with thoughts of where they could’ve possibly been relocated to. Rain starts to pour in from the barred window at the end of the hall, and the thunder grows more and more violent.
“Looking for something, Officer?” A startlingly familiar voice asks from the opposite end of the hall. I jolt and turn out of fear as the thick, black clouds in the sky move to reveal the moon. A shaft of moonlight is cast through the window and down the hall to reveal Commander Liaison with a filthy grin on his face. “Or, perhaps I should just call you Maple now. Considering you’ve surely lost your rank within the brigade with all these shenanigans of yours.” He casually steps towards me, yet his calm and collected appearance is what frightens me. “In fact, by the end of this, I feel you may lose more than just your rank, Miss Bough.”
“What have you done with my parents? Where is Rain?” I ask whilst glaring at him.
“I’m afraid Officer Rain has been ‘decommissioned’ for his treachery. Tis a shame, he showed so much promise. As for your parents. . . Well, we’ve moved them to another facility.” Filling with fury, I draw my sword as the moonlight glimmers off the surface of the blade. “My, my, be careful, Miss Bough. You don’t want to make this any more difficult than it needs to be.”
“I demand to know where you’ve taken them!”
“I’m afraid you’re in no position to be making demands. ‘You’, my dear, are the one causing all this trouble. You’ve betrayed Her Majesty, your fellow officers and even your commanding officer.”
“I don’t follow ‘Her Majesty’, and I’ve never followed you. The both of you are the reason this kingdom is dying, and I will put a stop to it.”
“Listen to yourself. You’ve truly gone mad thinking you can fight against the monarchy, as well as the entire Royal Guard.”
“Somepony has to.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Miss Bough, as there’s only one way to solve this predicament.” Commander Liaison slowly unsheathes his blade, and crosses it with mine. “Don’t worry about your parents Maple, you’ll be joining them very, very soon.” He mercilessly swings his blade as I do my best to block each of his successive attacks with my sword. A harsh wind starts to blow from the window, drenching us in the rain. He continues to swing his sword with a flurry of attacks, leaving me clueless on what to do besides being defensive. His movements are so fast, yet he doesn’t seem to be suffering from any sort of fatigue whatsoever. “I can see you’ve learned absolutely nothing from your training. I’m appalled to see that you were even granted the title of ‘Officer’.” He proceeds to back up towards the window, and he finally ends his series of attacks for just a moment. A moment long enough to grant me the chance to swing my sword towards his throat. He ducks down, and with too much momentum to stop myself, he charges forward and bashes me right in my chest. I fly back and hit the wall behind me, and fall to the floor as the cold rain runs down my face, mane and armor. I look up with a severe pain in my chest, as Commander Liaison looms over me with a pitiful look on his face. “You think you can win, but you don’t seem to have a firm grasp on reality.” He kneels down to be eye-level with me, as I am too powerless to even move away. “You’re all alone, Maple. You’re too weak to fight your own battle, and quite honestly, I believe this army would be much better off with you out of it.”
Commander Liaison raises his sword, ready to plunge, and I lower my head in defeat. Until I am met with the smell of something burning. I look to the floor, and notice a small bomb with a lit fuse rolling towards us. Commander Liaison looks down as the bomb comes to a stop, and we both look to it puzzled by the crudely drawn smiling face painted on the surface with white paint. I shield my face, and the bomb explodes sending a wave of heat and small pieces of rubble flying through the air. I listen as Commander Liaison grunts and struggles as his swords clashes with what sounds like a wooden weapon. I hear a body fall to the floor, and I open my eyes to a thick cloud of smoke and dust. As it settles, I find Commander Liaison unconscious on the floor, and three other figures standing over him. Two of them appear to be average size for a pony, but the third is much taller and thinner than the others. They step forward as the moonlight illuminates their dark hoods and cloaks. I fearfully look on, unsure of what they plan on doing with me.
The three, cloaked figures approach as they whisper to themselves. Cold and afraid, I gaze into their shadowy hoods as it’s impossible to make out their faces. One of them kneels down, and tilts his or her head in curiosity. “It’s you,” says the cloaked figure. I confusedly raise an eyebrow as the figure lifts back the hood to reveal the face of a species that I haven’t seen around here in Equestria. I’ve only heard about them, and that they live somewhere far beyond here. She’s a doe, with her brown coat of fur and mane. Her eyes are emerald-green, and almost mystical to gaze into. Around her neck is a pale-red bandana, along with many necklaces formed with a wide assortment of beads. She turns to the other two figures with glee. “It’s her! It’s the officer we saw back in the village!”
“Well, what a coincidence!” One of the figures cheers as he lowers his hood to reveal a peculiar-looking stallion. His mane is black, and flairs up in an odd fashion. He has a gray coat of fur, but the oddest thing about him is the single, glass lens that is strapped around his head and covers his right eye. “I guess it’s a good thing we took a detour into this place! You there, Miss Officer Filly, would have been toast.” The stallion takes a look around the hall, nodding his head. “You know, they’ve got fantastic living conditions here. You think they’d let us rent a room? I hope the chains are included in the bill.”
“Now is not the time for jokes.” The doe then turns back to me. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“Uh . . . no, I-I’m fine,” I stutter.
“Hmm. . .” The doe reaches her muzzle into her cloak, and pulls out a somewhat big, green seed in her teeth. She sets it down onto the stone floor before me, and I glance from her to the seed in confusion. “Eat this. It will numb your pain for a short while.”
“I. . . I don’t. . .” I’m weary about doing as she says. I don’t know anything about her intentions, and for all I know this seed could do me more harm than good.
“Sister, I hear guards,” says the tall figure.
“W-Who is that?” I ask with my attention fixed on the oddly-shaped figure.
“Come, Brother,” says the doe as she also beckons the figure. “She is suspicious of us. Please, reveal yourself to her, so that she knows that we have nothing to hide.”
“But. . .” The figure nervously refrains.
“Please.” Reluctantly, the figure steps forward into the moonlight to reveal it is standing on two, thin legs that are clothed in crude, brown pants, and dark shoes in a shape unlike any sort of shoes I’m familiar with. It reaches up to grab the edges of its hood, and I can see it has hairless hands. As it pulls back its hood, I am perplexed by its face. It has no muzzle, snout or anything of the sort, and its eyes are considerably smaller compared to any of ours. The only hair I can see it has are at the top of its head in an unkempt mess, and the eyebrows that show its discomfited expression. I reel back in fear from seeing such a bizarre creature as my mind continues to try and process what this thing is. “Officer, please.” The doe holds out her little hoof in an attempt to calm me down. “You must trust me when I say this creature will do you no harm.”
“Uh, I don’t want to interrupt this little therapy session,” says the stallion as he’s peeking his head around the corner at the end of the hall. “But you might have to reschedule your appointment, because there’s one too many guards headed this way.”
“Officer, I saw what you did back at the village. All three of us did. Your act of heroism filled me with a hope that I thought I’d never feel in this lifetime. I can tell you that have the same desire burning inside of you just as we do.” Suddenly, the sounds of stallions’ voices and clanking armor become apparent.
“They’re getting closer! A little bit too close!”
“Officer, I desperately need your trust. Please, come with us. I promise to explain everything as soon as we are clear of this dreadful place.” I’m conflicted and reluctant, but yet there is something about these three that drives me to want to join them. After everything she’s said, it feels impossible for me to refuse. I reach down and grab the seed with my teeth. As soon as I crunch the seed, I can feel a gel-like substance ooze from inside it. At first, the texture feels revolting to have in my mouth, but I quickly find the taste to be very similar to honey. I swallow it all down, and I can instantly feel a rush of relief overwhelm me. The pain in my chest has vanished, as well as my fatigue from my scuffle with Commander Liaison.
“That was . . . incredible!” I say in complete awe as I get to my hooves.
“So, you will come with us? Do I have your word?” The doe asks with a hopeful look in her eyes. I bend down to pick up my sword, and slide it back into its sheathe that’s strapped to my waist.
“You have my word,” I say with confidence.
“Wonderful!” She cheers and hops with joy, then stops to take a bow. “We are forever grateful for this, Officer!”
“I realize this calls for a celebration and all,” says the stallion as he steps in. “And really, welcome to the team—but we’re gonna need another way out of here, because that way is a no go!” He turns his attention to me. “You know this place better than us, don’t ya? Please tell me there’s another way out.”
“Umm, well . . . it’s a dead end at the bottom of the dungeon.”
“So, we’re dead. You could’ve just said that.”
“Not necessarily. We could escape through this window.” I peer through the barred window as the rain pelts my face, but I can see that there’s a possible way to escape just below.
“Plummeting to my doom is not the way I pictured what my death would be like.”
“No, there’s a ledge just below the window. It looks wide enough for all of us to move across. If only there was a way to get through these bars.”
“Step aside, Officer! For ‘this’ is when I make the magic happen.” I step aside so that the stallion can walk over Commander Liaison’s unconscious body towards the window. He whisks away his cloak to reveal a big satchel strapped around his waist. He reaches his muzzle inside, and pulls out these brick-shaped objects wrapped in cloth. He strings them all together with a copper wire, and carefully places them all along the windowsill.
“We’re running out of time!” The doe urges. I look back to the doe as she worryingly watches the end of the hall. The creature steps forward, and holds what looks to be a simple, wooden slingshot in his hand. He arms it with something that resembles a walnut, and pulls back the pocket as the strings tied to the arms of the slingshot strain. I can hear the guards getting closer, and I troublingly glance to the stallion as he continues to work on the window. Fearing whatever he’s doing may take too long, I trot over to the doe and the creature, staying closer to the doe as I can’t help but feel extremely uncomfortable near that ‘thing’. I stand, ready to draw my blade as soon as the first guard turns that corner.
“And . . . done!” The stallion exclaims. “Everypony stand back! This’ll be a little noisy!” I watch the stallion as she hops backward from the window with some kind of device in his mouth, and a copper wire running from it all the way to one of the objects he set on the windowsill. With the click of a button, the window in engulfed in an explosion of flames and smoke. Bits and pieces of stone fly through the air as we all try to shield ourselves from the debris. All of us cough and hack as we try to whisk the smoke away, and as the dust settles, I see that the window has been completely blown apart. “Woohoo! That’s my favorite part! Come on! Let’s ditch this place!” The stallion climbs through the gaping hole in the wall, and chuckles from fear. “You know, will all this excitement, I forgot to mention I’m not the biggest fan of heights.”
“Well, we don’t have very many options,” says the doe.
“Right. . . Well, here goes.” The stallion climbs down from the hole, and the creature urges the doe to follow.
“Go. I won’t be too far behind,” the creature assures.
“Be careful,” says the doe as she puts away her weapon. She climbs down from the hole, leaving me and the creature as the last ones to leave, but the guards are already here. I draw my sword, ready for the fight that awaits me. However, as soon as the first guard emerges from around the corner, the creature fires off his slingshot. The large nut is shot at the guard’s hooves, and bursts with a loud snap as a cloud of glimmering, brown dust surrounds the guard. With the guard disoriented, I turn to the creature with a bewildered look on my face.
“Officer, you must go first. I will keep them distracted,” it says as it preps another nut for its slingshot. Not ready to ask questions, I put away my sword and hurry to the big hole in the wall. Carefully, I climb down and hang by my two, front hooves. I look down, and instantly feel my stomach churn as I see how far down the forest is below. My vision blurs, and the weight of my armor is pulling me down. The harsh wind and rain blow my mane in my face, and the water in my eyes makes it difficult to aim for the ledge below. With my grip loosening, I let myself go. My hooves crash against the stone ledge, sending a wave of pain up my legs.
“Officer! Are you alright?!” The doe tries to shout over the sounds of the storm.
“Yes!” I quickly respond. “I’m fine!” Both she and the stallion have already moved a bit along the ledge as to make room for the creature and I. Careful to balance myself and keep my attention away from the long fall below, I work my way along the ledge and join up with the doe and stallion. I look back up at the hole we came from, and hear the sounds of guards yelling. I watch as the creature stands at the very edge as it fires its slingshot one last time before preparing to climb down. It hangs from its hands as its body dangles below the edge. I see a guard pop his head out from the hole, and has a golden spear in his mouth, ready to strike the creature from above. “Drop! Now!” I scream. The creature releases its grip, and falls just as the guard lunges his spear, missing his target. The creature lands painfully, but is able to stand and shake off the sting of the fall.
“Thank you, Officer!” The creature shouts. “I am in your debt!”
“As am I,” the doe adds. “Thank you for looking out for my friend.”
“Sure,” I say.
“There they are! Their scaling the wall!” The guard shouts to his comrades behind him. “Move! Move! We need to cut them off!”
“So, where to now?” The stallion asks.
“Keep moving this way!” I shout to him. “We should come to another window we can climb through soon!” We all proceed to scale the wall, carefully and cautiously as to not lose our balance.
“Whatever you say, Miss Officer. . ! What is your name anyway?!”
“Maple! Maple Bough!”
“My, what a splendid name,” says the doe. “My name is Harra, and that brilliant stallion over there is Scrap.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Miss Maple Syrup!” Scrap shouts.
“I-It’s Bough! And it’s a pleasure to meet the both of you, but what is uh . . . that . . . peculiar creature’s name?”
“We call him Orin. It’s what my tribe call this particular species. He was never given a proper name like you and I.”
“Oh. . . And, what exactly is it? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“The last of his kind, Officer Maple. My family found him when we were both very young. I’ve known him all my life.”
“So, what happened to rest of them?”
“Of that, we are not sure. My family went venturing into the forests that make up the orin’s home, and they found him: abandoned.” Upon hearing this, I don’t feel the same amount of fear and anxiety when I glance back at the creature. Although, I still see it as a bizarre and odd-looking being, but I feel that perhaps I judged it a bit too quickly. I think back to the moment it insisted everypony else, including me, escape through the hole before it could; and the moment it appeared ashamed to reveal its face to me. It seems to feel emotions just like any average pony would, unlike any other animal. However, it doesn’t shake this uneasy feeling I get from looking at it.
“A-ha! I found our ticket out of here!” Scrap shouts as he waves to us. He pushes open the window’s shutters, and climbs inside with a loud grunt and thud. “Careful! It’s a little slippery!” I have so many more questions clouding my head, but I suppose they’ll have to wait for later. The rest of us escape the storm and regroup with Scrap. It feels good to finally be free from the chaos outside, but I quickly remember that those guards from before are more than likely still hunting for us. “Let’s ditch these rags, they’re just getting in the way. It’s not like we need them anyway, they know what we look like now.” Scrap tears off the dark cloak, and drops it to the ground with a sloshing sound from it being soaked in rain. Without the cloak, I can now see the massive, brown satchel strapped around his waist by a thick belt. Not only that, but he also has an array of metal cogs and other strange objects adorned around his neck and dangling from his satchel. Once Harra removes her cloak, she also reveals a little, cloth bag tied around her waist by a thin rope as well as her long, wooden, staff. Coupled with it, is a dingy, metal canteen used for storing fluids. I can now see her small, fluffy tail and the white fur of her underbelly. My eyes are then drawn to the assortment of necklaces and bands tied around her thin legs. All of them are stitched with some sort of eye-catching pattern and colors. One of her hind legs is bandaged, peeking my curiosity as to how she may have gotten injured. However, I feel this may not be the time or place. The creature then removes its cloak, and reveals a pure-white garment with two long sleeves that hide its arms along with a big, beige belt that wraps around its waist. I also see its slingshot, as well as some sort of short, wooden pole similar in design to Harra’s. I take a look around the room to see if I recognize it, and there’s a set of two, big, double doors ahead of us. To our left and right, are two smaller doors. As I try to recall exactly where we are in the castle, Scrap immediately approaches the big, double doors. “Ah, now if this doesn’t scream: the way out of here, then I don’t know what will!”
Scrap gleefully yanks open the doors by their large, golden handles, and we all watch in horror as we find out what’s behind them. Standing in the middle of the room beyond these doors, is Princess Twilight staring right back at us with that devilish smile of hers. “My, what a surprise!” She says. “I have guests.” Her horn quickly glows with a blinding, violet light that forces us to shield our eyes.
“Never mind!” Scrap screams as he slams the doors shut, relieving my eyes of the harsh light. “That has ‘death’ written all over it!”
“There must be another way out!” Harra panics.
“Umm. . .” I nervously ponder as my eyes bounce back and forth between the other two doors. “The door on the right! That should be it!”
“Say no more! Let’s go!” Scrap advises as he bursts through the door with the rest of us not falling too far behind. The three of us race down a seemingly endless hallway with candles along the walls lighting our way. I listen as the doors behind us burst open, and a haunting, violet glow emerges from behind me. I glance back to see Princess Twilight soaring down the hall straight for us at impeccable speed, her face still holding that disturbing smile.
“She’s getting close!” I shout.
“Not to worry!” Harra shouts. “Hopefully these slow her down!” She reaches her snout into her little bag, and grabs a mouthful of something. She spits them ahead of us, then bites down onto her canteen. With one good swing, it sends out a fair amount of water that lands on the seeds scattered along the floor. We pass over them, and I look to Harra completely dumbfounded.
“What is ‘that’ going to do?!” I shout.
“You’ll soon see!” Harra looks back at me with a smile. I glance back the seeds, and watch in awe as roots instantly sprout from each seed. They grow to enormous size in such a short amount of time; and they block the entire section of the hall as the roots dig into the walls, floor and ceiling, trapping Princess Twilight on the other side.
“W-Where do you get these things from?!”
“Nature, Officer Maple! Nature grants us wonderful gifts such as these!”
“I don’t remember things like ‘that’ growing in nature!”
“That is because nature is not comfortable in Equestria during times like these!” Her talk of nature immediately throws me off. She speaks of nature as though it’s some sort of being. I glance back to make sure the princess is still trapped, and it seems like she is.
“I guess she’s not that powerful after all, huh?!” Scrap taunts as he bursts through the door at the end of the hall. Exhausted and out of breath, we enter the main hall of the castle. The creature slams the door behind us, and rests its back against it. I fall to my knees as my heart attempts to settle, and give my legs a break from how hard I pushed myself. After all my years of serving the princess, not once have I seen her quite like that. “And would you look at that! Maple Syrup, please tell me that’s the way out.”
“Yes, that’s the entrance,” I say whilst trying to catch my breath.
“Perfect. Now let’s get out of here for real this time.” Scrap and Harra walk down the long, red-carpeted stairway towards the main doors. I glance back at the creature who has its ear up to the door, and nods its head to me. He leaves the door, and I stand myself straight so that we may follow the other two down the stairs. Once we reach the bottom of the stairway, a strong gust of wind pushes against us. Without a single door or window open to allow such a breeze inside, it’s impossible to understand where it could be coming from. Scrap turns around, and his jaw drops as his eyes widen. “Guys . . . this just got bad.” The rest of us turn back to the stairwell, and we watch hopelessly as a rays of violet light gleam from the top of the stairs. A black mass of fluid bubbles and broils at the top of the stairs. It continues to pool as a small amount of it slithers down the stairs and crawls up the main doors, coating it in a black, web-like barrier. “Okay, now it’s getting worse.” Rising up from the pool of boiling fluid as the rays of violet light intensify, Princess Twilight emerges from the floor. “And there it is, this is the worst it’s gonna get.”
“I must say,” Princess Twilight begins. “You four have made quite a noble effort to escape. It’s a shame that your ambition can only get you so far.” Two doors at the top of the stairway behind Princess Twilight burst open, revealing the guards that have been trying to catch up to us, as well as some new additions to the mob.
“Orin!” I hear Harra call as I turn to see what’s going on. She tosses a couple of seeds that are already doused in water, and the creature catches them in its hands. In one swift motion, it pulls out its slingshot and fires off one seed at a time towards the guards. I watch the seeds fly through the air and burst into a mass of roots. They land before the doors, and the roots quickly form a massive wall that blocks off the guards from getting any further into the main hall. Princess Twilight looks back at the mass of roots, then back to us with a look of pity.
“Alright!” Scrap cheers. “That’s one problem taken care of, now what do we do about ‘that’ up there?!” He switches from joy to a panic.
“That’s a shame,” Princess Twilight sighs. “I guess I’ll have to dispose of you four myself. I will not have you ingrates ruin this perfect world I’ve created.”
“Your vision of a perfect world is twisted and maniacal!” Harra exclaims.
“Clearly you misunderstand the true meaning of harmony and friendship,” Princess Twilight begins. “Unlike you, I’ve discovered the secret behind what encompasses all that is harmony; and with it, I intend on guiding Equestria to a future that is truly harmonious.”
“By ruining lives?! Separating families?! By introducing your ridiculous rules and laws?! Equestria has never seen days as dark as these, and with you at the throne, this land will surely perish.”
Princess Twilight giggles with delight. “It’s funny that you: a simple-minded, ignorant, little doe such as yourself claims to know what’s right for this kingdom. I’ve left you, and your pathetic homeland, to be at peace for such a long time. Now, I can see I’ve let you all get a bit carried away. Perhaps the borders between our countries ought to be abolished.”
“You cannot go against Princess Celestia’s word!”
“And who do you think has taken her place on the throne? Who did she grant all executive power to?” I watch as Harra’s expression grows more furious with every word that comes out of Princess Twilight’s mouth, and the princess is clearly enjoying herself as she talks down to us. “This kingdom belongs to me, and I will rule it as I please. Since you dare threaten our way of life, invade my castle with your fellow heathens, and fail to acknowledge the truth behind what we value most. Perhaps it’s time I teach you.” Princess Twilight spreads her wings as her body glows with a reddish hue. Her body levitates into the air as her voice fills the entire room. “I hereby void the peace agreement between our countries, and the border along with it!”
“You’re making a mistake!”
“Oh no, not me. ‘You’ decided to violate my trust by entering my home unwarranted, and are attempting to escort a prisoner. It appears to me that none of you stand by the values of harmony and friendship. For you cannot have harmony without friendship, and you cannot have friendship without magic. Why? Because, my dear adversaries, friendship ‘is’ magic.” The glow from Princess Twilight’s horn intensifies, and fires off a beam of magic directly at our hooves. The floor before us explodes, sending us flying onto our backs as shards of tile glide along the floor. “Pathetic.”
“Everypony! Scatter!” I advise. Heading my words, we all disperse as Princess Twilight continues to fire her rays of magic towards us. I, as well as the others, gallop crazily around the main hall like insects trying to escape danger with no way out. I attempt to hide behind one of the stone pillars that line the hall to try and catch breath while I assess the situation. I allow my mind to run wild as I examine the room desperate for an escape route. There’s no sense in fighting back, we’ll all get torn to shreds. With the main doors being blocked off by the princess’ spell, our options appear to be very limited.
“Anypony got an idea to get us out of this mess?!” Scrap shouts as he evades rays of magic. “Preferably ‘before’ we die!”
“We’re going to need a distraction to buy us some time!” The creature suggests.
“I have just the thing!” Harra declares as she reaches back into her little bag. She pulls out a disc-shaped seed, and tosses it onto the floor after dropping a couple drips of water onto it. The seed spews a thick, white gas that coats the room in a thick cloud. The room falls deathly quiet, and I stay behind the pillar struggling to see through the smoke. Within moments, Harra, Scrap and the creature regroup with me.
“Okay, that should work for a little while,” says Scrap. “How many of those did you bring?”
“Just one,” says Harra.
“Good, no pressure then. Officer Syrup, what’s the plan?”
“I . . . I need a second,” I say.
“Alright, but we don’t have very many of those left.” The creature nudges Scrap with his elbow, shaking its head. “Okay, I’m done.”
“Officer, there must be another way out,” Harra whispers.
“No way for us to get to at least,” I whisper.
“What do you mean by that?”
“The only other possible way to get out of this room would be through the roof. It’s made of glass, and if there was a way to break through and . . . fly out of here—then there’s no other way we can leave.”
“Well, flying out of here shouldn’t be a problem,” says the creature with a smirk as he glances over at Scrap.
“That’s right!” Harra says with enlightenment. “Scrap, you brought your new contraption, didn’t you?”
“Yeah . . . I did. . .” Scrap ponders. “But I haven’t actually gotten to testing it yet.”
“I don’t think that matters at the moment. I say you get that thing strapped on, and we pray to The Spirit.”
“Now I like the sound of that! Let’s do this!” Scrap cheers as he removes and sets his satchel down onto the floor.
“Wait, wait, wait. . .” I hold out my hoof to them to get their attention. “What ‘contraption’ are you talking about?”
“Oh, you’re going to love it, Officer! I just need a moment to get this thing on.”
“You can’t hide forever,” Princess Twilight’s voice calls through the smoke. “If you all surrender now, I just might reconsider my decision to abolish the peace treaty.”
“She’s bluffing, Harra,” says the creature. “If we surrender now, I can assure you we won’t ever see home again.”
“What you do today will decide your fate. Do the honorable thing: give in.”
Harra shakes her head to try and ignore Princess Twilight’s words. “Are you almost ready, Scrap?” Harra asks.
“Just . . . about. . .” Scrap struggles to say as he lugs a metal device from his satchel. The odd-looking device is circular in design, and is made up of an array of cogs and gears. “Umm . . . if you two would be so kind?” Harra and the creature lift up the device, and help strap it to Scrap’s back.
“Now, how are we going to be able to leave ‘with’ you?”
“Not to worry!” Scrap reaches back into his satchel as we all try to peer inside and see what he’s trying to get. “I’ve got rope!” He cheers with a single line of rope in his mouth.
“. . . And you believe it’ll be able to support all three of us?”
“Eh, it should be fine.”
“. . . Well, we don’t have any other choice.” Harra hastily ties one end of the rope to a metal ring that’s been welded onto the surface of the device.
“Maple,” Princess Twilight’s voice calls once again. “Don’t you want to see your beloved parents again?” I turn my head to listen as the smoke is now starting to dissipate. “Or would you rather leave, and put their lives in jeopardy? You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?”
“Alright!” says Scrap. “Everything’s all set, the rope is tied, let’s get ready for take-off!”
“Splendid!” Harra cheers. “Officer, we must hurry. . ! Officer?” I stand motionless as my mind is torn. I don’t know what Princess Twilight has done with my parents, and I could most definitely be putting my parents lives at risk with what I’m doing. I can’t; I can’t take the chance. My parents mean the world to me, and I would never be able to forgive myself if I let anything happen to them. “Officer! We need to go! The fog won’t be able to conceal us much longer!”
“M-Maybe you three should go,” I suggest.
“We’re not leaving without you. Listen to what Orin said, she’s being dishonest.” I glance to Harra as she along with the others are waiting for me to group up with them, and I turn back to the direction I last saw Princess Twilight. The smoke is no longer as thick as it used to be, becoming more of a mist to reveal more of the main hall.
“Choose wisely, Maple,” says Princess Twilight.
“Officer, please! I beg of you!” My legs are starting to tremble, and my heart is throbbing frantically. I can’t seem to force myself to move either towards Harra and the others, or head to the stairway leading up to Princess Twilight. Despite the amount of hatred in me for the princess, I’m not sure if it’s enough to not believe in what she says. Suddenly, as if I was being brought back in time, I remember the last thing my Father told me back in the dungeon. His voice is so clear in my head that I can swear I’m completely reliving the moment. His voice has guided me for years, and pulled me out of the darkest of times. Whether it was encouraging me to follow what my heart desires, or being by my bedside after a horrible nightmare. Simply listening to this memory puts my heart at ease, and my legs cease trembling. ‘No matter what happens, know that we will always love you. Always.’ Remembering those words fills me with a rush of warmth, and clears my mind of all doubt. I turn back to Harra and her friends as they look to me, frightened and eager.
“. . . Let’s go,” I say as I join them.
“Phew! You had me worried there for a second, Officer Syrup,” says Scrap as he wipes his forehead with his hoof. “Now, I’m gonna need some space. Let’s back up to main doors!” As we follow his directions, walking down the long, red rug towards the doors, Harra looks to me with a sincere look on her face.
“I am grateful to you once again, Officer,” she says. “And I will make an oath to you, that we will reunite you with your loved ones. No matter the cost.”
“You barely know anything about me, yet you’re making me this promise like you’ve known me your whole life.”
“Us deerfolk do not judge by how long we’ve known one particular individual. You and I, we walk the same land, breathe the same air, drink the same water. . . With that, we know all that we need to about one another.” We reach the main doors that are still coated in the black webbing Princess Twilight had cast upon them, and we turn to face the stairway.
“Now, on the count of three, we charge,” says Scrap. “Ready?” The three of us nod our heads as we grab hold of the rope. We plant ourselves firmly on the floor, priming ourselves to dash down the rug. “One. . .” With the smoke nearly diminished, I can now see Princess Twilight still hovering in the air at the top of the stairway.
“Ah, there you are,” she says as the glow of her horn instantly intensifies.
“Two—three—go!” At full speed, we charge towards Princess Twilight. She fires beams of magic that miss, and some that force us to slightly change course to avoid the blast. “Hold on!” Scrap bites down onto a little handle sticking out from the side of his device, and gives it one good yank causing all the cogs and gears to turn like clockwork. From each side, two, elaborately crafted, metal wings burst from the contraption causing my eyes to widen with surprise. Two levers with multiple joints eject from underneath the left and right wings, and fold out near Scrap’s head. The wings begin to flap, growing faster with every beat. Before I can fully absorb what’s happening, my body is begin lifted up off the ground, causing me to wrap my legs around the rope while I—along with Harra and the creature—scream at the top of our lungs. “Ha-ha! It’s working!” Within seconds, the three of us dangle from the rope as Scrap soars through the air towards Princess Twilight who has dumbfounded look on her face. “Think you’re so cool because you’ve got wings, Your Majesty? Well, guess what? So do I! Ha-ha!” Clearly enraged, Princess Twilight fires off another beam of violet magic. Scrap bites down onto the right lever near his face, causing the wings to shift, and us to change course to the right. The beam flies right passed us, as I can feel the extreme heat from the magic.
“You need her to shoot the ceiling, Scrap! Not us!” The creature yells from under me at the bottom of the rope.
“Nothing to worry about my two-legged friend! I’ve got this under control!” Scrap proceeds to fly circles around Princess Twilight as she continues to fire her beams of magic without success. He flies over her head, as she furiously fires a ray of magic up at the ceiling. The glass shatters, and the shards rain down onto the princess and break apart into even smaller pieces onto the floor. I watch as Princess Twilight casts an orb of violet magic around herself, and the shards of glass break apart once they come into contact with it. Scrap hurriedly flies us through the roof and into the storm. Dangling from the rope, I look back at the castle with images of my Mother and Father flashing in my head.
“Mom. . . Dad. . .” I mutter to myself. “I’m coming back. I promise.” Just when I feel like we’ve finally escaped Princess Twilight, I watch in horror as she flies out from the broken rooftop, and is soaring directly towards us. “H-How fast can this thing go?!” I yell to Scrap with my eyes fearfully locked onto Princess Twilight.
“Uh. . ! I’m not too sure actually!”
“Now, that’s reassuring!” The creature shouts sarcastically.
“Just keep flying, Scrap! We need to try and lose her!” Harra advises.
“Oh, really? Why don’t we bring her with us? We can have dinner, and—”
“Scrap!” Both the creature and Harra shout in unison.
“Alright, I’m on it!” Scrap salutes. Scrap flies us higher into the sky, so high that the roar of the thunder pounds onto my ears unbearably so. I reluctantly take a look down as the villages and forests become smaller and smaller, then turn my attention away from the ground as I realize how foolish it was to look. Being up so high almost feels like being in a completely different world. I always wondered what it would be like to be a Pegasus, and now that I’m up here, I dearly wish I was back on the ground. Constantly switching between the two levers, Scrap causes us to fly in a serpent-like motion. Beams of violet magic continue to fly by, each one only coming close to skimming us. In a flash of bright light, a streak of lightning bolts downward from the nearby clouds. Frightened, Scrap nearly loses control as we dip downward for a brief moment, but instantly brings us back up.
“Scrap?! Are you alright up there?!” Harra asks.
“Y-Yeah! Everything’s just fine. . ! I’ve got an idea!”
“What idea?!” Without answering, Scrap flies us upward even further into the dark clouds. It’s hard to look up at him as the rain pelts my face. The wind and rain are so deathly cold that I almost feel frozen onto the rope, but my body is pulsing with so much adrenaline that I barely even notice the cold. I can suddenly feel my heart leap into my throat as Scrap does a loop through the clouds. Upside down, we all shriek as loud as we can, but the intense sounds of the storm surpass our voices. Princess Twilight soars right underneath us at excessive speeds as she irritably looks back at us. Scrap completes the loop, and flies downward from the clouds until the trees and villages below come back into view. “Scrap! We’re getting too close! You need to bring us up!”
“I’m . . . trying!” Despite what he says, and no matter how much he finagles with his controls, we continue our descent towards the forest. “I-I can’t! Brace for impact!” We fly through the tree tops as leaves and branches scrape us, and Scrap nearly flies right into the trunk of a tree. He’s able to just barely steer himself out of the way, but one of his wings busts apart against the trunk. He spins out of control, and the rest of us lose our grip on the rope. I skid and tumble over the forest floor through bushes and the like until I come to a painful stop. With my entire body in agony, I lift my head out from the mud and search for any sign of Scrap, Harra or the creature. I struggle to get to my hooves as my legs quiver from the pain in my knees.
“Scrap. . ! Harra. . .!” I shout.
“Officer!” I hear Harra’s voice cry out from behind me. I turn around and am thankful to see Harra and the creature, but they both appear to be in dire pain as they hobble towards me. The creature has one arm clutching its gut, and the other around Harra as she helps it walk whilst struggling herself.
“Harra, please,” the creature mumbles. “I can walk on my own. Allow me to aid you.”
“You are in no condition to walk, Orin. Just let me help.” I limp over to join them, and they look to me with concern. “I’m happy to see you’re okay.”
“Y-Yeah, same to you,” I say as a sharp pain causes me to stammer.
“Where is Scrap?”
“I . . . I’m not sure. . . Scrap!” I call.
“Scrap!” The other two join in.
“Over here!” Scrap calls out from some distance away. We follow his voice until we find him laying face down on the ground with his wings completely busted up.
“Oh no, Scrap!” says Harra as the three of us hurry as fast as we can to Scrap’s side. “Quick, we need to get this contraption off of him.” Harra and the creature grab hold of the broken wings and lift Scrap up from the mud. I kneel down and wipe some of the mud off the straps keeping the device tied to him, and undo the buckles which allows Harra and the creature to remove the contraption from Scrap’s back.
“Scrap, how are you feeling?” I ask.
“I’m feeling just fine, Officer Pancakes. . .” Scrap says clearly disoriented and in agony. “How about you guys?”
“We didn’t fare too well,” says Harra. “But we’re almost free. We just need to get to the raft.”
“Raft?” I ask. “You live overseas? That would explain why I’ve never seen any of your kind around before. How far away is your homeland?”
“It’s not too far. Once we’re out at sea, you’ll be able to see our island on the horizon.”
“Say, is the princess still looking for us?” Scrap asks.
“No,” Harra looks up to the sky. “I think we’ve lost her.”
“Good. Because I don’t think we’re going to be flying again any time soon.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure you can build another.” Harra helps Scrap to his hooves. “I’ll take us to the raft. It’s not too far from here.”
“Thankfully we landed where we needed to be,” the creature comments.
“Yup! That was my plan all along,” says Scrap as the four of us trek through the forest. The shower of rain seems to be easing some of the pain, making it slightly more bearable to walk over this rugged terrain. Harra appears to be infatuated with the trees as she continuously glances around at every tree around us. She appears to be saddened by them and even in a great deal of discomfort.
“Harra, what’s the matter?” I ask.
“This forest. . .” She begins. “It has such very little life left in it.”
“I agree. They’ve been looking worse and worse.”
“Not only that, but can’t you just feel the agony this forest is in? It’s crying out for help, but no one’s been listening. Never have I seen anything quite like this. . . It’s horrible.” I am suddenly alerted by a shadow breaking through the moonlight overhead, followed by the deep sound of flapping wings. I quickly look upward to perhaps catch what it could have possibly been, but there’s nothing. “What’s the matter, Officer?”
“I could have sworn there was something flying over us.”
“Oh, please don’t tell me that nutcase of a princess found us.” Scrap groans.
“I’m not too sure what it was.”
“Yeah, like that’s supposed to make me feel better.” With my eyes still glued to the stormy sky, I catch sight of a winged creature through the towering trees flying under the moon.
“There! Did you see it?” I turn to Harra as I notice she’s turned her attention away from the sky.
“What?” She asks. “What was it?”
“It looked like some kind of bird. . . I haven’t seen a bird around here in quite some time.”
“Perhaps it’s a good sign.” The winged creature comes back within sight, this time appearing much larger than before. However, instead of simply passing by the moon, it appears to be diving down straight for us. My eyes are hypnotically drawn to the creature’s luminescent, golden eyes that pierce right through the darkness. It reveals its sleek, sharp talons as the beating of its wings causes the trees to shake and shudder crazily.
“You call that ‘good’?!” Scrap yells.
“Move!” The two-legged creature shouts as it shoves me away from the winged creature’s path. It, along with the others leap, out of the way and grunt as they hit the ground on their bellies. The winged beast’s talons rip right through the trees and scrape the ground leaving behind enormous gashes in the soil. I listen as many of the trees around us creak and crack as they fall to the ground, and pieces of dirt tap the metal of my armor. Now awoken from my mesmerized state, I watch as the winged beast flies off into the distance. I then turn to the creature as it looks to me in fear, and I realize that it had just saved my life. “Are you alright, Officer?”
“Y-Yes. . .” I stammer. “Thank you.”
“Guys, I know we had a close call there,” says Scrap. “But we might want to hurry up and get to the raft; because I don’t think that thing is quite done with us yet!” He yells and points his hoof to the sky. I look back in the direction I thought it had left to. Only to find it coming back around for another attack.
“Run!” Harra screams. Instantly, we move as fast as we can through the woods as the winged creature decimates a large portion of the forest behind us. Shards of bark and wood fly passed my face, and an ominous wail echoes throughout the woods.
“What even is that monstrosity?!”
“It appears to be a horned owl! Only . . . this one’s about a thousand times the size of what it should be!”
“Really? Could’ve fooled me.” As the enormous owl cries, followed by the sounds of destruction following closely behind us, I can hear the gratifying sounds of the shore. Emerging from the wall of trees, in pain and panic, I spot the raft built from logs of wood resting on the sand. “There she is! Oh, thank Celestia!”
“We need to get it out into the water! Quickly!” All of us surround the raft, getting a grip on its sides as we push with all of our might. My hooves sink through the wet sand, making it difficult to keep myself steady. The cold, icy water of the ocean reaches up to my waist as my body shivers intensely. “Everyone climb aboard!” She orders as we climb up onto the rickety raft. Harra then opens up a sail of sticking up from the center of the raft made from huge leaves that I’ve never seen on any plant that I know of. The creature picks up an oar resting on the uneven surface of the raft, and starts to paddle us further into the water. Freezing from the wind blowing across my damp fur, I turn to watch as we drift away from Equestria, and the owl circles around without a clue as to where we are.
“I think it lost us!” I attempt to yell over the sounds of the storm combined with the ocean’s waves, which are growing more violent the further out we go.
“Last time we thought that, it came right back!” Scrap shouts as he removes and wipes clean his glass lens.
“Officer! Look!” Harra urges as she crawls across the raft pointing her hoof towards the horizon. “You can see our home just over there!” I sit beside her, trying desperately to see what she’s talking about; but the rain makes it difficult to see just about anything out there. Not only that, but the ocean’s waves are forcing our raft to rock uncontrollably.
“I. . ! I can’t see anything!” I shout.
“Guys! It’s coming back!” Scrap panics. Harra and I turn to see the owl is indeed heading straight for us as its cry overwhelms the sounds of the storm, rattling me to my core. “What are we supposed to do now?!” Scrap and the creature look to me, then we all look to Harra unsure as to what to do next. However, as she helplessly glances between the three of us, I can tell that she is just as clueless as we are. She opens her mouth as if ready to speak, but is unable to form words. Her eyes widen as she looks ahead of us, and we all turn around to see the owl spread its monstrous wings as its talons glide along the ocean’s surface, creating a huge wave coming straight towards us. We all scream at the top of our lungs as it barely misses our raft by only busting up the side of it, causing all of us to nearly fall overboard. However, our raft is being lifted high up by the wave, launching us helplessly into the air. I plummet into the icy waters, desperately trying to swim back up to the surface. Everything around me is becoming darker as the weight of my armor is pulling me down into the depths. My heart pounds and my lungs are in urgent need for air as I frantically try to unbuckle my armor. As soon as I get the buckle loosened, I easily slip out from my armor and paddle my hooves to reach the surface. Popping my head up above the water, I take in a much needed breath of air, but also end up choking on a gulp of salty seawater that gets caught in my mouth. Multiple flashes of lightning flash before my eyes before I am engulfed by the sea once again. I find myself unable to swim anywhere as I am swallowed by the ocean’s current. Everything is blackening, and I can feel my energy slowly draining until I can’t bring myself to struggle any longer.
With my hooves pressed against the iron bars of our cell, I can feel the floor rocking back and forth as we sail across the sea. To be honest, our cell is more like a cage. These iron bars completely surround us, and there’s so little space that the guards took Scrap and imprisoned him on a different ship. It’s just the creature and I locked in here, and it’s been deathly silent with its head buried beneath its arms as it sits in the corner of the cell. I’ve never been under the deck of one of these ships before, as we rarely go out at sea in the Royal Guard. Nonetheless, they taught us all about the ins and outs of the ships along with how to use the helm. It’s been so long that most of that knowledge has dissipated, but being back in one of these brings back those memories: the early days of my training, the days where it seemed like none of this could ever happen. Sitting in a wooden stool in the corner of the room is a royal guard with his eyes glued to our cell. I can see our weapons sitting atop a wooden table next to the guard, along with a metal ring holding the key to our cage, but there’s no way we’d be able to get to them. Despite the fact that I feel like there isn’t any hope left to go off of, I feel the need to offer some words of comfort. Pressing my back against the door of the cage, doing my best to ignore the guard that’s watching us, I turn to the creature with a sigh. “Hey,” I begin, but it refuses to lift its head up to look at me. “How are you feeling?”
“Not well, Officer,” it says.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll find some way out of this . . . somehow.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. You were part of the Royal Guard, right? Don’t you know what’ll happen to us when we arrive?”
“I’m not too sure.”
“We’re going to be executed, aren’t we?”
“What? N-No.” Realizing I clearly don’t sound too convincing, I decide to reinforce my stance regardless. “The worst that’ll happen is we’ll be imprisoned for . . . I don’t know how long, but that’s all that’s going to happen.”
“I never thought this would all end so soon. Just when it seemed like it could only get better, this happens. Perhaps we weren’t cut out for bringing about change in Equestria.”
“. . . Not to sound blunt, but why do ‘you’ care about bringing change to Equestria?” The creature lifts its head up from its arms to look at me with a tired look on its face. “You’re no pony, or deer or . . . anything like us. You’re not a part of our species, not even close. So . . . what makes you feel the need to fight for us?”
“There’s many reasons why I do, Officer. One, Harra has it set in her heart that she can do some good for Equestria, and I want to help her see it through. Since we were children, she had dreams of becoming something of an adventurer, a hero. . .” The creature’s eyes start to water as it chuckles. “I remember when we would play pretend. She and I would run through the woods fighting all sorts of imaginary evildoers. I would be her bodyguard or sidekick, and I would always sacrifice myself to the invisible villains when they would get the upper hoof. Then she would hop into action and save me, along with the rest of the kingdom.” The creature wipes the tears from its eyes and clears its throat. “And now that we’ve gotten older, and her dreams have gotten bigger, I promised her that no matter what I would always be there for her. She’s a sister to me, and I made a vow to myself to protect her with my life.” Hearing the creature speak about its memories with Harra warms my heart. It reminds me of the days when I was younger. Sure, I was an only child, but I would play similar games with friends of my own. I suppose it must truly see Harra as a family. Unlike other creatures that run off of basic instinct and nothing more, this one doesn’t seem to be the same. From the tears I saw in its eyes, and the inflections in its voice when it reminisced about its memories, speak volumes to me about what must be going through its head. “I guess the second thing would be that I don’t really have a species of my own anymore. When Harra’s parents were raising me I grew to love them all as if they truly were my family. They clothed me, fed me, taught me. . . However, I guess they didn’t feel the same way after all. Even after all these years, when I thought they cared for me as if I were their own, he blames me. He sees me as a nuisance that’s corrupted his daughter. I can tell you feel something similar.”
“What do you mean?”
“The way you look at me. You think I’m some kind of freak, don’t you?”
I look at him, and ponder to myself for a moment. With the upmost sincerity I can muster, I tell him the truth straight from my heart. “No, I don’t think that at all.”
“Well, I do. I know what I am, and I know what I’m not. I don’t expect you to accept me as a friend, acquaintance or partner; because I understand.”
“Listen, you are no different than me. Perhaps my initial reaction to you may have seemed like an unfavorable one; but it was purely from the shock of never seeing anything like you in my entire life. Surely you would’ve reacted the same way if you saw something so out of the ordinary, wouldn’t you agree? I can see now that you’re not what I thought you were. All I needed was some time to understand you.”
“Well, Officer, I appreciate that. Truly, I do.”
“Please, don’t keep calling me Officer. ‘Maple’ will do just fine, Orin.”
Orin grins. “As you wish, Maple.” The sound of an explosion erupts from beyond the ship, alerting the guard sitting across from us. “What was that?”
“I don’t know.” I listen to the sounds of hollering and commotion on the upper level of the ship as another explosion goes off beyond these walls. In a panic, the guard hops out from his seat and climbs a set of steps to get above deck, leaving the two of us alone. “Now would be the time for us to find a way to escape.”
“Escape? How can we possibly manage that? We’re locked in here, and the key is way over there.”
“Surely there’s some way we can manage. . .”
“I don’t see how we could.”
“Come on, Orin,” my eyes dart all around the cage searching for anything I could possibly exploit for a way out. “Try and stay positive.”
“Stay positive. . . Right. It’s not like we can bring the table over to us.” Then, I’m struck with a sudden realization.
“I think I’ve got it.”
“Yeah? And what’s on your mind?”
“These ships weren’t designed to carry prisoners. They were built as vessels to simply carry soldiers overseas and into battle. I remember these ships never had cages like this below deck.”
“Why does that matter? Maybe they just put these cages in recently.”
“Right, but how recently? Check the bottom of the cage, tell me if you see anything keeping it secured to the floor.” Both Orin and I check our sides for any signs of bolting or chains that might be keeping our cage in place, but it appears that there is absolutely nothing to keep us stationary.
“No, there’s nothing. Then . . . perhaps we could. . ?”
“That’s right. If we can’t bring the table to us, then we’ll go to the table. All we need are a few good pushes. Come on, help me.” I prep myself with my hooves against the cage, and Orin quickly joins me by my side with his shoulder pressed up against the cage. “On three, we push. Ready?” He nods, and we ready ourselves for a push. “One. . . Two. . . Three!” We push ourselves into the wall of the cage, and it rocks forward, but not enough to force it onto its side. “Almost. Just a bit harder. One. . . Two. . . Three!” This time we ram ourselves against the cage, and it tips over causing us to fall onto our stomachs. “Alright! Let’s keep it up!” Orin and I ready ourselves for another push, and we continue to roll the cage towards the table with the key.
“I . . . I can’t believe this worked!” says Orin as he catches his breath.
“I guess The Royal Guard isn’t as bright as I thought they’d be,” I mock. “Now, my hooves are a bit too big to fit through the openings in this cage; but I think you can squeeze your arm through to reach the key.”
“Right!” Orin pokes his hand through the tight opening through the cage and extends his arm to reach out and grab the key. He brings his arm back inside, and I move aside to allow him enough room to mess about with the padlock as he sticks both his arms through the door of our cage. I can hear the sound of the latch to the hatch the guard used to leave our room unlock. Assuming the worst, Orin and I hold our breath and remain motionless. The hatch opens up, allowing a beam of sunlight to pierce through the shadowy room for a short moment before closing again. I listen to the dreadful sounds of the guards’ armored hooves step down the wooden stairs. He walks through the doorway and notices that our cage is completely empty with the door left wide open, and the padlock is dangling from the metal loop on the door. With Orin and I hiding with our backs pressed up against the wall adjacent to the doorway the guard is standing between, he gasps and glances around the room in a desperate search for us. With his wooden baton, Orin smacks the guard’s throat with its shaft. As he grabs his throat choking in pain, Orin swings his baton upward into the guard’s chin sending him backward onto the stairs unconscious. Grabbing hold of the guard’s legs, I drag his body down from the steps and into the middle of the room. “Okay,” Orin catches his breath from the tension that’s built up inside him. “What’s next?”
“Well. . . We go up there, and commandeer the ship.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“We’ll catch them off-guard while their distracted with whatever’s going on up there. Then, we take them on.”
“So, you ‘are’ serious.” I pick up the guard’s golden spear with my mouth, and hold it out to Orin who looks at the pointed blade of the spear with fear. Confused, I try to convince him to go ahead and take it.
“There’s going to be quite a few of them out there. I feel a weapon like this would benefit you unlike your baton.”
“I-I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Harra and I made a vow to the spirit that we should never resort to such weaponry to defend ourselves.”
“What even is this ‘spirit’ you two keep talking about?”
“I’ll explain everything to you later, but for now, I can’t accept that weapon.”
“You’ll be at a major disadvantage.”
“I can’t go back on my vows. I would be betraying, not only The Spirit of The Wood, but also Harra; and ‘that’ I would never forgive myself for.”
With a sigh, I set down the spear. “Okay, well, how many of those stunning-seed-things do you have?” Orin reaches into a pocket in his trousers and pulls out a bunch of those seeds I saw him launch at the guards back in Canterlot Castle.
“Six.”
“Alright, use them sparingly, and make every shot count.” Orin nods his head as he puts the seeds back into his pocket and readies his slingshot. I draw my sword from its sheathe, and we ready ourselves to charge out through the hatch. “You watch my back, and I’ll watch yours.”
“You can count on me, Maple.” I take in a deep breath to try and help calm my nerves.
“Ready. . . Go!” I charge headfirst into the hatch, bursting it open with brute force. I stand gripping tightly onto the handle of my sword while in my offensive stance, and Orin quickly comes to my side with his slingshot primed and ready. Off in the distance, I see the other ship holding Scrap prisoner is clearly under siege. The sails are ablaze, and the sky is filling with clouds of smoke. Our ship’s course is parallel with it as guards arm the large, wooden crossbows mounted at the edge of the deck firing off arrows the size of harpoons toward the ship. Through the smoke and flames, I find the guards aboard the other ship appear to be fighting back against something. It’s Scrap, and he’s galloping like mad across the deck while avoiding the guards’ attempts to capture him as well as the harpoon-sized arrows.
“I’ll never know how he does it,” says Orin mesmerized by the sight.
“The prisoners have escaped!” The guard at the helm of the ship calls out, alarming the other guards onboard. Instantaneously, a group of guards armed with spears swarm and surround us waiting for their moment to strike.
“We order you to stand down!” One of the guards warns.
“I don’t take orders from ponies like you anymore,” I say locking eyes with the guard. Infuriated by my response, he charges forward with the tip of his spear. I swipe away the blade of his spear with my sword, and whip around to send him to the ground with a quick buck to his chest. Another guard approaches Orin as he thrusts his spear wildly. To my surprise, Orin is able to avoid every thrust, and fires off one of his stun-seeds as it explodes onto the guard’s armor. Disoriented, Orin grabs his baton from his belt and immediately clobbers the guard in the head. After a few good smacks to his helmet, the guard falls to the floor. Another guard tries his hoof at charging towards me trying to swing the blade of his spear at me. As I deflect his relentless attacks with my sword, I can feel my grip on the handle weakening. With his next incoming attack, I duck down allowing the shaft of his spear to fly right over my head. I swing upward, chopping off part of his spear’s shaft. The blade of his spear falls to the floor, and he looks to me with a look of helplessness. Still, he tries to attack with his bladeless spear as I continue to slice apart his useless weapon. Orin is in a quarrel with a guard armed with a sword. His sleek, crimson armor signifies that he is of a higher rank than these guards in golden armor. Their weapons clash as they seem to be pretty evenly matched. With barely a weapon to speak of, the guard I’m facing off gives up as he looks at what’s left of his spear unsure of what to do. I shrug, and with an uncomfortable smile he retreats to his comrades.
“Maple!” Orin cries. I turn to him, and I see that he’s quickly tiring from trying to keep up with the crimson guard. He pulls out his slingshot in an attempt to defend himself, but with one swift slice the guard cuts through his slingshot. The wooden arch of the slingshot falls to the floor, forcing Orin to discard what’s left of it to draw his baton. With both his hands on both ends of his weapon, he is able to block the guard’s next incoming attack. However, the guard continues to press down with his sword onto Orin’s baton, and Orin doesn’t look like he’ll be able to hold him back for much longer. Just as I am about to charge towards the guard ready to plunge my sword into his side, a voice calls out.
“That’s enough!” The guards, Orin and I stop and turn to the source of the voice. Commander Liaison walks towards us as the guards back away from us. “I must say, that was a fine display from the both of you. However, you and your friends are becoming quite the annoyance, Miss Bough. So, I’ll have to put an end to this once and for all.”
“You’re wrong if you think you can defeat us,” I taunt.
“Perhaps you’re right. So, why don’t we even out the playing field, shall we? Pike! Lance!”
“Yes, sir!” the two guards salute.
“Seize that bizarre creature.” Pike and Lance instantly rush Orin, grabbing him by his arms and yanking him away from my side.
“Hey! Let me go!” Orin demands as he helplessly struggles to break himself free.
“I don’t think so you. . ! You ‘thing’!” Pike mocks.
“Wow, you sure told it,” says Lance. “I’m sure you might’ve hurt its feelings with that comment.”
“Oh, like you could’ve done any better!”
“Bet you I could.”
“Go on then!”
“Nope. I’m not as insensitive as you.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding!”
“You leave him alone!” I warn.
“Not to worry, it won’t be harmed . . . yet,” Commander Liaison teases. “You and I are going to settle this proper, with a one on one duel. If you win, then you ‘might’ get your friend back. If I win, then I’ll have its throat slit. Sound fair to you?”
“You’ve made a mistake, Commander.”
“Have I? And what would that be?”
“I won’t lose.”
Commander Liaison chuckles. “If this is going to go anything like our previous confrontation, then I have a feeling I know exactly how this is going to end.”
“How about you stop talking, and we get this over with?” Commander Liaison’s smile disappears as he glares at me.
“Patience, was never your strong suit, Miss Bough.” The more I listen to him speak, the more eager I become to bring the attack. I charge his position winding up my sword for a swing, as he stands and waits for me to get closer. Before my initial blow can make contact, Commander Liaison pulls out his sword to block my attack. Assuming he’ll try the same tactic he used last time, I follow up my failed attack with an onslaught of swings and swipes. I feel like I have more control in this fight, but none of my swings can connect. Effortlessly, he blocks every last one of my attacks, and I can already feel my energy starting to drain. By the look on his face, I can tell this is what he wants. He wants me to tire myself out; that way he can take advantage of the fight while I’m exhausted. I can’t let that happen. There must be some way I can get through his defense.
“Commander!” A guard calls out, but is ignored as Commander Liaison is too focused on staring me down. I twirl and try to swipe at his legs, but he jumps right over my blade.
“Clever,” says Commander Liaison. “But not clever enough.” Infuriated, I continue to swing my sword at him, as he simply steps out of the way of every swing. “You must be curious as to where your parents are.” I need to not put my focus on what he says, and instead focus on landing a blow. “Her Majesty gave me the order to move them to a new location. I’m sure their happier where they are now, compared to that cramped, cold cell.”
“Commander!” The guard calls out once again.
“And it’s just a matter of time. . .”
“Commander!” Commander Liaison and I lock swords, and he leans in a little too close to my face with a crazed look in his eye.
“Before the life is completely drained out from them.” Stunned by his words, my mind instantly runs wild with thoughts as to what he could possibly mean; and what torture my parents must be going through right at this moment. Out of shock, my grip on my sword weakens, and Commander Liaison notices easily. He shoves my sword away, and whips around to kick me in my chest with one of his hind legs. I tumble along the floor with an immense pain in my chest. I lift up my head to see Commander Liaison looming over me with the tip of his sword pointed at my face. “It’s too bad the princess wants you as well. I would lavish the opportunity to finish you off right now. Well, since you lost, time to uphold your end of the bargain. Lance! Pike! Kill that disgusting creature.” He looks away from me to turn to Pike and Lance, and his smile quickly vanishes. I shift my eyes to see that the two guards are standing with nervous grins on their faces as they both shrug it off. “Where is it?!” He shouts.
“Commander!”
“What?! What do you want?!” Commander Liaison looks to the guard that’s been calling him, as he fearfully points his hoof. Turning to look at what he could be pointing at, we find that the burning ship is about to collide with ours. “. . . Splendid.” He sighs. The side of the burning ship slams and grinds against our ship while also raining embers and flaming splinters of wood. The collision is so violent that is causes our ship to tilt, forcing all of us onboard to slide down the slanted floor to the other side of the ship. Commander Liaison and I ram into the railing at the edge of the ship; and once the deck is level again, I get to my hooves to find he has his sword pointed at me once again. However, this time, he looks intent to kill. “I’ve had enough of this! I think I need a break from all this excitement, don’t you? Perhaps the satisfaction of driving my sword through your heart will grant me some relief.” Without my sword and no place to run, I stand frozen in fear as he winds up his sword for a thrust. “Farewell, Maple. It’s been a—” Suddenly, something flies by and kicks Commander Liaison over the railing. I watch him fall hopelessly until he breaks through the surface of the sea with a splash. Looking up, I see Orin swinging on a rope hanging from the top of the main mast. His momentum carries him back toward the ship, and he drops from the rope to land in the same spot Commander Liaison stood.
“Are you alright?” Orin asks.
“I. . . I’m. . . Yeah, I’m fine,” I stammer.
“Woo! That was incredible!” Scrap shouts as he gallops across the deck to meet up with us. He’s covered in soot and ashes, as well as a few scraps and gashes.
“S-Scrap! You’re alright!”
“Of course I am. What did you expect?”
“Are you sure? You look injured,” says Orin.
“Eh, it’s nothing; but never mind me! You two were really kicking some serious flank until Commander Moustache showed up!”
“How did you even take control of that ship?” I ask.
“Oh, it was nothing. It’s their fault for leaving enough stuff around for me to make some good ol’ explosives with.”
“Stay right where you are!” A guard orders as a mob of them gather around us with the blades of their weapons pointed at us.
“Come on, guys,” Scrap says in a sympathetic voice. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough for one day?” All the guards’ eyes widen at once, and their jaws drop. “How’s about you lower your weapons, and let us go back home before this gets any messier?” The guards then lower their weapons, confusing all three of us. “Huh, I didn’t think that would actually work.” Slowly, the guards take a few steps backward as their eyes gradually follow something rising up from behind us. Scrap, Orin and I turn to see a gigantic tidal wave headed straight for us as its roar erupts from the sea.
“Quick! Grab on to something!” I advise. The three of us grab hold of the railing as the guards behind us scramble about unsure of what to do as the wave approaches. We take in one deep breath as the tidal wave engulfs the ship, nearly causing us to lose our grip on the railing. The unfortunate guards are swept away by the wave, and I can hear the wood of the ship creak and shudder from the sheer pressure of the water. The wave passes us by, and the ocean settles as we all gasp for breath while soaking wet. The deck is clear of guards, and the three of us prop our exhausted bodies against the railing. “Where . . . did that come from?”
“I don’t know. . .” says Scrap. “But wasn’t that amazing?!”
“It doesn’t make sense,” says Orin. “A lone wave like that just showing up out of nowhere, and now, there’s nothing.”
“Who cares? It saved our hides, and we’re all alive! Our luck is starting to turn!”
“So, what do we do now?” I ask.
“I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do!” Scrap trots across the deck, and pulls my sword out from between a couple boards of wood. He hurries back over to us handing over my sword with elation. “You’re gonna take your sword, and Orin, you’re going to go and make sure we don’t have a breach in the hull.”
“And what about you?”
“As for me. . !” Scrap turns and trots over to the stern of the ship, climbing up the wooden steps and grabbing hold of the helm. “I’m going to turn this ship around, and bring us back home! I’ve always wanted to captain a ship, and let me tell you, this moment feels just right. Officer Pancakes, keep an eye out for any incoming dangers at sea! Orin, let’s move!”
“Aye-aye, Captain!” Orin salutes as he opens the hatch we were locked in, and heads below deck.
“Heads up, Officer!” Glancing back to Scrap, I see something flying straight to me. I catch it between my teeth, and find that Scrap has tossed me a golden spyglass. “You’re a sailor now! So, you’re gonna need the right tools!” Scrap turns the wheel, shifting our course as he gazes out at the sea. I can’t help but smirk as he is so in tune with being a sea captain. I slide my sword back into its sheathe, and extend the spyglass. With one eye peering into one end of the spyglass, and the other shut tight, I scan the horizon for anything suspicious. I’m not too sure, but I have a feeling I might now where that gigantic wave came from. I can’t explain it rationally, but perhaps it has something to do with that mare I saw in my dream. For all I now, it might have been a dream at all. Although, it seems a bit ludicrous to think it was real.
“Umm . . . Captain!” I hear Orin call from behind me. I turn and am in shock to see Orin with two royal guards standing right beside him. Instinctively, I drop the spyglass and trot over to them. I draw my sword and point it towards them as a warning, yet they tremble with fear and hide behind Orin.
“You stay away from him!” Scrap shouts as he hops down from the helm.
“No, no, no—wait!” Orin pleas. “They’re not dangerous.” Scrap and I pause to examine the guards, and I find that they are unarmed. Not only that, but they’re the same two guards that held Orin during my fight with Commander Liaison.
“Oh yeah? Then what do they want?” Orin looks over to them and whispers something as they both nod their heads.
“Look umm. . .” Lance begins. “We don’t want to cause trouble.”
“And why should I believe that?”
“Because . . . we . . . umm. . .”
“These two helped Maple and I,” Orin says as Lance appears to be having trouble speaking in front of Scrap. “The commander told them to keep my hostage, that’s when we made a plan. They let me sneak away, and I was able to catch the commander off-guard. If it weren’t for them, I don’t know if either Maple or I would be alive right now.” Scrap, with an uninterested look on his face, walks over to the two guards getting right up in their faces.
“Give me one good reason why we should trust a couple of guards like you?” Scrap asks.
“L-Look,” Lance stammers. “W-We don’t like what the princess is doing as much as you do. She’s completely lost her head!”
“Definitely out of her mind,” Pike adds.
“Exactly! Not only that, but our commander is a borderline madpony!”
“A little coo-coo if you ask me.”
“Yes, thank you, Pike. A-And your friend here told us that you all want to fight back! You have to believe us; we’re sick of being treated like fodder!”
“It’s not fair I tell ya.”
“And we’re sick of what’s happening to our home!”
“It’s all going downhill.”
“Pike! Please!” Lance shouts in Pike’s ear as he reels back in terror. “This little . . . ‘rebellion’ you guys have going on, we want to join. We’ll do whatever you say. Just . . . please, don’t throw us overboard!”
“Whatever I say, eh?” Scrap asks.
“Yes, of course!”
“How’s about . . . you throw yourselves overboard?” Lance and Pike’s eyes widen with fear, and the glance to each other in horror. I myself and stunned by Scrap’s demand, and Orin also appears to be shocked with his jaw left hanging wide open. Suddenly, Scrap bursts out in a fit of laughter. “I’m only kidding! Come now, surely you two have a sense of humor!” Awkwardly, Lance and Pike start to chuckle as it grows into full-on laughter. Settling down, Scrap hooks his forelegs around Lance and Pike and brings them in close. “So, what are your names?”
“Uh . . . Lance.”
“Pike!” Pike says ecstatically.
“Well, welcome aboard! I apologize if I frightened you two earlier.”
“Oh, no. We weren’t scared,” says Lance.
“As if!” Pike jumps in. “You were quaking in your armor like a little filly!”
“Would you like to see what a little filly in armor can do to your face?”
“. . . Not particularly.”
“Oh, I like you two!” Scrap cheers. “I can tell we’re gonna get along just fine!” With the situation settled, I smile and put away my sword as Lance and Pike appear both relieved and excited. “I’m sure Harra’s gonna be delighted to know that we’ve got two new recruits to the—”
“Harra!” Orin exclaims. “We have to get back to her as quickly as possible!”
“Right,” says Scrap as he gallops back up to the helm. “We get back home, save Harra, then we might be able to get some food in our stomachs—because I am starved! Let’s shove off!” I’m not too sure if I should be worried about Lance and Pike or not. They seem to be genuinely interested in joining our cause, but I won’t be letting my guard down for a second just in case. While Scrap takes control of the wheel, Orin and I utilize this time to get to know a bit more about these two guards. If these two do in fact feel the same way as us, then surely there must be more. I feel like my hope for any decent ponies within The Royal Guard is starting to grow, but we’ve got a long way ahead of us until all of this is over. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, because the greater our numbers, the greater our chances will be in restoring Equestria back to its former glory. Although, I can’t shake this ill-feeling in my stomach. Once Princess Twilight discovers that the two ships she sent aren’t returning to Equestria, Harra’s home might also be put in grave danger.
I gaze through the little window in our golden carriage as we fly over Equestria, and my stomach is in knots. My fellow officer and I have been tasked with collecting the taxes from the townsponies below: something I’ve never been proud of doing. Taking from those that already have very little, it has never sat well with me since our princess enacted this law. The worst part is when they don’t have the proper amount to be paid, we have orders to bring them in. I’ve seen families separated, and hearts get broken; and I’ve been too afraid to do anything. Another thing that frightens me is how cold my fellow officers can be, showing no emotion as they carry out their duties. When I first joined the force, I didn’t picture ‘this’ as the future that awaited me. Yet, I keep all this between me, a friend and my parents: whom I rarely get to see anymore, as the princess keeps us on duty full-time now. They always told me not to think about it, and just do as I’m told as to stay out of trouble. However, I don’t know how much longer I can keep that up. Watching what was once a beautiful land rot from the inside out has been killing me for far too long.
The skies have been gray for years now, yet I haven’t seen a single drop of rain; and the sun has been getting dimmer and dimmer with every passing day. I can't even recall the last time winter had come around, as I haven't seen the seasons change in so long. The pegasi have never fallen behind on their duties. It makes me wonder what's become of them. I look out this window, hoping to see a flock of birds fly by like they used to, but there’s nothing. Peering down below, I watch miserably as we fly over the decaying stretch of forest. The trees used to be so vibrant and full of life, but much like the sky, they’ve all been slowly rotting away. All this feels like some bad dream, and no matter how much I hope to wake up from it, I never do. “Officer Maple,” the officer sitting next to me calls, jolting me from my thoughts. “Are you feeling well?”
“Oh, yes. . . Yes, I’m doing fine,” I reassure.
“Good. We’ll be landing soon, so be sure you’re prepared. Just in case we face any resistance.”
“Resistance? None of these ponies have the means to fight back.”
“Just be cautious Maple, and keep your weapon close.”
“Cautious . . . right,” I mutter to myself. “. . . Haven’t you ever thought that what we’re doing is unfair?”
“It’s not our job to consider what’s fair and what isn’t, we’re supposed to carry out our duty, and that’s the end of that.”
“And you think that’s what’s right?”
“Are you questioning your duty as an officer?”
“I . . . no.”
“Excellent, let’s keep it that way. You should be more mindful of the things you say.” I wouldn’t love anything more than to continue lashing out at him, but I don’t see this argument leaning in my favor any time soon. I thought he was starting to grow suspicious of me, but thankfully not. He sounds just like all the rest: drones that only do as their told without question. For years I’ve been begrudgingly working with these ponies, despising every moment of it. Well, this is my first step towards change for Equestria. It may be a small step, but it’s what’s been knotting up my stomach throughout this whole trip. The carriage rattles, and I glance out the window to see another poor, dilapidated town. “Alright Maple, this should be our last stop for the day.” My fellow officer grabs a brown, cloth bag filled with coins, and exits the carriage. I grab my bag which I’ve been hiding under my seat, and compared to his, mine is completely empty. With this being the fifth town we’ve visited, it’s far too late to go back. I take in a deep breath to try and help calm my nerves, then leave the carriage into the musty town. The air is cold, and the townsponies appear to have made a bonfire in the center of town for warmth. I walk up to the Pegasus with the white coat of fur, and cerulean mane who was flying our carriage, ready to pour my thoughts out to him. I know him well, and he’s the only officer I’ve ever spoken to about these things. I wait for the officer I was sitting with to get far enough away so as to not have him overhear anything. As he collects from somepony some ways away, I lean over to the Pegasus.
“Rain. . .” I whisper.
“Hello again, Maple,” says Rain.
“This town is getting worse and worse every time we visit.”
“I know, but what else can we do? They have to keep paying their taxes.”
“And where does their money go? Because it surely isn’t going to repairing their homes, giving them fresh food or decent clothing.”
“I have no idea, but it’s not like Her Majesty is going to share that info with us.”
“Yeah, she really is just one big secret now isn’t she?”
“I see the cell in the back is noticeably empty.”
“Yeah, for once.” I lean back to take a look at the cage-like compartment attached to the back of the carriage. “I’m surprised he hasn’t noticed.”
“Don’t you think Her Majesty is going to wonder why your bag is completely empty?”
“I don’t know . . . I’m not too worried about that right now. I’m more worried about this town. I mean, Rain, just look around. At this rate, these ponies won’t be lasting much longer in these conditions.”
“You’re right . . . this place has surely seen brighter days. They named this place Shine Village for a reason.”
“There has to be something more we can do. Maybe you and I can convince the princess—”
“Maple, I’m just going to stop you right there. Believe me when I say I don’t like what’s happening around here as much as you do, but come to your senses. You know just as well as I do that if you so much as attempt to defy Her Majesty’s orders, or even question it, you can expect a good portion of your life being spent in the dungeon. Yet, here you are doing just that.”
I stand stunned by his words. “And here I thought you would be supporting me. I’m trying to help these ponies. You even said it yourself: this place has seen brighter days. Wasn’t that a wonderful thing? Just to be able to live and not worry about paying absurd taxes, or where your next meal is going to come from?”
“Think about this, Maple. If you continue with this, it’s not going to end well for you. It’s you against Her Majesty and The Royal Guard: a battle you won’t win.”
“What happened to you, Rain? You were never like this.”
“Well, maybe I just came to my senses. The worst you’ve done is talk about ‘rebelling’ against Her Majesty, and I never said a word to the princess assuming it was all just talk. I never thought you’d actually try something like this.”
“Great. Just when I thought there was some semblance of sanity to be found in Canterlot, the one pony I could count on is turning his back on me.”
“Maple, I’m just trying to keep you from getting locked up. You’re my friend, and you have a good heart, but I’d hate to see you get punished for attempting something foolish. I suggest you just do your job like the rest. Collect as much as you can from this town, and hopefully you’ll have enough to not get into trouble.”
“I suppose the meaning of ‘Friendship’ truly has been lost in Equestria.” With that, I turn my back to him and walk along the dry soil towards the townsponies.
“Maple! Just do what I said, alright?!” I keep my head forward, continuing down the path. I’ve known Rain since I was first brought into the force, and it shocks me to know that this is now his way of thinking. He’s become just like the rest of them. He used to support my ideas, and even encouraged me a few times. He gave me hope that perhaps I wasn’t the only one that knows what’s happening to Equestria is unjust. Now, I guess it’s just me. I adjust my silver armor as I’ve been getting a bit uncomfortable in it. I look down at the jewel encrusted into the center of my chest plate, and am instantly appalled by the shape. The violet jewel resembles the princess’ crown, and her Cutie Mark. It makes me feel like I’m permanently bound to her, trapped with no way of escape.
I see that my fellow officer has already made a few stops, thankfully he hasn’t taken anypony prisoner. I need to hit as many cottages as I can before him, otherwise I know that cage will have a few prisoners by the end of this visit. I walk up to one of many worn-out and dingy cottages, and knock on the door with my silver shoes. A mare in a filthy apron and frizzy mane opens the door, and is immediately frightened by me as she cowers behind the door. “Umm . . . I-I didn’t expect you to be here so soon, Officer,” she whimpers. “J-Just give me a moment, I’m sure I have enough to cover this month’s tax.”
“Ma’am,” I calmly begin. “Just be honest with me, do you ‘really’ have enough?”
“I . . . I-I’m not sure, b-but I can give you what I have. Just please don’t—”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“. . . W-What?”
“Don’t worry about paying. Just keep what you have, and don’t tell anyone.” The mare’s eyes shift confusedly, as she her mouth is agape.
“You’re . . . You’re not going to take me in?”
“Of course not. I want you to just go back inside, and enjoy the rest of your day.”
“Y-You . . . I don’t believe it. Th-Thank you! I can’t express my gratitude enough!”
“You don’t have to thank me. I just thought it’s about time some kindness was shown around here. Just, please, don’t tell anyone about this. If another officer found out, I could get into serious trouble.”
“You have my word, Miss.” She smiles. “Oh! Your name! Please, I must know your name.”
“My name is Maple, Maple Bough.”
“Maple Bough . . . I will never forget what you’ve done for me. Thank you so much.”
“It’s been a pleasure Ma’am.”
“The pleasure has been all mine, Miss Bough.” The mare closes the door, and I feel such a rush of warmth run through my body. A feeling so great that it fuels me to hurry to the next cottage. It’s this very feeling that’s been filling me since our first tax route. She wasn’t the first I’ve rejected to take money from, and she won’t be the last. My tax bag may be empty, and I know some sort of scolding awaits me back at Canterlot Castle, but none of that matters to me right now. It feels incredible knowing how many ponies I’ve been able to give just a glimmer of hope. To give them all just one little act of kindness to make their day just a little bit better. Cottage to cottage, I follow the same routine; and every time I tell them to keep their coin, they react just the same as the last. I haven’t been able to reach every cottage, and I’ve lost sight of the other officer. I can only hope he hasn’t taken somepony prisoner. If so, then there won’t be anything I can do.
I race through the village, desperately searching for the other officer; and upon spotting him, what I had feared is now taking place. He’s interrogating a family of four: what looks like a husband, a wife and two little fillies. The officer is shouting at the stallion as his family cowers behind him in fear. “If you cannot pay, then I’m afraid you’ll have to come with me,” says the officer. I approach them as I try to regain my breath.
“W-What’s going on?” I ask.
“This stallion is unable to pay his tax, thus I’m taking him in.”
“You can’t do this,” says the stallion. “I just need a little more time.”
“I’m afraid that’s not how this works.”
“So, that’s it? There’s no leniency with this?”
“Depending on Her Majesty’s ruling, you may be able to return in a shorter span of time.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, from what I’ve seen, it’s been years since our neighbors were taken in. How much longer until ‘they’ get back, huh?”
“Of that, I am unsure of, but you will have to come with me for the time being.”
“I’m not going to waste a second of my life speaking to your disgusting, witch of a princess, when I’d rather spend it with the ponies that mean the most to me.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I’m afraid I’ll be placing you under arrest.” The wife and children clutch the stallion, fearful.
“Listen,” I intervene. “Can’t we just let it go for once?”
“Watch yourself, Officer Maple.”
“All I’m saying is that if he’s been paying all this time, what does it matter if he’s late just once?”
“Officer Maple, I don’t appreciate you demeaning my authority in front of these ponies.” The tone in the officer’s voice is now growing furious.
“Is me ‘demeaning your authority’ really more important to you than keeping this stallion together with his family?”
“I’m not going to be getting into this argument with you right now.” The officer grabs the stallion by his foreleg, and yanks him out of his family’s grasp as the children scream for their Father. The stallion struggles to break free, but the officer has a firm grip on him. Listening to the children’s screams and the wife’s cries, I force myself to grip my sword’s handle with my teeth, and pull the blade out from its sheathe. I point the tip of the blade towards my fellow officer as I tremble with my nerves rattling in my brain. The officer halts, and casually looks down at my blade. Ponies gather around the commotion with gasps as he and I face off.
“You let him go, now.”
“I hope you realize what you’re doing.”
“I said, now.” With his glare locked onto me, he releases the stallion and returns to his family with a warm embrace.
“Officer Maple, you’ve made a grave mistake.” I hear a blade glide against the inside of its sheathe, and I turn my head to see Rain has left the carriage and is pointing his blade towards my throat. “Looks like we’ll be taking ‘you’ in instead.” I glare into Rain’s eyes, and I can tell he knows exactly what I’m thinking.
“I’m sorry, Maple,” says Rain. “But it’s for your own good.”
My body feels weightless and cold, and I can hear next to nothing. I try to move my legs, but it proves pointless as they’ve gone completely numb. I struggle to open my eyes to utter darkness, however, I notice a small, pulsing orb of light float by. A jellyfish displaying an array of color drifts near my face, and soon, many more of them appear in the darkness. Realizing that I must be under water, I hold my breath as I frantically look all around me for some sort of clue as to where or how deep I must be. Slowly regaining feeling in my legs, I press my hooves against my mouth to desperately keep the air from escaping my mouth. I can feel myself already losing the ability to hold in my breath, and unable to resist the urge any longer, I let go and suck in a deep breath. As I accept my fate, I find no water has filled my lungs. Instead, I’m able to breathe as if all this water is indeed air. My eyes are suddenly attracted to a bright, blue glow in the distance behind the jellyfish. Then, like a swarm, they all cultivate around the mysterious glow. I watch as a luminescent figure approaches me as the jellyfish gleefully cluster around it. As soon as the figure is close enough, I am stunned to find that it is in fact a mare.
In shock, I look in awe at the light-blue glow of her coat. Her eyes don’t appear to have pupils, and glow a bright pink. Her glowing, minty-green mane flows freely in the water, and a smile spreads across her face. “There’s no need to be afraid, Maple. I mean you no harm,” says the mare in a voice so angelic, that I can swear it makes my heart and soul flutter. With every word she speaks, it seems to reverberate all around me.
“How. . . How do you know my name?” I ask.
“I know everything that flows through my waters. You, my dear, appear to be lost.”
“Am . . . Am I dead?”
“No, no, no. I can assure you that you are alive and well.”
“And . . . the others!” I gasp as I come to the realization that they are nowhere to be seen. “W-What happened to them?”
“Shh. . .” The mare puts her hoof under my chin. “Your friends are also in good health. They’re worried about you at the moment, but you’ll return to them soon enough.”
“Then . . . where am I? What is all this?”
“This is our home, Maple. It’s where I, along with every other creature of the sea, lives in perfect harmony. Do you like it?” She giggles as one of the jellyfish floats away from the group and dances crazily near her face. It then swims over near me, and I find myself lost in amusement and admiration of the small, yet beautifully glimmering creature.”
“It’s amazing.”
“Why, thank you! Oh, I only wish you could see it during the day. The beautiful reefs, and rays of sunlight that pierce through the surface of the sea. It’s truly a sight to behold. . . You know, you’re the first pony I’ve come across in quite some time. It feels . . . wonderful to be able to speak to somepony. You’re lucky that I found you just in time. The sea has been gradually slipping from my control, thus causing the havoc you’ve seen above.”
“Wait, so . . . who are you?”
“My name?” The mare’s smile disappears as she ponders to herself. “I . . . I haven’t thought about that in such a long time. If I’m going to be completely honest, Maple, I’m just as clueless as you are. However, I do know that all those that live off the land call me ‘The Spirit of The Sea’.”
“Spirit of The Sea?”
“I know, it’s not the most prestigious of names, but it’s all I have. Although, it does make it easier to set the rest of us apart.”
“You mean . . . there’s more like you?”
“Of course!” She beams. “You have The Spirit of The Sky, and The Spirit of The Wood as well! Speaking of which, I can sense that they’re in a great deal of pain. Tell me, what is happening to the world above?”
“It’s . . . it’s horrible! The-The trees, the grass—it’s all . . . dying. And the skies are always gray and storming. I’m worried that eventually all of Equestria will just. . .” I trail off, unable to find the correct word to describe the future I imagine for this land.
“So, it’s worse than I imagined. I can’t imagine what it must be like for your kind, Maple. Then it is a blessing our paths have crossed.”
“Why is that?”
“I can sense the struggle within you. Not only with your home and your peers, but your family as well. This is all too much for your heart to handle, and I would like to help put your heart at ease.”
“How?”
“You strive to fight for what you believe in, and that is truly admirable. Never lose that. For it will guide you through many hardships to come in the near future. Hardships not only for you, but for your friends as well.”
“What do you mean? What’s going to happen to us?” Suddenly, I can feel the water current picking up in speed.
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid our time together is coming to end.” My body begins drifting away from The Spirit of The Sea, and no amount of kicking and fighting can free me from the water current.
“Wait! But there’s so much more I have to say! Things I need to know!”
“Perhaps we’ll speak again! Until then, know that from this day onward, I will assist you in your quest however I can! For now, you are needed elsewhere!” From behind the spirit, a huge school of silver-scaled fish erupt and swim towards me. The envelop me, circling my body like a twister at impeccable speed. “Find the other two spirits, Maple! They will be able to assist you further!” Before I can utter another word, the glow from the mare vanishes, and my vision slowly blurs to blackness.
My eyelids fly open to the dim light of the sun up above. I can hear the calming sounds of the water washing the shore, and another sound that I haven’t heard in quite some time. The sweet sounds of gulls calling as they fly overhead. I can’t help but smile as I watch these creatures soar gracefully through the air. “Officer!” I hear Harra’s voice call. “Oh, thank the Spirit! You’re alive!” I feel somepony grab and lift me up from the sand. I barely have any energy to stand, and the violent jerking motion causes me to cough up a bit of water. I thought it was Harra who had picked me up so aggressively, but I can see that she, Scrap and the creature are in custody by three deer. Each of them have marks of what appears to be white paint that run across their brown fur in an artistic pattern, and are adorned with large leaves and chunks of bark that have been fashioned into what looks like makeshift armor. I glance to my sides, and see that two other armored deer have me by my forelegs.
“Yeah. . .” Scrap begins. “We’re not ‘completely’ out of trouble yet.”
“W-What?” I stammer. “What’s going on?”
“Quiet!” One of the armored deer snaps as he approaches me. This one appears to have white markings different from the rest. They appear much more prevalent and intricate, leading me to believe he is of a much higher rank than the others. “Judging by that weapon, I’m assuming you belong to the Equestrian Royal Guard.”
“I . . . I did. I was an officer.”
“You see!” Harra joins in. She tries to break free from the deer’s grasp, but is instead pulled back. “She has rescinded her ways! She is no longer a member of their corrupted army!”
“That will be for the chieftain to decide,” says the deer.
“No! You let us go! We have no ill intentions!”
“My apologies, Harra, but we can’t allow this to go on any longer. All of you will be taken to the chieftain, and will move forward from there.” The deer then force us to walk forward, as Harra continues to whimper and struggle to no avail. My body feel too limp and weak to resist, or to even ask any questions. Up ahead, I see a wall of dense, lush lively trees. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a tree so full of life and vibrancy. We move through the brush, as I take in the feeling of the bright-green leaves brushing against my fur. I marvel as I listen to birds of all different types fluttering through the branches high up in the woods, along with squirrels and rabbits skittering across the ground scrounging for nuts and berries. However, my ears are then greeted by a sound I have not heard before. It sounds like a sort of howling sound, almost like a wolf’s howl, but clearly different from the pitch of the call. I hear something moving quickly across the forest floor from bush to bush. My eyes dart crazily trying to spot the animal, but it’s just too fast. Whatever it is, it seems to be staying in one particular bush at the moment. The branches of which shake and shudder as the creature moves about inside. Then, something pops its head out from the leaves. It has blue fur, and rabbit-like ears. Before I can make out any other features, it retreats back into hiding.
“This is gonna be bad, right guys?” Scrap asks the deer that are escorting us. “I mean, there’s no way it’s good . . . is it good?” The deer simply keep their eyes forward without answering a single one of his questions. “You know what? I’ll take that as a maybe. That’s fair to assume, right?” Again, the deer stay silent. “I will take ‘that’ as a maybe as well.”
“Scrap,” the creature begins. “I’m sure the chieftain will have absolutely nothing good to say once he sees us.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to stay optimistic here.”
“Well, I don’t think any amount of optimism is going to get us out of this.”
“Why is it that you are always the negative one? Every time I try to stay positive about something, you have to come in and try to ruin it.”
“Because it’s absurd! How could ‘any’ of this be good?! You’re searching for a way to stay positive when there’s no way at all this can turn out well!”
“I think your negativity brings this team down.”
“I’m only trying to be realistic.”
“Who cares about being ‘realistic’?” Scrap says in a mocking voice. “That, my friend, is why you have no sense of adventure or any amount of imagination.”
“Will you two please stop?!” Harra snaps, as all three of us jolt at the fuming tone of her voice. “None of this is helping matters! I can only imagine what punishment we’re going to receive.”
“See, Orin? Now you’ve freaked out Harra with your pessimism.”
“All of you! Quiet!” The higher ranking deer commands. Without another word spoken, they guide us to quite a splendorous sight. A city of enormous trees, and hundreds of wooden platforms jutting out from their trunks. I can see deer galloping about along such platforms, as well as the rickety, wooden bridges that span from tree to tree. Growing out from the bark of these gigantic trees, are bunches of milky-white mushrooms that range in size from somewhat small, to as big as I am. We walk through blades of grass that reach up to my chin, and all sorts of insects fly out of hiding as they beat their tiny wings. One them hovers near my face, and I find it to be a dragon fly staring at me with its big, glistening eyes. It darts through the air without breaking eye contact with me, and I childishly watch in awe at one of the simplest, but beautiful creatures of the forest. It feels like I’ve been plucked from the present and thrust back to a time where Equestria was full of life such as this.
We come to the largest tree located in the center of this city, and enter through a round doorway that’s been carved into it. Inside, the entire tree has been carved out into a room with two stairways that lead up into another portion of the tree. Humungous leaves with magnificent paintings drawn onto them hang from the walls. Most of them depict what looks like a young deer, gracefully frolicking about as it’s surrounded by birds and butterflies. All of the drawings are made with the same white paint that the guards are wearing, so there isn’t much detail other than the defined shapes of the objects. The rest of the paintings have the same symbol depicting a simple, white leaf. I can only imagine the time and effort that must’ve been put in to create such an elaborate structure. I’m shocked that despite all this renovation to an integral part of the tree, its leaves appear to be as healthy as they can be. We are guided up several sets of stairs and through many different compartments, each of which are decorated with many different tarps and furniture made completely from wood. Without any windows to let in light from outside, there are instead candles hanging from the ceilings in little glass bowls. Passing by other deer inhabiting the tree, they all stop to gawk at me. I watch them glance down at my sword, then mutter to themselves whilst hiding their mouths with their hooves as if they’ve never seen anything like me in their lives. I suppose my weapon is giving them the wrong idea. If only I had time to explain to them what my current situation is, perhaps they’d view me differently. We are led way up the spiraling stairway to another doorway lined with strands of beads and guarded by two more armored deer. Above the door hangs another one of those leaf-shaped symbols, except this one is carved from stone. At the sight of us, they stand aside, allowing us entry.
The following room is lacking any sort of furniture, aside from five, maroon-colored, circular cushions where five deer rest upon. The deer sitting on the center cushion opens his eyes as if he had just been interrupted from some sort of meditation. He’s dressed in a green garment that appears to be nothing more than a simple, rectangular cloth with a hole for his head to fit through. However simple, it is filled with many intricate designs and patterns woven into the cloth. Around his neck is a necklace made with large, round beads and a transparent stone hanging at his chest that looks like it’s been carved straight out from a rock. His antlers are huge compared to the others sitting around him. He, along with the other deer, instantly lock eyes with us. He stands up with a furious look on his face that—when illuminated by the orange glow of the candles hanging from the ceiling—instantly fills me with fear. With a few quick glances to Harra, Scrap and the creature, I can tell they don’t appear too fond of him either. “Leave us,” he says in a deep, mature voice. At his command, the guards that escorted us leave the room. “All of you, step forward.” Reluctantly, we walk forward onto a large, round rug in the center of the room. “Harra, what have you gone and done this time?”
“Father,” Harra quickly begins. “If you’ll just give me a moment to explain—”
“Then please, explain to me why you’ve brought ‘another’ pony to our island. From the looks of her, a member of the Equestrian Royal Guard nonetheless.”
“Father, I swear to you she means us no harm.”
“That’s what you said about ‘this one’.” He turns to Scrap. “And we know all the trouble he’s caused us since his arrival.”
“Guilty as charged,” says Scrap as he stretches out his legs.
“You’ve already brought us a delinquent. Now, you bring us a soldier whose intentions may or may not be harmful. Regardless, she does not belong here.”
“But, Father—”
“You can’t keep bringing whoever you wish to our island, Harra.”
“But she’s renounced her ways! She no longer wishes to be connected to those fiends!”
“Harra, you do wrong to speak badly of them.”
“Why shouldn’t I?! You haven’t seen what I’ve seen!”
“What happens on their land is none of our concern. Our tribe is all that matters to us, and you’ve been violating the treaty we’ve set with the ponies for far too long. I was wrong to believe you wouldn’t dare try a stunt like this again.”
“Father, just listen to yourself! We can’t be so selfish as to just ignore the horrible things that are happening to Equestria! Its inhabitant are miserable and the land is barely keeping itself alive!”
“Watch your tone, my young doe! From this day forward, I’m putting you under close watch.”
“You can’t!”
“Indeed I can. If it means protecting our borders, then I will do what needs to be done.”
“The borders don’t exist anymore, Father! Princess Twilight abolished them just last night!”
“Pardon me,” a voice so infuriatingly familiar, I don’t even need to turn around to know just who has entered the room. “I apologize for interrupting, but I have important matter to discuss with you.”
“And who might I have the pleasure of addressing?” Asks Harra’s father.
“Yes, where are my manners? I am Commander Liaison of the Royal Guard, I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” I turn to see Commander Liaison casually stroll in with two royal guards at his side. His eyes shift to me, and a grin spreads across his face: a grin so despicable it makes my blood boil.
“Likewise. What brings you to our island, Commander?”
“Well, I was going to ask if you had any information regarding the whereabouts of a group of troublemakers that have run amok back in Canterlot. However, it appears I am lucky enough to have them all right here. All I need now is to take them back with me so that they can be properly persecuted for their crimes.”
“You are nothing but ‘proper’ scum!” Harra taunts.
“Harra!” Her father yells and stomps his hoof. “Let this stallion speak!”
“Like he’s got anything nice to say,” Scrap adds.
“Not another word out of you, Scrap!” Scrap rolls his eyes and sighs as Harra’s father turns his attention back to Commander Liaison. “My apologies. What crimes do you speak of?”
“The infiltration and severe damage to the castle, assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, and assisting in a prisoner’s escape.” Harra’s father’s eyes widen with shock at Commander Liaison’s list, and reluctantly looks to Harra.
“Father, please, just let me explain—” Harra tries to speak up.
“There’s no need for explaining,” says Harra’s father. “I think I’ve heard quite enough. Now, Commander, I words cannot express how regretful I am to have allowed this all to pass.”
“Father, he’s toying with you!” Harra claims. “He’s trying to make you believe that ‘we’re’ the ones in the wrong! He was attacking this mare, and we saved her!”
“I was merely trying to subdue the escapee, Miss,” Commander Liaison says kindly.
“Wait. . .” says Harra’s father. “The prisoner the commander speaks of . . . is this mare you’ve brought to our island?!”
“Father, you’re not listening—!” Harra attempts to explain.
“Oh, I’ve been listening; and after all that I’ve heard, I want this mare removed from this island immediately.”
“With pleasure,” says Commander Liaison.
“No!” Harra shouts. “Father, you’re making a mistake! The princess has already abolished the borders! Once he takes her away, they’ll surely come and commandeer our home!”
Commander Liaison chuckles. “Silly girl, the princess has done no such thing. Your borders most certainly remain intact. Such a dastardly thought would never cross our minds.”
“You lie! We all bore witness to what she said! Father, you have to believe us!”
“I believe. . .” Harra’s father begins. “That this has gone on long enough.”
“What?”
“Commander, you may take your prisoner back with you.”
“Thank you, sir. However, I’m afraid I will be needing to place all four of them under arrest.” I can feel the situation slowly slipping from Harra’s grasp. It’s clear that she cannot get through to her father, and without another voice to back her story, this is surely going to end badly. The urge to speak out has been building up inside of me since Commander Liaison opened his mouth. If I don’t at least try, I’ll hate myself for it if this conversation continues its downward plunge.
“May I say something?” I ask.
“I don’t think we need to hear anything from the likes of you,” says Harra’s father.
“Why not?!” says Harra. “She’s been kind enough to let all this false accusation fill the room, what harm can granting her a few words do? Everyone is entitled to a chance to defend themselves in court, right? Why not now?” Harra’s father sighs while pondering to himself.
“Very well,” he says. Commander Liaison looks to me with a pitiful look on his face, and the others are relived by her father’s decision. “You there.” He points his hoof at me. “Step forward.”
“Good luck,” Scrap whispers to me.
“Make this moment count, Officer,” the creature also whispers to me. I emerge from the group, my heart trembling as I try to find a place to start. I nervously clear my throat, while everypony in the room patiently waits.
“Sir,” I begin.
“‘Chief’ will do just fine,” says Harra’s father.
“Chief . . . my name is Maple. I know all of this is happening rather quickly, trust me, I feel the same way; but let me just start by saying that I understand where you’re coming from. You’re protective of your daughter, just like my father; and I wish there was some way to prove to you that everything she says is true. Our princess is not the same as she once was. She’s turned our once bright and cheerful home into a cesspool of fear and sadness. Ponies barely have enough resources to take care of themselves, and the Royal Guard has such a tight grip around all of our throats that we’re suffocating. Our land is slowly dying, and I can tell you that I know for certain that it’s ‘her’ doing. Her new laws have been driving every village deeper into poverty, and she’s been splitting families apart for months now. I’ve seen husbands, wives and children scream and cry because their family members have been taken away to who knows where. How would you feel if you were taken away from your daughter, and nothing you said or did could bring you back to her? How would she feel if she ever lost you?” The chief looks to Harra, then back to me as he takes in what I’ve said.
“I know what it’s like,” I continue. “Princess Twilight has taken away both of my parents, and can’t stop myself from imagining what could possibly be happening to them as this very moment. For all I know, it might even be too late. You’re daughter, and these two brave souls, have rescued me. Giving me hope not only for myself and my parents, but for all of Equestria. They’ve shown me that bravery and courage still exists. Now, she could abide by your ideas, sit back and avoid any conflict whatsoever; but she chose to stand up for us ponies. I was beginning to think such a thing could never be found in Equestria, but here they are. Sure, I’ve only known them for a matter of hours; but their actions have shown me exactly who they are. They’re not troublemakers or criminals. They’re heroes in my eyes.” I take a quick glance over to Harra, Scrap and the creature who are looking to me with smiles of graciousness on their faces. “I know you don’t believe Harra, so I don’t expect you to believe in anything I’ve said; but what I say is the honest truth. The borders have been abolished, and this corrupt commander and his stupid grin are deceiving you.” Commander Liaison’s grin of amusement turs to aggravation as I look to him with the same pitiful look he gave me. “In the end, Chief, it’s your decision. I can only hope that you take what we’ve said into serious consideration.” The room goes silent as I dreadfully wait for the chief’s response.
“. . . Woo!” Scrap cheers and hops about, startling nearly everypony in the room. “You tell ‘em like it is, Officer Pancakes! That’s what I call a speech! Got me right here.” Scrap pats his chest. “Right in the heart. Take that, Commander whatever-your-name-is! And you know what? Your face ‘is’ stupid! Ha!”
“I think I’ve made up my mind,” says the chief.
“Oh, I bet you have!”
“Commander, with all due respect, my daughter will be staying here with me.”
“Oh yeah!”
“As for the others, they will be in your hooves now.”
“What?!” Harra and the creature shout as my heart sinks to the bottom of my chest.
“Oh yeah—! Wait. . . Come again?” Scrap freezes in place once he realizes what the chief said.
“Father, how can you—?” Harra tries to ask.
“Harra, I said my mind is made,” says the chief. “And I want these three taken away. They’ve proven to be nothing more than a bad influence on you, and I will not have you risking your life once more! You will be under close watch so that I may keep an eye on you, and them as far away from us as possible.”
“You can’t do this! They’re my friends!”
“Friends don’t put other friends in danger, Harra. Commander, you may take them.”
“I’m glad you see it my way, Chief,” says Commander Liaison. “I will see to it that your daughter is safe from persecution. Thank you for your cooperation. Guards, cease them and their weapons.”
“You can’t do this!” The creature cries as the royal guards grab and take away his wooden baton and slingshot. It tries to fight back, but is only easily overpowered by the two guards.
“I will do what I must, Orin,” says the chief. “It’s clear that you’ve only encouraged Harra’s unreasonable behavior. With you gone, perhaps I can keep her safe at last. . . I regret the day we plucked you from those woods.”
“You’re wrong! Harra!” It tries to shove the guards away, but they use the shaft of their spears to whack its legs and force it to its knees. One of the guards stays to watch the creature, while the other checks Scrap for weapons.
“There’s nothing on me bud,” says Scrap as the guard continues to examine Scrap’s body. “Yup, just keep on checking anyway. . . Not like you can’t ‘see’ I have nothing. You know, sir, let me ask you a question. The guard halts his examination and stands before Scrap, looking down at him while Scrap looks up at him without a single ounce of fear. “Where am I going hide a weapon? In my—?” Before Scrap can finish his question, the guard bashes him square in the face with one swift blow from his hoof. Scrap falls to his knees, laughing off the pain. “Ah, yeah. . . I saw that coming.”
“Orin! Scrap!” Harra calls as she tries to come to their aid, but is held back by her father and dragged away from the rest of us. “Let me go! This is wrong, and you know it!” Commander Liaison casually walks up to me with that same stupid grin on his face. He holds out his hoof, and I fume as I undo my belt and sword. He swipes them from me, then turns to his guards.
“Everypony, to the boats,” he orders.
