Chapters Author's Note
The plan of this story is for 12 chapters. This chapter has been proof-read by LongForHope, credit to him for fixing my errors.
Waldblitz
Chapter 1
The eminent sound of distant gunfire, the rattling of bullets chained together, then a small burst of close gunshots. Again and again, explosions came and with them, and more agonizing screams. That’s all that could be heard on either side of No Man’s Land. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Soldiers on both sides had the same painful ring in their ears as bullets whizzed by. Both of the sides had constantly been sending battalions to conquer one another. They kept the trend, only to gain a few inches the next day. This is the life of all soldiers, no matter the front. This was trench warfare.
Be you German, British, French, Indian, or American. If you're a soldier, you're facing your destiny in the trenches. However, they fought because they held their country dear. Some soldiers gained ground, only to get punted back by a constant defense on either side. The stronger the effort, the harder the conquering parties pushed back. The focus is on the Great St. Quentin Scar, a massacre of craters, the ground charred black by the sheer amount of shells and bombs dropped from the skies. The Germans made their move towards the open, great, and once beautiful French countryside, where the Americans constantly assault the front lines.
Augustus could hear the screams of the Allies as the German emplacements mowed them down without much effort, and even in a safer area. Sweat constantly poured from his forehead, having to periodically wipe his forehead and re-adjust his spiked helmet. It was only minutes to assault a parish church in the charred area surrounded by hellish craters, more and more being added by the minute as both sides make use of their numerous artillery. He could sense something horrible was going to happen, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.
He constantly found himself flinching as bullets hit the dirt or the occasional man that peeked out. Augustus lost his posture, therefore dropping his helm. He struggled to get it back on his head before another bullet chipped the wood above him. It wouldn't be long now, the commander will come out, the whistle will sound, and the charge would begin. Soon enough, they would be on the receiving end of those terrifying machinations of death.
Augustus could hear the rumbling of the explosions racketing the whole area around him, and he saw the grand trails of artillery fall towards the front of them, mere yards away from him. Slowly, the line of smoke and small pieces of metal from the shells zooming in circles near him and his comrades. The line of explosions was a good hundred yards from the Germans, and soldiers began hurdling themselves over the wooden barricades and towards the plume of smoke covering No Mans Land. Augustus charged forward as soon as the shelling ended and our commander sounded the whistle. Almost immediately after, a snipers casing found a place through his commander's helm. Augustus turned his head back to the Allies line, machine guns blazing, mortars firing, and other German soldiers demolishing row after row of barbed wire. Axes, maces, and spiked bats with nails poked out at almost all angles of the bloodied wire.
Augustus climbed the Allies defenses, suddenly falling through a wooden hatch and found himself face down inside a wooden pillbox with 3 French machine gunners too occupied to watch. Augustus quickly scrambled for his weapon and potted shots at them. He heard several quick screams and the very high pitched click of his gun empty. He opened his eyes, looking at the three bloodied bodies that lay before him. He fell down against the side of the pillbox, feeling lightheaded. One of the soldier's had something in his jacket pocket, something paper. Augustus took it out and looked at it, his eyes wide. It was the man, and what Augustus guessed were his family, a wife and two children. Augustus began to sob and groan, tears running down his face. His aching heart wanted to go back to his own family, instead of sitting on the brink of death in some wooden pillbox. He didn't want to be like the man. He felt so much sorrow for leaving a woman and two children orphans and a widow. Screams of French woke him from his contemplation, over by the door. He pointed towards them and held the trigger of his rifle down until it was empty, leaving two more bodies in the doorway.
He fell down and held his helmet down harder on his head, screaming, “God, why?! Why have you put me in this godforsaken land?!” His heart leaped once more, as more muffled explosions boomed from around him, and many Germans shouting commands at each other, scrambling back towards their original direction. Soon enough, he could see the horrifying tear gas creeping through the pillbox holes and the doorway. He went to reach for his gas mask, his hand was stabbed by the broken glass of his gas mask, now crumpled and broken from the French soldiers gun. He started to panic and attempted to cover his mouth as quickly as possible, but the gas was too strong. It quickly knocked the air out of his lungs, causing his head to go numb and black, falling to the floor.
His throat choked up and his eyes blurred, his final thoughts went to his mother and father, his younger brother, and the love of his life, his spouse. As they faded, he saw a brilliant light, however, they turned into a swirl of colors. Red, yellow, green, blue and purple swirled around him, and his body felt warm and fuzzy. A very calming feeling washed over him. It was like he was free-falling until he hit a soft surface.
Augustus felt his head throb and he slowly opened his eyes, looking up at a wondrous blue sky, and not a gray smoke cloud. He moved his cut up fingers and hands, feeling his gloves touch something soft. He leaned his head sideways to see green grass, his mind finally coming to sense. Wait! Green, grass?
Augustus slowly tore a few blades of the green loft out of the lush light brown soil. His mind was astonished, confused, and a minor tad scared at the possibilities. Was he dead? Was this Heaven? He took a quick scan of the small opening of the forest around him, and he slowly got up, stumbling. He almost fell but used one of the trees as support. He picked up his empty gun and looked around for his belt with his ammunition, tools, and a pistol, but to no avail. The dazed man looked around some more, checking bushes. using his bayonet. Augustus began to wonder deeper into the heavy forest. He carefully lurched forward, constantly circling his view to make sure there were not any enemy troops scoping him down until he suddenly fell on something hard. He had tumbled backward, heavily, onto his back with a loud thump. Augustus looked down at his feet to see his belt, slightly covered in mud. He got up, picked up his belt, and put it back into place, finally getting a clip from it and putting it in his rifle. He sighed heavily and leaned the rifle on the back of his shoulder, looking around some more to find some sign of human life.
"It's as if everyone is gone." Augustus continued his walk through the forest until he saw an opening in the brush, and began jogging toward it right before he heard a twig snap behind him. His instincts took over and his rifle was already in his palms when he was turned towards the source. It was a small bunny, a white cotton tail, looking intently at Augustus. He sighed once more and continued onward, however, a small thumping sound could be heard from behind him. The wary man turned his head to see the hare following him. Did it need something from him? Augustus got down on his knees and snapped his fingers at it, attempting to draw it near him.
"Come little one, I won't hurt you." The bunny slowly approached Augustus and sniffed his finger that he had extended, and slowly hopped forward, right next to him, circling and studying him while Augustus laughed at its peculiar inquisitiveness.
"You're awfully smart for a rabbit." The rabbit tilted its head and started patting one foot on the ground.
"Do you...have a name possibly?" The rabbit nodded again and hopped over to a small dirt patch, Augustus watched as the bunny traced out a name with a stick. The words read 'Angel'.
"Mein Gott. I am definitely not in France anymore. Angel, are there any towns nearby?"Angel nodded and began hopping away, stopping and tapping his foot to signal Augustus to follow. Augustus grabbed his rifle and jogged to keep up with the rabbit, though proving difficult as the forest brush had become very thick, with heavy vines and fallen tree logs. Augustus was now running as fast as he could without quickly exhausting himself, but even then its hard to keep speed with the small bunny.
"Wait, friend! I cannot keep up!" Angel and Augustus ran, the man felt his lungs were giving up on him, and he could not go on much longer. He managed to keep up, just barely. Finally, Angel stopped and Augustus had fallen down, and Angel began jumping very quickly and high, occasionally stopping to pat his foot rapidly, pointing towards the heavy woods in front of them.
"What is it? Are we near the town?" The rabbit shook its head and began to tremble as several twig snaps began sounding all around them. Augustus looking around to see the glowing green outline of many pairs of eyes, all on him and his small comrade. Augustus slowly picked Angel up and put him in his satchel, and Angel watched with his head peeked through the small cover. Augustus turned the safety on his rifle off, pointing it at one of the pairs of eyes.
"Friend, if I am to fall, I want you to run for your life, to your home." Angel nodded frantically and ducked his head back inside the satchel. Augustus got on a single knee, rifle still in hand, slowly unlatching his knife and preparing it if needed. He heard a growl behind him, and his new enemy emerged from the darkness of the woods. Augustus saw, what he thought was a wolf made completely from branches, and an awful green slime on the joints. His watched on opened eyed, but he remained still. He slowly turned his head, and then suddenly hear footsteps approaching him. He turned quickly and he his bayonet towards the wolf, cutting the jaw off of one of his attackers. Three more of the wooden wolves started to circle him, and he broke one in half with a lucky shot of his rifle.
"Come! Cowards!" Augustus yelled, butting one of the wolves in the face with the stock of his rifle. Augustus's cockiness got him a large gash on his leg and a long scrape on his back as failed to pay attention. He grunted and returned it with a bullet to one of the bodies of the wolves. He kept fighting, reloading, and repeating. It felt like hours but he finally dimmed their numbers, and the wolves began retreating, feeling their losses. Augustus watched as most of them limped away or laid bleeding on the ground a green slime. His leg was still bleeding, he clothes dirty with wood chips from the beasts, and his face covered with sweat and grime. He looked to his satchel and patted it lightly.
"Are you still in there my friend?" Augustus asked and looked around for any more of the foul creatures. He began to walk away, not wanting another confrontation. He sat down when he thought he was a good distance away, and the little rabbit popped out its head. It looked around cautiously and then back at Augustus. It did some strange motions as if to thank him. It went back into the pouch and Augustus tied a rag around the gash he had gotten from the wolves.
Angel then popped his head up with a small piece of stale bread in his mouth, making Augustus chuckle. Angel went back into the satchel and continued merrily eating the stale bread.
"I guess you're hungry. So am I." Augustus looked at his pack and saw only a pack of saltine crackers, a small cantine, canned ham, and a small papered cheese wedge. He took them out and placed them on the ground, all the while Angel huddled with the bread, watching Augustus work.
"Looks like this is going to be lunch." Augustus opened the small sack of crackers and the canteen, taking a few sips before eating a cracker and breaking some of the wedges off and taking in the fresh taste of it. He opened his satchel and took off his belt to check his supplies, and he has very little. Plenty of ammunition for his pistol, but that fight caused him to lose a majority of his ammunition for his rifle. Augustus quietly cursed himself and his aim, looking through his other supplies which included a small survival knife, a hatchet, a small spool of barbed wire. There also came two bundled grenades, an unused bandoleer, a few strip clips, a shovel, and a broken misshaped lantern with a small amount of burnable oil in it.
Augustus sighed and drank some more water, seeing that Angel was near the end of the bread from his satchel. The man broke off a small piece of cheese for the little animal. Angel sniffed it quickly and grabbed it, nudging himself back into the satchel with the cheese in hand while a very lowly audible sound of content came from the satchel, making Augustus smile. As he did, he looked up into the blue sky, watching the clouds go by. It looked just like just before the war. Augustus's eyes saw only a small few black dots in the sky coming out of the clouds, and he squinted, trying to see what they were. His mind finally pieced the few parts together in his own mind. Bombers. Those damned bombers.
"Angel!" Augustus yelled loudly, sitting upright. Angel ducked his head out of the satchel and looked at him questionably.
"Your village, are there any kind of soldiers there?!" Angel nodded, not knowing the risk of the few flying shadows.
"Come on, we have to get there and warn them!" Augustus quickly wrapped his items up back into his satchel and looked in the direction that the shadows were going in, and began to run with all his might toward their direction. Augustus's barraging through the forest had begun, and already, thorns, pointed rocks, and small holes in the ground that constantly hit him, but his insistence on stopping the bombers kept him going through all the thick brush of the heavy forest. He looked through the canopy and the shadows from the sky disappeared, making him run even faster.
As he ran, his mind generated all the images from his previous encounters, his vision fooling him with ghosts of soldiers all around him, his friends falling. Wex soldiers burnt the enemy machine guns into molten metal sculptures and the enemy soldiers running are nothing but piles of melting and singed flesh. His heart beat in his chest, and he looked forward to see the barrel of a machine gun going off and time seemed to slow down. The visions disappeared, and instead, revealed Augustus beelining it for a tree, but the mud on the ground caused him to crash right into it. As soon as it came close, his vision blacked out, and a feeling of free fall enveloped him again.
Angel heard a thick crash, cracking branches, and felt gravity work its wonders as the satchel crashed onto the ground. Angel shook himself off of the dust from the satchel and crawled through the meager space, finally out onto the muddy forest floor. He looked around, and saw his new friend on the ground, rushing over to him. Augustus's head was very bloody, as was his side and his slashed leg. Angel tried to wake Augustus up by jumping on him, patting his foot on his head, but only came up with pained groans from Augustus. Angel began jumping up and down, gaining attention from the inhabitants of the upper canopy and the ground around him. Angels slight screeching sound attracted animals of all kinds to his spot with his friend. Deer, frogs, squirrels, birds, and finches of all types became huddled all around the unconscious man. Angel looked as all of his forest allies gathered around him. Angel pointed his paw at the deer and tapped rapidly in short bursts and nods, and the deer nods back, running off into the woods to get help from their caretaker.
A small yawn came from the figure getting out of bed, rather a long and drawn one with arms outstretched and then proceeding to rub its own eyes. Getting out of the bed at a snail's pace, it walks down the wooden stairs where many animal houses stand next to each other, each having a pillow or blanket on the inside with a variety of animals sleeping in each one. Bird cages hung from the ceiling, but lay empty and dormant, awaiting an occupant. Another yawn from the figure from the stairs, and a small patter of its feet. Upon better inspection, the butter yellow fur and thorough pink hair gave off an aura of calmness. Its name was Fluttershy, appropriate for its appearance.
Fluttershy's occupation, rather obvious to any visitor, is to take in animals, care for them, or tame them depending on the problem, occasionally a rare occurrence with all three. She loved her job, it gives her someone to talk to that understands her, not so much to someone as more like something. As she entered her kitchen, she greets all of her animals waiting to be fed and begins the long process of making sure everyone was fed evenly. Taking a few moments to get all of her woodland friends some breakfast, she starts on her own, making a simple plate of toast and glass of milk, reserved for only her best of mornings. She happily ate her breakfast, rarely uttering a word as she eats with her pets. She finished her breakfast at the same time as the animals, and picked up all their bowls to be put in the sink and cleaned later. She noticed one bowl that has been full for a few days in a row, and she sighed sadly.
'I wish I knew why you're still gone Angel, I miss you'
"It's alright, it's alright. I'm here now, what is it? Another bear coming after you?" Fluttershy said while stroking the doe's head calmly. The deer shakes it's head and begins treading in place, then falls over in a very charade like manner. Fluttershy knew what that meant and gasped, got up quickly, headed inside and grabbing her medical supplies.
"Where is it?!" She said, worriedly.
The deer scrambled up and ran while Fluttershy takes flight with her wings, kicking up into the air with her feet. She scanned all over the horizon, her eyes sometimes losing sight of the deer, only to see it again for a split second, constantly switching on and off until the deer banked left and ran into a lower part of the Everfree Forest. Whatever it is, it definitely is in trouble out here. That only spurred Fluttershy onward, her mind thinking of all the pain the animal is going through. She winced and only beat her wings harder, her speed matching the deer.
The deer entered a small patch of grass in the middle of a forest and Fluttershy dive bombed down and landed quickly with her medic bag in hand, ready for action. The deer canter through the forest and then begins running, as does Fluttershy. They ran up until a very guttural screaming could be heard, and very muffled cursing in a language Fluttershy couldn't understand. She ran even faster, and finally, she saw a crowd of animals in a circle, and she looked through them to see something, almost identical to her race, but not exactly... her race. Fluttershy met eye contact with it, and it saw her too, the place got quiet.
Augustus's eyes were never more awoken then now. This thing had a muzzle like a horse, but without as much length, but the rest of the body was human, noticeably that of a female, but with fur. He backed up slowly but then felt the cut in his leg, it was definitely infected. The area around the gash has turned purple and was oozing out a clear-yellow liquid. The figure slowly inched closer, the yellow figure towering over Augustus. His fear was getting worse by the second. He picked up his pistol and pointed it at the figure, halting it to a complete stop.
"U-um, my name is Fluttershy. I live in Ponyville." The figure said meekly. Augustus noticed a white box with a red cross on the small satchel she has in her hand. He looks into her eyes, no different to his own, a shimmering blue color. He slowly put down his pistol and looked on,
"Y-yes, I treat animals."
"Do you have experience with people?!" Fluttershy nodded her head, and she started going towards Augustus and began to inspect the wound. She looked up and down his leg, attempting to tell how much blood he has lost so far.
"Its bad u-uhm sir, but I-I can help."
"Please, please do help."
Fluttershy nodded and opens her medical bag and begins to treat the wound. First, she poured a small pink liquid on the gash, making it a slightly less purple, stopping the puss from oozing into the infection. She then got out a rag and poured another liquid, this time clear, on the rag and applying it to the wound, making Augustus scream again in pain.
"Don't worry s-sir, it helps clean it."
Augustus watched her work in quickly and looks closer at her. Pink hair, beautiful blue eyes, and yellow fur. How is this possible? After some time, the wound was treated and wrapped, and Fluttershy moved on to check Augustus and finds his back wound, which was in the same condition as his leg. She repeated her steps once more, then wrapped his back and chest with gauze. Augustus breathed a sigh of relief and slowly gets up, his pain reduced to nothing more than an ache.
"Thank you, Miss Shy."
Fluttershy blushed and nodded, looking away for a moment. Augustus limped toward his bag a few feet from him, and picked it up, along with his rifle and belt.
"Would you mind pointing me in the direction of your village?"
"I could take you there. Do you need a ride?" Augustus looked at her, confused. Do they have vehicles here? Before Augustus could ask, he stepped back as Fluttershy revealed 2 light yellow wings, bigger than Augustus himself. He kept moving back until he hit a tree, and he looked on as the half woman walked with hesitation toward him. She put an arm out and Augustus took it slowly, clutching it tightly before Fluttershy's grip clamped down on him before bursting into the air at an impossible speed.
Author's Note
Chapter 2, now proof-read! Chapter 3 soon to arrive, probably within the week.
Verraten
Chapter 2
It was late in the day, and Augustus and Fluttershy just arrived at her house, with Augustus clutching the ground, when his feet made contact with the ground. Augustus got up after a few moments of shock and looked at Fluttershy's house. It was a grand, giant oak tree, with windows and other necessities, carved out perfectly. He was astonished at this feat, and his mouth hung open a slight bit from sheer, pure amazement of the home. Fluttershy opened the door slowly, revealing an assortment of animals, surprising big to incredibly small, from mice to a couple of small fallow deer. Fluttershy went through the carved doorway and Augustus followed inside.
"This house is majestic, how did it come to be?"
"O-oh, it was my parents before they left."
"It is very nice. People in my world don't have anything like this."
Fluttershy blushed, then walked into the kitchen to grab something. In her absence, the variety of animals in Fluttershy's house was inspecting Augustus, their small button noses sniffing him for the scents he carried. He held out a hand to the deer, and it ever so slowly came forward and laid its head in his hand. He calmly rubbed the side of its head, and it nuzzled into his hand, making him chuckle under his breath. He began to play with the animals before Fluttershy came back with two porcelain cups, each filled with a small brown liquid, which Augustus assumed was tea.
She walked over to him and tilted over, giving Augustus a reminder of her sheer height over him, before he took one of the cups.
"Thank you, Ms. Shy... For everything. I probably would've bled to death if it were not for you."
"Oh, it was nothing. Animals come in all the time with injuries."
"Yes, but where I come from, wounds like the ones I had there are....extremely common, especially during this time of conflict."
"W-what? What's going on in your world?"
"A great war, one that I am almost certain will not end soon, at least without plenty of death for the world." He said and looked down sadly, sighing,
Fluttershy gasped and put down her cup, and she went over to Augustus, who finally stopped sipping from the small teacup and got up, leaning against the wall.
"FLUTTERSHY! GIRLS NIGHT!"
Augustus panicked and burst from the hug and grabbed his things, quickly equipping them, and opened a window on the side of the house. Augustus looked to Fluttershy and covered his lips with a single finger and nodded, Fluttershy doing the same. Augustus hopped through the window but peeked his head through the window while standing on a crate.
Fluttershy opened the door, and let all of her one, two, five, no six friends inside. Augustus peeked a part of his head around, inspecting all of them, and their very awkward variety of colors. Blue, pink, purple, white, and orange. Each having their own distinctive look. The blue one looked rather scrawny, but her hair was made of the entire chain of colors from red to purple. The next one was hopping up and down, very pink and jumping constantly, while her puffed hair bounced up and down more than she did. The purple one had glasses on with a skirt and carried a small book in her hand. The white one had a very casual dress on along with light make-up. The last one had slightly dusty jeans on with a checkered shirt tied to her chest with a small white shirt underneath. All together, they looked the complete opposite of each other.
"How are they even friends? They don't match at all." Augustus whispered. He heard a twig snap behind him, and quickly snapped his head backward, but saw nothing. He shook his head a bit, took his helmet off and wiped his brow, before getting back up on the crate. He peered inside and the pink one was on the ceiling jumping up and down, caring naught for gravity.
"Was zum Teufel?" Augustus asked in his native tongue, peering more at the pink one and not paying attention to his surroundings. He heard a snap and quickly felt the crate below him give out, a large SNAP sounding out. He heard a few curious voices from inside, and grabbed his dropped things, and booked it for the tree line just near the house before hearing,
Augustus's feet hit the dirt quickly, more than he ever did in his life, even compared to his old life in the trenches. His legs peddling him more away from the possible danger back at his saviors home. He looked at him and saw a few shadows far behind, counting five only. Wait, wher-
"Geh jetzt weg!" Augustus warned in his own language.The blue one got into a fighting pose, and he did one himself in return. She eyes him very closely, beginning to circle him.
"Alright tough guy, let's see what ya got!" She said before she leaped forward, swinging her fists, Augustus dodged them quickly revolting with the butt end of his rifle, causing her to roll. She then charged him head first, catching his hands with her arms. He felt his feet lift off the ground, and he turned off his rifle safety, firing a shot right next to her ear. She let him drop on the ground, all the while holding her ringing ear. Augustus took the opportunity and jumped away, turning the safety on once more.
"Please, I was not spying on you!" Augustus pleaded, keeping his rifle in his hands, bayonet forward. He heard footsteps behind him, coming rapidly. The soldier jumped out of the way, the orange character from before tripping and colliding with Augustus' previous attacker.
"Dang it!" The orange one said as she adjusted her hat, and git into an incredibly aggressive pose, looking ready to jump on Augustus given the chance. He looked behind his aggressors and saw the other 4 going towards him. Fluttershy was behind all of them, looking as if she didn't want to be there. The purple one came forward slowly with her hands up.
"Peace, we are not here to hurt you, creature from the unknown." She said, almost mockingly slow. She came a little too close for comfort, so Augustus he re-armed himself and jabbed the bayonet at her from afar. She backed up and retracted her hands before giving a confused look.
"He looks like he's ready to hurt us Twilight, we need to take 'em down now!" The blue one said, her wings behind her opening and slightly levitating off the ground. Augustus turns his rifle safety off.
"Idioten! Stay away!"Augustus screamed at them, each of them backing up a small few footsteps.
"Wait. Deutsche? Deutsche?! The purple woman asked.
Augustus stayed still for a moment, putting down his rifle after a moment of hesitation. He took off the bayonet of his rifle, slowly coming towards them with the rifle in one hand, still next to his cheek. The German extended his gloved hand, looking at the purple one, who he assumed to be the leader. She grasped his hand, and he fully put down his rifle.
"Du sprichst auch Deutsch?" Augustus replied, happy to see a calmer face like his own. The purple one sighed and kept on shaking his hand.
"My name is Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said, with gleaming eyes.
"My name is Augustus, private of the Kaisers army," Augustus said, ending the handshake. He flipped his rifle over his shoulder, assuming a more passive stance. He stood in his place and began to talk to his new acquaintance.
"It seems we have a similar military ranking system. Amazing!" Twilight said, the small horn on her head shone, and a small wood board appeared, along with paper, ink, and a quill. She began to rapidly take notes, her friends shaking their heads. Her eyes become wide and curious the more and more notes she wrote.
Augustus was... shocked, to say the least. He'd never seen anything of the sort, only machinery. He shook his head and decided to focus on what was important first.
"So, how are you here?" Twilight asked. Augustus just scratches the back of his head and shrugged, looking at her,
"I am.... not very sure myself, but I was being suffocated by tear gas from my own artillery. I began choking, I went unconscious, then there was just a swirl of colors, and... here I am." Augustus explained, sitting on a collapsed log.
"Hmm. Maybe Celestia will have an answer for this." She said as the paper and writing items disappeared in a small fizz. She sat next to him and got very close to his face. He noticed that he is about neck height with her, like most of the other horses around here. His feeling of calmness is replaced with a slight off-put as Twilight sticks her face even closer to his own. She looked him dead in the eyes, and he returns the look, quizzically.
"Its okay everyone, he is friendly! Meet Augustus." Twilight says, pointing her hand towards Augustus, while Augustus just looks at them from his side, giving them all a very suspicious eye, especially the orange and blue women. They both give him the same eye, and Augustus looked at the other two, the pink one and white one, who looked rather neutral. He walks toward them, extended his hand, the pink one grabbing his hand first.
"Hiya Mister alien! My name's Pinkie Pie! How are you? When is your birthday? Oh, I have to start planning it right now!" She said, quickly fishing a piece of paper and ink quill from somewhere behind her, quickly turning around, hiding the paper. Augustus slowly backed away and went towards the white one.
"I did not even tell you my birth date," Augustus said confused as he saw the pink character scribbling down something faster than a bullet. He sighed and turned tot he white one, hoping for a better reaction.
"Hello, Sir. A pleasure to meet you. I am Rarity." She says, giving him her hand. He took off his helm and kissed her hand, something he learned before his conscription.
"Pleasure to meet you also," Augustus said, letting go of her hand, heading over to the others, who have their arms crossed like stubborn children. Augustus just walked past them while giving them a gazing eye, keenly watching their movement. They return their gazes, and the blue one spit at his feet, making him stop and turn his body towards her. She got on her feet, and puffed up, revealing a good few inches of height over Augustus.
"You should show some respect to others, especially soldiers," Augustus said.
"Not to a hairless monkey who swings a stick around." She said, shoving him. He looked up at her, getting his pistol out of his pocket. His eyes begin to tear up quickly.
"Aw, is the wittle monkey gonna cwy?" She said mockingly with a smile on her face. Augustus crept forward, tears dripping down his cheeks.
"Rainbow cut it out! It's not his fault, it's yours!" Twilight said
"You...you don't know what I have seen," Augustus said, cocking the hammer on the gun back.
"Pssh, yeah right. We killed the leader of Tartarus before!" She said smugly, very assure of herself.
"Imagine... Imagine hell itself, above ground, your friends' skin melting off, your families and homes destroyed, turning into nothing but ash, everything you loved reduced to ashes... Seeing the dying look in your friends' eyes as they perish into darkness." Augustus said. He slowly crept forward, and she had a more serious expression on her face.
"W-well, imagin-" she was cut off by the barrel of Augustus's pistol to her chin.
"Imagine what? I've probably lived it, over and over again. Countless times." He said, his finger pressuring the trigger.
Instead, the gun lay to the side of Rainbow's head, barrel smoking, her ears folded in pain from the loudness of the shot. Augustus lowered his hand, and wipes his eyes with his other hand, clearing the tears from his eyes and going back to the log to pick up his rifle before walking away from the group.
She had a look of anger on her face, gritting her teeth while everyone looked at each other in silence before Twilight started speaking.
"We should head home, it's going to get dark soon. We don't want to be out here any longer, there's probably timber wolves around." Twilight said. Everyone nodded and began walking back towards the town, only one head turned to where Augustus was, and it was Fluttershy's.
"Darling you must get a new coat, that looks absolutely ravished!"
"No, thank you, Miss Rarity. But these have kept me alive through winters and summers on the front of battles. My helm has saved me from many bullets. These clothes are all I have left of my old world."
"Oh, sorry darling. But if you want me to patch them up, I could."
"Thank you, Miss, for you're very kind, especially to an outsider like me." He said, tipping his helmet to her.
"Its nothing, its the least I could do for what you've gone through," Rarity said, walking next to Augustus and Pinkie.
"Ooh, ooh, August! I already have your party all planned out!" Pinkie said, showing a simple drawing like a child's with balloons and a small cake on a table.
"August?" He asked, not sure if she was talking to him.
"It's a nickname, like how ponies call me Pinkie instead of Pinkie Pie!" She said, very happy and jittery still jumping up and down.
"Whatever you say. Pinkie." Augustus says with a shrug. He looked forward to seeing that Fluttershy's house was just in front of him.
"I will stay out here for a bit, to clear my thoughts." He explained. He sat down next to the front door while everyone else went inside the home, and Augustus listened to them through a window and could hear them talking, about him. All of it was about him.
"He seems like a gentleman. He's got better manners than many of the stallions in the town."
"Uh, Twilight, if you forgot, he nearly sent that 'projectile' into my face!"
Augustus looked at the ground in his own thought, blocking out all the other sound, and his eyes were giving in to sleep. He raised his head and looked to the horizon, at the glistening orange sun quickly going down under the edge of sight, and the moon slowly being revealed to him. He smiled as the moon reminded him of his own world, the calming nights when most soldiers were asleep and dreaming of their families, or talking of stories from before that terrible war.
He opened his pack and took out a small charred picture. The faces of his family and spouse all charred away by damage over time. The memories of bombs exploding, buildings collapsing, and civilians running in terror, many of them just to be captured then conscripted into the warlike animals. His eyes became watery again, in memory of his family, dead by his own stubbornness.
The vision was beginning to appear again, his families farmhouse up in flames, the screams of his family inside. Two other soldiers hold him back as his eyes poured tears hearing the agonizing screams of his family as they burnt to death in the very place he was born. The roof of the house collapsed in, and the screams only got worse. As the rest of the house collapsed, a figure came running out of the fire and fell to the ground, burning and crinkling. His spouse, screaming in pain as her skin peeled off and burned in the heat.
Augustus got on his knees and began screaming while the soldiers held him in place. They finally let him go, and he crawled over to her, taking off his shirt and trying to put her out. His mind switched to her last words on her half-charred face as tears cascaded down her face, and her single arm grasped his fabric shirt.
"Do not worry, my love, I join my parents now."
Augustus's vision ended, and he found himself screaming still, breathing heavily while he tried to comprehend what was happening. It was night time, and all six of the women he just met were standing around him, staring at him. He clutched his legs and buried his face in his knees, trying to recompose himself. His heart was pounding and his mind was running wild.
"I...I-I'm sorry for disturbing you all." Augustus said. He pulled his helmet down and walked very quickly away to get some fresh air. But he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked backward, then up to see Fluttershy's face.
"Why, what use am I to you?" Augustus said in a quiet tone, looking down.
"August, I suggest you listen. She'll use her stare on you." Twilight said while holding another book in her hand.
"You think some stare is going to affect me?" August said, looking back at her, then back to Fluttershy's face. It was sternly still, mouth straight, her eyes open, not breaking contact with Augustus's eyes. He looked into hers and eventually he felt a bit nervous, and moments pass and he feels like he was staring down the barrel of a tank cannon. It was... dreadful. It was depriving him of his sanity.
"A-alright, please stop. P-please." Augustus said he couldn't break the contact between their eyes. Fluttershy's face went back to its original form with a minor blush and a sweet smile. Augustus started breathing normally again and fell on his bottom, watching as she walked back into her house.
She looked back at him with a smile, and he ran towards the door and made sure to maintain a safe distance until he could regain his lost sanity from that mind-paralyzing stare. The rest of the girls had gone inside and already started playing games while Augustus sat in a wooden chair organizing his things
"Uh, Ms. Shy, do you have anywhere I can clean my clothes?" Augustus said, ignoring the drool from some of their mouths.
"U-uhm, yes, out back, f-feel free to use it," Fluttershy said, not taking her eyes off of his small frame. He quickly went outside and around the side of the house, peeking in the window to see them all whispering. He knew it was about him again. He shook his head and continued his objective to clean his shirt.
He found the small bucket with water inside of it, sitting on the grass and began to soak the shirt in the water. It quickly turned it a deep red color, and he poured out the water of the bucket, grabbing his shirt and wringing it out thoroughly before putting it back on himself, its slight dampness making a soothing cooling effect around his chest. He sighed and went back inside to see the girls now all in a circle, with a bottle in the middle.
"What are you doing with that empty bottle?" Augustus questioned.
"Playing Spin the Bottle, silly!" Pinkie said with a large smile.
"What is that?" Augustus asked.
"You spin the bottle, and whoever it lands on has to do a dare!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"I don't see the threat in it," Augustus said with a shrug.
"You have to do anything the pony says!" Pinkie said, making a devious smile towards everyone. Augustus raised his eyebrows in surprise, as that could be a big risk depending on the person.
"And you all agree to do whatever?" Augustus asked, and they all nodded. He shook his head and continued to lean against the wall before he felt a force on his foot, and it was Twilight pulling him over.
"Play a couple of rounds, its fun!" Twilight says with a smile. Augustus just scooted himself back to his place, but Twilight got up and towered over him.
"You're bluffing..." Augustus said. He looked over at Fluttershy, who had her smile on, but her wide eyes said that this was no bluff, and he slowly scooted back over hesitantly. He most defiantly did not want to see those again.
"Fine, whose turn is it?" Augustus asked.
"New guy goes first." Rainbow said coldly. Augustus sighed and picked up the bottle, then gave it a good spin on its side, and it landed on himself.
"What happens now?" Augustus asked.
"You choose someone to give you a dare." Twilight said. Augustus pondered the risks, as he knew that Rainbow hates him, and Pinkie is not exactly reliable either, so he went with Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, you give me a dare.You saved me from the woods, you get the chance." Augustus said, and Fluttershy hid behind her hair, blushing intensely.
"A-alright. Um, would you, um...." Fluttershy stuttered heavily.
"G-give me a...kiss, for all the work?" Fluttershy asked, hiding behind her long pink hair. Augustus was astonished at her bravery, and he was relying on her for an easy dare, but it came out as the opposite. He commended her yet feared her. But a dare was a dare.
"I-I suppose, for your work." He said, then slowly crawled over to her and they both puckered their lips, both ready to give in. Augustus felt her hot breath, and she felt his. Their lips made contact and Augustus was reminded of his spouse, their lips felt exactly the same, and he used his hand to hold Fluttershy's mouth in place before he realized what he was doing. He was kissing a horse-woman hybrid. He quickly got up and attempted to hide his blush, but failed horribly.
His embarrassment was too great and he grabbed his pack and satchel before heading out to the edge of the treeline. He dropped his pack right before the tree line and pulled out his hatchet, quickly slicing the tree up with the axe. To his own mind, he was stupid for letting himself be overtaken like that, just because of a dare. This turned him to rage, and the tree was already bare a few minutes in, his rage causing the tree to be widdled clean by his axe.
Hours later...
It was morning, the tree remained no more, just ahead of wood chips and some logs, a few poking branches, and nothing more. His mind was still fresh on the subject, that he had kissed his savior, even though his loyalty remained to his spouse. That was his obligation. Right?
He shook off his head and finally grabbed all of his items and very slowly made his way into the house, making sure not to wake any of the sleeping occupants. He closed the door gently and made his way over to his own corner and laid down his bad, taking off his trench-ware and making a small headrest for himself. His mind was still plagued by the kiss. How could he betray his original love? Was it the fact that she was gone? Was it the reminder of her? The feeling of Fluttershy's lips, there was no difference to the kiss. Augustus's mind was awake, but his body was exhausted, and that exhaustion led him into a very nightmare riddled sleep.
"Princess! Princess! News from your apprentice, Twilight Sparkle!" A small body said, and handed the colossal figure a small wax sealed note, with only a small few lines of writing inside.
"Dear Princess Celestia, we found something earlier today in the Everfree. Its sentient, and its got technology so far advanced from our own. We can use this to learn and advance far ahead in every field of science and magic possible! It has a name and military rank, its a soldier and its species are far ahead of ours! I will try to send more letter informing you of him. Your student, Twilight Sparkle"
The shadowy figure put the note down, and laid its arms on its legs, keeping its composure before crumpling the note and throwing it aside. The colossal figure stood up, turning its head to another couple of smaller creatures.
"Shining Armor, we have a problem. I need your best soldiers to be ready in a week to move to Ponyville."
"Yes, Princess!"
"Aunt Celestia, what is this about?"
"Nothing Cadence, just a... small problem in Ponyville."
Author's Note
Sorry for the gap between chapters, been busy these past couple of weeks.
Verkleidet
Chapter 3
Its been almost a week since Augustus was thrown here, into Equestria. His life here hasn't gotten any better, only worse. As he walks the same walk as the people here, they criticize him on his face, and his clothes, and he was sick of it. But he had not showered or gotten his trench clothes clean in more than a week, not since before the raid back in his world. Today, he was going to visit Rarity to get his clothes patched up and fully cleaned.
Rarity had told him where she lived and worked, at a very large purple boutique near the center of the town. Augustus slowly walked there, exchanging looks with a matter of different creatures. These half-horse people keep giving him a look of disgust which slightly fired his nerves, and he noticed 2 guards looking at him very closely, and he looked back at them before walking into the boutique.
He closed the door, taking off his trench coat and his boots, then removed his helm from his head and began to roam around the foyer.
"Miss Rarity, I am here. Where are you?" Augustus asked before hearing a loud thump in the door on the side of the foyer. He put his clothes onto a coat rack, and slowly walked over to it, and it was open. He peered inside to see Rarity with her head down on her table. He walked inside and looked at her, tapping her shoulder, and she slowly turned her head to face Augustus, and revealed very large bags under her eyes exclaiming her exhaustion.
"Miss Rarity, are you alright?" Augustus asked before Rarity got up, once again towering over him by nearly a good half foot of space.
"Yes, Darling. Just a bit stretched thin since Sweetie Belle left." Rarity said, rubbing her eyes. Augustus nodded. Rarity had told him about her earlier in the time in his arrival, but has yet to meet her. He returned to his task at hand.
"Miss Rarity, do you need help?" Augustus asked. Rarity begun to shake her head, but stopped, and then very slowly looked away and nodded, sighing.
"Yes, it would be nice to have help." Rarity said as she walked over to a rack with several types of fabrics and cloth in rolls on it, and she carried a couple of them over to her table.
"I need to finish this suit for a very important client. I would do it myself, but I don't know any magic that gives a pony more hands." She said, holding her head in her hands on her workbench.
"Darling, your help would be much appreciated." She said before huffing in a large amount of air, and Augustus's bodily odors hit her nose like a carriage.
"But first, you need to bathe." Rarity said, pushing him out the door and upstairs towards her own bathroom.
"I will clean your clothes while you get clean. There are towels under the sink in the cabinet." Rarity said as Augustus entered the bathroom and slightly closed the door before stripping his clothes off, and realized the very bad smell they contained. He piled them outside the door where Rarity picked them up with her magic, and walked away to her washing room.
Augustus closed the door and turned on the shower by twisting the awkward knobs on the tile siding. He turned the heat all the way up, making the room fog with steam. The near boiling water calmed Augustus, and he sat in there for sometime, trying to see how he even got this far, as to use some strange creatures bathroom that looks so similar to a humans its incomprehensible.
He looked on the shelf in the shower and saw multiple soaps, but went with the one that had 'Lavender' written on the front, and began washing his body. His chest, arms, legs, and head were cleaned quickly, and Augustus instantly felt much better knowing he did not stink like a corpse. He waited a few more minutes to let the soapy water wash down his face, and finally he turned off the water. He stepped out of the shower with a towel on the cabinet. He takes the towel and wraps it around his waist. A pattern of knocks sounds at the door, and he opens it slightly, revealing Rarity with his clothes hung on her arm.
"Here you go dear, it was rather easy to wash them, seeing that your, smaller than the average pony." Rarity said.
"Thank you kindly Miss Rarity." Augustus said before shutting the door and hearing the steps slowly fade from his hearing. He inspected his clothes, and he found that they were cleaner than before the war. He put them on, and instantly his nostrils were hit with the smell of flowers. As he put on his clothes, he opened the door and grabbed the towel he had and dried his hair a bit before laying it down on his head, flattening his hair back into its original state.
He looked at himself in the mirror, but saw himself from a week ago, in the trenches, face covered in mud and small splatters of blood. He sighed at the memory, and he leaned the on the cabinet taking a few breaths. He shook his head and walked out of the bathroom, walking down the large staircase into the lobby.
He entered the room that Rarity was in and saw her with her head down again, and heard a gentle snoring coming from her. He walked over to her and shook her slightly, stirring her awake, and she yawned heavily before picking her head up from the workbench. Augustus looked at her from the side, the obvious streaks under her eyes signifying her great exhaust.
"Miss Rarity, you need to rest." Augustus said with his arm on her shoulder, and she looked over to him, and nodded very slowly before getting up. Augustus helped her up as much as he could, but he was horribly under her height, and was more of use to her as a walking stick. As they went up the stairs, Rarity slipped, causing much of her forward weight to fall onto Augustus's back, and he nearly collapsed, but he got his footing back and tipped her back up.
Rarity yawned and opened the door with her magic, then closed it once more with the same ability. Augustus got out from under her and she slumped herself on the bed and laid on her side, closing her eyes and her lips lightly moving.
"Thank you, Mister August."
"You're welcome, now please rest."
Rarity let her head rest on her arms, and within time, the only thing to be heard was the light breathing coming from the sleeping figure on the bed. Augustus wiped his forehead and opened the door, walking back downstairs slowly, the floorboards of the stairs creaking underneath him. Once he got downstairs, he looked around the lobby, and noticed a small couch in the middle with a table with very fine tea cups and dishes.
He sat down on the couch and laid his head back, closing his eyes and thinking of home once more, his life, and what was his family. He lost himself and his eyes were lost in a dead stare at the ceiling, and quickly, within a blink, everything around him was concrete, the fabric couches replaced by crates and wooden chairs.
His gear was back on him, and he could see his friends around him, laughing to each other with bottles of liquor in hand.
"Augustus, mien gott. Hans, you should have seen him during the last raid. "
"Hush, Walter."
The men laughed around him and Augustus began to smile, and looked at his hands, gloved and his body covered in his normal trench attire. His friends looked at him again with wide grins, as if expecting him to do something. His smile dimmed a slight bit, waiting for something.
"Augustus, how have you been? Have you recovered from what happened to your family?" Hans said, his smile disappearing and being replaced with a more serious feature. Augustus frowned as Hans looked to him with the same serious look.
"I cannot forgive what the Lieutenant did to my family."
"Well, you aren't here anymore. You're in their world. And you already found love here."
"Here? Wait your here too?!" Augustus questioned. Hans got up from his seat, and so did his other 2 friends, all looking at him with serious faces.
"Listen closely Augustus. Something isn't right in this world, just like our world. The rulers have paid poor decisions and will pay deeply." Hans said, before he walked over to a closet, and slammed the door open, and a green mist enveloped the room in seconds. Gas! Augustus quickly backed up and reached for his mask.
Suddenly Walter came up behind him and grabbed his arms from behind him, forcing him to the floor. Augustus's head was turned against the ground, and he could see his friend morphing into a black beast with green eyes and fangs. Hans and the other man had turned into the same grotesque creatures, and he looked into the closet to see a dark figure coming out slowly. It emerged from the thick green clouds of mist, it looked at him with its emerald green eyes. Augustus inspected it and noticed that it looked just like the women in the world he was in.
"W-what are you, beast?!" Augustus said, and felt a pain in his back as the drone on top of him kicked him in the ribs, releasing him. He groaned on the ground as the figure came closer with clacking heels, chuckling to itself.
"I am naught but an exiled queen. Wandering the wastes, noble warrior. And you, have got my attention." It says, eyes flashing.
Augustus got up and ran towards the metal bunker door, banging on it.
"Hilfe ! Someone help!" Augustus screamed as the woman behind him lurked closer, and her 2 minions got closer too. Augustus backed himself up to the door, as much as he could, and the woman pressed into him, her large body pinning him to the door.
"So much for bravery. Whats your name stud?" The figure said, laughing manically. Augustus was being pressed into the door too heavily to even respond, and felt a small pang of pain as she pressed a small bit more and laughed at his pain.
"Such a creature, how did you even survive the Everfree?" The womanly figured heartily laughed. Augustus finally shoved her off and slowly slid on the door, landing on the floor, and she once more approached him, picking up his chin and looking deeply into his eyes and making his heart stop for a split second in fear.
"You'll be mine soon enough. A queen needs a king by her side." Augustus shot up instantly, scanning the room around him. He was back inside of Rarity's house, but the light outside had disappeared and the horizon was descending. He held his head in his arms, curling his legs to his chest trying to comfort himself. His eyes began to water, and the sound of sobbing hit the walls and lightly echoed up the stairs. Augustus clutched his head and he got up, kicking Rarity's coffee table. He looks up at the ceiling, then back to the floor. He wipes his eyes and heads towards the door, but notices that his trench coat and boots are gone.
He looks around quickly, and goes into Rarity's workroom, and finds the clothes neatly folded with a note on top.
' Thank you for earlier. Count this as a token of gratitude. - Rarity
Augustus crumpled the note and grabbed his things, quickly putting them on and opening the door to a burning orange horizon. His quick footsteps and very loud exit from Rarity's shop had attracted the attention of many passing ponies, and he only made his footsteps quicker. He made eye contact with nearly every pony looking in his direction, until his eyes fell on a guard. Augustus slowed down his movement, and he bared his eyes on the guard, and the guards stoic mouth turned into a cheeky smile, and his eyes begun to glow a very light green.
Augustus felt his heart drop and ran for the edge of town where Fluttershy lived. He opened the door rapidly, and noticed the 6 mares looking at his entrance. He ignored them and ran for his rifle, grabbing it and undoing the safety. He charges for his backpack and satchel, then continues to haul himself out the door. The girls quickly follow, fearful of what he plans.
"Augustus, where are you going?" Twilight asks. He simply ignores her and remained on his course towards the forest.
"Sir, you best speak up. You ain't goin' in there without good reason!" Applejack said, getting in front of him and blocking his path. Augustus pushes her out of the way and she revolts by clutching him to the ground.
"What in sane Tartarus has gotten into you?!" She yells. Augustus kicks her off of him, and he runs for the trees once again. Augustus nearly tackled as Rainbow Dash clutched to his back.
"Don't you hurt her!" She yells. Her iron grip restricted his movement a bit, and he got on a single knee, trying to get her arm from around his neck. His elbow met her abdomen, and she retracted, wincing and groaning. Augustus grabbed his rifle strap and pulled it around, pointing it at the 6 mares. They all look at him with fear in their eyes.
"I- I cant stay here. Someone is coming for me!" Augustus said, turning around and throwing the rifle over his shoulder with the strap. His feet pound against the hard forest floor, and the snaps and cracks of fallen branches and twigs beg him onward to somewhere safe, somewhere away from the creature he saw.
Augustus felt his head cramp, he heart beating like a drum. His lungs working overtime to carry him to where ever his feet took him. His eyes filled with tears as the pain of all this running was very well disabling his thoughts, but his fear remained intact, driving him like a rampant cart. His legs were burning up, and his body got heavier every second that passed, until finally, he fell over, rolling on the ground until he is a stopped by a tree. He groaned and laid his head on the grassy floor of the woods, and he began to break down. He fully cried, his face turning a faint red, small tears burning his cheeks as he cried on the ground.
"Why couldn't someone else be here, why me?!" He sobbed quietly. He covered his eyes with his dirtied gloves and left himself to his thoughts and burning cheeks rolling with dry tears. His nerves were shot, and his body was aching from the continuous running.
He got up, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve, and looking around at the darkness around him. Fear once again gripped him fiercely, and he jogged through the forest despite his whole body feeling as if its being torn apart. His eyes constantly scanning the area around him, and an opening over a cliff revealed a lower area, and to the left, a construct of some sort. Augustus squinted his tired eyes and saw that it was a castle.
He quickly went over to the castle and inspected it from across a very unstable looking rope bridge. He very carefully stepped on each plank, testing its durability, and several broke under him, but the general amount stayed unbroken. Once he was across, he was greeted by 2 large and dark blue doors. His curiosity and hope were coming back. This place seemed like, even in disrepair, a good place to settle down.
With great effort, he pushed the 2 heavy doors aside, and entered into a very dark and haunting hallway with torn banners depicting the sun and moon, and 2 celestial beings behind them. Augustus took out his rifle and walked, slightly crouched as to ease the sound of his footsteps on the old mossy stone brick. Once more, he was face to face with 2 more doors, but this time, the insignia of the 2 figures were one each door, and he slowly pushed it open, revealing 2 massive thrones, nearly double his height.
He pulled his rifle closer to his chest, and entered slowly, making sure to rotate all around to check for unexpected surprises. He peered around the doors, and took a step forward, and his foot went down a bit, and the stone beneath it clicked. Small torches on the side of the castle lit up, casting light all over the room, albeit one side being a shade of purple and the other a normal yellow.
'What is this place?' Augustus wondered to himself. He went forward and took a closer glance at the thrones, and they both seemed to be for someone of unnatural height. The thrones themselves were made of gold and what was a luscious padding reduced to nothing more than wet rags. He backed up and went into the hall he came from, and noticed that the torches in here were not lit. He sighed and grabbed one of the torches from off the throne room walls and ventured back to the main door and shut it tightly, barring it with a rotten plank from a dilapidated bench.
He looked to his right and spotted a small flower pot, almost pristine and empty. He leaned the torch on the top edge of the pot, illuminating the area around him. He laid down on the hard stone floor, and put his bag under his head, looking up at the broken ceiling that revealed a starry night above him. The dark blue haze of the sky and small twinkling stars inside of it soothed him immensely. His exhausted body was ready for rest, and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open. His eyes glanced over the banner once more, and the 2 beings on it, circling each other. His tired mind piecing together the castles decorations and the thrones. His eyes finally closed, completely worn out from his long run, his body felt heated, despite being on a cold floor. He put his arms under his head, and let the night sky drown out the sound of locusts and crickets outside the enormous doors.
Author's Note
I've had most of this story ready for a while, and with lots of procrastination included, this chapter is done, next is in the works.
Einsamkeit
Its been nearly several weeks since Augustus found his new home. The old ruin had become a wooden fortress complete with a barbed wire wall and a repaired bridge, at the expense of a couple of days without water, but his scouting had given him some luck, and he found a fresh water creek near the castle. The local fauna is rather easy to trap, and Augustus has been thriving in fresh venison.
His new look comes from lack of maintenance of himself. A small scruff on his bottom chin exposes itself to whoever dares look at him, and his eyes turned glassy and madness inducing from surviving with no contact to anyone else. Just him and his thoughts. His few nights here have been filled with dread as the rain from the night skies, the shoddy wooden covering giving very little cover from the rain. His trench coat is covered in soot and charred ashes, as Augustus had covered himself in it to deter larger prey, and it gave his coat a darker appearance, blackening out the white cross of his old alliance to the Iron Cross of Germany.
The man had become a shadow of his former self. The casual man had become a force of nature, and intruders were dealt with accordingly. Young ponies often ventured near Augustus's wooden walls that were laced with lethal barbed wire, ready to cut anything bigger than a rabbit to shreds. His expeditions to raid caravans for metal have proven to work, and hes found dozens of spools of uncut wire, ready to be converted into a deadly countermeasure from intruders.
During his time at the castle, hes often seen many patrols in the sky, looking over the land, luckily not inspecting the castle too thoroughly as to find him and his new wooden palisade. His time in the ruin has changed him completely, and nothing remains of his old self. Paranoia consumed him, molded him into a new being, one capable of bringing down an army. In Augustus's mind, that was the plan.
Augustus opened the plank door, peeking out to spot any possible threats lurking outside of his fortress of solitude. He looked over the small opening near the cliff to his wooden barricade, and exited it, covering it with barbed wire in many places, but not enough to stop access without covered hands. He lugged his rifle over his shoulder, and stepped off the wooden bridge, heading into the forest with a keen eye set around reconnaissance of the area to find camps for supplies.
His hard leather boots hit the ground softly and sunk in a small portion. But still often snapped fallen branches and sticks that cluttered the ground. His stoic face stayed to the front, his eyes scanning his front, but also monitoring the sounds around him. His steady pace containing a steady rhythm, and his stature stays true through the deeper parts of the forest. Within minutes, hes in the lighter part of the forest, courtesy to his presighting of the entire accessible land, up unto Ponyville, his destination today.
He begun jogging through the light forest to Ponyville, and kept his eyes open for anyone that dared watch him, risk they get spotted and Augustus scared them off with his looks, if not a rough shot of his gun. He continued moving like water across rocks, through the trees and bushes,dodging anything to trip his feet. His now expert footing, trained by the past days in the inhumanely deadly forest, was carrying him along quite quickly, and the edge of the town became visible to him within minutes of the beginning of his venture outside of his home.
He laid down, and decided to creep up on his stomach, along the forest line carefully, as to not be seen and sought out by anyone that bothered. As he went along the rough grass and brush of the forest line, he saw Fluttershy's house, his old savior, not too far from his current position, and decided that it was the best course of action, seeing no other cover on the edge of the forest. He looked around to make sure no one was around or looking, and he charged for the edge of the house, ducking behind it and peeking around the corner of it to check for anyone that saw him. Once he was sure he wasn't spotted, he looked up at the old oak that he called home very temporarily.
'Just like the night time raids, except in broad daylight'
Augustus looked around the other side of the tree, hearing commotion from around it, and spotted a formation of guards, roughly 6, with a single guard down the middle looking rather important, as his armor was a deep blue instead of shining gold. Augustus cursed himself for being so idiotic as to think his almost weekly raids on passing traders would go unnoticed. He ducked his head back around the corner, and checked the other side, seeing a few tents set up, each with a banner depicting a sun, and a creature circling around it.
' There's that mark again.'
Augustus squinted his eyes to get a closer look, and he noticed several different types of guards. Some had fabric robes and scrolls in hand, some levitating them in air, while some others showed no skin or weakness, as the dark and gold armor they wore covered everything, including a visor, only revealing glistening gold slitted pupils. He ducked back once more, and looked around.
He looked to the house, and he finally noticed that a window was left open on the house. He jumped up on the remains of the crate from a month before, and vaulted over the window sill, and he was inside easily. Once he was inside, all of the animals laid their eyes upon him, and a few got up to greet him. He pet them quickly to put them at ease, and covered his mouth with a finger, messaging them to not let this encounter leave their animal lips, and was responded by an acknowledging nuzzle by many of them and a nod with others. He walked upstairs and peeked through his old saviors door, and saw no one inside, and he entered. He looked all around him inside the room, and figured that Fluttershy was not home, off doing something.
Augustus got back on his objective and looked through the window in the room, gazing outside, there were dozens of tents with banners, armored figures lining the city buildings. The village was no longer quiet, the tranquility being replaced by serious voices barking commands and the sound of hammers slamming down on metal, the clinking of armor, and carriages arriving every few moments.
'This is not how you're supposed to greet guests, even if I took just a couple of pounds of wire.'
Augustus's focus was thrown off by a click that came from downstairs, and opened the door a bit to see what was wrong, and revealed the 6 mares coming into the house, each of them looking rather serious and upset.
'Scheisse.'
He closed the door and quickly looked around for something to hide with, and noticed the bed was large enough to hide under, and he slid under there, clutching his rifle, trying to not expose himself. He heard the multiple pairs of feet slowing stomping up the steps, and Augustus silenced his breathing down to nearly nothing.
He saw the door open, and several pairs of feet enter the room, and heard creaking as the bed struggled to hold the weight of whoever was seated on top. He took a very low but heavy breath, and held his rifle tighter. He heard their mumbling, and slightly released his grip, silently inching himself closer, and leaning his ear towards the girls on top of the bed.
"Where could he be?" A gentle voice asked. Fluttershy .
"He ran into the Everfree, timber wolves probably got him by now" He heard the lightly raspy voice say. Rainbow Dash .
'Think again.' Augustus thought to himself.
"Dash! Watch your words, you've upset Fluttershy!" A very refined voice said. Rarity .
"I don't care, since you all seem to care more about that thing then your friends!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Dash stop bein' so full of yerself, were your friends, but August needed help!" A very western voice sounded off. Applejack . He saw the blue pair of feet walk out of the room, and several joined her, and there was loud arguing down stairs. But where was the 6th pair?
Augustus heard small a giggle from next to him, and turned his head like a rusty hinge towards the emitter.
"I love Hide and Seek. Who's it?" A bouncy voice said quietly. Pinkie ...
Augustus's eyes met her blue ones, and she scooted next to him, their noses touching.
"Hiya Augustus!" Pinkie said incredibly loudly.
Augustus nearly jumped out from under the bed, bumping against the frame and making it rumble on the floor. Augustus cringed as he heard it, and soon enough, the voices downstairs quieted, and they heard feet rapidly coming up the stairs. Augustus begun to panic, while Pinkie Pie resumed her normal bouncing, and Augustus looked around for an escape. He saw the door open, and revealed the rest of the mares staring at him, and he immediately did a complete turn, and tried to pry the window open. They all entered the room, each ready to block Augustus.
With a good effort on his part, he shoved the window open fully, and jumped, quite a moderate fall, but not enough to keep him from stopping. As soon as his feet his the ground, he looked to meet the girls faces, looking down at him. He turned his head and ran into the village without thought, bolting by tents and crates filled with things meant to help take him down, knocking several of them down on top of the guards.
He ran by the tents and guards crowding around, all of them looking at him at full sprint. A few of the stunned guards grabbed their spears from the ground and begun to run after Augustus, and time went on and more guards had joined the fray to capture Augustus, some of them yelling at him from a distance.
"Stop right there, ape!"
"Halt!"
Augustus got out his rifle and fired a shot just above their heads, making most of them dive out of the way of the purposely missed shot. This bought him some more time, and he saw a massive opening as the guards try to regain their strength from the fall. He got back to his running, and soon enough, there was generally quiet, aside from the afar voices that wanted his head on a pike.
Augustus put his rifle under his trench jacket, took off his helmet, and put his hands in his pocket as to hide his hostile presence a small bit. He looked all around him, and saw guards just ahead of him, and took a quick left turn, avoiding the crowd of them, and taking a less noticeable path through an alley.
Augustus could hear the armored footsteps, and looked behind him to see 2 guards staring at him, slowly walking toward him. He quickened his pace and, once out of the alley, begun his run again, being noticed by more guards who begun another wild chase. He was about to get out his rifle again to pot another shot at them, but he hit into something hard.
Augustus looked up to see a towering figure, taller than all the guards who had caught up. The guards looked up at the figure with a small smile, and bowed before the colossus. Augustus slowly back stepped, fearful of what was under that helmet. His curiosity was answered.
His eyes were met with nearly aqua blue eyes,dark blue fur, hair like a night sky,incredibly long eyelashes, and a very unhappy frown. She started walking toward him slowly, and he kept crawling backward on his feet, until he recovered his balance and started his run again. The figure only sat there while Augustus looked at it, but when he turned his head, he was heading straight into an open hand that clamped onto his neck as it made contact with it.
Augustus felt his feet lift off the ground, and his lungs emptying quickly as his windpipe was completely blocked by this giants hand. Augustus tried grasping the hand, but the thick metal armor didn't allow such access, and soon enough black circles begun to appear in his sight. He reached down to his holster and got his pistol, aiming it at the being's abdomen, and pulled the trigger, a loud bang resounding off the armor, the effect of a ricochet.
As soon as the shot fired out, the giant stepped back, stunned by the hit. Augustus simply laid on the ground, trying to get precious air back into his lungs. The guards get out of their bow to the new opponent and point their spears at Augustus. He gets out his rifle, lightly touching each spear with the bayonet of his rifle. Each of the guards were smiling, but Augustus's frown couldn't get more ugly. He quietly turned off his safety as the first guard charged forward, screaming his battle cry.
Augustus kicked him in the groin, the guards armor doing very little, and Augustus kicks the groaning soldier to the ground. Another one steps up and Augustus goes to shove his bayonet into the guards chestplate, but the guard grabbed his rifles barrel, and a small tug of war starts. Augustus tries to grab his rifle, but it is tugged away, and he pulls out his knife and pistol.
Several of the guards were antagonizing him, laughing at him and trying to get him to attack. It took Augustus all of his strength not to, but instead held his ground. Another guard walked up, this one covered in plated armor, throwing his spear to the ground and cracking his knuckles, and a very bright set of green eyes with a pension to bring him down to his knees. Augustus looked at him, and simply raised his pistol, repeatedly squeezing the trigger.
The bloodied corpse of the guard fell, and everyone around him was silent. Most of the guards backed away in fear, but still circling around him. Augustus slipped the empty ammunition cartridge onto the ground, and refreshed his gun with a new one. The guards circle slightly broke, and Augustus saw his escape, but had no good path to get through to it. He could see the circle closing fast, and he went to move for it, but was stopped by a large blow to his back.
Augustus was flung many yards through the lines of guards surrounding him, and his rolling finally came to a stop. He could barely feel his legs and arms, his grasp on his armaments failing, he released the pistol and knife into their separate holsters, slowly getting up and trying to limp away from the giant, who had a predatory look in its eyes. Augustus fell as he looked back, too worn out to even move.
The giant figure covered in the dark blue armor, looked down at him, those merciless eyes beaming into his own. He saw the hand flicker, and soon enough a large dark blue lance was in its hands. It inspected Augustus once again, and raised the lance, and Augustus laid his head back, ready to be taken, but instead, heard an ear-shattering shout.
"Luna! Enough!"
The figure stopped just shy of Augustus's face by mere inches, the sharp blade glistening in the sunlight. He could feel a cold aura come from that weapon, and took opportunity and begun to crawl out of reach of the lance. Augustus had felt the pain in his arms, more noticeably the left, which was now broken from the earlier attack. He groaned as he felt the very bones in his finger pressing together, shattered. A small line of blood had dripped from his lip, and he hugged his other arm with the one that was only bruised.
"Celestia, this wretch does not deserve mercy." Luna said, coldly glaring at Augustus.
Augustus looked up through bleary eyes to see an even taller figure, plaid in white fur and wing spanning more than a bombers, and a horn that could breach a tanks armor. Connected to all of that, a very serious face looking down at him with a judging look. The other figure had taken off her helm, revealing more of the dark blue fur covering a very thin face, and another set of wings that could square with the Red Baron's own plane.
Augustus laid his head back, and continued to crawl away in fear and the agonizing pain. Augustus had gotten on his stomach and used his unbroken arm to help propel himself along the ground, slowly inching forward, away. More pain enters his body as his broken ribs drag along the ground, his bleeding lip causing a few drops of blood to color the ground along his path.
The white royal figure, who he guessed was Celestia, had walked around him, interrupting his slow crawl away, making Augustus stop and turn over, trying to fill his lungs despite the pain induced when even breathing.
"This is over, Queen Chrysalis," she said, looking down at him and summoning a very large blade, a golden shine glistening in the sun, and soon enough a white fire envelopes the sword.
"Gnade, bitte! Please...I am not who you think I am." Augustus begged, holding up a bruised arm. He tried crawling away again, but every bit of progress was stomped out by a single step of this unnatural woman.
"I am not a fool Chrysalis." She said, stepping on Augustus's foot, making him yell in pain from the weight.
"P-please, miss. I am being hunted, I just want to keep myself alive. Is there any way to prove it to you?" Augustus said, trying to prop himself up with his damaged arm. The enormous mountain of a woman had sheathed the sword, and slowly leaned down, placing her hand on his head.
Celestia had found herself in a forest, completely quiet except for the seldom chirp of a bird flying by. She looked around and a small flurry of butterflies flew over her head, and she slightly smiled, but was also puzzled on why she was here, and walked around, noticing a stone bridge with a rail on it.
"What is this place?" She asked, looking around. She heard a very far off clicking sound, and looked back to see something shining right in her eye. She blocked it with her hand, but still saw it shining right in her eyes. She squinted behind her hand, and she saw something move ever so slightly. Celestia heard a quick snapping sound, and she leaned to her side just in time, the bullet grazing her hair.
She looked to where the glint was, and pulled out her sword once more, and the glint disappeared, revealing a small figure running from her at full force. She ran after it through the heavy forest, and soon enough, she found him, sitting down in a small tent. She got on her knees, hiding behind a large rock.
The only thing to come to her ears was the sound of several creatures that looked just like Augustus, but some of them were very thin,carrying little and had small fabric caps on, while others had very large backpacks, small metal vests, and metal masks.
She saw something move out of the corner of her eye, and saw Augustus heading towards them, and he greeted them, shaking hands. She watched as they went into a large stone fortress, and the metal doors latched shut, but she approached them slowly, making sure to stay quiet.
She peered into one of the gaps of the door, and saw him and the others like him sitting in a circle, and laughing, glass bottles in their hands, and she scoffed.
'How does this prove anything?'
She stayed a little while longer, and soon enough, the laughing subsided, and Augustus was on his feet, and one of the men he was with went over to a small wooden door. He opened it right before her eyes, and a familiar green gas emitted from the closet. Augustus went to reach for something on his leg, but one the others grabbed him from behind, then kicked him to the ground.
Celestia's eyes went wide as a large womanly figure came from the mist, and she already knew who it was. She pressed her ear to the door, but retracted when she heard something hit against the metal door, and she did so again, pressed her keen ear to the door, closing her eyes and focusing in.
"I am naught but an exiled queen. Wandering the wastes, noble warrior. And you, have got my attention."
Celestia heard the evil laugh from through the door and also a groan of pain, and she listened even more carefully.
"Such a creature, how did you even survive the Everfree?" She laughed again, more groans of pain emitting from Augustus behind the door, and Celestia finally had enough. Just as she was about to slam the door down, she heard silence inside, until...
"You'll be mine soon enough. A queen needs a king by her side."
Celestia immediately felt her pelt heat up in rage as she came back to reality, and her ethereal hair became more reactive, quickly snapping in the wind of the day. Meanwhile, Augustus was in a sweat as soon as he came back from the dream, looking around to see the royal sisters and legions of guards around him, and he laid his head back.
"Luna!" Celestia nearly screamed, and Luna stepped in front of her with a determined look.
"Chrysalis has returned from the Badlands. I want every guard searched for disguising magic's and thorough checks when we return to Canterlot!" Celestia said, and Luna nodded her head. Celestia looked over to Augustus with his head still back, and a light golden glow picked up Augustus into the air. He flailed his battered arms and suddenly felt warm, and looked at his arms to see the bruises quickly disappearing, and the pain in his body had left him, the cuts and broken bones mending together. The glow retracted from his body and he fell onto his knees on the paved street.
Augustus got up and put his arms in the air as a small group of guards surrounded him with a small chunk of rope in their hands.
"And you, you are coming to Canterlot too. We need to figure out why that evil wretch is after you." Luna said, slamming her lances handle against the ground.
"Y-yes, uh, princess. Just let me get my rifle." Augustus said as he bent down to grab the wooden stock. He took off the bayonet and put the pin onto the safety. One of the guards shoved him forward, and he looked back at the large guard, then resumed his march forward, a iron carriage greeting him. The door went down slowly with the rattle of chains.
"Get in." The buff guard said, and Augustus listened with no hesitation. He watched the iron door close, and the bumpy ride to the capital of Canterlot begun. Augustus knew himself that he was in for much more than he hoped for in his life.
