The night was cold.
Freezing.
Red Sparrow curled tighter into a ball, determined to preserve the little body heat he had. clip clop Red Sparrows ears perked up. What was that? He quickly slid out of his curl and into a running stance. clip clop Somepony walking. Red Sparrow too a look around. He was in a pretty narrow ally, littered with trash and scattered paper (you've seen movies). Above him a crescent moon hung ever so tauntingly in the sky, garnered by a wreath of stars. He knew he was in the southern part of Stalliongrad. Very close to the warzone, occasionally the city would shake from bombs in the distance. Sometimes you could find bodies.
From the darkness of the ally he saw the glint of a war helmet. soldiers? Red Sparrow didn't like that. Hes heard the whispers on the streets, rumors perpetuated through both fantasy and truth, but Red Sparrow was pretty good at picking out the true parts of rumors. That was his thing. And it seemed from the local gossip that soldiers were conscripting all stallions and mares above the age of fifteen. A new policy established by the new Elector.
Red Sparrow was older than fifteen.
Red Sparrow had lived on the streets for his whole life. He had starved. Had unquenchable thirst. In the army you got rations for free, and a payment for your service. He knew quite a few ponies that had purposefully been taken away. But Red made sure to keep out of the spotlight. As long as you were invisible, nobody could touch you. It was a little hard for Red, but he had a good head on his shoulders and coupled with his normally weak body by earth pony standards being considered strong by unicorns and pegasi, he could get out of most jams. This was not a jam he could wriggle out of.
Had the guard seen him? Of course he's seen you! He's walking straight towards you! The alley wasn't just a clear path, there was a generator halfway through the narrow corridor, electricity for a small business, it obstructed most view. Their were a few shopping carts littered about as well. It's why he chose this place to sleep- he was invisible. The soldier couldn't have seen him. He must have been walking by, which was why Red Sparrow had heard hoof-steps. He must've given himself away when he stood up. The generator did not fully cover his entire body, and the movement must've drawn the guards eye.
He ducked. Maybe there was still a chance the guard would turn around? Fat chance. He peeked back up, for a better view of the stallion. Now that the guard was closer he could see that the stallion was actually a mare. Her coat was a dark green, with her mane being a muddy-brown, styled into a popular 'back is a braid but the front slopes over' look. She tentatively stepped forward, starting to hoof for the gun strapped over her shoulder.
Thankfully, because of her fear of somepony in the shadows(him), she was making slow progress. He might have enough time to escape. He frowned. No. Maybe if he had a more muted coat, but Red Sparrows coat was a mix of beige and orange(Heavily leaning to the orange side), with a bright red mane. In fact, he slightly envied the mare for her coat. It would be easy for her to blend into the shadows. The only reason he could pick her out was because they were in the more industrial, western side of the city, where everything is brick. Usually he could blend in because of the red brick, but because of the dark night the color difference would be all to seeable. In fact, thinking about it now, on the south side of the city he wouldn't be able to tell the mare apart from the walls.
She slowly creeped forward.
Red Sparrow had to make a move and fast. He had to decide on a plan of action. To get out of this he needed an objective. A single purpose to clear his mind, right? What dont I want? He didn't want to be conscripted. So he had to leave without her seeing. She might not directly conscript him, but she would probably tell her squad leader she had seen me. And if there's one, there's gotta be more. Soon there be a search for conscriptable ponies. Here he had a chance to escape. Their he did not. So how do I do that?
How do I do that?
How do I do that
Up
No pony ever looks up. You always look strait, or down, or side to side. Only up if there's something you already know is in the sky that you want to see. He checked her stance. Hesitant, unsure. A Lot of soldiers walked these streets, veterans, cadets. Veterans carried a sure and haunted feeling where they walked. They were careful, yes, but not hesitant. Hesitation cost lives. Much like the walks of stallions and mares that have been on the streets for a while, Red Sparrow realised. Cadets haven't learned that lesson yet. They hesitate. They aren't hardened by battle, nor tempered by warfare. In short, Their bad. A veteran would probably look up. A cadet, mmm, not so much. But they are trained. Red had to keep that in mind to. A veteran looked up out of instinct, a cadet because they are trained to do it. Because they are told they should do it. But he couldn't operate on ifs.
He glanced at the pony. Closer now. She was only about ten yards away now. Thats bad. Very bad. He had to wait. If he didn't move when she wasn't looking, then she would notice the movement. She was a cadet- not an idiot. He had already noticed how the mare looked over her shoulder every few seconds, as if expecting a shadowy figure behind her. It was just a matter of time. Turn 1...2...3... Turn 1...2...3... Turn 1...2...3...He quickly and silently scaled the generator, trying to stay quite over-head. creak. shit. He could hear it as soon as he leaned on the metal top of the generator. He winced. The mares head snapped forward, now fully pulling out her gun (a PPSh-10) and aiming, and shooting in random directions, eyes wide.
It was painfully hard not to move.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
A series of shots ring through the alley. From up here he could see slightly farther, ponies (forty and above in age) scattering in panic. They think this is a warzone! This was bad. This gave attention. Too much attention. And was that...? Oh shit. Soldiers! More soldiers!? He needed to get out. He looked up at the brick wall above him. Not a great idea to scale. Like most of the buildings in Stalliongrad, it was covered in cracks, and it seemed that there were large chunks of brick missing from the walls (They could make some good hoofholds). He heard the sound of shouting get closer. He looked up. He couldn't scale that. He'd just have to wait and try to stay unseen. Red Sparrow hugged the bottom of the generator so as not to be seen, peering just little to see what was going on on ground level.
A Battalion of soldiers rushed in to the alley, guns aimed at the mare. They quickly surrounded her in a neat circular formation.
The mare instantly dropped her gun and made a sound that closely resembled a "Eep!"
The panic of the initial gunshots had seemed to have faded and one of the soldiers asked something.
"Murky Reed?"
...
...
"Yeeess?" Responded the mare.
"Ugh."
The Stallion looked at the others and started speaking, waving his hoof in Murky's direction. "It's alright guys, this is one of the new cadets we got transferred. Must have had a gun misfire." The soldiers collectively sighed and rolled their eyes.
The Battle was over.
They quickly fell into a straight line and stomped back out to patrol the streets.
"What an idiot..."
"...I can't believe this mare..."
"Ugh"
Slowly their voices faded away into the background of the night.
Red Sparrow was about to get up, but he heard the shuffle of a hoof and layed back down, not wanting to get caught. He turned his head towards where the pony was and tried to strain his ears.
"...ers nothing here, Reed! There's no one here!" Said the Stallion who had called her out earlier.
The ponies were speaking in barely a whisper.
"I swear to Alti-" She shook her head. She had almost cursed with the previous Electors name. "I swear to Vyatka, when I was walking down the path I saw some orange thing behind that Generator! And to me it looked like a couple of hooves!" She gestured over to the generator.
Red Sparrow held his breath.
But it seemed that the stallion didn't really care to investigate.
"While obviously theres no pony their!" Said the obviously frustrated stallion. His other hoof waving about in the air.
The conversation went on like that for a little bit longer, at this point Red Sparrow had zoned out of the conversation, thinking more on when where these ponies going to leave so he could get down.
After some sort of laugh from the two, the stallion shook his head and the mare smiled, and then they walked out of the alley.
When they were at the very end of the alley the mare stopped and turned around. She glanced one last time at the theater, and walked off with the Stallion
Red Sparrow let loose a sigh of relief. He looked at the sky, a few cracks of daylight spewing from the horizon. He had spent the entire night on this uncomfortable piece of metal. He jumped of the generator with a resounding thump. Usually he would a weight a bit before he got off his perch, so as to make sure he was alone. But the freezing cold metal had made him unpatient and hungry. He walked out of the alley, surveying the streets. Time to get food
Author's Note
Hello, fellow MLP fans! I'm so honored to have you guys read my story, its my first one so... get ready for a rocky ride. I thought the chapter was alright, not publishable level but readable level, and I hoped you liked it. If you have any suggestions leave them bellow(Now I sound like a Youtuber). Anyway, see you next chapter.
Murky Reed was having one hell of a day. First she was assigned for the night watch, whitch sucked all by itself without help from her bumbling. Then she had forgotten to preen her wings the day before, meaning she had to preen them the day of her shift, which meant she was forty minutes late(and her wings still looked sloppy, something Murky Reeds Resented Quite a bit). Which made everybody hate her. Do you know what it's like to go late on your first day, for your new military job? What it's like is terrible.
....
And then there was the 'Orange Blob' Incident. The guys will tease her for weeks for that one. Augh.... She could swear she saw hooves! She was absolutely sure! Maybe it was just some tomcat or something. That would explain the creak. The creak that made her shoot her gun! Agh, she should have known better! Now her gun privileges have been confiscated. For two weeks. Two entire weeks.
But maybe it's better to start at the beginning.
In 1013 the Stalliongrad Collective Ellector, Altidiya Revoltsova, declared war on Equestria. Soon after her declaration, she died from food poisoning. After she abdicated through natural causes, Vyatka Midnight was nominated Ellector by The Comintern Parliament. One of Vyatka's first policies was increased conscription for the war. Equestria was a superpower, he said, they needed more ponies for the war effort.
And he was right.
Soon the war began to stabilise, Stalliongrad beginning to finally push for land instead of losing it. And, with new policies that improved resources for troops at war and made training more rigorous, he was a very likable character.
His popularity Skyrocketed.
Soon the richer cities fully supported him, the elite raving about how he 'wished to help the poor' and 'stabilise the country'.
Murky Reed lived in Muskwater, a hamlet in the middle of a marsh. Her parents were extremely strict (Like all adults in the community), and extremely traditional. It also did nothing to aid her relationship with her parents, that, at the time, she was the local troublemaker. Often undoing braids in the middle of class, doodling along the sides of her notebook, spitballing the teacher, and occasionally forging parent signatures. Not even to mention what she got into with the other kids.
She was one of the first fillies in her class to get a cutie mark. She remembered it vividly. It was a wednesday, and they had art class. Murky sat at the front, bored by the teachers constant droning. 'Bla bla bla bla bla something something idiot something paint something bla bla bla bla. Myeh Im Ms. Lonely and have no social life, bla bla bla.' Murky Reed smiled subtly. She had nailed that impression. She continued to blankly stare at the teacher. Wait. Something was wrong... She just couldn't quite place... Oh. Oh no. Everybody was quite. The normally thin layer of background chatter had suddenly stopped. Dead in its tracks. And the teacher had a large frown starting to etch it into her face. "Did I say that out loud?" She heard snickers echo in the background.
Confirmation.
Shit.
"Uhh, Ms. Gracolt, I didn't mean any of that, uhhh, in fact I, uh, was admiring you just now, mhhhmm, in fact, uhhh, I-" Ms.Graycolt Interrupted here. "Murky Reeds, please come up before the class."
Murky Gulped.
She painfully screechfully slid out of her chair, trotting over to the front of the class. "Murky Reed, since you seem to be so interested in the topic we're talking about, I would love for you to demonstrate in front of the entire class." While saying this she, pulled out a canvas, and made hoof gestured in the direction of said canvas. Murky tried to remember what they were talking about. Painting...? Maybe...?
After six minutes of Murky just staring at the canvas, Ms.Gracolt cleared her throat "Painting. we were discussing Landscape Painting." Murky picked up a brush.
She hesitantly dipped her brush in a forest green, and started.
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That day she walked away from class with a cutie mark. A paintbrush over a framed painting, with pines in the background. Quite complicated as far as cutie marks go.
Apparently her special skill was painting realistic landscapes. In class she had painted a beautiful lake, surrounded by reeds and pine trees, mountains faintly in the distance.
...Her classmates had started to call her Bob Moss.
...
Murly Reeds was honestly disappointed. She had always been quite an unremarkable mare, green coat, brown mane. Popular mane-style. She had thought that meant she would get an awesome special skill, but I guess not. It's one of the reasons she acted up. So she could stand out. In the words of her favorite Equestrian musical, (Alexander Hoofington) "I am not throwing away my shot!"
So much for that.
She frowned. She was an unremarkable pony. A unremarkable edition. Somepony, now that she thought about it, would probably live and die in this marsh town, forgotten by her descendants. Forgotten by the world. A child never remembered.
When she came home, she silently walked up to her room and closed the door. Her father took notice of her stoic expression and whispered to his wife "She would we say something? It seems like something happened." Mrs.Reed briefly glanced up at her husband, Pine Axe, she frowned and looked back at the The Redwave Times. "She'll be fine. She's quite the stubborn little lady." She took a rather long sip of her tea. Pine Axe gave one more concerned look up the stairs, then returned to the paper(There was quite an interesting story about the 'Watermare Scandal' in Equestria).
For the rest of her school years she quieted down considerably. Slowly she blended into the crowd. She gave homework on time, she did work all day every day. Her teacher was quite concerned for her wellbeing, but it seemed there was nothing to be done.
Then, when she was sixteen, a new law was enacted.
All ponies, mares and stallions alike, from ages fifteen to forty are required for service.
It was everywhere. It was published in all papers, all communication. It was big news.
Murky Reed did like it. This was her chance. The sparks of rebellion lit once again in her soul. This was a chance. To rise up. To seize glory. This was a chance. She was taken from her education to be enlisted in the military on Jan 12th.
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Her fantasy of military glory was soon to be was shattered. She was to take the first train to Pondon, and then she was to take four weeks of training in the city as a squad patrol before the was sent into the battlefield.
Murky Reeds couldn't believe her misfortune. Pondon was infamously poverty-ridden and industrial. A terrible place to live. and on top of that, guess who her Drill Sergeant was? That's right. Gordon Ramsneigh. A stupidly famous officer with a reputation larger than life. He was supposedly the best drill sergeant in the army. That was very bad . Best drill sergeant was like best evil demon, maybe good for the stallion getting the reward, but not for the ponies he tortures!
The train station was a three mile walk from her small swamp-town, and after three months of preparation and rebellion (On Murky Reeds Side), her parents were more than ready for her to leave. Because of the distance and the terrain she had to wake up early in the morning, Three-thirty so that she could arrive at eight A.M. at the train station. She softly crept through the house. Softly kissed both of her parents foreheads, and then trotted out into the wilderness. For the first thirty-minutes she took a soft-path through heavy pines, but after that first stretch, the miles blurred one after the other as the pines slowly turned into hostile swamps. She had to check her map a few times after the scenery started to get repetitive, in fact she wasn't even sure she was on the right path till she saw the vague outline of the station. The train was there, smoke blowing.
That took a moment to compute.
shit
She ran towards the station as fast as her hooves would carry her, the land flushing past her in swathes of green and brown. Soon, she had almost reached the platform. Its brown frame looming ahead of her. She glared at it determinately. choo-choo, the wheels slowly beginning to turn. Almost there! She rushed up the steps, now only a few yards away from the train entrance. The pace of the train picked up. Fuck! She galloped closely to the blurring entrance.
Both she, and the train picked up the pace. double fuck
She screwed close her eyes and poised for a jump. I am not giving away my shot!(In the words of Alexander Hoofington) She needed this military service! This was her option to rise to glory! To become great!
She leaped.
Her first two hooves landed inside the red-carpeted train-car. Great! But, her back to hooves did not land. Anywhere. "Agh, agh agh!!" Murky Reed squealed, hooves clinging on to the red carpet, slowly slipping. Her eyes darted wildly. There. Right above her head, on both sides of the train-entrance were two brass handles. She squeezed her eyes shut. One... her hooves slowly loosened. This is a terrible plan.Two... her hooves began to stop clinging. Are we going through with this.Three... Her hooves lost traction. her eyes snapped open. Yes we are!
She let go of the traincar.
She reacted quickly. Years of backbreaking chores had increased her dexterity and strength. Most of her town (Muskwater) was increasingly strong because of the hostile environment and given the area a slight reputation. Her family however, had lived in the swampiest area of the town lands.(Which was unfortunately to the east, while train station was to the west. Meaning she had to walk through the entire Celestia-damn town to get to the train. More walking for her, she supposed.) This meant she was stronger than most, if not all, of the colts in her school. And perhaps a few of the grown-stallions as well. She quickly seized the handles, using her upper-body strength to swing into the train car, landing limbs sprawling. A echoing thump thundering through the train-cars. All the heads turned.
Murky Reeds stood up, dusting herself off. She matched eyes with a purple-maned stallion. "What are you looking at!" The stallion quickly swiveled his head away. She stared daggers at a few more curious ponies, they to looking away out of fear. Come to think of it, all of these people probably heard her squeal and heard her clinging to the carpet. "Bastards!" She said pointedly, her gaze flickering over ponies with their heads sharpley tilted down. None of them had come to help her. Her eyes darted around for empty seats. Most of the train was full, and the only seat her eyes could find was one right across from an older-looking stallion with glasses and a book. She sat down with a "Harumph."
The older stallion quietly raised his eyes from his book. (Harry Trotter, The Half-Blood Prance.) And softly raised one eyebrow. He took in what was in front of him. A sixteen-year-old filly with a backpack stacked to the brim with supplies. Covered in mud and splinters, she wore a grizzly frown and stared daggers at him from her seat. "What in the actual Tartarus happened to you?" He said in genuine confusion. Her scowl turned into a smoldering gaze. "Well..." She took a deep breath in. "SowhenIwasyoungerIgotaterriblecutie-markwhichmeantIwasgoodatlandmarkpainting.Whichfuckingsucks,andthenafterthatallmyclassmatescalledmeBobMoss,liketheartist,youknow?SoIhadanidentitycrisisandbecametotallylameuntillikethreemonthsagowhenthatnewlawwaspassedanditshockedmeinto action. SothentodayIhadtowakeupatfuckingthree.In.The.Morning! Whichissofuckedup, anywayIhadtowalk throughthis reallymustyforestforlikefourhours-" As the mystery-mare continue to ramble, the older gentle-stallion rolled his extremely educated eyes, and lowered his eyes back onto his book. This was going to be a long ride. The mares rambling created a deafening-background noise. He sighed. This was going to be a long train ride.
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The gentle-stallion got off the train at the stop right before Pondon. At this point, most of the car was empty, and only him, Murky Reed, and a small few passengers remained. He tipped his black velvet hat. "Goodbye, ramble-filly." Murky Reed rolled her eyes, but waited as the gentle-stallion left the seat. "Thank you." She blurted. The stallion turned. , surprised. "For what?" "For the conversation." The stallion grinned and waved his ivory cane. "Till we meet again." Murky Reed nodded. He quietly left the car, his book tucked under his front leg(Which no doubt, he had already finished.) As the train pulled out of the station, she saw him slowly waving from the platform. Steam plumed at the edges of her window- no doubt the engine starting. And as the train pulled out, she had the strangest feeling. Loneliness. So as she train sped towards the murky grey sky, Murky Reed could only feel the unbearable burden of responsibility rest on her shoulders. As she rested her head against the cushioned seat, for some reason, she could not shake the feeling that perhaps, she was destined for greatness.
Author's Note
Hey guys! Chapter two here, reporting for duty! Hope you like it, this is just some set up for the future. (Foreshadowing!) HAve a great day, and thank you for reading. Seriously.
