The horseman

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Prologue

Chapter 1

The alarm clock beside Andrews' bed buzzed ten o'clock, lazily and with a grunting sigh he raised an arm and pressed down on the clock, silencing it. He stretched and smiled at the thought that it was Saturday, he didn't have to get up for school, he could stay in and try to finish a canvas he had been working on for the past month. He got out of bed, splashed cold water in his face and dressed himself. He shut his bedroom door and looked over at the door opposite to him, it was slightly a jar, Andrew opened it and looked in.

The room was empty, his room mate, Peter, had freshly made his bed as usual, by the sound of it he had gone out, probably out the store on the corner of the street. Andrew looked over at the desk, situated against the left wall, there was an open laptop on it.

Andrew walked over to it and looked at what was on the screen, he sighed exasperatedly, just as he thought, Equestria daily. Andrew shook his head and left the room, "what the fool see's in technicolor ponies, I don't know" he said out loud to himself. What any of them saw in it he never understood, granted Peter didn't harp on about ponies every hour of the day, but he could certainly could when he wanted to.

Peter and Andrew both went to the same collage, Peter was training in consumer studies and Andrew was training as an artist, they were nearing the end of the year and they both had exams in six weeks, the two got on very well with each other,(when the topic of the conversation wasn't about ponies) and they had made an agreement to split jobs around the house, Andrew would cook, Peter would wash up, Andrew would do the laundry, Peter would pay the bills.

Andrew entered the sitting room and starred out of the window, Dublin city looked just as any other suburban city would look on a Summer Saturday morning.

Cars were bustling in the roads down below, and crowds of people moved along the paths, heading out to go shopping our going to one of the twelve thousand coffee shops scattered around the city.

Andrew made himself breakfast and then made his way into a small room filled with the few paintings he had made, the one he was finishing consisted of a large, snow capped mountain, and wolf sprinting through the snow.

He loaded his brush and began adding more steely gray to the wolf's coat. Thirty minutes passed in total silence, and by the end of it, the portrait was complete, Andrew carefully hung the painting to dry on a bare piece of wall, he looked down at his watch, Eleven o'clock, the mail should have arrived by now.

He went downstairs and checked the mail box for apartment 528, yep, it was full, Andrew removed the letters and began to walk back upstairs, leafing through the letters as he walked.

Bills...bills...more god damn bills? Peter would have his hands full when he came back, Andrew turned over to the third letter, which seemed to be just a brochures for luxury houses and a third letter which was addressed specifically for Andrew.

"Oh, somebody loves me" Andrew thought to himself, he slowly headed back upstairs. Once inside the apartment he carelessly tossed the bills onto the coffee table and slit open the letter.

Inside was a folded piece of paper, he took it out and opened it.

It was blank, Andrew stared at it confused, he turned it over expecting to see something on the other side, nothing, blank.

"The hell?" Andrew said, why would someone send him a piece of blank paper, what was the point?

He shrugged, he walked over to the bin and was about to throw the paper into it, when he thought he saw something.

He looked at the paper again, had he imagined it, or had the paper just, glowed.

He left in doubt for hardly a second, the paper was glowing, and brightly too.

Suddenly a flash a blinding white light burst from the paper, engulfing the room. Andrew yelled and shielded his eyes, he the sound of rushing wind, as though there was tornado tearing through the building.

Just as quickly as it had arrived, the light vanished, the sound of the died away, and all returned to normal, the piece of paper drifted, silently through the air and fell onto the floor, Andrew had dropped it, or rather, he had taken it with him.

Andrew was gone, no markings were on the floor, he had left none of the clothes he had been wearing behind, he had just vanished, into thin air.

*****

Drip...drip...drip.

Andrew twitched, he felt he had been thrown a great distance by a strong wind, and that he had a hard landing. He rolled over painfully onto his back, only to be met by the same thing dripping onto his face. He opened his eyes slowly, his vision was blurred, he shut his eyes and looked up, then he sat bolt upright.

The apartment was gone, he was now sitting in the middle of a forest clearing, the trees were close together, so Andrew couldn't see if there was anything behind them, and very little light came through as the tops of the trees had large branches with many leaves that blotted out sunlight. A few drops of water from the nearest tree had been falling on his face, another drop fell from the tree and hit Andrew on the head, he brushed it out and looked around the clearing.

"Hello?" Andrew said out loud, hoping that there was someone nearby that could hear him.

There was no reply, the forest remained deadly silent.

"Is there anyone else here?" Andrew asked more loudly, still no answer returned to him. He got to his feet and began pacing up and down,"stay calm" he told himself, "just stay calm, find a river, that usually works".

But there did not seem to be any running water in this forest at all, all there was was a pile of rocks and some large, overgrown thorn bushes.

Suddenly, from far off in the distance, Andrew heard the sound of yelling and screaming, the noises were coming from off to Andrew's left. "Maybe someone's hurt" he thought, he had nothing to help someone if they were, but maby he could bring them to the nearest town and get help for them.

He set of at a steady pace towards where the noise was coming from, he pushed apart several branches along the way. Where was he? Andrew was completely baffled about what had happened. Was he dreaming? Just to make sure he wasn't he gave himself a sharp punch in the shoulder, this however attributed nothing except giving him a sharp pain in his shoulder.

So it wasn't a dream, well then what was all this? He was more confused than he had ever been in his life.

He ran for about a minute until he came to a small cliff at the edge of the forest, there were no more trees at the cliff side, he pushed apart the remaining branches that obstructed his path and surveyed the sight before him.

There were no people to be seen, lying on the ground however were three horses, three very small horses. Andrew cautiously approached the horses, strangely they were all wearing golden armor, "maybe their war horses", Andrew thought. Could that have been it? Had that paper sent him back in time, maybe he was now in World War One.

He rolled the horse over and examined it, it was dead, it had several gashes down it's body that looked like they had been made by a sword, the wounds were fresh and blood was still pouring out of them.

He moved to another horse and looked it over, this one didn't have sword wounds, this one looked like it had been burned alive, but no bushes looked like they had been burned. Andrew picked up the hoof of the horse, it was covered in blisters and felt as though it would break off if Andrew pulled on it.

A rancid smell reached Andrew's nostrils, he covered his mouth and coughed, the bodies couldn't be rotting all ready, they looked like they had hardly died an hour ago.

Then Andrew became aware of something moving behind him, before he could turn fully around, something huge had bounded out of the forest and pinned him to the ground. Andrew yelled in shock, he felt hot breath on his face that smelt of rotting meat.

The creature snapped its jaws, trying to get at Andrew's throat, he pushed the beasts head back with one hand and fumbled around with the other. His fingers found a stone, he seized it and smashed it against the animals head.

It yelped and recoiled, Andrew took his chance and kicked the monster away, he scurried backward and got a look at what the creature was. It looked like a wolf, but it was made completely out of wood, it's paws were wooden and were shaped into sharp claws like a wolf. It glowed a ghostly green, and it's eyes stared straight into Andrews, unblinking.

The wolf snarled, saliva dripping from it's pointed teeth. It bounded back at Andrew, he threw his stone at it, it hit the beast in the head again, this however only seemed to make it more angry, it howled and jumped.

Andrew grabbed a spear lying beside him and thrust it upwards, the wolf flew straight into the pointed piece of steel.

It howled again in pain, then it went limp, the wood stopped glowing and fell apart, pieces of bark falling with small thumping noises.

Andrew jumped up and began stamping on the wood, breaking as much of it as he could.

He stopped his stamping and slumped back onto the ground, taking deep breaths.

"Damn", he said, he looked over the cliff at the horizon, he saw smoke rising from a part of the forest. Something was over there, there could be people over there that could help him get home. He stood up, then remembered he was still holding the spear.

"Better hold onto this"he thought, he looked down the side of the cliff, it was far to steep, and to big a drop, he'd break his legs if he tried to jump down it. He found a way down in the form of a dirt path that curved down into the bottom of the forest. He slid down the path and looked up.

The smoke was was coming from quite far north in the forest, it was his best chance, someone there was bound to have answers, he clutched his spear, and set off into the forest.

Chapter 2

The dark forest seemed to stretch on endlessly as Andrew trekked on, he had been walking for a solid five minutes and still there was no sign of the source of the smoke. Andrew stopped for a moment to take in the surrounding area, the trees stretched high above him, the leaves covered so much of the sky hardly any light was shining down, it was impossible to tell if it was night time or not.

Andrew kept an ear open to listen out for a stream or something that could lead him to a town, but the sound of silence pressed hard on his ears. "just keep going" he told himself, he griped the spear he was still carrying and headed forward.

He walk aimlessly for another two minutes and still found nothing, he was loosing hope, maybe he'd been dumped in some barren parallel dimension, if he didn't find something soon he'd either be eaten by another wolf or he'd starve.

A branch popped up infront of him, obstructing his path. He grabbed it and snapped it off, from behind the branch he saw a large clearing, a bush in the left corner yielded a large cluster of ripe black berries.

Andrews' stomach growled, he hadn't eaten anything for hours, he looked around the clearing,

No monsters.

He kicked his way through the bush in front of him and carefully approached the bush, he pulled a berry off it and ate it. The fruit was perfectly ripe, he began picking berries and stuffing as many of them as he could into his pockets.

His pockets bulging, he turned away and looked around for another opening he could pass through. Suddenly he heard noises coming from close by, he scurried back behind a large boulder at side of the clearing, he poked his head out to see what the creature was.

Out of the trees emerged another armor clad horse, it had a spear over its back and large eyes looked strangely bloodshot as though it hadn't slept in a while. It was followed by another, smaller horse, this wore no armour but it had two bags on its back, it was yellow in color, had a large light pink mane and had a strange pattern of butterfly's on its flank.

...wait.

Andrew drew back slightly, his mouth hanging open, he knew that horse, but that was impossible, how, of all the places to get stranded in, how could he have gotten stuck in Equestria?

The two horses, or ponies now he supposed, were poking around the black berry bush he had raided, the armored pony shook its head and took off its helmet, its short blue mane was tangled and unkempt, "picked clean" he said shaking his head,"there's some on this side" the yellow pegasus said, she gestured to a small group near the bottom of the bush.

"It's hardly a meal, but I guess it'll do", the pegasus picked the remaining berries and dropped them into her bag, when it opened Andrew caught a glimpse of some apples and an orange stashed away as well. "Come on" the armored pony said,"lets.."

He stopped and turned his head to a corner of the clearing, slowly he drew out his spear and held it ready. Andrew could hear something bounding through the forest, out from behind a large thorn bush another glowing wolf leaped out. It targeted the armored pony and leaped at him, tackling him to the ground, its teeth inches from his face.

The pegasus pony screamed and took off in the opposite direction but two more wolves emerged and obstructed her path, Andrew, thinking quickly picked up a jagged stone from under the boulder and hurled it at the wolf bearing down on the pony Andrew guessed was a solider.

It hit the wolf, disorientating it and allowing the solider to kick it off and kill it, Andrew leaped up and struck out at the another wolf with his spear catching it through the side, the solider joined him and managed to destroy the second wolf.

The solider was panting, he wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead,"thanks" he said, still panting, "don't mention it" Andrew replied looking down at the splintered bits of wood.

The guard looked up at Andrew,"your not..gonna pick us off now?" He asked,"I kinda just want to get out of here". "You should be" the guard replied,"I don't think I've seen timber wolves this active ever, listen, you can come with us back to our camp it's safer down there", "is it far?" Andrew asked,"just down that path" the guard replied,"but we need to move".

The pegasus, who had been nervously looking down at the ground, suddenly screamed again, the two looked round, the wood of the destroyed wolves was putting itself back together at great speed, a second later the wolves were resurrected, on let at the guard again pinning him to the floor, Andrew raised his spear but second wolf closed its jaws around Andrews ankle, he yelled in pain and threw a blind punch at the beast, his fist connected with its skull and it fell back.

Painfully, Andrew grabbed the spear and staggered off to the path the solider had gestured to, at the mouth of the path he looked back at the solider.

There was nothing he could do, more timber wolves were emerging from the forest,they were starting to tear chunks of flesh away from him. Andrew turned and staggered off until the sound of muffled screaming had died behind him. He stopped to catch his breath and slumped against a nearby tree, he clenched his teeth and examined his bleeding leg, the bite was deep and stung violently.

Andrew rested against the smooth trunk of the tree, pushing some of his stringy brown hair out of his eyes, his ears suddenly pricked up, he could hear what sounded like quiet sobs.

He looked round, the noise was coming from behind a small clump of bushes, silently he approached the bushes. He gently pulled the branches apart, it was the yellow pegasus, she must have flown off while Andrew wasn't looking. She was covering her face with her hooves and crying quietly.

"Hey" Andrew said as quietly and as kindly as he could, "it's ok, their gone now", she raised her head to look at him, her eyes were puffy and red,"is Golden Edge with you?" she asked, that must have been the soldier's name,"um..well no, he..um..didn't make it" he said sadly looking down.

The pony looked down to,"did you try to help?" she asked,"yeah, but one got me" he showed her the bite on his leg,"I took off and when I looked back.." he left the sentence hanging,he didn't think he had the stomach to describe what he had seen, the pegasus however seemed to guess what had happened.

"Look he said something about a camp, is it far"

"Oh, no it's close by, I'll take you there, and then somepony could fix your leg"

"That'd be preferable" Andrew stood up, wincing at the pain from his leg,"I'm Andrew by the way" Andrew said. The pony stood up and brushed a few tears out of her eyes,"I'm Fluttershy" she said,"just follow me and we'll get there in no time"

Andrew kept close to Fluttershy as they walked down a long beaten dirt path, Andrew was limping slightly, trying to keep his foot off the ground, as they walked a multitude of thoughts rushed through his head all at the same time.

"Who sent me that paper?" he thought,"why did it bring me here? Why Equestria, and besides this place isn't real". But there was no way he could be dreaming, everything was far to vivid and the searing pain in his leg was very real, it was all becoming confusing again. "This camp should give me answers" he thought stumbling slightly as the path went down sharply.

"There it is" Fluttershy stopped, they had come to the end of the path, just ahead of them was a square of land, in the middle of which were five rows of tents, most of them looked ordinary, they were square and circular and looked big enough to house three. Two tents however stuck out from the rest like a sore thumb, one had two stories and looked as though it was made of purple silk, the others was a large rectangular tent that was made of strange kind of fabric that looked like it came from a far eastern country.

In the middle of the camp was a watch tower, on top of witch was another solider, he was holding a pair of binoculars and was stationed in front of a horn, he spotted the two of them and whistled to another guard at the base of the tower, he nodded and headed over to them.

"Good to see you returned safely" he said,"did you get anything?" Fluttershy handed him the bag of fruit,"it's not much but it's all we could find" she said apologetically, the solider opened the bag and sighed,"I don't think everypony is gonna eat today" he said sadly, "anything else?" "Well I did find this" she gestured to Andrew to was painfully hobbling along behind her.

The guard looked at Andrew open mouthed as if Andrew was some kind of giant monument he had never seen before,"what is this creature?" He asked Fluttershy, "his name is Andrew, he got hurt by a timber wolf, he needs help". The guard looked back at Andrew, then he looked down at the spear Andrew was still holding,"where did you get that spear?" He asked,"I found it" Andrew said,"on a body" he added awkwardly.

The solider gave him one last look then turned back to Fluttershy,"your friends are waiting in there" he gestured to the two story tent, she nodded and flew off, "you" he said sharply, Andrew approached him, "there's a medical tent over there", he pointed a large plain white tent, "a nurse will be with you soon".

Andrew nodded and started to limp off,"wait" the guard said, Andrew turned,"there was a solider with her" he said,"his name was golden edge, where is he?"

Andrews' eyes shifted from side to side, he opened his mouth but then he looked solemnly at the ground, "he didn't make it did he?" Andrew shook his head,"wolves tore him apart" Andrew said still staring blankly at the ground".

The guard put a hoof to his forehead, and removed his helmet, his mane was also tangled, and at one side of his head Andrew could see several stitches covering a fresh wound, "was he a friend?" Andrew asked, the guard looked at him sadly,"every solider here is a friend of mine" he said, he put his helmet back on, "go on" he said gesturing once again to the tent and Andrew obeyed.

The medical tent consisted of eight beds, four on both sides, two were covered by screens, from behind one Andrew cold hear loud shaky breathing, not really wanting to know what horrible state those ponies were in, Andrew sat down on the nearest bed to the entrance.

His leg stung again when he sat down, he gritted his teeth and sank back into the pillows. About half a minute later a distressed looking unicorn entered the tent, she was pushing along a cart loaded with medical supplies. At the sight of Andrew she stopped dead in her tracks, she stepped away from the cart and began cautiously approaching him, looking at him as though he was a danger animal that was growling at her.

"Now there's a good..well..whatever you are, now, don't be afraid" she was speaking to him as if he was dog,"I can speak perfect English thanks" he said, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. The scarlet unicorn drew back slightly, fear starting to form in her face, her eyes darted all over Andrew, finally coming to rest on his injured leg,"oh" she said letting out a sigh of relief,"right, uh now just hold still, I won't hurt you".

She put her horn next to the wound, a light, silver aura appeared around it, A drew looked at his leg, he could see the skin mending itself back together, a split second later the wound had healed completely. Andrews mouth fell open, he stared at the area of skin and examined it, there were no bruises and no scars, it was as if nothing had happened.

"That's amazing!" Andrew exclaimed, "how is that..",just as he looked up he saw she had gone and moved hurriedly away to tend to the other patients.

Andrew scowled and left, he took a look around when he got outside, the sun was starting to set now, and the first few stars were sparking into life across the sky, he looked to the left and saw the guard he had spoken to at the entrance, he putting pieces of fruit onto plates and handing them out to some of the other ponies, Andrew approached him.

He arrived just in time to see the solider talking to a brown stallion who was accompanied by a filly who was wearing a tiara on her head. "Is this it ?" he asked indignantly, he waved a hoof over the plate which carried three slices of apple, two pieces of an orange and four black berries, "my poor little princess is starving and thisis all you can give me!"

"Look, Mr Rich" the solider said, in a voice of forced calm,"we have barely enough to feed everypony, if some ponies got more than others, some of them might starve". "So what?" The filly asked,"if you ask me some of these ponies could do with loosening a few pounds, I mean have you seen Sweetie Bell?".

"I'm sorry, I truly am" the solider said, though he certainly didn't look it,"but this is all we have left", the filly made a noise that sounded like,"humph!" and then she stalked off, mutter what sounded like threats under her breath,"see what you've done!" The stallion said angrily,"I shall be speaking to the princess about this, make no mistake". "I wouldn't bank on seeing her majesty any time soon" the solider replied, anger building with every word he spoke. They stared at each other for a moment, then the brown stallion turned and stalked off after his daughter.

The solider made a noise of distaste and stamped his hoof angrily, then he spotted Andrew. "Oh, it's you, you get patched up?" Andrew nodded,"you've got a handy nurse" he said,"don't need many supplies when ya got a unicorn like her around" the solider replied, looking over at the tent and smiling,"yeah, Necter's good at healing minor injuries, just wish we had a few more on hand", he looked down at his hooves.

"How long have you all been here for?" Andrew asked, the solider shrugged,"don't know how long this camp has been here for, me and some of my troops just found it, lucky too,we were in bad shape, there are hardly any of us left".

A whistle sounded from the watch tower, Andrew looked up and saw a solider descending a ladder leading up to the small box at the top,"listen" the solider said,"Golden Edge was supposed to be on night duty tonight, but..due to his circumstances" he stopped and awkwardly looked at the ground again, then he shook his head,"anyway, if your gonna stay here ya may as well be useful, here".

He went went back into the tent for a few seconds and came back out with a crossbow and a quiver of arrows,"it's just until dawn" he said,"I assume you know how to use one of these?" Andrew took the crossbow,"sure just, point and shoot". The solider nodded,"if you see anything whistle and we'll come running", "sure" Andrew turned to leave,"oh, by the way" he said turning quickly back,"my names Andrew", "Diamond Edge" Diamond edge replied holding out hoof which Andrew shook.

The room on the watch tower was made of strong oak wood, a table was nestled in one corner and a chair was right beside it, Andrew laid the crossbow down on the table and looked out over the tops of the trees. He looked down at the ground and saw another unicorn casting a spell, a large dome started forming around the camp, within seconds they were covered.

Andrew looked down at the table, in addition to the crossbow there was also a lantern, a bottle of oil, a few coins, a pencil and a notebook lying on it, he picked up the notebook and started flipping through it, it was blank.

He looked both ways awkwardly, then slipped the notebook and pencil into his back pocket, then he remembered the berries, he stuffed his fists into his pockets and dropped them onto the table, they were slightly squashed but were still quite firm.

He picked up a few and looked at them, then he looked down at the tents, remembering what Diamond Edge had said about them not having enough food. He wondered how long some of these ponies had gone without eating, "better save a couple" he thought, but the few he was holding he ate.

He picked up the lantern and found a hook to hang it from, the sun had now gone down fully and a large full moon had appeared casting a silver light across the night sky. He lit the lantern and began looking around.

For two hours he watched the grounds around the camp, once or twice he thought he could see another wolf, but it just turned out to be a rabbit. At three in the morning he was starting to doze off, he sat in the chair and his head lolled against his shoulder, a snapping noise from the bushes brought him back to his senses.

He picked up the crossbow and pointed it at the rustling bushes, a deer struggled out from them, it was bitten from head to hooves, it wobbled and the fell breathing quickly. Not ten seconds later, a Timber wolf emerged silently from the woods and crept up behind it.

It was over in a flash, the wolf sank its teeth into the deer's neck and dragged it back off into the forest,"circle if life I suppose" Andrew though, he put the weapon down and retook his seat, he lay back in the chair, listening to the sound of crickets in the distance and counting each star as a new one sputtered into life.

Chapter 3

It was daybreak, the sun peeked its golden head over the tops of the trees and the campsite. Andrew had sat in the chair on the watch tower for the past six hours, his eyes were red and heavy, he shut his eyes momentarily but he quickly snapped them back open.

He stood up and rubbed his bleary eyes and lent against the hand rail of the tower, looking down at the tents below him. A few ponies had already woken up, some were looking up into the sky, others were pacing up and down outside their tents.

He heard a noise from behind and he turned to see Diamond Edge ascending the ladder,"morning" he said casually,"nothing came poking around then?" Andrew shrugged,"not from what I saw". "Good" Diamond edge nodded, then he spotted the berries on the table,"where'd you get these?" He asked looking at them,"I found a couple in the woods" Andrew explained,"if any of the others down there are hungry you could give them some".

Diamond Edge looked up at him smiling,"every little bit helps", Andrew nodded and suddenly let out a large yawn,"look, if you want to lie down my tent's free". Andrew closed one eye and rubbed it,"sure, thanks","I'll take over from here" Diamond Edge said, picking up the crossbow,"my tent is the one closest to the tower".

Andrew thanked him, descended the ladder and went into the tent, it was quite small, and only looked big enough to house one pony, the was a neatly made sleeping bag on the floor, Andrew sat down on it, hearing some of his bones crack in the process. He lay down on the bag and instantly fell asleep.

CRASH

Andrew sat bolt upright, from outside the tent he could hear loud crackling and screaming. He scrambled to his feet and ran outside, the watchtower had been set ablaze and lay splintered and burning on the ground, ponies were running all over the campsite and soldiers were fire arrows and magical projectiles at something in front of them. Andrew turned and saw a monstrous cloud of crimson smoke advancing towards them, balls of fire were being launched out of it landing on tents and some ponies.

One caught a solider in the chest, he went up in flames and began rolling on the ground in agony. Just as Andrew turned he saw a fireball headed straight for him, he yelled and threw his arms in front of his face.

Andrew jerked awake, his arms were covering his face and he was hunched over, he couldn't hear the screaming anymore. He sighed in relief and lowered his arms, standing at the mouth of the tent were two ponies, a unicorn and a pegasus.

The unicorn had a snow white coat and a pair of stunning blue eyes, she was looking at Andrew with a look of great concern on her face, the pegasus had a cyan colored coat, a mane made up of all the colors of the rainbow and she was floating a little off the ground, unlike the unicorn however she didn't look the least bit concerned, on the contrary she was looking at Andrew with slightly narrow eyes.

"Goodness gracious dear, are alright?",the unicorn asked him, she spoke in a very overly dramatic tone. Andrew sat up rubbing his eyes,"yeah, yeah I'm fine it's just..you know, bad dream". The unicorn bent down and put a hoof under his chin, she turned his head from side to side, examining him,"your a bit pale dear, hold on here" and she dashed out of the tent.

Staring after her, a confused look on his face Andrew turned to the pegasus, he smiled politely at her. She said nothing, instead she narrowed her eyes a little more, "something wrong?" Andrew asked her,"you bet there's something wrong" she retorted. She landed and took two steps towards him,"don't think I don't know what you're up to".

Andrew lent back slightly,"what do you mean?",she rolled her eyes in an impatient sort of way,"oh come on, a war in Equestria, monsters start popping up all over the place, and how do I know you're not a spy for Dusk?".

Andrew raised his hands as if to say,"calm the hell down", "look" he said,"I don't even know who Dusk is, and I'm not a spy, I was on watch duty last night ask Diamond Edge, he'll tell you".

She glared at him, Andrew glared back. Then she turned and stomped out of the tent, a moment later the white unicorn re-entered,"is Rainbow alright?" She asked. Andrew shrugged,"she reckons I'm dangerous" he said, she sighed,"yes, she told us last night, she was saying awful things, she was talking about dropping a rock on you're head while you slept!"

"What's her problem?" Andrew asked,"oh, don't go getting to mad at Rainbow, she's on edge at the moment, everypony is", her ears drooped sadly. "I think she's angry with herself, you see, when we were getting out of our town she was playing with a filly and, uhm, they got split up, Rainbow thinks she might be dead".

She looked sadly at the floor,"my sister was good friends with that filly, she's terribly eaten up about the whole thing","I'm sorry to hear that" Andrew said consolingly,"thank you, anyway" she said,"I've just made a pot of tea, it's in my tent if you would care to join me, it's the large purple one ant the very edge of the camp". Andrew starred at her,"I, well uh, thanks, sure I will".

She smiled and turned to leave, at the door of the tent she turned back,"oh, silly me I almost forgot, I am Rarity" Rarity said holding out a hoof,"I'm Andrew" Andrew replied, shaking it."Andrew" she said more to herself than to him,"a wonderfully strange name", she smiled at him once more, then left.

Andrew ducked out of the tent and stretched, blinking in the bright sunlight he looked up at the watchtower, Diamond Edge was inside the room at the top, pacing up and down.

"All clear up there" Andrew called up to him, Diamond Edge looked down,"yeah, it's pretty quiet"."Do you have the time?" Andrew asked, Diamond Edge picked up a pocket watch from the table and glanced at it,"it's half past three". Andrew waved an open hand to show his thanks then set off for Rarity's tent.

Rarity's tent was anything but a tent, it was like Andrew had stepped into a small mobile house, there was a fine carpet on the floor, a circular table with six chairs placed around it. There was a staircase that lead to an upper floor, there was stove placed against a wall and oak bookshelf was placed just beside the entrance, upon inspection Andrew saw that every book was about fashion, clothes designing and modelling.

"Ah, there you are" Andrew looked up and saw Rarity trotting down the stairs,"you know you could have announced yourself","we'll it's kind of difficult to knock when your house doesn't have a door" Rarity smiled at him, filled up a kettle with water and placed it over a fire on the stove.

"Please have a seat" she insisted gesturing to the round table, Andrew sat down,"I hope you don't mind" Rarity continued,"but I have another friend coming","no problem" Andrew said waving his hand.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, Andrew drummed his fingers on the table while Rarity bustled around humming to herself.

Five minutes later another unicorn came trotting into the tent, it was a mare, she had a lavender coat and had a bag that she wore like a saddle. "Sorry I'm late Rarity" she apologized,"no need to apologize dear, go on and sit down" Rarity replied.

The unicorn smiled and took the seat nearest to the entrance, then her eyes fell upon Andrew, at once she leaned forward ever so slightly toward him, her eyes widened and she put a hoof up to her mouth, her gaze was now one of fascination and curiosity. Andrew quickly shifted his gaze away from her and stared determinedly into his empty cup.

Rarity came back to the table and laid down a pot of tea in the center of it, then she sat down in the seat between Andrew and the unicorn,"right then, Twilight I see you've met our new guest". Andrew looked up from the cup,"yes, indeed I have" Twilight said, nodding. She held out a hoof and formally introduced herself,"good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle and suppose you must be Andrew?" "Yeah" Andrew replied, shaking her hoof and giving her an awkward smile,"who told you my name?". "Diamond Edge told me" she said,"he asked if I could do some research on you".

"Research?" Andrew asked,"not a lot of ponies have seen humans before" Twilight explained,"it's been hundred's of years since the last human appeared in Equestria". "So Twilight" Rarity said conversationally,"what did you want to talk to me about?" Twilight poured herself some tea and sighed,"I've gone over this with the other girl's, we need to start thinking about moving out of here".

"Moving?" Rarity asked, astounded,"Twilight it's far more safer here that it is out..","I know" Twilight said, cutting Rarity's sentence short,"but look at the state we're all in, we have barely any food left and some of us have gone day's without eating. If it wasn't for Andrew, Fluttershy might have gotten eaten, and Applejack got mauled a few day's ago, she's lucky to still be here. We have to leave".

"How long have you been here for?" Andrew asked,"I think it's been about three month's now" Twilight replied,"and we still haven't gotten word from Princess Celestia". "Twilight, where would we go?" Rarity asked,"Ponyville is over run and Canterlot is hardly the safest place, we're stuck", Andrew stayed silent, he drummed his fingers on the table for a few seconds, then he got an idea,"don't you have a train here".

The two girls looked at him,"we could just find a train, hop on it, ride to a city and just hold down the fort there". Rarity nodded,"that seems the most practical thing to do Twilight" she said. "Even if it is, I need to know that everypony at Canterlot is ok, not all of us have to go, I just need to know that Celestia and Shining Armour are ok".

Rarity looked at Andrew who shrugged,"alright Twilight" she said,"some of us will go up to Canterlot tomorrow, if it's safe, we can bring the group up there", "best idea I've heard in a while" Andrew said, taking a sip of tea,"we'll go tomorrow at noon' she said,"and we'll decide who'll go tonight".

Rarity and Andrew both nodded their approval, just then Diamond Edge entered the tent, he looked at Andrew,"getting to know the mares I see" he said smiling slyly, Andrew chuckled,"what do you want?" Twilight asked. "I came to ask you all a favor" he replied, "we need to some ponies to go out and find food again. A lot of my soldier's are either injured or on duty and I know you know the forest Twilight."

Twilight looked reluctantly at him,"alright" she said,"but only if somepony will come with me". "Of course" Diamond Edge replied,"you'll have me there with you", "and me" Andrew said, rising from his chair.

Diamond Edge looked at him surprised,"are you sure? I mean, the place is crawling with Timber wolves and all sorts of crazy things". "Look I know how to fight" Andrew insisted,"just trust me, I'll be fine". Diamond Edge awkwardly bit his lip,"ok, if your sure". He shifted his helmet slightly,"I'll wait for you two by the south entrance".

He gave them all a short bow then left, Twilight raised her teacup and drained it,"I'll meet you down there" she said, she got up and left. Andrew finished his tea to and stood up," Andrew" Rarity said, Andrew looked at her. "Make sure Twilight comes back alright" she said,"you don't need to worry" Andrew reassured her smiling,"and you be careful to" she said smiling at him.

Andrew returned the smile and headed off after Twilight.

Chapter 4

The camp had two entrances, a north entrance and a south entrance. As Andrew exited Rarity's tent he looked to the north entrance, he could see a group of five or so ponies standing around and talking to each other. He turned left and walked to the south entrance where Diamond Edge was waiting for him.

"Andrew" he said, raising a hoof to his head and making the gesture of tipping a hat,"Twilight drop by yet?" Andrew asked. "She's just grabbing a few other ponies, she'll be here in a minute". They stood in stood in silence for a few minutes looking around at the tents for a sign of Twilight, "there she is" Andrew said pointing.

Twilight came trotting down the dirt path, followed by three other ponies, a gray pegasus, a brown pony with a trio of horse shoes on its flank and, to Andrew's slight annoyance, the rainbow colored pegasus who had accused him in the tent.

"We'll, I got everypony" Twilight said, the gray pegasus and earth pony starred at Andrew with slightly open mouths, the rainbow pony stared coldly at Andrew once again,"what's he doing here?" She asked angrily. "He's here because he volunteered" Diamond Edge said,"and he and Twilight are going in there as a pair","but, no you can't be..." She protested. "Rainbow Dash" Diamond Edge said sternly,"Twilight and Andrew are going as a pair, you are coming with me, if you have a problem you can go back to your tent and sleep for the rest of the day".

Dash mouthed soundlessly for a few seconds , trying to come up with an argument, in the end she thought of nothing and she stayed silent,"good" Diamond Edge turned to the rest of the group,"so then, Twilight and Andrew you two will go together, Ditzy and Caramel it'll be you two together and Rainbow". He placed heavy emphasis on her name and looked at her straight in the eye's,"you'll be with me, any questions?"

No one responded,"great" he said clapping his two front hooves together,"let's go".

The ever free forest, even in broad daylight still somehow managed to be completely shrouded in shadow, the forest was in constant semi-darkness. At points it was so dark they had to squint to see where they were going. They stuck together as a group until they hit a fork in the forest path.

"Caramel" Diamond Edge called over his shoulder,"you and Ditzy can go down here". Diamond Edge handed Caramel a short sword and the two ponies descended the path. "You think that was good idea?" Andrew asked,"we're more likely to find food if spread out" he replied,"I know but, what if they run into anything?". "They're prepared" Diamond Edge said as the group headed up the path,"I've been trying to teach everypony how to handle a weapon, they can handle themselves now".

The path twisted and turned further through the forest, they encountered no monster's but no food either, eventually the path split again. "Andrew, Twi, you two can take the left path" Diamond edge handed Andrew a crossbow and nodded to him. Rainbow Dash, who had been flying above them while they walked, landed next to Diamond Edge and stomped up the right path, she looked round and cast Andrew a dark look then faced forward and carried on with Diamond Edge.

Andrew and Twilight walked in silence for several minutes, searching every nook and cranny along the way but they found nothing. Andrew yawned and rubbed his eyes, out of the corner of them he could make out Twilight staring at him. He turned his head to look back at her but quick as a flash she looked left and started poking around in some bushes looking for fruit.

He looked forward again and saw her turn her head back to him,"you may want to keep your eye's forward" Andrew said, Twilight turned her head, unfortunately she hadn't been paying attention to what was in front of her and she walked into a tree. Andrew smiled slyly to himself as Twilight trotted back next to him rubbing her muzzle.

"Sorry" she apologized,"it's just that..well, you fascinate me", Andrew gave her a confused look,"what's fascinating about me" he asked. "Well, to my knowledge nopony has seen a creature like you in Equestria for hundreds of years". "Another person was here before me?" Andrew asked, astounded,"only one other, it happened during the burning war about nine hundred years ago, you fit the description of the creature that helped fight and I just want to learn a little about you, what do you do?".

Andrew shrugged,"we..humans do a lot of the things you do, we eat we sleep, we have families and jobs","do you have a family?" Twilight asked,"I got a mom and a dad back home" Andrew said, sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked. "Before all this I was in school, I was learning how to be an artist", "you draw?" Twilight asked, "just canvasses of forests and animals" he replied.

The two walked in silence for a few seconds, the Andrew asked,"how about you? What did you do before all this?". "I used to own the library in Ponyville" she said,"I lived there with my assistant, he's a baby dragon, I raised him since he was a hatch-ling".

"I didn't see a dragon, did this Dusk guy get him?" Andrew asked,"no" Twilight said firmly, "he was in Canterlot when we got attacked, I haven't seen him in months". "Sorry" Andrew apologized, Twilight shook her head,"I'm sure he's fine" Twilight assured him,"Canterlot is more well prepared than Ponyville to deal with an attack, I'm sure he's ok", she didn't sound sure though.

They stayed in silence, every now and then checking small clearings for food and finding nothing. Then, after about twenty minutes of walking Andrew saw Twilight's ears prick up. "Do you hear something?" Andrew asked,"yes" cried Twilight excitedly,"listen". Andrew put a hand up to his ear, it was faint but he could hear the sound of something. Something that was running and gargling, something that sounded like,"water" Andrew said looking at Twilight.

They ran down the path towards the sound of the water and near a clump of bushes they found a stream. "Thank Celestia" Twilight said putting a hoof to her forehead, Andrew bent down next to the stream,"right, got any flasks I could fill up?" Twilight opened her saddle bag and drew out three canteens,"cheers" Andrew said taking them from her,"see if there's anything else down stream", Twilight obeyed and trotted off.

Andrew filled and corked all three flasks quickly, then once they were filled he dunked his head in the water and slurped some up, he pulled his head out and shook some out of his hair. "Oh no" Twilight exclaimed, "Twilight" Andrew called, he jumped to his feet and drew the crossbow from over his shoulder.

It became apparent very quickly that Twilight wasn't in danger, she staring at a large overturned cart that hung over the stream, the cart was beaten, broken and had both back wheels missing. Lying in the water next to it was a peach colored mare with a stringy green mane, her face looked like it had been slashed by a knife and she had three broken arrows sticking out of her, one in her back leg and two through her chest. The corps looked like it had been there for days, it smelled heavily of decay. Andrew put a hand to his mouth and resisted the temptation to wretch.

"Think there's something in there?",Twilight asked, Andrew lowered his hand, "it's worth a check". He jumped into the water and put one hand on the door, he looked up at Twilight,"if something comes out blast it". Twilight nodded and her horn glowed.

Andrew turned the handle on the door and pulled it back, a pony fell from the door into the water, Andrew jumped back in surprise and Twilight fired a blast of magic, it missed Andrew and hit the door, vaporizing part of it.

They looked down at the pony, it had a navy coat and had a series of large blotchy marks all over its body, Andrew gave it a light prod with his foot, no response. He peered inside the chariot, it was empty except for a few small boxes clustered at the back. He pulled one out and brought it back to Twilight.

The crate was small and quite light, a label along the side of it read,"Orange family exports", the top of the box was nailed shut, "think you can get this open?" Andrew asked. Twilight put her horn next to the box, the screws instantly flew out from the box and Andrew Pulled the lid off. The crate was filled with an assortment of oranges, clementines and tangerines.

Twilight and Andrew both laughed a little in joy at what they saw,"are there any more?" Twilight asked excitedly,"two or three more I think". With some help from Twilight, Andrew hauled the remaining crates out from the wreck and laid them down, "this is perfect" Andrew said staring at their loot,"all this could last us weeks". "Don't get used to it" Twilight said,"we're leaving the camp tomorrow", Andrew shrugged,"still, it's just good we get to eat something".

He bent down and piled one crate on top of another,"so I'll take these two and you can use you levitation thing to take.."

snap

Andrew stopped and looked into the trees where the noise had come from, the branches were to tightly bunched together to see what it was, "probably a deer" Twilight said dismissively, Andrew nodded and turned to leave.

whoosh something red streaked past Andrews face, missing his nose by a centimeter, a second red streak flew from the forest and hit one of the boxes Twilight was levitating, upon impact it made a loud hissing noise,"under the cart!" Andrew yelled, they dropped the crates and dived into the water and under the cart.

They stayed quiet and looked out from under the the cart, out of the woods emerged a hooded pony, it wore a set of red armor with symbols woven into it, from under it's hood they could see a steely gray muzzle with a small patch of white fur under its bottom jaw. It had a belt tied around the armor to hold it in place, in the belt it carried a series of knives and daggers.

It was poking around the boxes and seeing what was in them, Andrews eyes moved from the hooded pony to the crossbow just lying on the bank of the stream, he scurried out from his hiding place and ran for the crossbow, unfortunately the pony was far quicker than him, another blast of red light came flying from under its hood at Andrew, the blast hit him in the shoulder.

He felt as though someone had thrown acid into his shoulder, he screamed in pain and staggered backwards, clutching his shoulder. The pony drew a knife from its belt and advanced on him, then Twilight came bolting out and fired a magical blast at the pony.

Andrew had never seen something move with such speed, the pony flipped over the attack and landed right in front of Twilight bringing the knife down as he landed. Twilight screamed in pain as the knife went in, Andrew suddenly spotted the crossbow just a few paces infront of him, he stomped through the water, picked it up and fired.

The cloaked pony turned but couldn't react quickly enough, the arrow flew at him and went straight through his throat. He gagged and spluttered, then he fell in the water, blood issuing from is throat and turning the water around him a deep scarlet. "Twilight" Andrew called, "Christ are you alright?". "I'm fine, I'm ok" she assured him even though Andrew could see the knife deeply embedded in her shoulder blade, blood slowly seeping out of the wound.

They heard the sound of galloping down the path and a moment later Diamond Edge appeared, holding his spear ready. "Dear Celestia" he said under his breath staring from the hooded pony in the water to the injuries on Twilight and Andrew, "what in hell happened!"

"Ambush" Andrew said clutching his burning shoulder as he walked up to him, "this guy came out of the woods and attacked us". Diamond Edge examined the body in the lake, "that's one of Dusk's soldier's, they all wear the same armor".

"Diamond, you around here?" Rainbow Dash came bursting out of the wood followed by Ditzy and Caramel, she scanned the scene and her gaze landed on Twilight who was still was still holding on to her bleeding wound. Rainbow whizzed over to Twilight and began looking her over, "you!" Rainbow yelled up at Andrew, " I knew I couldn't trust you". "Are you blind? I shot one of them!" Andrew yelled at her indicating the crossbow and the body in the water.

Caramel suddenly made a loud shushing noise,"please, don't be so loud or more'll be down here". Diamond edge nodded, "and Rainbow will you lay off him for a minute" Diamond Edge said in a loud whisper. Rainbow scowled and stayed quiet, "alright, we'll grab everything here and get you two cleaned up". They all grabbed one of the orange crates and ascended the path.

******

"My goodness, look at the state of the two of you!" Nectar was shuffling through bottles of medicine when the group entered her tent, she started fussing over Twilight and Andrew, "sit down, I'll patch you both up in a second". They sat down on two small steel chairs, Nectar turned to Diamond Edge, "I don't know how you manage it" she said putting a hoof to her head, "every time you come back I have to deal with something". "We take risks" Diamond replied, "you wouldn't believe half of what we see out in the woods", Nectar shrugged, "I suppose, I'd just like it if you stopped your ponies from getting hurt".

"I'll be more careful in the future" Diamond said giving her a small smile, he tapped a hoof against his helmet then exited the tent followed by Caramel and Ditzy. Nectar made a noise of annoyance then bent down next to Twilight. "All right dear" she said placing a hoof around the knife, "I want you to take a deep breath for me, this'll probably sting a bit". Twilight took a calm breath, then let out a gasp of pain as Nectar yanked the knife out of her. Then she put her horn next to the wound and it mended itself instantly, "there you are, good as new", Twilight stood up, thanked Nectar then left.

Nectar then looked at Andrew, "oh so it's you again is it?" Nectar asked, "fraid so" Andrew said, "well, what have you done this time?" She lent her head in and examined the wound. "Oh my" she said worriedly, "what's wrong, can't you just use your magic", "not for this I'm afraid" she said hurrying off to the medicine bottles on a table, "that wound will need a lot more than magic to be healed".

She grabbed a bottle full of cobalt blue liquid, poured some into a cloth and pressed it over the wound, a faint sizzling noise sounded from where the liquid made contact with the wound. She pulled out a roll of bandages and tied some of them around the burn, "leave that there and it should be healed in the morning, if not that probably means the wound is infected". "What happens if it is" Andrew asked, "not much we can do I'm afraid, but that's a worse case scenario, you'll be fine".

"Cheers" Andrew said standing up, "no problem, just, do something for me would you", "what?" Andrew asked. "If Diamond Edge asks you to go out again, try to be more careful, every time he brings a troop back I end up going through supplies, just try not to get hurt out there", Andrew nodded,and left the tent.

The sun was hovering directly over the camp, brilliantly golden light shining down over every inch of it. The light was so bright that Andrew squinted as he came outside. Looking around he could see Diamond Edge and Caramel wrenching the lids off the orange crates and placing them in the food tent,

Andrew walked to the guard tower, sat down and leaned against one of its legs, he took a look around the camp, some of the ponies were out talking to each other and he could see Ditzy throwing a ball to a small foal who Andrew assumed to be her daughter.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and found something lumpy in his left one, he pulled it out and found the notebook he had taken from the tower, he opened it to the first page. He stared at it blankly for a few seconds, then back up at the camp. Then he drew out the pencil from the same pocket and began to draw.

Chapter 5

The sun had begun its decent, turning the sky a light shade of orange. There was a lull in the atmosphere around the camp, now that the sun was descending, the camp had suddenly become peaceful and quiet, the only sounds that could be heard were Andrews pencil, scratching against the paper, Diamond Edge's hoofsteps on the watchtower above him and Ditzy conversing with a few ponies who had lined up for an evening meal.

Andrew drew his pencil away from the notebook and examined his handy work. It was nothing special, it was just a sketch of the camp, just looking at the drawing made him miss his portraits and paint.

He stood up stretched, hearing his cartilage crack as he did so. He heard his stomach rumble and looked at the food tent, he joined the end of the small, fast moving line. Ditzy was behind a wooden desk in front of the tent, it was was covered with empty wooden plates. "Hi there mister" Ditzy said as he approached, "what can I get you?" "What, we've options?" Andrew asked, "sure, we have all those oranges, but the other ponies brought stuff back to".

Andrew looked over her shoulder to try and look into the tent, "apples and grapes" he, shrugging. Ditzy picked up a tray and went inside the tent, in a moment she was back, the once empty tray now laden with two bright apples, three clementines and what looked like half a vine of grapes. "Here you go",Ditzy said handing him the tray, as Andrew took it from her he saw her give the fruit a distasteful look. "Not to fond of fruit?" Andrew asked, "no, it's great we can eat and that you got all this stuff, but, I just miss the food we could get back home". She sighed, "I miss my muffins".

Andrew took the tray, thanked Ditzy and set off back for the tower. His initial plan was to eat and as soon as he finished he would do another watch, but just as he reached the foot of the tower he heard someone calling his name. "Andrew, Andrew?" Rarity was trotting down to the tower from her tent.

"Hey, there a problem?" Andrew asked, "no dear, not at all, I was wondering whether you'd care to have dinner with the girls and I?". Andrew gave her a surprised look, "yeah, why not", "wonderful" Rarity said smiling.

The two made their way across the camp and back to Rarity's tent, grouped around the table were Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, they all looked up as they entered. "Good evening Andrew" Twilight said, "hello" Fluttershy said weakly, smiling at him, Rainbow looked up at him and gave him a nod, then she looked back down at her hardly touched plate of fruit, a small sad look on her face.

"Sit here darling" Rarity said, gesturing to a chair beside Twilight and opposite Rainbow, "Pinkie Pie was meant to be here, but she insisted on staying in the med tent". "Is she hurt?" Andrew asked, peeling a clementine, "no" Twilight replied,"our friend Applejack got attacked by some timber wolves, she's hurt pretty badly, she hasn't gotten up in a few days". "We visit every day, but Pinkie stays there twenty four seven", Fluttershy added, "she says when she gets up, she'll throw a party for the whole camp".

"She needs to heal soon" Twilight said, "I need to ask you all something", they all looked at her. Twilight looked at each of them hesitantly and she looked like she was choosing her words very carefully.

"About moving the group" she began, slowly, "not this again" Rainbow said exasperatedly. "Rainbow we need to think about it" Twilight insisted, "I was attacked and Andrew got shot, if more of Dusks soldiers are out in the woods what are we going to do if they outnumber us?" "She's got a point" Andrew said, "what's to stop some of them creeping in here and butchering us all while we sleep?"

"Twilight puts up a shield around the camp" Fluttershy said, "but a shield can be broken" Rarity added, "the changelings broke one at Canterlot". 'So even if we do move where are we gonna go?" Rainbow asked, "Ponyville's over run, Manehatten got hit with an army, and we'd need a train to get anywhere else!" "I was thinking Canterlot" Twilight suggested.

"On hoof?" Rarity asked, "all of us walk to Canterlot? Twilight it's miles away, most of us are starving, the injured cant travel and we don't even know if it's safe".

Rainbow Dash scowled, "we wouldn't even be here if you had just let me stay in Ponyville"she said to Twilight darkly. "You were outnumbered Rainbow, they would have killed you" Twilight insisted, "killed me!" Rainbow yelled, "I could have taken all of them, if you didn't pull me back we'd still be in Ponyville and Scoots would still be..."

She stopped mid sentence, then she put her hooves on the table and looked back down at her food, "Scoots would still be here" she finished quietly. Fluttershy put a hoof on her friends shoulder, "Rainbow, nopony could have done anything to help her, it's not..." "Get off!" Rainbow snapped, pulling her hoof away causing Fluttershy to draw back in fear.

"She was right there" Rainbow went on, "just a few feet away, I could have just dashed ahead and grabbed her, but..." Rainbow stopped again and once again dropped her gaze back to her tray.

"Oh get a grip" Andrew said, annoyed. Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight looked at him in shock but he ignored them and continued to stare down Rainbow Dash who was looking at him, stunned.

"I get it you two were close, but for God sake stop kicking yourself about not doing anything. What's done is done and you can't change it, shit happens we move on, that's life". "Swear" Fluttershy squeaked, "sorry' Andrew said in a calmer tone.

The table had gone very quiet, Rainbow still looked shocked but then she shut her eyes and shook her head. "Your right" she said finally, "I shouldn't be..thanks" she said awkwardly, Andrew nodded to her.

There was another long silence, then Fluttershy attempted to break it. "I think Twilight's right about leaving, it might not be safe for us here anymore". Rarity sighed, "you should do what you think best Twilight, talk to somepony in the morning". Twilight looked at Andrew, "what about you?" She asked, Andrew shrugged, "I don't care where we go so long as it's safe".

Twilight looked round at them all one more time, "I'll talk to Diamond Edge tomorrow, he's my best chance".

They sat mostly in silence for the rest of the evening, Twilight and the others breaking it occasionally to talk about how a few ponies in the camp were getting on.

At around eleven o' clock the girls started to file out of the tent. After Rainbow left it was just Andrew and Rarity left. "You don't have a tent do you?" Rarity asked him, "no, Diamond gave me a loan of his earlier". Rarity looked him up and down, "you look far to exhausted to do another watch, you can sleep here tonight".

"You wouldn't mind?" Andrew asked, "Darling, I'm not the element of generosity for nothing you know" she said smiling. " The what?" Andrew asked, "long story, tell you later, anyway you can sleep on the futon, I'll find you a spare blanket".

Rarity trotted up a set of stairs to the upper floor, a minute later with a white woolen blanket. "here you are" she said, levitating it over to him. "Thanks Rar".

"Not at all, just, one question"

"What?"

"You don't snore do you?"

Andrew gave her a look that suggested that he had heard that question a thousand times over, "let me give you the same answer I give everyone else. I'm asleep, so if you wake up and you hear me snoring, then yeah I snore". Rarity looked slightly abashed at having asked him. "Sorry, well goodnight"

**********

Andrew opened one bleary eye and looked around Rarity's tent, he couldn't her much conversation outside a d assumed it must still be early. He got up and poked his head out the mouth of the tent.

Barley twenty ponies were awake, the sky was covered in a thick layer of grey clouds and a light mist hung in the air around the camp and forest.

Andrew stepped outside and heard is stomach growl, he craned his neck to see the food tent. The line was short, and Ditzy was still at it.

While walking down he passed Diamond Edge's tent, as he did so he stopped and turned back, stopping outside the front to listen.

"The pegasus could carry the wounded" he heard Twilight's voice say, "and the unicorns could carry the supplies, we could be at Canterlot by the end of the day if we.." "Twi" Diamond's voice cut across her's, "I get it, your concerned about your brother and Celestia I get it".

Andrew hear a hoof slam onto a table,"no you don't!" Twilight said in anger, "this is more important than that, the camp isn't safe".

"Twilight, we held out for months and everypony's been OK".

"Applejack almost got eaten"

"Key word being almost"

smack

"Ouch! Lady what the fu.."

"You still don't get it" Twilight sounded almost desperate now, "Andrew got shot, I was attacked, that was one of Dusk's soldiers out there. What if they have a camp to, what's to stop them coming here and slaughtering us. We need. To. Go!"

Then there was a long silence, then Andrew heard Diamond sigh, "leave it with me" he said, "I could talk this over with the other ponies and we'll decide then". "Thank you" Twilight replied. Andrew had barely a second to react, he scurried to the food tent just as Twilight exited.

Andrew returned to the watch tower with his breakfast, which consisted of a sliced apple and two pieces of bread. He lent against the leg of the tower eating and spotted Diamond Edge coming towards him. "Morning" he said casually stopping beside him, "morning" Andrew replied.

"Cold out today" Diamond said looking around, "OK Diamond" Andrew said sighing, "don't draw out the conversation, what do you want?" Diamond gave him a shifty look, "I was speaking to Twilight a few minutes ago" he said, "yeah, I heard".

"So you were eavesdropping?"

"No, well I was, but Twilight told me last night"

Diamond looked at him, "so what do you think?" Andrew didn't answer at first, he looked around the camp carefully, then he answered. "I think you should consider it" he said, "Twilight's right we could get attacked". Diamond looked at the ground and shook his head, "give me till tonight, we can decide on..".

He stopped suddenly, he looked ahead into the trees, "what is it?" Andrew asked. He didn't answer but continued to stare ahead.

thwack

An arrow came flying out of the fog and hit the leg of the tower, centimeters from Andrews head. "Shit!" Diamond yelled, "find cover" he ordered, grabbing a sword from inside his tent as more arrows came flying at them.

Andrew pelted across the yard and slid behind a wooden crate, they were cornered from all sides. Soldiers in red armor came tearing out of the fog like bats out of hell, brandishing axes, swords and daggers.

Ponies were screaming and crying. Andrew watched as one soldier grabbed a mare and began hacking at her with his axe. One began heading his way, a dagger floating along beside him, Andrew lashed out with a kick sending the assailant to the floor. Andrew grabbed the fallen dagger and brought it straight in the pony's skull, killing him.

He looked wildly around, Rainbow Dash was taking on two at once outside Rarity's tent. Andrew ran at one and plunged the dagger into the back of its neck. While the other looked around Rainbow sent him flying with a kick to the mouth.

"Here" Andrew said handing her the dagger, she grabbed it and launched herself at another attacker, Andrew grabbed an axe and bolted up Rarity's stairs. Rarity was fighting off another solider upstairs, she spun round and landed a kick into her attackers face. He staggered back, growled, and smashed her across the head with the back of the sword.

Rarity screamed in pain and fell on the ground, blood spilling over the side of her face. The solider raised his sword just as Andrew reached her, he raised the axe and brought it down in the pony's skull, blood a small skull fragments went flying in all directions. Andrew yanked the axe out and bent down next to the still bleeding Rarity.

"Rarity?" Andrew asked in a panicked voice, she didn't move. "Come on, move!" Andrew shook her vigorously, her head lulled to one side as he did so.

Now in a mad state of panic, Andrew put an ear to her chest, no, she wasn't dead. Andrew got up and looked around the room, he snatched up a long strip of fabric from a small table and tied it around the wound to stem the flow of blood. He'd have to come back later.

Taking a look at the staircase one more time, he pushed Rarity under her bed and pulled the bed sheet in front of where he hid her, blocking her from view. Andrew snatched up his axe and sprinted down stairs.

**********

The battle outside was complete and utter chaos. Ponies were emerging from the woods with arrows that were alight with fire. Diamond Edge and his soldiers were attempting to fight them off, swinging swords and thrusting spears at the attackers. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were in the heat of the fight, firing magical blasts and lashing out with punches and kicks.

Spinning the axe, Andrew rushed forward, swinging his weapon at the enemy. He knocked one to the ground with a hard smash to the back of the head, a nearby soldier swung his sword down at him, Andrew blocked, kicked the pony back and brought the axe into its head.

He looked up and ducked, a fire arrow had come flying at his head, he felt it graze his hair as it passed over him and he thought it might have singed his hair. The arrow continued on and struck the leg of the watch tower.

Within seconds the leg was up in flames, crackling and burning angrily. Through the multitude of screams and yells, Andrew hear Diamond call out, "put the damn thing out!"

Two unicorns galloped to the fire, which had now spread to the room at the top, they fired jets of water out of their horns to extinguish the blaze. But their attempts amounted to nothing, the tower collapsed, the legs gave way under the fire and it came onto the ground with an almighty crash, sending fiery embers, dust and burning pieces of wood flying through the air from around it.

Coughing, Andrew looked up, the dust still hung heavy in the air, but he was sure he saw the ponies in red retreating into the forest, and when the dust settled, he saw he was right.

The ponies were retreating into the woods, there were hardly twenty of them, most were injured and bleeding, some attempted to limp after their fellows, only to be shot by an arrow or a magical blast.

Andrew sighed, he looked down at the body at his feet, the axe still sticking out of its head. He wrenched it out.

The ponies were surveying the damage dealt. Tents lay in piles on the ground and some were on fire. Many ponies were dead, either from loss of blood or they had been stabbed. Others lay bleeding profusely on the ground, coughing up blood or squirming and gasping in pain.

Twilights eyes were brimming with tears, she gave Diamond Edge a long, imploring look. Diamond looked back at her, then he raised spoke loudly to the group at large.

"Ponies, this forest is no longer safe, if Dusks soldiers are here there could be hundreds more of them in the forest. The smell of blood is gonna bring timber wolves down on us, we need to be out of here before then. All pegasi are to carry the wounded, unicorns are to carry supplies. Pack whatever you've got left and be ready to go in five. We're going to Canterlot".

Chapter 6

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Prologue

"It has been three months since the battle at Applaloosa, it is there where we made our final stand against the armies of the Burning Plains. The beasts have be beaten and thrown back to the hole they crawled out of, though, if anything, we were lucky to have won. Many injuries were sustained, hundreds of solider's were killed, Celestia herself was blasted by magical fire, she is now bandaged with third degree burns, even I, with all my magical power was wounded, my back leg was broken by a hammer. With time it is healing, but it is difficult for me to navigate Canterlot now. The memorial services were held today, the captain of the guard as well as two hundred solider's were honoured today, another homage was payed to the creature that gave his life to defend Equestria, Celestia knew we were outmatched, in the first few days of the attack the enemy burt several towns to the ground. Celestia learned of another dimension that mirrors ours, there she discovered strange two legged creatures called humans. They are a non-magical race and do not posses the ability to fly, but they are quite strong, Celestia found a human who she believed strong enough to help us combat our foes. She transported him to Equestria and managed to convince him to assist in the war, he was gifted with magical powers many of which were taught to him by me, time manipulation, teleportation, to my surprise he mastered the art of magic very quickly. In addition he was gifted with a large stallion as a steed, this horse was a creation of my own, it was fast, strong and loyal to it's master. As a final gift he was given a sword, a light, powerfull blade that reaped many a solider, this human was killed in the Appaloossa battle, he decapitated the leader of the burning horses and was then stabbed through the heart by an arrow. By the time we got to him he was riddled with arrows, his corpse was laid out in a crypt on a small island in the hydragon sea. Life is slowly returning to normal, as I speak, Canterlot castle is being repaired and the city is being rebuilt. Something however is still troubling me, I consulted my crystal orb earlier today, within it's depths I found a similar attack on Equestria, this battle will wage in the near future, once again a human creature will be needed to triumph. If this is the case I must find a way to assist my princess when this war is waged once again.

-Starswirl The Bearded