The horseman

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.