Clouds

Chapters

Chapter 1: " Just Another Day In Paradise"
Chapter 2: " Just A Dream"
Chapter 3: First Day
Chapter 4: Ashes
Chapter 5: Something Memorable
Chapter 6: Unidentified
Chapter 7: Memories *Mature*
Chapter 8: Down The Bloody Road to War
Chapter 9: Escape
Chapter 10: "Loss"

Chapter 1: " Just Another Day In Paradise"

It was another peaceful sunny morning in Canterlot. The birds were singing, the sun was shining, and best of all it was quiet. Perfectly quiet for anypony to sleep in, but on this particular morning, that would not be the case. RRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNGG! sounded the loud alarm of Morning Mist's Alarm clock before she silenced it with a very heavy and hard hoof to the snooze button nearly crushing the clock. Morning slowly got up grumbling into her pillow which she still had pressed into her face. With that drowsy feeling everypony has when they wake up early in the morning she walked into the bathroom and observed herself in the mirror she grabbed a brush, and began to clean her unkempt mane and spruced herself up for the day, meanwhile across the hall another little set of eyes were beginning to open.

Starlight's eyes fluttered a little as she began to wake up the blue-grey pegasus filly, with an orange mane, quickly rose up, her eyes widened with realization!

"ITS SATURDAY " she squealed with delight she quickly got up, hurriedly brushing her mane and running off into the kitchen. Sadly to her dismay no breakfast awaited her and her stomach was already rumbling......loudly.

" Only one way to solve that problem" she thought to herself, and she looked up at the top of the shelf sat a box of her favorite oats cereal then it appeared that little expression of determination on her face that said she would get that cereal, that cereal was hers.

Despite the fact that Star still hadn't learned how to fly Star was very determined to at least try. Star flapped her wings as hard, and as fast as she could, she pushed as hard as she could, exerting more, and more force with her wings, she was flapping her wings so hard, and so fast, she felt as though her wings were gonna pop right off, then she looked down, and almost immediately formed an expression of disdain, as she noticed she hardly even got her hooves off the ground, but she couldn't give up, she had to try harder, soon she had climbed from a chair, onto the table, and was ready to try again she took a deep breathe

"this is it" she thought "today I fly" she then gave a little jump a small boost was all her little legs could provide and then she flapped furiously, sadly once again this ended in failure as she came crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

Morning heard the thud from the kitchen, and chuckled to herself as she continued to try to make herself presentable. Now Star was more determined than ever if she couldn't fly up to the box, she'd climb up. Star began to stack pots an bowls and various other objects on top of each other until she finally mad a tower, and finally it was the delicious oat cereal was.....just out of reach and all of the sudden a pot slipped out from one of her hooves and everything filly and all came clattering to the ground.

Morning came bursting from her room to see a still dazed little filly buried under books,pots, and various other miscellaneous items. Morning couldn't help but chuckle at daughters little mishap as she chuckled and helped the filly back on her hooves. Morning quickly turned off the radio, then simply reached for the box and brought it down from the shelf, Star buried her face into her hooves with shame and embarrassment. But all that faded away quickly, as Star heard the sweet sound of oats being dumped into a bowl, and the sound of pouring milk following it. After eagerly waiting, Star finally got her breakfast, and Morning taking a bowl of oats as well sat down next to her.

"So my little Star do you know what today is" Morning said with a smile to the little filly next to her.

" THE DAY I GET MY TELESCOPE!" Star cheered. "Mommy when are we gonna go, I've been waiting forever!". Morning shushed her.

Ever since she was little-er, Starlight had a deep fascination with the night sky, and all of its wonders. Everyday she would sit outside at sunset and watch the moon rise, she loved how the moon glowed, and how the stars twinkled brightly in the darkness of the night.

" We'll go as soon as you've brushed your teeth, do you have the bits you were saving up",

Star pulled out a small bag full of bits, that seemed about ready to explode

" I'm practically rich mommy, look at all that money I saved"

"It sure is a lot" She replied giving her daughter a proud look, she nodded Star off, and the little filly darted off the bathroom to brush her teeth.

While Star was cleaning up, Morning sat down for a few minutes, to her dismay one again another letter from the home owner stating how her rent payment was overdue, Morning looked it over again three hundred bits, even working overtime Morning was hardly making enough to get by, she had a daughter to feed, not to mention herself. There wasn't much she could do; she basically already out of options she needed money, and fast but that could wait till later, she let out a long sigh and folded the letter closed again as she heard the rapid sound of small hooves rushing towards her.

" Can we go NOW mommy pleeease" the filly pleaded with large saucer-like eyes.

" Yes dear lets get going" Star let out another little squeal with cheer, as her mother grabbed her saddlebags and they both headed towards the door.

As her daughter rushed out the door, the smile that had formerly been there escape from Morning, as she looked back at the letter that sat n the coffee table in her living room. She forced the smile to come back though as she heard that little filly nagging her on to hurry up. Morning simply smiled, and shut the door.

Chapter 2: " Just A Dream"

You’ll never amount to anything. Just as worthless as his grandfather. You are a stain on the family name. What can you do nothing that’s what, Pathetic that’s what you are.

NO!!!! Sketch screamed as he shot straight up in his bed, he shook his head realizing it was just another dream and not a good one sketch brushed it off as he slowly got out of bed, he trotted to the bathroom being a simple pony, with a simple lifestyle, he began the usual routine brush teeth, wash face, and get to work. Sketch sighed as he swept back his bronze mane, today just felt like it was going to be one of those days. As Sketch started to make his way to his “office” he looked up on the living room wall, on the wall were several photos of his family mostly his brothers and grandfather. The thing is Sketch comes from a family that ever since the forming of Equestria had been in the royal guard, His Great, great, great, great, great great…..GREAT grandfather, Arius Cirrus was one of lieutenants to the famous Commander Hurricane, ever since him, the Cirrus family had followed a long proud military tradition all married only to pegasi, and only had pegasi children. Until his grandfather, Lucullus Cirrus married a unicorn, even though his grandfather had many foals none of them were unicorns, none of them got that gene but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. The unicorn gene had passed on to Lucullus’ first sons, third born. Sketch. Sketch wasn’t his real name though at birth he was named Caius, but Sketch never liked that name. Now not only was Sketch the first Unicorn to be born with the Cirrus name, but he also didn’t have that urge to serve and protect , and join the guard like the rest of his family had.

Sketch seemed to take to the arts more, and often instead of playing sports, competing or leading some club, Sketch could almost always be found drawing something in the shade under his favorite willow tree on the family estate. Seeing him as a misfit and a stain on the family name most of the family elders disapproved of Sketch and ridiculed him, the only people who truly seemed to care for Sketch was his grandparents , his mother, and his father, But most of all his brothers. Sketch’s brothers always stood up for him, his older brothers,Caesar, and Marcus, always supported young sketch and defended him when the family elders berated, and belittled the young Caius. From the day they were born to the day they signed up for Equestria’ s Royal Army, Caesar and Marcus were always there for Caius. But once they left for training, Caius was alone. Tired of hearing his name being spat on all the time, Caius took on the name Sketch for the sake of cutie mark which he received when he won first place in a big art competition in Canterlot, for which he drew a large picture of the city of Canterlot and the mountain it sat upon all in pencil, with amazing attention to detail and smooth, All were amazed by his artistic talents for such a young colt, except his family (other than his brother parents and grand’s).

Sketch smiled a little as he ran his hoof along the frame of a picture of him and his brother at a party the day before they left for training. Sketch sighed as he continued on through his house walking slowing, sulking a little as he slowly walked down stairs into the basement where he worked, Sketch whe n reached the bottom he used his magic to levitate a pencil to himself and he pulled up a drawing board, a cushion to sit on and all the other necessities for creating art. But today was a little off, it seemed that nothing would come together, he just couldn’t seem to do anything right, He felt as though all the inspiration had been drained from him and he just couldn’t figure out what to draw.

“Oh well, I needed to the store today anyway”. He said to himself as he put down his utensils and trotted upstairs.

Sketch put on his saddle bags and briskly walked out the door. Fortunately it was sunny out sunny days always got Sketch happy as a smile started to form on his face. Soon Sketch was in the Canterlot market he looked at the list he wrote, celery, bread, daffodils, lettuce, milk, apples, erasers, and charcoal pencils. He started making his way around the market stalls.

Morning let out a long sigh as she realized Starlight was gone again, Starlight always got distracted whenever she saw a stand selling some sort of toys or antiquities. Morning looked around and noticed that Starlight wasn’t anywhere to be found, this got Morning worried, she quickly jumped in the air and began to hover over the crowd looking for her daughter. She soon found her once again staring at a large geode full of shiny gems, and the stand owner explained to star how the gems were made inside the rock. With a little coaxing Morning finally got Starlight to move on , after another 3 distractions and some trouble getting through the crowd, They finally made it to the place they needed to go a small house with a sign that said in bold letters “ Mix and Match’s Hobby store. For all your interests needs” . Morning exhaled in relief hoping that things would slow down a little, but sadly Star who was unable to contain herself bolted for the door trying to get inside as quick as possible. Morning could roll her eyes as she watched the little filly scramble through the door. Morning chuckled and followed her inside. Sketch had now bought all his groceries , not without some struggle as one of the lettuce stand owners tried to rip him off. Sketch thinking that 20 bits for a head of lettuce was absolutely insane, argued with the shop owner until they finally agreed on 15, which in sketch’s mind was still overpriced a more fitting price would’ve been 10 or 8 bits. Now Sketch had to get the needed art supplies from the hobby store down the street, he had just walked in the store when he saw her, Sketch couldn’t help but shrink a little as the mare of his dreams walked through the store with her daughter. He loved her long flowing Indigo mane, and her golden eyes. He quickly came back to reality when he suddenly heard a high pitched giddy shriek of happiness come form the little filly. He couldn’t help but watch as the little filly ran up to a box that had a picture of a large complex looking telescope on it. Then the blue mare turned to the filly

Sweetie I need to go get some groceries real quick if you want you can stay her and look around I won’t be gone long

The little filly nodded in approval and continued to stare at the telescope with awe. Sketch quickly withdrew behind a shelf as Morning left the store, as she walked out the door, Sketch snuck one last peak to him she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. After getting all the supplies he needed, Sketch made his way to the counter to make his purchase , there he found the little filly counting her bits she needed to purchase the telescope.

“Alright young miss, that’ll be 20 bits”. At that moment the little filly’s expression changed dramatically from excitement to panic as she realized she only had 15 bits. Sketch couldn’t help it, seeing the look on her face, he could just tell she really wanted that telescope, he let out a brief sigh worked up a smile as he approached the counter.

Sketch pulled out the last 5 pieces of coin needed, and placed them on the counter.

“20 Bits good sir” Sketch looked down at the filly who looke at him with a face showing confusion, and gratitude. Sketch levitated the box next to the filly who still couldn’t quite seem to put together what just happened.

“ Would you like me to help you get this outside?”

“ Yes please” the filly replied with a quiet soft voice.

Sketch the lifted the box higher and and proceeded to bring It outside he had almost reached the door and he was rounding a corner when he noticed the box just impacted into something, “Ouch” correction some PONY more like. He moved the box to the side to see who he hit; he nearly went into shock when he saw who he ran into. On the ground sittin on her hind legs sat the blue mare, Sketch immediately put down the box and walked over to her.

“ Oh gosh, I am so sorry, I sincerely apologize for that” Sketch began to apologize, only to be silnced by a hoof. Morning got up a smiled “no harm done” she replied as she regained her posture.

“MOMMY, MOMMY HE HELPED ME BUY THE TELESCOPE” Star shouted as she bounced all over in front of the mare who was now once again puzzled.

“Slow down sweetie what are talking about?”

“Well I was buying the telescope and I found out I was 5 bits short, but then mister…uh..sorry what’s your name again sir” Star looked back at Sketch, whose face was turning red from all the attention.

“I’m sorry I guess I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Sketch”

“As I was saying Mr. Sketch here he was sooo nice and he gave me the last five bits I needed”

Morning looked at Star as she gave a big bright, gleaming smile as she bounced rapidly up and down in place.
Well that certainly was extremely generous of him, what should you say to Mr. Sketch now dearie”
Star, looked back with her beautiful smile” Thank you mister sketch for helping me pay for the telescope”

“It was no trouble at all” He said letting out a smile

“Oh please let me pay you back” Morning said reaching into her into her bags, but Sketch would have none of that he lifted a hoof.

“Ma’am please I cant accept that” Seriousness now grew on his expression

Morning could tell there was no convincing him she slipped the pouch back into her bags.

“Well Sketch its been a pleasure meeting you, but me and little Star here need to be headed home she has a big day tomorrow.”

“TOMORROWS MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL” The little filly said with another small jump

“Yes and that’s why we need to go home and get you ready. goodbye”

“Bye Mister”

Sketch waved as he watched the two walk off, a feeling of pride filling his gut for what he just accomplished. He spoke to the mare of his dreams, and did a good deed. The first part was enough to put a huge grin on Sketches face as he trotted on home.

Chapter 3: First Day

Chapter 3

"First Day"

It was another sunny morning, the birds were singing and thee was a slight breeze in the air that flowed through Mornings’ mane as she sipped from her coffee, she had to ready today the weather team was scheduled to put a thunderstorm over Ponyville, and thunderstorms were hard enough to hand without her team leader shouting at her to get it done faster. She sighed at the thought, Storm clouds are incredibly fragile and it’s hard enough to push them without them bursting and shocking the Pegasus trying to move them.

“Does that Rainbow mare ever take?” She thought to herself as she took another sip, she then looked at the clock its was six o clock time to wake up Starlight for her first day of school. She put down her cup and lifted herself from the chair as she walked over to Stars room she smiled as she saw the small filly curled up in her blankets and her head buried in her pillow which had several stars and constellations stitched into them. She slowly walked over to Star and softly shook her a little breaks

“Star it’s time to get up, it’s your first day of school you don’t want to be late”

The little foal simply responded with a groan and covered herself with her blankets. Now Morning shook a little harder

“Dear don’t tell me you don’t want to go to school” Star poked her head out from under the covers and had a worried look on her face.

“But mom there are gonna be so many other ponies I don’t know what if they don’t like me”

Morning now ran her hoof over Stars mane and gave her a small reassuring smile as she began to explain.

“Starlight Storm, you are a strong and beautiful young mare, you are kind and polite to everyone you meet I don’t know what anypony could not like about you”

“But what if I embarrass myself, what if they laugh at me”

“Then laugh with them, Anypony who can laugh at themselves for something silly is a good pony it’s good to laugh at yourself sometimes don’t worry I think you’ll have a blast once you get there” A smile almost instantly appeared on Stars face as she jumped out from under the covers and stretched.

“Now what do you want for breakfast, I was thinking....oh I don’t perhaps…waffles”

“YES” Star now was to her old self again bouncing around in circles as her mother walked into the kitchen to make some waffles.

After she left Star hopped up on her stool and looked at herself in the mirror, She thought about the day ahead as she slowly brushed her golden mane, she wondered who her teacher would be and who all she would meet, all these ideas floated around in her mind as she finished brushing her mane, she then looked in her bag making sure she had all she needed, pencils, paper, notebooks, erasers, and so on, she smiled as she took in the aroma of fresh waffles that lingered in the air. Star quickly grabbed her bag and walked out of her room into the kitchen where a pair of golden waffle coated in powdered sugar eagerly awaited her.

Once breakfast was eaten and the two had finished preparing for the day, it was finally time, time to go to school. Morning carried Star on her back as Star continuously asked question s about what school was like for her mother, after a little while they finally reached the school. It was a brick building with a large field outside and a playground on the windows were a bunch of pictures drawn by students who also went to the school and out front stood all the parents and their foals as the waited for the school to open. Star slowly hid behind her Mother, nervous around all these unfamiliar ponies. After a few moments The door to the school opened, and an Beige colored mare with an amber mane every fell silent as she cleared her throat an prepared to speak.

"Welcome everypony, I am your teacher Ms. Amber Stone and I just want to say I am very excited to ge to know all of the new little fillies and colts who will be attending this year and I would like to welcome back all of my students from last year. I am very eager to see all of you grow and mature as I teach all you about the world we live in. So how about we get today started, I will give you all a few minutes to say farewell before you leave the children here."

Star looked up at her mother with that said both “Don’t leave me here” and “I can’t wait to get started”. Morning gave Star a kiss on the forehead and gave her a warm embrace.

"I'll be here to pick you up when school's over Okay?"

Star nodded gave one last hug, and then quickly ran to the door. Morning smiled and waved as she watched her little filly take another great step forward in life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starlight looked around her classroom it was a wide room on one side was a large shelf covered with books on a variety of topics. And on th other was the chalkboard and Ms.Amberstones desk, Which reminded her she needed to find a desk. Starlight looked around for an open desk and soon found one she sat herself down . She looked around, behind sat a pair of colts who to be quite honest didn’t look to friendly, they seemed rather unfriendly this just showed on their faces, and then she looked to her left, next to her sat a another filly who had a lime coat and a pink mane. To her left sat a colt with a maroon coat and a dark orange mane, he had a big smile on his face and appeared to feel very sure of himself. She turned her attention to the front when she heard Ms. Amberstones voice call out to them.

Now let’s take attendance I’m going to callout your names and when you do I want you all to raise your hoof and say “here” are we clear, all the students nodded in unison. She took in a breath and started calling out names.

Angel Heart?

Here! A small white filly with a bright golden mane raised her hoof.

Sierra?

Here said a small dark grey colt from the otherside of the classroom

Bubblegum?

Here! Ms. Amber said the green and pink filly sitting next to Star

Firecracker?

Here said the colt to her left as he raised his hoof as high as he could.

Horace?

The disgruntled colt with a brown coat and grey spiked mane simply raised his hoof.

After a few more names were called, she finally came to Starlight.

Starlight almost hesitated as everyone else seemed to be looking for her

H-here. She stammered. Ms.Amberstone then checked her name off the list and put the clipboard back on her desk and removed glasses as she walked over to the chalkboard.

Starlight was getting absorbed into what Ms.AmberStone was saying when all of the sudden a small wet sticky piece of paper landed in her mane she shot back a glance to find Horace trying to act innocent as possible, she didn’t believe he was worth the air so she pulled the spit wad out of her mane and focused back on the teacher not even a minute later though another…no two spit wads landed in her mane! Starlight wanted to give him a piece of her mind, when a she felt a hoof touch her shoulder. She looked to her left to see the maroon colt, shake his head.

Don’t argue with him, he’ll drag you down to his level, and beat you with his experience, and don’t rat him out, first that’ll give him more to work with and it’ll take all the fun out of the event he embarrasses himself. He said with a with a cracked smile on his face. Star glared back at Horace, and sighed as she shook off what just chuckled a little as she thought about what the colt next to her said, just then he spoke again.

“Hey the names Firecracker by the way, sorry but I didn’t quite get yours”

“Starlight” she said with a smile. She looked over the colt sitting next to her, he seemed to quite strong for his age, and it looked like his wings were already developing nicely, she then noticed a pair of dog tags wrapped around his neck.

What are those for? She asked pointing to his shining dog tags.

“These are my dad’s old tags, he wore these when he was still an enlisted man in the army.

Starlight gave a puzzled look as she didn’t get a word of what he said, Firecracker noticed this and explained again.

“These are my dad’s dog tags, all soldiers wear a pair, I wear them because my dad’s out their fighting the rebels in Stalliongrad” Firecracker smiled as he began to show off the tags that dangled from his neck.

Star smiled again, as she looked back to the board, as she did another spit wad hit her. She cringed as she pulled it out of her mane, just then she heard Horace take a deep breath as he prepared to launch another, quickly Star lowered her head as the spit wad missed her and flew past her, all the ponies gasped as they saw a small piece of spi drenched paper, land directly in between Ms. AmberStone’s eyes. The last few minutes before lunch were spent with Firecracker rolling on the floor nearly dying of laughter, Ms. AmberStone, freaking out from the spitball and how disgusting it was while she yelled at Horace, and Starlight grinning at Horace as he buried himself in his seat.

Once the lunch bell rang, Star rushed over to her locker, pulled out her lunch box. She trotted out to the playground, she looked around for a place to sit, she soon spotted a table where two filly were seated chatting away. Star briskly trotted over to them.

“ I’m sorry would you mind if I sat with you?” she asked politely.

The white filly looked back and smiled “ Not at all, please join us” she patted on a spot next to her.

Star obliged as she jumped up and opened up her lunch box, inside was a daffodil sandwich, a corn cake, and some cucumbers. Starlight dug in, she was interrupted when the pink pony in front of her spoke up.

“I’m Bubblegum, what’s your name” she asked with a bright smile on her face as she fumbled with her bright green and purple mane.

Starlight. She said , she looked to her side, as the white filly introduced herself.

My names Angel Heart, she smiled as she took a bite from a carrot. Starlight looked back at Bubblegum.

“I saw what Horace did, what a meanie, someone should teach him a lesson” she said as she pulled out a pack of gum, “ you want a piece” she asked offering it to the two ponies across from her.

Starlight took one and began to chew, the two continued to chat for a while, after which they all headed over to the sandbox and played there for a while, little did Star notice though that Horace just got released outside, as he trotted over to her.

“Hey girly” He shouted as she turned she got a face full of sand. She spat trying to get the sand out of her mouth which unpleasantly mixed with the gum.

“Thanks to you I had to stay in for half of recess” Im gonna have to teach you a lesson for that” Horace grinned as he looked down at the little blue filly whose face was now covered in sand. While all this was going on nobody noticed that Firecracker who had previously been swinging was now trotting over to Horace, and the look on his face didn’t look friendly at all.

Horace frowned as Firecracker walked right up Horace and glared at him.

“What do you want puny” He said as he spit at Firecrackers hooves.

With those words Firecracker, shot spit at Horace’s face, as Horace tried to wipe the spit of his face he didn’t see Firecracker rear up as he prepared to kick, in in the blink of an eye Firecracker sent a kick flying into Horace’s side which sent him tumbling to the ground. Horace gasped for air as he tried to piece together what just occurred, just then Firecracker got real close to Horace, he had a rage on his face that was incredibly powerful.

“How dare you” he spat as he glared at Horace who was started to back away with fear.

“ You think you’re so tough, you think you can bully anyone you want just because your big, and you shouldn’t blame her for something you did you idiot. You deserved what you got. Now if I ever catch you harassing her or her friends again, getting caught by the teacher will be the least of your worries, we square?” Horace nodded quickly as he backed away as fast as he could. Firecracker turned to Star and helped her up. He helped wipe some of the sand.

“Are you okay” He asked

“Yeah I’ll be OK” She responded spitting out some more sand.

“He’s such a bully, I’m gonna go tell Ms. AmberStone” with that Bubblegum ran off to get the teacher.

Starlight finished brushing herself off. “ Thanks for the help, but aren’t you worried he’ll tell on YOU”

“Not in the least, I don’t care if I get in trouble, but mess with my friends, and you got something highly unpleasant heading your way.” Starlight gave him a smirk.

“What, a pony can’t be loyal to his friends”

Starlight just laughed at this as she picked up her lunch box, the two continued to chat away for the rest of the day.

After another few hours of class, school was finally over and everypony was ready to go home. Starlight was practically beaming as she thought back to all the events of what happened tha day except of course the few rough patches it had. She giggled as she remembered how bubblegum blew a huge bubble that when it pooped it nearly covered her entire head, and she blushed a little as she thought of how Firecracker stood up for her in her time of need. Overall it had been a good day, and Starlight couldn’t wait to tell her mother about it all, as she ran over to mother, who arrived just in time and awaited her daughter with open hooves.

“So was it that bad after all”

" I LOVE SCHOOL" Star said beaming.

Starlight who practically seemed supercharged full of energy as she got ready to give her mom an ear full of all that happened that day. At that moment she thought she smelt something smoky, or burnt, she brushed that off, as she walked home with her mother happy as can be.

Chapter 4: Ashes

Chapter 4
(This chapter takes place during chapter 3)

Sketch yawned as he poured his morning coffee, his senses slowly coming back to him from the aroma of the coffee. Today was gonna be busy he needed to finish a picture for a stallion who came in a few days ago he wanted a drawing of his wife done. Sketch tried very hard to remember his name, fancy something or other. Sketch sunk back into his chair as finished taking a sip from his coffee. He felt he was in heaven everything just seemed perfect and he was gonna savor this moment. After a few minutes Sketch was finally fully awake, so he got up from his recliner chair, He went downstairs and started to draw. He looked at the picture he was supposed to draw; it was a picture of a slender unicorn mare lying on pure white sheets. He had to admit it she was quite beautiful, but not what he was after, He then thought of when he saw her and in his honest opinion she seemed to be more of a trophy wife if anything. He focused back on his work putting the final touches on the rear half of her. Sketches work room was rather crammed, several sketch books, large canvas’s, large rolls of paper and sheets covered in doodles and sketches. He had shelves chalk-loaded with pencils, paints, brushes, and various other art supplies. From the ceiling hung several lamps and lights which illuminated the room with very bright light.

Sketch had put the lights on the ceiling because one day he thought “Why should everything be put on the floor, so he took some tools and various other materials and spent the next few hours bolting the lamps into the ceiling, the idea was brilliant and from then on he had more space where he worked…..for other objects to take their place. Sketch was however unaware that it was he accidentally nicked and cut open an electrical wire. So far nothing happened but today wasn’t the case, while Sketch was putting the final touches on the drawing, sparks started shooting from the open cord which ignited the dust from inside the ceiling. After a few minutes Sketch started to smell something burning, but disregarded it thinking it probably came from the construction site down the street, probably burning left over wood, or welding metal, but a few minutes later Sketch knew something was up when the lamps began to flicker and he heard cracking from upstairs, he had just gotten out of his seat and began to head for the stairs when all of the sudden the ceiling collapsed on where he had just been sitting mere seconds ago, Sketches eyes went wide as he ran upstairs only to find the entire upstairs full of smoke and flame. Sketch began to cough from the smoke and he couldn’t see through the thickness of the smoke, Sketch cursed under his breath wondering how he didn’t notice his ENTIRE HOUSE was engulfed in flames. The idea absolutely baffled him

“We have Arc welders, and advanced science yet somehow we haven’t invented a device that can let somepony know if their house is on fire”

This thought though was quickly wiped from his mind when a large chunk of the upper floors landed directly in front of him. He needed to get out but he couldn’t see where he was going through the smoke, just then he found an exit he slowly made his way to the open window but just before he could make it, just barely out of his reach another part of the ceiling landed on him knocking him unconscious.

MorningShine sighed in frustration as she moved a bulging rain cloud towards Ponyville, when she noticed large amounts of smoke coming from a small neighborhood area, At first she disregarded it but only until she noticed just how the plume was increasing, she looked aroud but no firefighter ponies were to be found. At that moment Morning had a conflict building in her mind

“No stick to your job Morning its not your problem” she thought while the other side of her nagged even harder to try and help put out the fire. She stopped and struggled with which she should do, then it hit. She took a quarter of the cloud she was moving and quickly flew towards the smoke. When she got there she found some fire ponies trying to extinguish it Morning automatically jumped in placed the cloud over th house and jumped up and down on it as hard as she could, while it reduced the flames sheer size it only delayed the inevitable, this house was gonna burn down. She landed near one of the ponies fighting the fire, and tried to figure out as much as possible.

“What happened”? she asked the fire pony with concern in her tone.

“Don’t know this place was half burnt down when we got here. We tried going in but its too dangerous for us to go in too much smoke and fire”

Morning’s worry grew more, and then she noticed the name on the mail box

Sketch.

Her eyes widened as she fully took in whose house this was. She nearly panicked as she asked where the resident of this home was, her question was answered with a shrug. That was all she needed to know completely disregarding the warnings of the Fire pony, Morning flew in to the house at full speed. She had to find him.

Mister Sketch, SKEEETCH?!? She shouted through the house she quickly scrambled through the house using the flapping of her wings to clear smoke around her, just before she was ready to give up she noticed a mass under some rubble, it was him.

Sketch! She gasped as she rushed over and tried to pull him from free from the rubble. She tried as hard as she could, but to no avail, Morning’s eyes began to tear up as she tried as hard as possible to get the rubble off of him, just then she heard a loud moan come from the rest of the ceiling above her. The place was about to collapse, this was it, all or nothing, she good a grip on the chunk of rubble which nearly covered all of Sketch and with all her might gave it one mighty push this time it lifted and Morning quickly pushed it to the side, without any hesitation she quickly threw sketch onto her back and flew out of the house as fast as she could. Just in time, just as she exited the front door, the whole house came down and what had once been a beautiful home was now a smoldering pile of rubble and burning ruin. Morning gently lowered Sketch to the ground his entire body was covered in burns and gashes. And just as quickly as she had gotten him out, a team of medical ponies began to tend to Sketch putting an oxygen mask on his muzzle and placing onto a stretcher, In a matter of minutes Sketch was in the hospital. Morning couldn’t help but follow along. She was there every step of the way until they brought Sketch into the ER. Morning decided to wait.

After what felt like an eternity, a doctor walked out of the ER and over to Morning. He stopped in front of her and cleared his throat to get her attention.

“Friend” She lied a little. Honestly she hardly even knew him, all she knew is what he looked like and what his name was, still she cared about him enough.

So, doctor, how is he, is he going to-“

“Well Ma’am he’s going to be fine his burns are only minor all thanks to you getting him out so quickly, and he should be able to leave in a week or two. His coat should grow back by then, and everything else seemed stable with him.

“Um excuse me, But can I go…see him”

“Yes by all means but only for a short time he needs to rest. He’s in the fourth room down that hallway on your left.

Morning smiled a little as she slowly excused herself and made her way to the room. When she reached the room she saw two beds inside one pony who was completely wrapped from head to hoof, and to the left, lay Sketch, his body almost seemed lifeless as he lie there limp, connected to IV’s and machines. She slowly walked over to Sketch bed, after a few seconds he noticed her.

“Hi” he managed to whisper with a dry raspy voice.

“Hey”

Sketch started to look around as he began to realize he was in the hospital. His eyes widened and he threw his head back in frustration.

“How bad was it, did they manage to put it out” He asked with hopeful eyes that pleaded her to tell everything was alright, but Morning couldn’t lie to him.

“Your house was burned to the ground, by the time they go their it was beyond saving”

This brought Sketch on the verge of tears, he lost everything, all his pictures, family photos, most of all though he couldn’t bear the thought, of his favorite photo with him and his brothers burning up. Sketch buried his face in his hooves. Morning felt for him as he slowly broke down in front of her. She placed a hoof on his shoulder as he let it all out. All his prized possessions gone, Items he could never get back he fell back as he finished his moment a face of worry and panic on his face. Then he stopped and turned to Morning. He then looked at himself, lifting is hooves in front of his face. He then looked back at her and asked.

“Why did you come looking for me?”

Morning froze stiff as she heard his question, she didn’t know why, with all honesty she didn’t really know why she went in and got him. She tried to formulate an answer.

“Well I guess I just felt that…I…I owed it to you” He cut her short though.

“Please is five bits really worth risking your own life for somepony you don’t even know, just change?”

This hit Morning even harder, it felt awkward being asked this she didn’t know how to answer but before she could speak, Sketch turned to her again.

“Hey, I just want to say thanks, its all I can do given the current situation”

Morning smiled at him, “No need” She replied.

At that moment a nurse came in and told Morning that Sketch was going to need his rest if he was going to make a quick recovery. Morning nodded and said goodbye to Sketch as she walked out of the room. Morning looked back on the craziness of her day when she noticed what time it was.

“Oh buck” as she realized it was almost time to go get Starlight from school, She quickly galloped out of the hospital as fast as she could, Morning decided with all that happened today, she was going to need to break out the chocolate ice cream tonight. She stopped in front of the school, and got ready as she heard the final bell toll in the school, and she put on a smile as she watched her little daughter run out of the school with a big smile, and face that said “Mommy guess what all happened today”

Chapter 5: Something Memorable

Chapter 5

Later that night, after Starlight finally went to bed, after lots of chasing and tickling, Morning looked at the rent again, she ran her hoof over her mane again as she looked at the bill, with a sigh she signed a check placed it in an envelope and walked outside to put it in the mailbox, she couldn’t help but notice how bright the moon was tonight, as she looked to the ground she could see her shadow on the ground, she looked back up into the sky and stood still for a moment, taking in just how beautiful the night sky looked, the stars seemed to shine a little more than usual. After a few minutes Morning started getting cold, she quickly put the envelope in the mail box and lifted the small re flag on the side. As she walked back inside she took one last look Princess Luna sure knew how to bring out the best in a night.

After reading a little, Morning decided to go bed, going to bed was no problem, sleeping though seemed near impossible. She tossed and turned in her bed but she couldn’t get that image out of her head. She thought of Sketch and how he looked buried under the rubble, she felt sick to the stomach. She didn’t know why she just couldn’t get him out of her head. She was feeling so many emotions at once; Morning just couldn’t take it finally after an hour she gave up on sleep. Since sleep wasn’t an option she’d just go on a little walk to pass the hour. As she wandered the silent midnight streets of her neighborhood, she came to the turn where Sketch house formerly stood, now nothing remained but ash and ruin. Just as she was about to continue on she saw something shine in the ash. Curiosity got the better of Morning as she slowly trotted over to see what it was. In the ash she same a small metal triangular shape protruding out, she carefully brushed some of the ashes of to see what it was, as she continued to push away the ashes more and more of the object became revealed to her, she cautiously lifted it from the dirt, it was a picture, on it were two large stallion in full equestrian military regalia, and she noticed the shorter pony next to them, it was Sketch as she took a closer look at the frame she noticed something inscribed in the brass.

“Caesar, Caius, and Manaeus. Proud Sons of Cirrus”

Morning’s eyes widened as she realized what she found. She remembered how sketch murmured something about a picture in his breakdown; Morning quickly took the picture under her wing and began to head home. When she got back she placed the picture on the table as she trotted over to the supply closet to look for metal polish, luckily she found some buried deep into the back of closet, she grabbed a small cloth and started to polish the frame, after an hour or two it finally looked go as new. Then she used a feather duster to remove any remaining ash and dirt. She smiled with pride as she looked at the good job she had done, now all she had to do was bring it to Sketch, but for now it was probably best if she try to get some sleep. That idea left her head as she noticed the sun was rising again. She looked at the clock, time to wake up Starlight again. Morning took a moment as she appreciated one last moment of peace before she woke up Star.

Sketch groaned a little as he looked down at the hospital meal that sat in front of him. He couldn’t stand it, the food looked so fake it almost seemed unbelievable that this sludge could contain all the nutrients he’d need, still it’s better than nothing Sketch closed his eyes, and shuddered a little as he reluctantly swallowed his food. After a few bites though Sketch could feel energy practically rush into his body as he felt it surge through his body, the feeling almost made Sketch forget how bad the food tasted. He lifted the glass and drank from it, his thirst quenched by the fruit juice. As he finished his meal, Sketch noticed that he had been moved to a new room, his heart sank even though the pony next to him in the last room was unable to speak or do much of anything for that matter, having him as company was better than none. He slowly sank back into the blankets as he looked out the window, just then he heard a knock on the door, his ears perked up quicker than a flash as he heard the sound.

“Come in” he said. His eyes widened as he saw who had come to visit. She slowly rounded the corner and spotted him, Sketch couldn’t believe she came back, he honestly thought she had stayed with him the first time just out of pity, still he didn’t mind he enjoyed being able to see her, to him there was no more beautiful sight anyway. He smiled as she walked up to him.

“Hey, what brings you back here?” He asked unable to break stare he fell into, as she entered the room.

“Well, I was out for a walk last night and I just so happened to wander past your house, or what’s left of it and just as I was about to leave again I noticed something in the ashes.” She paused to see if he was actually listening, noticing he looked distracted.

Sketch was hanging on to every single word. “Go on” he said, still having a dreamy expression on his face.

“Well, when I found it, I remembered you mentioning something about a picture, and I found this” She opened her bag, and pulled out the small picture, and handed to Sketch, he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was the picture of him, and his brothers. He quickly grabbed and ran his hoof over it, making sure he wasn’t just imagining this.

“By Celestia’s mane, b-but how, how did it survive the fire” Sketch was amazed, he was absolutely speechless. He looked to Morning.

“Thank you, so much you have no idea how much this means to me” He looked to her with a thankful smile on his face.

“I don’t know how to thank you, gosh I thought I’d never see it again”

Morning sat down next to the bed, looking at the picture.

“So what’s so special about this picture?” She asked. Sketch looked back with a grin then back at the picture pointing to the heavily built stallion on the left “That my oldest brother, Caesar he’s a Luietenant in the Equestrian Special Forces, and the other guy to my right, is my brother, Manaeus, he’s a major in the Air Force. This picture was taken the night before w-,Sketch paused. ” I mean “they” got sent to basic training in the west. We went to party at this really great club in Ponyville, heh. We had one hell of a night.” Sketch looked up thinking back to that night of sheer fun, and celebration.

8 Years ago

Pfft ahahahah! Oh dear goddess. Hey Caius use one voice again that voice again.

Sketch made a very snooty facial expression, and then in an equally pretentious voice he said.

“Please sir, you mustn’t walk that way it’s so impolite to not bow before this stuck up, crusty old, deranged unicorn, you must bow, you must or else he might actually wave his hoof at you, and order his imaginary guards on you, watch out his beard might get caught in a knot, oh dear heavens I believe I have been breathing better spend the next few years decontaminating myself”

The three brothers burst out in laughter as they walked out of The Gourmand, a very exclusive restaurant run by a family of unicorns who have been rivals with the Cirrus family for generations. They had just gone in only to spite the unicorns who were known to be extremely pretentious, and proud.

“Ahh what fun, well brothers we still have about ten hours before we leave, where should we go next."

Caesar, the largest of the three put a hoof to his chin trying to think of what to do next. Well I don’t know. Suddenly Caius looked up and spoke out, You know I’ve heard of this club that’s supposed to be quite the party house but it’s all the way in…..Ponyville. Caius drooped a little as he remembered where it was, Just then he felt a hoof slap against his shoulder.

“Well then, we're just gonna have to go to Ponyville then wont we” Manaeus said, giving his brother an encouraging look.

But how? Caius asked raising his brow, questioning his brother's idea.

Oh please, brother did you really think I wouldn’t find out about you practicing your magic. You truly do go against everything this family stands for" Manaeus said chuckling to himself.

"I just thought, well I'm stuck with this horn, I might as well use it." Caius said trying to defend himself,

"Oh relax brother, if anything I support that idea, magic can be rather useful cant it, and besides who cares what the crusty old family elders say, nothing is constant, there will always be a fork in the road, or a turn." Manaeus patting his brother on the head, in a way that was comical but patronizing at the same time.

" I also couldnt help but notice that you were working on a teleportation spell, I must say I'm impressed, but I want to see you push it to the limit."

"Yes well that’s still a pretty advanced spell, and besides, I can hardly even do a short distance teleportation spell without it nearly knocking me out, and how do you expect to just fly there like that before sunrise." Caius said worryingly.

"Well, brother had you watched the flight trainings we did with father when we were younger, you would have known just how we intend to get to Ponyville in a matter of minutes." Manaeus said.

Caius sensed some challenge in that last sentence.

“Think you can beat me there?” Caius asked, a grin beginning to form.

“Isnt the answer to that obvious?” Manaeus, said eyes narrowing.

“Caesar, what do you think, a race. Our Wing Speed technique versus our brother who is still only experimenting with his magical abilities”

Caesar looked to Caius who sat there with a smirk.

“Alright it’s on” just tell us where it is and we’ll get there first!

Caius pulled out a flyer, it was dark blue, and covered in a assortment of various colored light beams, at the top in bright bold letters read: CLUB PON-3 on the cover was a drawn image of a white mare with a blue mane. Caius flipped it over, and showed them the address. The three nodded at got ready.

Alright let’s do this on three.

One.

Two.

Three!!!!

In a flash both of Caius’s older brothers were gone, Caius on the other hand sat down, and began to try to clear his mind, he pictured the club in his mind, not just picture it though but feel it, trying to imagine what it would be like to actually be there, as he thought of this his horn began to give of a bright golden glow, as he concentrated harder on his destination, the glow on his horn grew brighter and brighter, just then it seemed his whole body was beginning to glow, he imagined it, the heat in the air, the pounding of the bass, the cheering of all the ponies who came to party, and then like nothing, Caius vanished only leaving a small cloud of smoke behind him as he. For a few seconds he felt weightless, he could hear no sound, and everything went blank, but just a quickly as this came, it went, and Caius found himself in front of the famous CLUB PON-3, he suddenly fell to his knee’s as he felt a surge of pain run through his head, he looked around as he heard a strangely loud whistle sound, and just then before him something impacted the ground as the dust cleared he realized it was his brothers. Caius let out a laugh as he saw the shocked faces of his two brothers who could only stare in shock and disbelief.

After recovering from astonishment the three went inside, as they entered Caius, felt something strong it felt as if everything around him, the ground, the walls, the air, even the bones in his body seemed to shake to the pounding of the base, Caius could fill his chest rattle as he continued on into the club. The environment he was in was just over whelming, he felt crowded, and was nearly deafened by the volume of the music playing. Caius looked to his brothers who smiled, and nodded in approval as they observed their surroundings. The club was a large spacious structure in the center was a large dance floor to the left and right was a small set of stairs which led to some tables and booths further and on each side in the center was a circular bar, where the bartenders were looking extremely busy. And then past the dance floor, a platform seemed to loom over the front of the crowd on that platform were the turn tables and a two large speakers, behind the tables, stood a white mare, with a blue, and teal bi-colored mane, sporting a pair of large purple shades. Caius could help but be impressed with what he saw, while it all seemed so chaotic, at the same time everything appeared organized and clean. Caius hadn’t expected the Interior to contrast the exterior that much. The outside made it look like a decent sized home, rather large but it didn’t really look much like a club except for the bouncers, and the neon signs. Caius began to wander off towards one the more vacant bars, he took a seat, just as he did a brown coated pony with a moustache and combed back mane, trotted over to him

“What’ll it be?”

“One Applejack Daniels” he said. No sooner he uttered the name a shot glass and bottle appeared before him the bartender quickly poured it in the shot glass and gave it to Caius. Caius just looked at the glass then the bottle, he had an idea.

“Hey think I could by the bottle off of you?”

“That’s illegal sir “ The bartender now looking at Caius with concern.

“Only if you get caught” Caius gave him a smirk that had “I got cash” written all over it. The bartender bit his lip; he looked around and then got closer.

“30 bits a bottle” The bartender gave off vibes that just screamed “My only offer take it or leave it”

Caius laughed, as he pulled out a small bag he tossed it onto the bar.

“Should be sixty in there” I’ll take two. With that the bartender pulled out a second bottle and exchanged it for the bag of bits. After that the bartender retreated to a private to the kitchens for a while. Caius in the meantime, would toss back the first shot, and enjoy the view. He looked at his surroundings, brightly colored lights flashed on and off almost epileptically, to the beat of the music. Across the room he could see his brothers, offering bit’s to the exotic dancers in front of them, Caius couldn’t help but laugh when Manaeus got slapped across the face for getting too close for comfort.

Caius chuckled little as he downed a third shot. As he brought the glass down on the bar he heard a voice behind him, he looked back to find a mare standing there she had a snow white coat, and a soft pink mane with was tied up in a bun.

“I said Hi” she replied now a little louder in tone.

“Hey” Caius replied, trying act like he didn’t care.

“Mind if I join you” she said

Caius used a hoof motioning her over, she smiled a trotted over and took up the seat next to him.

“I’m Redheart,” the white are said smiling as she took a seat.

Caius just looked over at her, and nodded. Redheart felt a little put off by this. Still she didn’t want drink alone; doing that is never a good idea.

“So do you have one, come on everypony has a name”

The only reason Caius didn’t want to answer, was because his name wasn’t your average everyday name, his family traditionally had ancient pegasi names from when the pegasi weren’t united with other tribes. He honestly thought the mare next to him would make fun of his name, Caius Legarius Cirrus, what kind of name is that? He could hear the ridicule in his head already. He held his breath.

“Caius” he opened his eyes, no ridicule, no laughing,

“Caius, huh I like it , its different.”

Oh dear lord, Caius thought, something’s going to go wrong hear I just know it. He took a drink from the bottle.

“I didn’t know they sold the whole bottle”

“They don’t” he replied, I did a little bargaining."

“Ah”

Caius levitated a shot glass over to her and offered her some whiskey, which she gladly accepted.

“So why’d you come here?” she asked

Caius almost didn’t know how to respond, he wondered how exactly he should answer that question, he then started wondering what kind of question that was.

“I don’t follow” he said before sipping from his glass

“What do you mean you don’t follow? Everyone comes here for a reason, some come to celebrate, and some come to get hyped up, some to just get away.

“And you?” Caius had to ask.

“To forget”

“Forget what, if I am allowed ask”

Redhearts head sank down “ Well , with the war and all, Ponyville has the closest medical center to Stalliongrad’s southern border, we get all the wounded coming back from battle. Everyday ponies full of holes, all mangled, bleeding, broken, some missing limbs” Caius felt awful as he noticed she was on the verge of tears.
“It’s just not right, ponies killing each other, I just come here at nights let those images slip from my mind, I can’t stand it“

“It’s just not fair for soldiers either, they go, and fight for their country, some don’t even make it back, they scar themselves out there, and when they come back what do they get, nothing not thanks, no cheers, nothing to honor their deeds, sometimes the ponies of this country just make me sick.”

Caius nodded in agreement, although he really had no idea, he’d never seen war, never been deployed, he just passed basic a few days, still he simply played along and agreed to what she said. He decided to say something.

“ Well” he said “ I wouldn’t know about that, I’ve never actually seen action, heck me and my brothers just passed basic a few days ago, were supposed to ship out tomorrow, were just trying to have fun while were still here”

Redheart, looked at him almost instantly as if by instinct Caius could tell she had another question probably a hard on for him, still what could go wrong.

“How do you think they do, stay calm I mean out there” She asked while taking another drink.

“They go out there watch ponies die all around them, the see death, pain and misery where do they find the strength to move on” She had a sign of concern on her face.

“I don’t know, I mean it’s only an idea, but its seems logical to me”

“Like what”

“well I guess they think of home, think of all their friends and loved one they left behind, they think of all the ponies who will be glad to see him safe and sound if he comes home” Caius tried to say it in a way that would make sense.
Now Redheart nodded in agreement, she turned again and with a slightly raised and happier tone asked

“So done anything memorable on your last night here?” she asked

Caius shrugged,

“WHAT!?!” Redheart exclaimed

“You’re telling me that you are going to war tomorrow, and your trying to have as much fun as possible and all you’ve done is sit here and drink, what kind of memory would that be, you should go dance, spend time with family, do something with your girlfriend-“

“Don’t have one” Caius said interrupting Redheart

“Well. . . .Then. . . ” Redheart tried to find a response to that “well do something, tell me you’ve done something significant other than drinking bottle of alcohol”

“I met you” Caius suddenly shrunk back blushing furiously as he realized what he just said. Redheart’s eyes widened, Caius tried to hide himself a little out of sheer embarrassment from what he said he braced himself thinking she’d be offended or that she’d reject him, but he was surprised by her silent reaction. Redheart came back to reality after a moment; she leaned in closer to Caius.

“So, no partying, no girlfriend, and no plan. Pretty sad that, that’s how you want it all to nd what might be your last night at home, I think we should change that” she suddenly gave him a quick kiss.

At that moment Caius, felt a shock run through his body, almost unsure if what just happened was relly he looked at Redheart who just smiled at him as she got down from the chair, her eyes becoming seductive as his eyes couldn’t help but follow her.

Come on, how about we make this night a little more “Memorable” she said seductively as she walked towards the exit, swinging her tail left and right provocatively show off her flank for a brief moment.

Caius got up following her as she continued to flirt with him. As he walked out the door with Redheart, Caius completely forgot he just left behind his two brothers, unaware that they were still there and still far too drunk to fly straight. Caius seemed to be completely lost in thought, except that he knew.

This was a night he would never forget.

Chapter 6: Unidentified

Sketch smiled a little as he came back to reality. It was one heck of a memory, and one heck of a night, something truly memorable. Sketch, chuckled a little as he put the picture under his pillow; he turned to Morning who sat there next to him smiling.

Thank you, this picture means so much to me” He said with a smile on his face.

Morning nodded, she noticed Sketch beginning to look out the window.

“So how long are you supposed to stay here for?”

“Doc said it'd be another week, let the burns recover, he also wants to run some tests, see if there’s anything else…..damaged.” Sketch tapped a hoof against his head, he sat there silent for a moment looking at the door as he finished that sentence. He frowned a little. “I don’t like ponies getting into my head; you wouldn’t like what you’d find in there.”

“Why?” Morning asked tilting her head slightly.

“That’s for me to know only, don’t ask about it” Sketch said his voice suddenly becoming cold as ice. Morning noticed a small scar behind his horn, its was hardly visible, and most of it appeared to be covered by his mane, she felt concern rise in her mind, but put it off, he told her not to ask, so she wouldn’t. Sketch noticed Morning felt slightly pushed away by his statement, he loosened up his expression a little trying not to scare off the only visitors he had.

“So, how’s your daughter doing, with school, what was her name, Star, right?” Sketch asked with sincere interest, he tried to get the subject turned to Morning.

“Yes, she had the most wonderful time, she maturing so quickly, she’s made so many friends, although I’m worried, she mentioned something about somepony bullying her.”

Sketch shuddered as he heard her mentioning of a bully.

“Still she must be popular amongst the others; she told me some colt stood up for her.”

Both chuckled a little, Sketch smiled again, glad to hear that everything was going well; it made him happy as well. He began to ask more questions, asking about where Star went to school, how she was doing, how work was holding up, Sketch tried to Morning to talk about herself as much as possible, Sketch filled with joy, he loved to listen to her, her soft melodious voice, he loved her, the only problem he didn’t know how to tell her, even now where she is so close, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Time seemed to stop as he listened to her for an hour. Just as Morning finished talking about work, they heard a knock on the door.

“Come in” Sketch said trying to speak loud enough that he was audible to the ponies on the other side. Sketch’s eyes widened a little as he saw who entered, he felt his spirit lift a little as he watched a tall brick red coated Pegasus stallion, and a grey colored mare trotted in the room, his parents.

“Sweetheart we came as soon as we heard” The cream colored mare with a greying golden mane said as she hugged Sketch.

“Hey Mom, hey Dad’ Sketch returned the hug to his mother.

“Son, are you alright” The large powerful stallion said with a voice of concern.

“Yeah, yeah I’m still in one piece, I’m hanging in there.”

“Oh dear I’m so sorry this happened, you could never deserve such a thing” Sketch mother sat next to him, and then she noticed Morning.

“OH, my apologies dearie, we’re Caius’s parents, and may I ask who you are”

“Morning, I was just here to visit him” She smiled a little.

“So you found yourself a fillyfriend did you?” Sketch’s father said in his deep loud voice. At this both Sketch and Morning blushed furiously, Sketch starting drawing a line in the air with his hoof, Morning shook her head rapidly”

“Oh dear, don’t embarrass the two I’m sure the young lady has another reason for being here. Morning nodded a little.

Sketch just buried himself in his bed again, embarrassed by his father’s assumptions”
Morning giggled a little looking at Sketch as her continued to try to bury himself under his sheets.

“So,” Sketch asked trying to break the silence “How are Caesar, and Manaeus doing, have you heard from them?”
Sketch’s father shook his head.

“We haven’t heard from either of them, must be pretty busy out there, the situation in Stalliongrad, is a snowball rolling downhill, its only getting bigger, it’s getting worse.” Sketch lowered his head and a frown formed on his face, He missed his brother’s it had been 2 years since he’d last seen them.

Sketch’s parents stayed for a while, they talked about family, and all that had happened over the past few weeks, they talked of their trip to Las Pegasus, which Sketch seemed to be interested in even if only about the description of the designs of signs and architecture, if there was anything about pegasi that Sketch was truly fascinated with, it was the buildings and structures they made of clouds, he always thought that they were a spectacular feat of construction and the design that went in to them, a pony was limited to what he could do with things like stone,, or concrete, but with clouds you could form the most bizarre of structures this is what always got Sketch interested. After talking incessantly Sketch’s parents said goodbye, and wished him the best, Morning however stayed.

“Nice parents” she said letting out a small giggle, as she watched Sketch’s mother exit the room.

“Yeah they’re the best.” Sketch said smiling. He looked over to Morning who had another beautiful smile on.

“So, how do you feel now that you’ve had some contact with ponies OUTSIDE the hospital?” she asked

“I’m just glad to know so ponies care about me” He said laying back against his pillow.

“I’m glad you came” He said “I hate being all alone here, nothing to do, nopony to talk to.”

“well I guess if it isn’t too much trouble I could come back tomorrow.” Morning smiled at Sketch, who seemed to be
absolutely elated to hear that.

“I would very much like that” He said . He looked at the clock “Uhm I don’t want to force you out, but um, when does Star get out of school?”

Morning looked at the clock as well; it was still one in the afternoon, so she still had an hour.

“I’ll have to go soon” She said, as she repositioned herself in her chair, she looked at Sketch to find him staring at her, her face turned red.

“What’s wrong?” she said

“Nothing at all, I just love the color of your mane, the dark shade blue in your mane, it’s beautiful” he said almost infatuated with the mare sitting next to him.

“Well thank you” She replied running her hoof through her mane, she blushed more now from the compliment.
Sketch, felt himself fade away as he gazed into Morning eye’s and for a moment both of them seemed to lock onto each other’s eyes, their focus unwavering, at that moment though a nurse came in.

“Sorry Ma’am, but we need to do a check up on Mr. Cirrus and after that he’ll need to rest” The nurse said with a a deep seriousness in her tonality.

“I’ll see you tomorrow” Morning said as she got up and began to leave.

“Bye” Sketch said quietly almost inaudibly.
Sketch pulled the picture back out from under his pillow and looked at it, he looked at his brother s again, as his mind lingered again.

2 Years Ago

Ruin, rubble, dust, and fire. It was all you could see for miles down the road. Caius looked to his sergeant on his left, who was looking at a map of the area they were entering. Caius team was sent earlier that morning to the area in response to a recent ambush on a patrol squad, down the road. It was his teams job to get to the patrol units last know location, and to check for survivors. Caius checked his combat harness, full ammo, and well maintained. He peered over the low wall they were sitting behind; the road ahead was empty, seemingly devoid of all signs of life, and uncomfortably quiet. BitterRoot, Caius’s sergeant looked up again.

“Alright men, were gonna move on down the road, Cirrus, you take point”

Caius got up immediately, and began to march down the road, all his squad-mates in tow. Caius looked around, he nearly vomited at the sight around him, the corpses of dead ponies everywhere, rotting, burning, it was unbearable, still he had a job to do, and Caius wasn’t going to chicken out of his duty. He continued down the road, searching for the missing squad that had been ambushed by rebel forces just hours ago. After a few minutes of marching down the road, they reached the crossroads, Caius looked around the corpses of fellow soldier littered the streets, shell casings lie on the ground, blood pooled, and ran freely through the dirt, and the stone. Caius felt something surge from his stomach to his head, as he absorbed the pungent odor, of scorched, rotting flesh. It was the patrol.

Caius inspected one of the fallen troopers, something was off, there were no bullet wounds, no holes, no immediate wounds, what he had noticed was the series of burns in the cloth of their uniforms, and the serious burns on their bodies. Caius began to wonder, most Insurrectionist’s were only armed with combat harness’s, which of course use magic charged cartridges, yet these bodies, these wounds there was no sign of body penetration. His thoughts were swiftly ended when all of the sudden, CopperBeat, the squad support gunner, seemed to light up, as a bright blue bolt of light struck him. Caius dove to cover looking back to see Copper’s body disintegrate into nothing.

“RETURN FIRE!” BitterRoot screamed as he stood up and fired a short burst from his harness. This action would be his last however, as a bolt of red lightning struck BitterRoot square in the chest and sent him flying back into ditch where they took cover.

“Sarge is gone” Caius looked for the voice which led to Vineyard the squad marksman.

“WELL CORPORAL WHAT’S THE PLAN” Vineyard exclaimed, now shouting at Caius. Caius came back to his senses as he heard the stallion next him shout in his ears.

With this Caius looked over the edge, he looked across the ruins, there just across the street the Insurrectionists were holed up in what was once a bakery. Caius dropped as a glowing white bolt nearly hit his head. The situation was becoming dire, they already lost two ponies and the sergeant, Caius had to conjure up a plan, and fast the survival of him, and his squad mates depended on it. Caius took another look, the way he saw it, dig in and wait for the enemy to come out into the open, or lay down suppressing fire and order a few ponies to flank the enemies inside the shelled out bakery. He chose the latter, and gave the order.

“RawHide, SteelFlint, were going to lay down suppressing fire, while Boron, Blaze, and Mist, you will flank them from the left, use the alleys and collapsed buildings for cover, avoid open areas they’re in the bakery’s ground floor, Vineyard get up on the second floor across the way, you’ll have a better angle to help cover the others as they roll hard to take out the targets, alright lets settle this, move on my mark.

ONE! Caius looked to his left and saw as Hide, braced himself.

TWO! Caius now looked to the right, he saw Boron taking, what would hopefully not be the last time a look at a picture of him, and his daughter.

THREE! Caius shot up and opened fire, joined by the others. In a heartbeat the others were moving down the alleys weaving between rubble, and ruin to reach their goal, Vineyard postioned himself in the overgrowth that had taken over a balcony on the second floor of the building next to the foxhole, his squad mates were sitting in, he looked through the scope, watching over the large windows, at the front of the bakery, the moment he laid eyes on it, an insurrectionist stood up to return fire, vineyard punished the mistake with death.

In the alley, Boron, took cover behind an over turned carriage, he looked at the area ahead, the last area they had to clear before hitting the bakery, he peered over the carriage, the road was empty, and lifeless , he took a deep breath, “So much could go wrong here.” He thought to himself, the road they were about to cross could be crawling with enemies, or the building’s might have snipers hiding in them, still it was a risk he would have to take, he drew another long breath, he forced himself up and galloped across the road, the others mere inches behind him. Boron looked back, everyone was still with him, and ready to go, he approached the side door of the bakery, he motioned the other who lined up at the door, Boron reared up and buck the door as hard as he could, he kicked the door right of its hinges with a satisfying crack, no sooner had the door been kicked open the other ponies rushed the room, firing on everything that moved, Boron turned and entered the room joining in on the killing. From the hole they were in, Caius could see it all, he felt an overpowering sense of satisfaction as he saw bright, rapid flashes of light coming from the fire of his teammates weapons, he watched as his plan came together, and ended in seconds, after a moment of silence Caius looked up, he spotted Boron giving the others the all clear.

A few minutes after the fighting, Caius went around checking with the others, making sure everyone was still good to go. Caius walked into the bakery, a question still laid heavy on his mind, what sort of weapons had the innies been using that left, no open wounds, and could incinerate a pony in a second. Caius lowered himself to closely inspect the body of an Insurrectionist, Caius was confused. The dead pony that lay before him had nothing on him, aside from a bag full rations, he had no weapons, no harness, nothing, not even a knife, it all made sense though when he noticed a certain detail that each of the insurrectionist had in common. They were all unicorns. Caius nearly lost his balance as the concept developed in his mind. The unicorns were trained to use they’re magic as a weapon,, that could kill more efficiently, and cleaner than a harness weapon, Caius then noticed other details, the eyes of the unicorns, they were glossy, and white, they were blind. Caius could feel the contents of his stomach rise; he hadn’t seen anything like this before, Rebellious terrorists using the blind to wage war, but something about them, something was off, he notice that the bodies were muscular, and well formed, the scars, and physical build showed that they must have had extensive combat experience, how could these blind ponies be so skilled in combat. Caius looked at this like a large puzzle with the pieces in a mess and no picture to go off of, Caius couldn’t wrap his mind around it, Caius decided the question could wait he grabbed any supplies and documents he found on the bodies, and trotted off to the others in his unit, the question still weighing heavily on his mind, buried, but nagging endlessly, for the first time, he didn't know who he was fighting.

Chapter 7: Memories Mature

Chapter 7

Morning let out a long sigh of relaxation as she watched Star go up, and down on the swing. It was a Saturday morning, and Star had asked her friends, Bubblegum, and Angel to join her on a picnic, the trio of friends swung back and forth on the swings playfully, cheering, and squealing. Morning laid back on the blanket she laid out for lunch earlier, she smiled as she felt a small breeze run over her, and the warming light of Celestia’s sun shine on her coat. Morning thought about what she saw in the hospital the other day, about what Sketch said, what he said about his mind specifically, it was obvious to her, the must be something in his head he doesn’t want anyone to know about. She felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity come over her, as she thought about it more. Morning looked back to Star, who was now riding the carousel on the playground pushing it as fast as she could while her friends held on the best they could, so they wouldn’t be hurled into the air. She chuckled a little, as her thoughts drifted back, she thought about Sketch again, there was something about him, some kind of attraction, but not just that, there was a feeling, a feeling as if she needed to be there, as if being with him was a necessity, she felt confused.

“Why would I NEED to be with someone, I don’t even know all to well” This question drilled into her mind, she thought back again.

“Beautiful” she heard Sketch say in the back of her mind. She smiled as she remembered his compliment to her, running a hoof over her mane again. No one had ever really taken to much interest in Morning, she never thought she was unattractive, but she never really had time to find a stallion she liked. She sighed a little and continued watching her daughter enjoy her weekend with her friends.

The Next Day

Star yawned a little, she wasn’t all too interested in math, still if she wanted to be an astronomer some day, she’d have to be get good grades in all subject's after all scientists don't get F's. She looked to Firecracker, who wasn’t paying any attention at all “My dad taught me all this during summer before he left” he had told her earlier. Star wondered what kind of home Firecracker lived in, he was still a foal but he could already do things normal foal’s were still learning about, he had outstanding grades overall, he could already fly, and he seemed to be able to talk to just about anyone, and according to Firecracker, his father had taught him all this. Stars wondered how one can learn so much, at such a young age, and retain it all. Star returned her attention where Mrs. AmberStone was writing additions on the chalk board. Star had noticed something strangely cheerful about her teacher this morning, of course Mrs. AmberStone always taught her students with a smile on her face, and she always acted cheery around the students, but today she seemed to do it more so, she could’ve swore she caught her teacher day dreaming before class. Star wondered what it was, she tried to think what could have happened, whatever it is, it must be very exciting, since it made Mrs. AmberStone that happy. Star thought about it for a while until she heard Mrs. AmberStone clear her throat and ask for attention.

“Well my little ponies, I think that’s enough math for today. I have a question for you all, do any of you have any brothers, or sisters?”

A few of Stars classmates raised their hooves, Firecracker included. Star noticed Mrs. AmberStone’s smile getting bigger, Star had this feeling somehow her questions about her teacher were about to be answered.

“Do any of you with siblings, have younger brothers and sisters” A few hooves went down, some hooves remained up, as well as Firecracker’s.

“Firecracker, you have a younger sibling?”

“Yes Ma’am. I have a younger sister.” Firecracker said smiling.

“How sweet how old is she, do you remember her being born?”

“Yes, she about a few months old now, her names Snowflake.”

“Do you remember before she was born too?”

“Yup, I remember when my mom was pregnant with her, my mom’s belly got bigger and bigger until my sister was finally born. I always wanted a sister; I was really excited when my parents told me I was going to be a big brother”

Mrs.AmberStone smiled at Firecracker for a little, she then looked down a little still smiling.

“Well my little ponies, I have an announcement to make. Me and my husband are having a little foal”

The class filled with gasps, oohs, and d’aawws, as Mrs.AmberStone told them about the foal.

“Congratulations Mrs. Amber” Angel said

“So do you know if it’s a filly, or a colt yet” Bubblegum asked, before blowing a large bubble, which hin turn popped, and covered her snout.

“Not yet, yes I’m a mother now. So do any of your parents tell you stories of before you were born”

“Mommy said that when I was in her tummy that I kicked a lot”

Mrs.AmberStone chuckled a little “Yes, unborn foals tend to do that, some not much, while other kick a lot” Well I have some good news and bad news with this, good news is, that you all get to witness the journey of a foal growing inside its mother until its born, the bad news is that, later on I might not be here that often, that probably won’t be until later on, but once the baby is a few months or weeks from birth I might not be able to come in, teach you all.”

Star, felt her heart leap. Mrs. AmberStone’s having a baby, this is amazing, she thought as she listened to her classmates bombard her teacher with questions, which she gladly answered. Star wonderd what the foal would look like. She imagined a her teacher holding a bubbling, ahppy little foal in her hooves. The thought filled Star with excitement. She looked over to Firecracker, he too had a large smile on his face.

“This is so cool.” Firecracker said turning to Star.

“Ooooooh, I just love newborn foals, their so small, and cute” Angel said daydreaming about what the foal might look like.

“I remember the day my sis was born, my dad took me early from kindergarten to go see my sister right after she was born, she was so cute that tiny little white filly all bundled up, she had the cutest little blue eyes.”
Soon it was lunch time, and all the children galloped outside to play, Firecracker took up his usual spot on the swings, while Bubblegum, and Angel continued to talk about the foal. Star quietly sat under the tree, and began to read a book, as she settled down and opened her book, she heard a small chirp from nearby, at first she ignored it but she kept hearing it, and it sounded closes. Star looked around to try and find the source of the chirping, as she rounded the tree, on the ground she found a small baby bird, sitting on the ground chirping calling for its mother, Star looked into the tree, she eventually spotted the nest, which was very high up in the tree. Star looked back at the small bird, which cried for its mother to come find it, but no bird came, the little bird was left there, alone on the ground. Star slowly walked over to the small bird.

“There there, its alright I’m not gonna hurt you.” She said giving a reassuring she picked up the small bird.

“How are we gonna get you back up in your nest ?” she looked up into the tree, the branch that held the nest was far out of reach for Star, she was going to need help from someone who could fly, she looked around for Firecracker, but he was nowhere to be found, then she saw Horace.

“No, he’ll try to hurt you for sure.” Star thought “I have to protect you from him” just then, Star heard a voice from behind her.

“HEY peewee, I need to talk with you” Star froze stiff as she turned to find Horace behind her.

“Watcha got there?” he asked pointing to her hooves, in which she was cradling the baby bird.

“Nothing, bye” Star tried to dash off as fast as possible.

“Hey get back here, I need to tell you something.”
Star wouldn’t have it, she needed to keep the bird safe. She galloped as fas as her hooves could carry her, still Horace was constantly right behind her.

“HEY, I JUST WANT TO TALK YOU SHRIMP”

Star continued to ignore him, and tried to speed up, still to no avail, just then, of all things, Star tripped, fell, and the little bird flew out of her hooves. She nearly cried as Horace trotted up to the little bird.

“So this is what you were so protective over” Star waited for him to start teasing it, or hurt it, tears started streaming from her eyes, waiting to hear the bird chirp, and screech in agony, yet she only heard the opposite, she heard silence, she opened her eyes. Star couldn’t believe her eyes, she looked up to find Horace gently pick up the bird with his wing, and gently stroke along is feathers. Star tried to comprehend what was going on.

“Wait, your not gonna hurt it?” She asked confused.

Horace looked at her sternly, but his face lightened a little, he looked at the bird again.

“Why would I?”

“BECAUSE YOURE MEAN, YOURE A BULLY, YOU ARE ALWAYS MEAN TO ME, MY FRIENDS!” Star now began shouting at him. This struck Horace with force, he wanted to react, but he he calmed himself, and ignored Star judging him.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk about, but first” Horace looked around.

“Where’d you find it?” he said motioning a hoof at the baby bird, now hopping around on his wing.
Star pointed toward the tree, and led Horace to it and then showed him where the nest was. Star then watched, as Horace slowly flew up to the birds nest, and gently placed the baby bird in its nest. He looked square into Stars eye’s as he flew back down.

“Now, can I please talk to you?” He said, almost expecting her to run again.
Star slowly nodded

“Listen I’m sorry for being such a jerk, I shouldn’t have don’t that. I promise I wont do it again. Apology accepted?”
Star sighed a little “ Apology accepted, I’m sorry for judging you like that, I should’ve at least heard you out first.”
Just then Horace looked up and began to shout. “ ALRIGHT, I APOLOGIZED YOU HAPPY?!?!”
Star looked up trying to spot who, or what Horace was yelling at, her eyes widened as she saw Firecracker, slowly glide down from a low cloud, and land right next to Horace.

“Yeah, I’m happy, don’t ever bully my friends again, got it.”

“Yes sir, absolutely” Star giggled, as she watched Horace begin to panic slightly, trying to prevent conflict between him, and Firecracker.

“Glad I made myself clear, have a nice day.” With that Firecracker took off again, galloping over to his favorite swing again.

Star sighed, smiling slightly as she watched the colt, jump on the swing, and use his wings to propel himself on the swing. Star slowly gathered her things and trotted back inside as Mrs. AmberStone called everyone back in.

For Morning the day was business as usual, kick the clouds, clear the skies. Morning sighed as she kicked yet another cloud. Morning hated her job, it just didn’t feel like her, weather patrol, she let out another long sigh, as she continued to bust the clouds apart. Morning thought back again, she could be living a better lifestyle right now, it all would’ve been alright, until something got in the way. Morning cursed that memory trying to forget the best she could but to no avail, the memory, the nightmare just kept coming back. She hated it, she hated this memory with a burning passion, the night when her future, her life was practically ruined.

~7 Years Ago~

“Morning darling are you ready yet?”

“Almost, I’ll be right down Violet.”
“Well hurry up dear; you wouldn’t want to be late for your big event.”

Morning rolled her eyes, as she applied the final touches to he make up, she wanted to look perfect. Tonight was the night everything would change, for years she had prepared, rehearsed, and tonight it would all come together for her. Morning was the composer for the music in a musical that was to play in the grand theatre in Canterlot, “La Vien Rouge” was to premiere that night, the premiere was to be grand event, the greatest of composers, actors, and directors would be there, even the princesses were supposed to attend, this event, if all went well would make Morning famous, there was no way Morning would allow anything to go wrong. She began to search her room, slightly panicked by the fact that she couldn’t find the music sheets.

“Morning dear, what’s taking so long?” a voice called from downstairs.

“Nothing, I just need to find the sheets, go on without me I’ll be right behind you” Morning said reassuringly.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

“VIOLET”

“Alright, alright I’ll head on out, but you better be right behind me.”

Morning continued to search her room furiously, she searched everywhere, top to bottom, left to right, it seemed as though the sheets had mysteriously disappeared. Morning looked at the clock, half an hour till curtain, time was of the essence, Morning looked around frantically, finally she found the, in front of the mirror she just stood before minutes ago. Morning groaned out frustration as she grabbed the sheets and hurried downstairs, she quickly put on a scarf, and bolted out the door into the cold night.

~Present~

Sketch rubbed his temple as another migraine rose up, he winced slightly as the pain shot through his skull again, Sketch tried to hide the fact he was having migraines from the doctor, anything to prevent more screenings. Sketch looked around as the headache subsided, he hadn’t even realized how fast time had passed, stil it should have been obvious by the fact that it was now dark outside, and the moon was in the sky. Sketch looked at the clock next to him, for the past two nights he had continuously woken up, and strangely enough, always at the stroke of midnight. Sketch frowned as he figured out what this reminded him of, the cold of night, the quiet, but that nagging feeling of a presence, voices barely audible, but still there. Sketch wanted to forget, he wanted nothing more, still it was a wish that would never come true, he closed his eyes tryig to fall asleep again, but the memory stuck to his mind. The memory of the battle for the Golden Square, the market place in Stalliongrad, the memory ran fresh in his mind, the blood curdling screams of agony, and death, the crackling of gunfire, Sketch could remember it all clearly, he felt the blood his veins chill as he thought back to the events of that night.

~7 years ago~

“DO NOT STOP, KEEP MOVING!” Caius shouted, barking orders to the soldiers around him. After the events at the crossroads, Caius was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, a promotion that didn’t really sit well. He ducked as a rocket nearly missed him, he looked ahead, the mission this time, was to take a bridge that lead directly into the market square, for days they had pushed for taking the bridge, and they were close to victory now, but that left no doubt the insurrectionist’s would blow the bridge before retreating back into the market. Caius took cover as a haze of magically charged projectiles began flying towards him, peeking over the low wall he managed to spot a machinegun, he took aim, just before he could fire though, the whole other side of the river seemed to suddenly light up in a ball of fire, from the other side of the river one could hear the screams of the insurrectionists dying, or writhing in agony as they slowly burnt away from the flames. Caius looked to the skies as three Pegasi bombers from the 305th Aerial Assault Squadron shot through the air at breakneck speeds. Caius looked back to see the insurrectionist falling back to the Market, this was it his chance to end the battle.

“THE WAYS IS CLEAR, PUSH FORWARD DO NOT STOP!” Caius shouted as the troops in his unit pushed for the bridge, as they crossed the bridge, Caius looked up at the support structures of the bridge, at first he saw nothing, but then he saw a distorted figure on the beams, almost invisible, Caius could only see it by the distortion of light that reflected of it, then as quickly as it appeared, the figure dashed away with agility that was unparalleled. Caius tried to track the figure but all focus washed out of his mind when the bridge suddenly erupted in fire, it seemed as though the whole world had gone up in flames, and Caius was right in the middle of it, Caius however couldn’t see the rest, as his unconscious body was thrown against a support beam. In an instant all went black.

Morning galloped through the streets as she tried to get to the theatre as fast as she could, after a few minutes she was near her goal, but as she came to the intersection, she froze, something wasn’t right, she felt as though she were being watched, as she tried going further down the street, three large stallions came out of an alley, grinning as they cut morning off, grinning wickedly as she came to a halt, quickly she turned around and tried another street as she slowly trotted down the street she felt uneasy, she looked back to find the three stallions, slowly trailing behind her, Morning was beginning to sweat as she tried taking another turn, again the stallions followed her, Morning was now beginning to panic, she rounded random corners frantically trying to lose her pursuers, but to no avail, Morning hadn’t realized where she was going, she looked back the stallions still there, she hadn’t noticed she was running into a dead end until she ran into a brick wall knocking her down. She quickly got back up, wanting to turn around and take a different route, but when she turned around she found three large shadow at th end of the alleyway, Morning looked around frantically, she felt her gut sink as she realized there was no escape, the three figure slowly began to approach her.

“Well, well, well, what have we got here boys” the middle stallion said slowly walking around Morning.
The others slowly forcing her back deeper into the alley, catcalling as they circled her, like Timberwolves circling their prey in its last living moments.

“So sweetheart riddle me this, what’s a beauty like you doing here?” the stallion said, now leaning in uncomfortably close to Morning. Morning winced from the potent odor of alcohol on his breath.

“You know, the streets are dangerous at night, or maybe you’re out here for another reason”

“What do you want?” morning spat trying to hide her fear, but to no avail she couldn’t hide her feelings of horror.

“Got to admit, you’re quite a look at.” Said another one of the stallions said before slapping her flank, Morning gasped at this and fell forward slightly only to be pushed to the ground by the biggest of the stallions. Morning got back up, and brushed herself off. Then out of nowhere one of the stallions grabbed her holding her in place.

“Your quite beautiful you know, makes me wonder if you’re this pretty up front you must be amazing, back there” The stallion started reaching for her flank.
Mornings face went pale as she heard this, she tried to break free, struggling all she could only to once again be pushed to the ground.

“Yeah, I like a nice piece of tail, c’mon baby lift the tail and spread ‘em.” One said
Morning turned and slapped him across the muzzle, the stallion didn’t even blink as her hoof came into contact with his face , the stallion in return grabbed the hoof and twisted it, then punched her in her face. Morning now felt sheer horror sink not her soul as the Stallion began to loom over her.

“You know we might’ve let you go before, but now I think you deserve a punishment for that, hold her down.”
Morning froze stiff in terror as two of the stallion grabbed her legs, and held her down. Morning squirmed, and struggled as much as she could, but she couldn’t break the grip.

“Uncomfortable you little bitch? Good, oh and it gets better.”
Morning began to panic even more as the stallion spread her hind legs.

“I’m gonna enjoy this, so don’t be getting any ideas so little shit.” The stallion laughed as he spat on Mornings face.
Morning felt disgusting, as the stallion began to fondle her marehood, tears rolling from her eyes as she was forced to take the shame, just when she thought it might me over, Morning gasped as the stallion plowed into her, Morning tried to scream but was cut off by a hoof covering her mouth, and a punch to the gut. Morning unable to bear the pain passed out as the stallions raped her unconscious body, grunting, and moaning as they violated her. The stallions kept at it for a few minutes until they were finished, they laughed as they began to kick, beat, and stomp on Morning as she lie there on the hard cobblestone, unconscious, bleeding, and covered in filth.

“Have a pleasant evening miss” one of the stallions said before spitting chewing tobacco on her face.
The three stallion laughed maniacally as they left her there, broken and violated. After a few minutes Morning regained consciousness, in a state of shock, and agony she stood back up, and staggered her way to the theatre

“Help me, somepony please.” She said her voice quiet, and rasping as she cough and sputtered trying to cry for help. She slowly entered through the crew entrance to thee theatre which led backstage, as Morning tried to find help. She tried to speak again when she found her friend.

“Violet’ she whispered

“Morning, where in the name of Celestia have you been, we were supposed to start several minutes ago, an-“ Violet Blossom screamed when she saw the state her friend was in, her dress torn to shreds, her face bleeding, bruises covering her whole body, and a white fluid dripping down her hind legs.

“V-Violet, I-I, I need-“

“Somepony get help, now” Violet’s eyes began to water, as she quickly grabbed her friend, who fell unconscious, and into her arms”

“What’s going on?” A grey stallion came around the corner, gasping at what he found.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU MORON DON’T JUST STAND THE YOU BLITHERING IDIOT GET HELP NOW!!!” Violet screamed, as the stallion ran for help as quick as his hooves could carry him.

Violet slowly ran her hoof over Mornings mane trying to keep calm herself, the situation was overwhelming, Violet felt dreadful as she held her best friend in her hooves. The events of that night would haunt Morning in her dreams for weeks; it was only a few weeks later they discovered Morning was pregnant. Morning for the next few months became a recluse, staying at home, only visited by family, and close friends. The stallions responsible were never found. The events of that night, were eventually forgotten, and Morning soon faded away from the spotlight.

Chapter 8: Down The Bloody Road to War

Chapter 8

Caius felt a sharp pain shoot through his skull as he slowly regained consciousness, for a moment he seemed unable to remember what happened, his senses slowly all returned, as he tried to get back up, he looked up, and gasped at what he saw. All the ponies in his unit were lined up, hooves behind their heads, a large stallion, slowly pacing behind them. The large stallion was surrounded by five other ponies, all unicorns, all had black coats, and all blind. Caius lost his breath from the shock of his sudden realization. The enemies his team had defeated not long ago, the enemy he at first knew nothing about. He knew the Insurrectionist were more organized than they originally thought, but this, this was too much.

Suddenly it all became so clear to him "This is how they put up a fight, how they cause so many casualties on our end, the reason the insurrectionist’s provided any challenge at all" Caius thought to himself; he tried to sneak another peek, as he quickly crawled behind an overturned cart. He watched as another black pony, approached the largest, and knelt before him.

“Commander, the area is secure, we have driven the oppressors back.”

“Good, have you found anything that fits the criteria?”

“No sir, none of the prisoners match.”

“Keep searching, we need somepony who fits the doctors’ needs for his work, continue your search, the rest of you, get rid of this filth.”

“Yes my liege.” The smaller stallion dipped his head, as his leader used magic to teleport away”

“Go, all of you, find more survivors, when you do bring them to me, you three finish the scum.”
With that there of the black ponies charged their horns, and began to execute the soldiers. Caius looked away, unable to watch the gruesome scene, he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, when he felt a hoof on his shoulder, Caius felt his heart stop with fear, he turned to see a black pony, uncloak itself.

“Hey I’ve got one, this fool must’ve been watching the whole time.” The stallion grabbed Caius by the horn, and threw him into the opening. Caius shrunk back as the ponies surrounded him, Caius prepared for the worse, bracing himself for a beating, or worse, but instead he felt nothing, they slowly backed off, as the one of the warriors trotted up to him, the stallion then tapped Caius with his horn, for a brief moment, Caius felt a surge of energy run through him, which quickly left and was replaced by exhaustion. The stallion slowly gave a wicked smile, and nodded to the others, Caius looked at him with bewilderment, as one of the stallion trotted up, and with a single punch, knocked Caius unconscious again.

3 Months later

Caius rose from his cot, rubbing his horn as pain shot through it, for the past month, Caius had been having near debilitating migraines, sometimes it wouldn’t be too bad, at other times, he was almost unable to get up, he slowly got off the stained mattress he was forced to sleep in, his cell was a small cubicle, consisting of a toilet, his mattress, and the chains which bound him to the floor. Caius picked up a small stone with his magic, and made another tally mark on the wall. One hundred and sixteen marks, Caius had been keeping track of how long he was imprisoned, using as a way to stay sane.

“Get up you dogs, get up, you have work to do.” A gruff voice shouted through the halls unlocking the cell.
Every day it was the same routine, get up, get rations, and then work in the mine until the your hooves bled, and shattered.

Caius slowly trotted over to a table with his food, which could one could hardly even consider edible, Caius nearly choked from offensive odors, coming off of the grey paste in front of him, still something was better than nothing, he thought to himself, he braced himself for the repulsive taste, as he prepared to eat the waste. Caius winced; the taste was absolutely terrible, their odor rancid, he felt that eating, whatever it was, was just wrong. Caius nearly fell to the ground, choking from the foul material he had just ingested; just then Caius felt a presence around him he looked up to find a group of inmates surrounding him.

“What’s the matter Equestrian filth, you still soft from all your fancy pastries you eat.” The inmates grinned down at Caius, who just glanced at him, as he got back on his hooves, only to be pushed down again.

“You Equestrian ponies are all the same, soft and weak.” The Inmate now spat on Caius’ face, causing him grimace, as he wiped the spit off his face.

“Viktor, let us crush this puny filth, he is so useless in the mine’s anyway.” One of the shorter inmate’s now spoke up, the leader of the three simply grinned, and nodded, as the other four began to beat Caius. Had this been a different situation, Caius would have by now destroyed all five of them, he would have crushed them with his bare hooves, but he knew that if he didn’t act, he would be innocent, and wouldn’t be punished when the guards came to break up the fight,, the only question was, where were the guard’s. Caius tried to see if there were any guards even around, when all of the sudden another inmates joined the hazing, except he didn’t attack Caius, he was defending Caius. Caius looked up in shock, as several other inmates, got up and joined in decimating Caius’s attackers. Caius slowly got up and got ready to leave, when he felt a hoof on his shoulder. Caius turned bracing himself for a punch, but to his surprise, not hoof met his face; he turned to find a stallion behind him.

“Come, we must go before the guards get here, move soldier. MOVE!” The grey stallion said, now motioning Caius towards the door, Caius took the opportunity, and galloped to the exit of the cafeteria. Caius stopped to catch his breath as he slowed himself just out the door. The gray stallion, trotted past him.

“Come on, this way, I need to talk to you soldier.” The aging stallion waved Caius over, who promptly followed him. Caius followed the pony, till they reached a small cave, the stallion stopped, and turned to Caius. Caius looked at the stallion in front of him, he had a gray coat, with a short, and graying navy blue mane, scars all over his face, and had a red scarf on. Caius, gave a puzzled look, as the stallion turned to face Caius.

“So,” the stallion said with a low raspy voice “you’re the new Equestrian here, name, rank, and unit.” The stallion demanded. Caius felt as he was in interrogation again.

“Cirrus, Caius L, Sergeant, 203rd Infantry Division. Anything else you want to know?” Caius asked slightly annoyed, a frown on his face. The gray stallion chuckled lightly, as he reached over and gave Caius a pat on the back.

“Son, I hope you realize you’re not alone here, you’re not the only Equestrian trooper who was unlucky enough to get captured, and sent here.” The gray stallion pulled a tan, and gold beret, out a small crack in the wall, Caius recognized it instantly, the beret worn only by the best soldiers in the Equestrian military, The Solar Legion, Caius recognized the beret, due to the fact that his brother Caesar, was a Legionary himself, Legionaries, had the most dangerous jobs in the military, only the best of the best could become legionaries.

“ So, now that you know I’m a friend, I should probably introduce myself. I am Broken Steel, and I couldn’t help but notice that. Steel paused and looked around for guards, seeing that they were still in the clear, he resumed. “ That the prison commander, seems to have some special interest in you.
Caius raised an eyebrow, giving a suspicious look. “What are you even talking about?” He asked.

“Oh come on, you know what I’m talking about.” Caius leaned in closer; he couldn’t wait to hear this crazy inmates story.

“He must be crazy, he has to be.” Caius thought to himself.
Broken began to explain. “Every other night, the guards come and take you away, your usually gone for about four to five hours, and then they bring you back, only last night, you returned with something.

“And what would that be?” Caius asked chuckling slightly with disbelief.

“See for yourself friend.” Steel pointed a hoof toward Caius’s head. Steel looked around for something reflective, soon coming across a small gem, he picked it up, and held it in front of Caius. At first Caius didn’t see anything in his reflection, but upon further examination, he found a large scar, behind his horn, Caius felt his legs become weak as he began to have strange flashes, he suddenly began to remember moments, moments when the guards took him out of his cell, he remembered being strapped to a table. Caius felt like screaming, as the painful memories, or pieces of them, returned to him, Caius almost collapsed under the weight of realization.

“What did they do to me?” Caius asked, struggling to get the words out.

“WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME?!?” Caius suddenly sized up, grabbed Steel and slammed him into the wall.

“Son, I wish I knew, but listen, right now we should focus on a way of getting you out, don’t you think?” The gray stallion said sincerely, trying to reassure Caius whose side he was on. “Your choice friend” He said.
Caius looked away for a moment, thinking about what to do. He thought hard about it, what he chose to do now, would affect everything in the future, after a minute he released Steel from his grip, and made his decision.

“Alright, but how the hell are we going to escape? In case you haven’t noticed, this place is practically a fortress, only one way in, or out, how do you expect to get out?” Caius asked, now very serious given the new circumstances.

“Nopony ever said we can’t make a way out.” Steel said a wicked grin on his face as he looked up at Caius.

“That’s not really possible either, this place is patrolled, watched, and guarded, by everypony, and their cousin, nothing would go unnoticed, and plus what about the other inmates, wont they want in on this as well?”

“Oh they already are, and even if none of the others escape, we can still use the chaos of the uprising, to make our getaway.” Caius looked at him with shock. Did he not care about the other ponies he was imprisoned with?

“What about the other Equestrian POW’s?” Caius asked concerned. “Aren’t they going to get out with us, what about their chance at freedom?”

Steel now sighed and lowered his head; he took a long breath as he tried to say this in a way that would offend Caius. “We won’t abandon our brothers, but we cannot control their fate, if they die here then at least they went down fighting, but believe me when I say that I don’t see the others as expendable.”

“Then who is, surely you’re going to use someone as cannon fodder?” Caius now became more and more frustrated, he knew where this was going, but he just couldn’t stand the idea of using other ponies as meat shields.

Steel spoke “A large majority of the ponies here, aren’t Equestrian prisoners, most of them are common criminals, traitors, people who refused to fight for the rebellion, the works.” Steel sighed again as he continued on. “Most of the ponies here are locals, and they’re here for a reason, we’ll just have to throw them out there.”

Caius now frustrated with fact he’d have to accept this reality. He didn’t want to use, and exploit these ponies, but Steel was right, most of these prisoners, were here with good reason, but that didn’t excuse the fact that using another ponies life to your own benefit, controlling them like a puppet, was just wrong, still Caius knew that if he wanted to escape, it was be necessary for his survival.

Caius felt a lump form in his stomach, he already felt sick, just thinking about the ponies he would have to manipulate, and how they would all probably die, Caius closed his eyes, and thought for a moment, would this all be worth it, the death of thousands of ponies, just to save a handful of ponies? Caius thought long, an hard about for the rest of the day, he thought about it all day, at the end of the day, he knew what needed to be done, he would do whatever it took to escape, even if it mean losing a piece of himself.

~Present~

“Well Mr. Cirrus, I’m happy to say that it appears that you have recovered much faster than expected, and that we will be releasing you tomorrow.” Sketch’s eyes shot open as he came back to reality.

“I…I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Your finished recovering, you’re going home tomorrow.” The doctor said, he turned as a knock came from the door. “And it appears you have a visitor, Miss Shine probably. The doctor trotted over to the door and opened it, outside stood Morning curious as to the why the doctor opened the door, instead of Sketch calling her in.

“Ah, Miss Shine, I figured it would be you, your free to talk to him if you like, I just leave you two alone for a while. Morning simply nodded, and slowly walked in through the door, as the doctor excused himself from the room.

“Well you’re looking a lot better.” Morning said as she trotted up to Sketch’s bedside, and took a seat next to him.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get the hay, out of here, now the only problem is where to go, once I’m up, and at it again.” Caius said smiling lightly.

“ Can’t you go stay with your family, like your parents?” Morning asked puzzled.

“And suffer another near death experience at the hands of my relatives? No, no usually my brothers take me in when I need a place to go, whenever our crazed cousins try to make me suffer an “unfortunate accident”.”

Morning gasped at this, and whispered “Your family tried to kill y- ” Sketch interrupted her, knowing what the question would be.

“Oh yes, multiple occasions, the others in my family, are extremely prejudiced against any other tribe, well actually just unicorns, earth ponies aren’t really my families enemies, but the cirrus family has always hated unicorns, until my grandfather that is.”

Morning looked confused, Sketch could tell she didn’t quite understand the situation, and how the ponies in his family ticked.

Sketch cleared his throat. “Its like this, back when Equestria was still being formed, before we had the princesses, my great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather, Magnus Lanius Cirrus, was one of Commander Hurricane’s lieutenants. Lieutenant Cirrus, was still hateful of the other tribes, and despite what Commander Hurricane told him, he still hated the other tribes, especially unicorns, because during the tribal wars, rumor has it, that the unicorns who were short on troops, used magic to make soldiers, they used the dead bodies of ponies, and used magic to put life into those soldiers, these soldiers were extraordinary, they felt no pain, they never became fatigued, and they were even rumored to have supernatural powers, you turn invisible, ghost, spooky stuff. Once the unicorns made enough troops, the made them into an army, an army only referred to as the Ragnarok, this army was supposedly unbeatable, well good ole gramps, full of pride, up on his high pedestal, he thought he could be them.”

Morning interrupted him for a moment “So he lost right?”

“ Yeah, but not before his forces managed to slaughter hundreds of them, turns out though, that every time a pony, killed a Ragnarok soldier, the magic inside, leaped into the soldier they were just killed by, then after the battle, as a few of the undead soldiers still stood, old Magnus formerly basking in his glory, was forced to watch, as his entire army was eaten by the magical energy, it slowly ate away at their flesh, this built a really deep grudge against unicorns, after his army fell, the Ragnarok, forced him to watch as they tortured, any and all survivors. Magnus pleaded Hurricane to allow him, to find a way to wipe out unicorns, but Hurricane, would have none of that, two days later the war ended, because no tribe, could afford to do so, and a few weeks after that, Equestria was founded, but that grudge still burned as if it just happened. After that Magnus forbid his sons from marrying anypony who wasn’t a Pegasus, and to show he was serious, he killed his first sons’ wife, who had just married a unicorn. He told his sons of the atrocities that unicorns committed during the war, his sons naturally agreed with him, except his first son of course, his first son left the family, and Nopony knows what happened to him, but after that, the Cirrus family hated unicorns with a burning passion.”

Sketch suddenly grew concerned as Mornings eyes widened as she took in the story. She blinked a few times, with a blank expression before coming back to reality, she looked at Sketch with a raised brow.

“Wow, must be great to live with them given your situation, j...just how did you manage to survive living with them?” She said briefly waving her hoof at his horn.

Sketch looked up for a moment, thinking back to his foalhood days, "Well, theyre werent really homicidal back then, they mostly just bullied me, and they knew if they did anything to me my father would find out, and believe me making him mad, is the biggest mistake a pony can make, ESPECIALLY if it involves his family." Sketch chuckled lightly " Dad was always extremely protective of us."

Morning slowly shook her head, she wondered how one could live like that, and still be sane (and alive) after all those years. Back to the main problem, where will Sketch stay? She thought to herself, then she got an idea, she had to think about this though, was is really a smart decision, why not, he wasn’t a stranger anymore,if anything he was more of a good friend, and it wouldn’t hurt anyone, would it?

“Well, I guess, that … maybe you could……stay with me for awhile.”
Sketch’s ears perked up slightly, not having heard what she said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that, what did you say?”

Morning was now turning beet red, she spoke up, but was still inaudible near the end of her sentence.

Sketch, now leaned closer, “um I’m didn’t get that last part, say it again please?”

Morning drew a long breath before finally saying it loud enough for Sketch to hear her.

“I said, you could stay with me if you like” She quickly clasped her hooves over her mouth, and blushed furiously, as Sketch sat there, almost not believing what he just heard.

Inside Sketch felt his heart shoot out of his body, and take to the sky, what he heard was the best thing he’d heard in a while, but he sank as he thought of the possibility of him trying to impress Morning while he was staying with her might creep her out, or that she might resent him for it, he didn’t want to come so close just to lose it all, still he couldn’t reject an offer this generous, it would be rude of him.

‘I would appreciate that very much.” He simply said, smiling back at her.

Morning was so distracted by the spur of the moment she hardly noticed the time on the clock, when she did she nearly panicked.

“CRAP, I’m going to be late to pick up Star, Morning quickly grabbed her bag, and shot for the door, shouting goodbye, as she left.

Sketch smiled a little, dropping his head back into the pillow, he decided to close his eyes and get some rest, he would need it for tomorrow.

Chapter 9: Escape

Chapter 9

“Alright, if we ever want to get out, we’re going to need a plan, we need the tools to execute it, and we need a contingency plan in case it all goes downhill….Steel are you listening?” Caius looked at BrokenSteel with an almost annoyed expression, the pony sit in front of him, did seem to be paying attention at all, Caius waved a hoof in front of his face.

“Look unless you want to attract the guards attention, you will put your hoof down, eat, and act like you’re not talking to me, better yet act as though you don’t know me, can’t attract any unnecessary attention.”

Caius quickly dropped his hoof, stared down at his food, and slowly began to eat it. He dared to sneak a peek at the guard who stood at the other end of the cafeteria, the guard pony simply stood there smoking a cigarette as he watched the inmates eating. Caius looked down again, and began to speak again.

“What about the plan?”

“I’ve already got it figured out, listen I need to know that you are absolutely one hundred percent ready to do whatever is necessary to get out of here, no matter how wrong it may seem, you need to trust me on this, do you trust me, WILL you trust me?” Steel had a sudden seriousness in his voice, the tone became darker, and cold enough freeze over Tartarus, Caius felt a shudder, as he heard his tone. Caius didn’t even need to think, he knew he could trust Steel, and he knew that with his help, he would make it out for sure, and he also knew he was ready to do whatever it took to get out, no matter the cost. Caius looked up.

“I trust you, I’m ready for this, just tell me what to do.” Caius gave a grin that had a touch of wickedness. BrokenSteel grinned as well, this was it, time to finish preparing for the breakout, BrokenSteel knew what needed to be done, and he now knew Caius was ready to do the same, he held the grin for the rest of the day, in two days, this prison camp would no longer hold him, or his friends, the day would soon come when he and his brothers in arms would take back their freedom.

Morning, sighed as Starlight quickly bolted out the door to visit her friends Bubblegum, and Angel. She looked around the house; she mumbled something to herself, as she slowly trotted over to the closet to get the vacuum. After an hour Morning had finally finished cleaning, she let out a sigh of relaxation, as she sunk into the couch; she sat there for a few moments until she noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under the coffee table. Morning picked up the sheet of paper and looked at it, on it was a drawing Star had made, and on it she had drawn what appeared to be herself, and another pony, the pony had a maroon coat, and a bright orange mane, thee Morning noticed the pink heart drawn between the two ponies, at the sight of this Morning chuckled softly, and carefully placed the picture in her daughters bags. Morning looked around, the house was spotless, and now all she had to do was keep it that way until tomorrow.

Morning took a seat on the couch, and grabbed a small book from the bookshelf. Morning smiled to herself as she looked at the cover, on the cover was a picture of Morning holding Starlight when she was still a newborn, the words photo album, were written over the picture, Morning flipped through the book a little, she stopped at one page, and admired some of the pictures, one of the pictures was taken when Morning was still a composer for operas and other orchestral works, she smiled at the picture of her sitting next her friend violet light, she remembered that on that particular night, the two were trying to piece together what would eventually become La Vien Rouge. She remembered how they went through several bottles of scotch trying to think what would make the perfect melody. Violet could never hold her liquor, Morning giggled as she turned the page, the next picture was taken when she was still a filly; on the day she got her cutie mark. The school that Morning was going to, was putting on a play and Morning was one of the ponies who would sing during the play, the play was magnificent, but what the ponies remembered most, was the beautiful, soft, melodious voice of Morning singing, the voice that seemed to overpower all others, Morning sung with an elegance no pony could match, it was as though you could have her sing anything, and no matter what it was it would come out just right,, her talent was singing. Morning looked back at her flank; her cutie mark was a white dove with its beautiful white wings spread, and a musical note placed squarely on its chest.
Morning sighed as she continued to flip through the album, reminiscing all the beautiful memories she had.

Caius followed Steel to the entrance to the mines, Steel had told Caius that he needed to tell him something important, so naturally Caius followed him, as they reached the end of the tunnels, Caius looked around and noticed how many other inmates were at the entrance as well, Caius felt suspicion rise in his mind, as Broken Steel turned around, and looked Caius directly in the eyes.

“Okay, this is it; I need you to work with me here alright?”

“What do you me-“ Caius was cut short by a hoof across his muzzle, Caius felt confused, why would he do that, he thought to himself.

“Get up you piece of shit, come on you worthless foal, you weakling!” Steel shouted, and spat at Caius. Caius quickly rose up to return the favor, by rearing up, and sending his hooves right into Steel’s face, Caius almost thought he heard a crack as his hooves impacted on Steel’s face.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!” A guard ran up, coming to see what all the noise was about.

“You hit like a foal!” Steel spat.

Caius backed away slightly, as the guard went directly for him preparing to beat Caius with a baton.

“Hey asshole!” Steel suddenly shouted out, he tried to make it obvious he had said it, when the guard turned around to attack Steel instead. Caius quickly got up, and picked up a pick axe, he slowly trotted over to the guard pony, and just as the guard turned around to face him, the guards face was impaled by the pick, as Caius drove it as deep into the pony skull as would go, as gore, blood, and bits of brain flew from the guards head, Caius then quickly pulled the pick out, and saw the large gaping hole, he left in the guards head. Caius slowly trotted up to Steel, and helped him back up.

“Perfect acting, I would've fallen for that myself, now let’s get this riot started huh?” Steel grinned devilishly as he took a a ring holding several keys from the guard.
"BROTHERS, HEAR ME, YOU ALL HAVE BEEN PUT IN HERE, TREATED LIKE DIRT, AND TORTURED LIKE NOPONY SHOULD. WELL TODAY THAT ENDS, TODAY WE SHOW THOSE DISGUSTING MONSTERS THAT WE WILL NOT BOW TO THEIR DEMANDS, WE WILL NOT BE THEIR SLAVES, I SAY WE ALL RISE UP, AND SHOW THE SCUM THAT WE ARE PONIES WHO CANNOT BE BROKEN, PONIES WHO CANNOT BE ENSLAVED, TODAY BROTHERS WE BREAK FREE FROM THEIR WRETCHED HOLD, TODAY WE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, WHO IS WITH ME?" With that all the inmates around them began shouting, cheering, and howling in agreement.

“BROTHERS, TODAY WE BREAK FREE, RISE BROTHERS, RISE!” Steel shouted with his powerful deep voice, as he shouted out to the inmates, the whole mine seemed to fall to complete and utter chaos, Inmates were attacking guards left , and right. Caius quickly grabbed the guard’s baton, as he quickly galloped after Steel, who began to lead the other inmates out of the mines. As they reached the end of the mine, Caius joined Steel and the others on the lift, which led to the mines exit. Broken Steel turned to Caius with a grin.

“You see brother, we are already well on our way.”

“Yeah, don’t forget though were just getting started.” Caius said

“Caius there’s somepony I’d like you to meet.” Broken steel turned Caius around to face a rather large stallion with a jet black coat, and a cut brown mane,

“My friend, this Titan the monster of the mines, slayer of the guards, he is one of the most dangerous prisoners here,, and you know what the best part is?” Caius shook his head slowly, “He’s on our side!”

“Pleasure to meet you Caius” The large stallion extended a hoof to Caius. Caius was surprised, he didn’t like to judge, but at first sight the large stallion didn’t look like a very sociable pony, then again who here did?

“Alright my brothers, we must arm ourselves if we want to be free, everyone push for armory, do not stop no matter what happens, no retreat from here on out.”

The lift soon reached the surface, just outside its door, was a small guard trying to hold off a group of prisoners, shouting at them to get back, his voice was soon silenced, when Titan drove the ponies skull into a wall. Caius, and the others grabbed whatever weapons they could find, as they prepared to cross the courtyard to get to the armory, Caius levitated a small side arm in front of himself, he never really liked guns, but if he had to choose which weapon he disliked the most, he’d have to say the PP23, it was horribly complex, and difficult to maintain, and most of all, it was drop safe if he dropped the pistol it would go off, no doubt. Caius reluctantly loaded though, and took what he could get. He quickly thought over the plan again, secure keys to lift, capture armory, unleash the remaining prison inmates to create overwhelming chaos, and finally use magic to teleport away from the prison, and get some distance. Caius took cover behind a mine cart, as the inmates slowly pushed open the large metal doors, that sealed them inside the mine, just as the door began to open, ponies started falling, their bodies being torn apart by the gunfire of guards outside, then following Steel’s lead, he ran out and took cover behind a stone barricade outside.

“Caius, those guards have us pinned, we need to find a way to passed them.” Steel shouted as he dug deeper into cover behind the barrier.

Caius looked around, he spotted a small canister, the text on it read “CAUTION HIGHLY FLAMMABLE” Caius grinned as he used his magic to lift it and launch it at the guards, the canister went flying, and just before it hit the ground directly in front of the firing squad, Caius shot the canister, and the guards went up in flames, screaming in agony as they burnt to death. Caius immediately recovered, and along with the other inmates, made a run for the armory, Caius, looked to Steel, who laughed as he stomp on one of the burning guard ponies, he looked up at Caius, an almost crazed expression on his face, Caius almost felt worried, but shook it off, and continued towards the armory. As they reached the door to the armory, Caius looked at Steel again, now he was worried, Steel looked as though he had gone insane, he was covered with blood from the guards he had gutted. Caius tried to bring him back into reality.

“Steel, HEY Steel, wake the fuck up brother!” Steel paused, his face going blank; he blinked a few times before looking up to Caius who gave him a quick wake up slap. “Steel, snap out of it, we’re at the armory.”

“R-right, yes, MEN ARM YOUR SELVES, WE WILL NOT FALL, WE WILL NOT BREAK, WE WILL BE FREE!”
With that, Caius kicked in the door, and shot the guard inside, Steel quickly ran upstairs to get on the radio, as he broadcast his speech all across the prison camp, or more of a fortress, Caius never spent much time outside, now on the roof of the armory, he saw just how big his prison was.

“There must be thousands of ponies here.” He told himself, as Titan began to break down the door to the arms locker. Soon the arms locker was open, and inmates began to arm themselves, combat harnesses, rifles, SMG’s, and plenty ammunition to go around, Caius quickly grabbed an automatic rifle,, and joined Broken Steel outside.

“Caius, this is it, victory is at hand, now I know you assured me this earlier, but now it’s more important than ever, do not hold back, if I tell you to do something, you cannot hesitate, you must do exactly as I say, do you understand?” Caius nodded “Yes, of course”

“Good I’m glad you understand, our brothers in arms have arrived.” Caius looked around, as a few ponies approached them, Caius could almost instantly tell that they were Equestrian soldiers.

“Steel, we’re ready.” One of the ponies said.

“Excellent, is everything ready, you have its location correct?”

“Yes, it’s in sector 3, building A, sublevel 6.”

“Perfect, how does security look?” Steel asked.
The large white stallion chuckled lightly “well with the prisoners running this place to the ground, security has been seriously reduced, so getting in should be easy”

“Great, let’s go”

“We’re all clear on what must be done right?” Steel asked again, they all nodded.

“Then you all will understand why I’m doing this.” Caius didn’t understand what he meant, until Steel quickly turned to the other inmates who weren’t soldiers, then shot, and killed them. Caius froze in horror”

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Caius burst out at Steel.

“They would’ve only slowed us down, they aren’t experienced in combat like us, we can’t afford any delay, I thought you said you were ready to do whatever it takes”

“I didn’t think you, betraying and executing innocent ponies!

“Don’t you dare back out now soldier, we need you, we need you because your living proof of what they Innies are doing here, we need the brass to take this conflict serious, and you’re the key, you’re getting out of here whether you like the methods or not, dead or alive, you’re getting out of here, and if you don’t want to play along” Steel pointed his pistol at Caius “I can also just make this easier for us”

Caius froze stiff as he stared down the barrel of the sidearm being pointed between his eyes, he knew he had no choice, if wanted out; this is how it was going to happen.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” He sighed as he reluctantly decided to go along with the plan.

“Good, let’s move out” Steel holstered the pistol, and the group moved on.
They made their way to the east side of the fortress, with little to no resistance, as almost all the guards were fighting in the south and west, Caius still didn’t know what it was they we’re looking for, but if it would help them escape, he wanted it. The group soon reached a large building, with almost no windows, it had 3A painted in red over the door, and Steel quickly galloped over and kicked down the door, and motioned the others inside, as they all moved towards their objective. Once inside they took an elevator down, Caius watched at the small screen, counted down the floors, SU1, SU2, SU3, until they reached SU6, the doors opened, and they entered a hallway. One of the ponies in the group walked over to a small closet, opened it and pulled out a duffel bag, inside were guard uniforms.

“Put these on, and grab a security pass, we’ll need this to get in, and remember the cover story, sent by the commander as a precaution” The grey stallion said.

Caius hurriedly put a uniform on, once they all had on, the grey stallion put the duffel bag back into the supply closet, and started down the corridor, they walked to the end of the corridor and turned left, at the end was a large steel door, with two guards, protecting it.

Caius felt nervous as they approached the two guards, as they got closer, one of the guards trotted over to them.

“Stop, what are you doing here, you’re supposed to be securing the prisoners” the guard said, his voice showed no sign of fear, or question.

“Orders from the top, we’re supposed to help guard this place just in case, you got a problem talks to our superiors.”

“All guards we’re ordered to aid in putting down the uprising, until I hear otherwise I can’t let you in”

Just then Steel pulled out his pistol, and quickly killed both the guards, he searched the guards, and found the keys to unlock the doors, and tossed one of them to Caius, and walked up to one of the two panels.

“Locking mechanism requires two operators, on three, one, two, three, turn!” Caius quickly turned the key in its slot, and the door let out a sharp hiss before opening. Caius couldn’t believe his eyes as he entered the large dome shaped room, in the center was a gargantuan purple gem, suddenly he felt strangely rejuvenated as he entered the room, the light from the gems glow, shining on him.

“This is Orion, the gem is used to boost magical abilities, if a unicorn uses magic within range of this thing, the spells power will be increased tenfold, and we also believe that that’s what they put in your brain”

Steel turned to Caius “My friend, you’re the only unicorn here, and you know how to use magic to teleport, so we’re gonna need you to teleport us out of here”

“Alright, I just, I need to concentrate for minute, I always had difficulty with this one”

“Aw for pony’s sake, Steel you said the guy was good at magic.”
Steel shot a stern look at the pony behind him “I said he knows the spell we need, he knws the spell to teleport so unless you have any better ideas on getting out of here I suggest you keep your mouth shut, listen Caius try to get us out of here as soon as you can alright.”

Caius nodded he began to concentrate when a voice spoke out.

“I wouldn’t even think about leaving if I were you”
The others began to look around as they tried to identify where the voice was coming from, suddenly shot began to ring out, and all the ponies fell dead, Caius turned around, and watched as a tan colored pony slowing walked out from the shadows.

Steel pulled his pistol, but before he could fire, the strange pony shot him twice in the chest, Caius stood stiff, and watched in horror, and sadness as Steel hit the ground with a heavy thud, the pony stepped over him, and began to approach Caius. Caius lifted his rifle, only to have it shot out of his hooves, and then be shot in the leg. Caius fell to knees, wincing from wound.

“You shouldn’t try to leave, all that work I put into you, oh well I guess you can’t have everything you want” the pony rested the pistol on Caius’s head, but before he could fire, two bullets tore through the pony’s neck and shoulder, then in a flash, Steel, not finished just yet, quickly tackled the pony, and began punching him.

“GO; GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN! Steel shouted ‘Forget about me just go now!”
The pony quickly knocked Steel off of him, and grabbed the pistol, at the same time Caius tried as hard as he could to focus on casting a teleportation spell, in an instant Caius began to fade away, the pony fired one last shot, and just before the warped form of Caius disappeared the bullet hit entered the teleportation spell. The pony chuckled as the smoke from the spell began to spread.

Caius felt a sharp pain run through his head, as he opened his eyes, he shot up, looking around.

“Had the spell worked? Am I free? Where is Steel? Where am I?” question roared through Caius’s mind as he tried to figure out where he was, suddenly a voice spoke out.

“Calm down, sir I need you to calm down please” Caius stopped and looked to his left, his eyes widened when he saw who was sitting next to him. She sat there with her pink mane in a bun, just like the night they met, she had a medical coat on, and a surgical mask around her neck. Redheart.

“Good to see you too big guy.” She giggled softly smiling at him. “You know, I figured we’d run into each other again, but honestly this isn’t the way I was hoping to see you again”
Caius smiled back at her, and then began to worry again as he tried to remember what happened “H-how did you find me……..and more importantly what are you doing here?”

“Army needed doctors, and nurses on the front. Civilian or military most medical professionals were sent here, I didn’t like the idea of being sent here, so I volunteered”

“Alright, I guess that makes sense” Caius winced as another shot of pain, rushed down his spine.

“Where’d you guys find me?”

“We found you out in the snow yesterday, your probably one of the luckiest ponies I know”

“How so”

“Are you serious, how many ponies do you know, have taken a bullet to the brain, and lived”
Caius’s eyes shot wide open as memories flooded his mind, the escape, and what happened, but for some reason the memories seemed incomplete, as though something were missing. He slowly reached a hoof towards his head, he felt the rough surface of cast, and bandages wrapped around his head.

“You’re the talk of the base you know that, pony mysteriously materializes out of nowhere, no gear, nothing, just scar, and bullet wound to the head, and a pulse, wakes up a day later, but wheter your OK, that’s what I’m gonna have to determine now”
Redheart reached for the table behind her, and grabbed a clipboard from it.

“Let’s see if dogs are still barking, tell me your name?”

“C..Caius Cirrus”

“Alright, how many princesses are there?”

“Ugh…uh….two”

“Great, now who am I, and what’s your M.O.S?”

“Redheart and I’m an 11C”

“My name and eleven Charlie correct.”

“Alright without looking, what’s your cutie mark?”

“A sketch pad with a pencil going through it”
Redheart smiled as she added another check to the list, and looked up at him with a reassuring smile that everything was good so far.

“Alright, think you can stand up, and walk around?”

Caius quickly rose up, and surprisingly fast, got up and trotted to the other side of the room. Redheart’s jaw dropped at the sight of this, she had expected that he’d need help, but this was just too much.

“Ok now this is odd, first you get shot in the head, and remember everything, you exhibit no signs of brain, or nerve damage, and now you just get right back up as if nothing happened, you are damn lucky!”

Caius smiled at her, as she stood up, and walked over to him, she brushed he tail softly across his muzzle as she trotted past him to the door, she opened it and called out.

“Hey, shy, get over here”

Caius watched as a small yellow mare galloped over to Redheart, she seemed almost afraid of Redheart despite her disarming smile.

“Y-yes, did you need something?”

“Yeah can you get this to the Doc, tell him sleeping beauty’s up and kicking again.”

“oh um yes, yes I..I’ll get right on it.”

“Thanks, and try to relax a little.”

Redheart turned around smiling as she trotted back over to Caius.

“Poor thing, that filly is so timid she practically scared of her own shadow, honestly makes me wonder what she’s doing here”

“Probably just wants to help” Caius said softly.

“She a real sweetheart, always kind to the others” Redheart now turned and stared directly into Caius’s eyes, her gaze fixed on him.
“Now big guy, you're gonna tell me what all has happened, and I want to hear everything"

Caius sighed as he got ready to tell a long story he didn’t really feel like telling.

Chapter 10: "Loss"

Redheart sat there confused, and slightly pissed she just got to see Caius again, and just when he’s going to fill her in on what’s happened to him over the two years she hadn’t seen him, he can’t seem to remember a thing, except a name, and everything before a few months ago.

“So you really don’t remember what happened?” Redheart asked.

“Like I told you, I would tell you everything, but I just can’t remember anything, I’m sorry” Caius said apologetically.

“Well, I probably wouldn’t like what I heard anyway, I wish we could just end this war already.” Redheart said quickly getting back up.

“Hey, um I have to get back to work, if you need anything just call alright?”

Caius nodded, smiling lightly, watching the white mare walk out the tent, just before walking out she turned around and looked at him once more.

“And Caius . . . . . it’s good to see you again.” She smiled once more before leaving. Caius sat back on the bed, and tried to think back, he tried to remember what happened, who was Steel, and what ahd he been doing, where had he disappeared to. Caius looked up, the tent he was in was small, and filled with all sorts of medical devices, a sudden flash of pain shot up his spine.

“I put so much work into you.”

Caius looked around frantically as he heard those words, but no one was there, he was alone, yet he could have sworn he heard a voice, speaking to him, he dismissed it, and carried on. After a few minutes he decided to take a few minutes to get some air, he squinted, as he got hit by a flash of bright sunlight, as he stepped outside his tent, the sound of ponies chattering, soldier marching in formation, as he took a few steps outside, he heard a voice speaking to him again, only this time it was deep, and almost disturbing.

“MUUUUUURRRDDDDDEEER”
The voice was almost blood curdling, and Caius shuddered violently as the word roared in his mind. For a moment his vision blurred, Caius shook his head.

“What the fuck is going on?” he asked himself slowly walking around the other tents, Caius looked around trying to find Redheart, if anyone could help him, she could. Caius began to move a little faster, looking for her everywhere, but to no avail, she was nowhere to be found. Caius sat on the ground, mumbling disgruntled words, as he tried to think where she might be.

“This is absolutely unbelievable, you of all people” Now Caius knew he heard someone speaking to him, he turned around quickly to see who it was, his eyes widened with surprise, and a large smile formed almost instantly.

“Brother, you should really be ashamed of yourself.” Caius couldn’t believe it, before him, stood a large stallion, with a brick red coat, and a short black mane, it was Caesar. Caius stood up, and quickly galloped over to his brother, who he hadn’t seen in almost two years.

“Caesar, w-what are you doing h-, I thought that” Caius struggled to get the words out, his mind overwhelmed with joy from seeing another familiar face.

“My units here to help, our forces push further into Stalliongrad, we’ve been running ops, in and out for days, this is the first break I’ve had in a two months.”

“Just glad to see your still kicking” Caius said. Caesar chuckled lightly, his face though changed when he noticed the bandages around his brother’s head.

“Alright, you are not doing anything, until you explain this to me.” Caesar said, his tone now extremely serious.

Caius sighed, he himself didn’t know too much about what happened, or at least that’s what he thought, Caius shared what he knew though, his brother hanging on to every word.

“So you don’t remember a thing? I can’t imagine how that must feel.” Caesar said, placing a hoof on his brother’s shoulder.

Caius looked around, trying to change the subject when he spotted a row of tents, they were riddled with holes, and scorched in some places.

“What happened there? He asked pointing in their direction.

“This base is always being harassed, Innies hide up in those mountains, and drop a few mortars on us, we actually got hit just last night, nopony was hurt, thank goodness.”

“And your team hasn’t done anything about it?” Caius asked confused.

“Not much we can do, every time we try to bomb them, they retreat into the caves, and ground troops, can’t get up there, well safely anyway”

“So if I ‘am to understand this correctly, you’re stationed at an aid station, and when the enemy shoots you, you can’t shoot back?”

Caesar grumbled and poked at the ground with his hoof as he nodded reluctantly.

‘Well . . . . . . You’re fucked”

“Caius . . . . .I need to ask you something”

Caius turned to his brother, smiling at him.

“ Where were you for the past two months?”

Caius began to feel uneasy, slowly beginning to back away.

“Ponies don’t just disappear, brother for the sake of our kingdom, and the ponies that call it home, tell me! WHAT. HAPPENED. IN. STALLIONGRAD!”

Just then Caius felt a pain unlike any he ever felt shoot through his entire being, he screamed in agony as he experienced unbearable pain, he fell to his knees, and suddenly the pain focused on his horn, Caius felt as though his head were being torn apart with ice picks, and bits of barb wire, Caius rolled on the ground in immeasurable pain , and agony, until he fell unconscious. In the 60 seconds of hell, Caesar had called over medical help; Caesar had never seen anything like this before, if Caesar was to get to the bottom of this, he would have to dig deep.

Caius woke up a few hours later, this time both Redheart, and Caesar were standing over him, he winced as he tried to get up, only to feel a hoof keep him down. Redheart shook her head.

“You’re staying in bed this time big guy” She said, her voice cold, and stern.

“You’re going to stay there until the doctors find out what’s wrong with you”
Caius looked up at his brother “I’m f-“

“HORSESHIT!!!”

“Caius, you are not fine, what you did out there isn’t fine, it’s scary that’s what it is, and we don’t want to lose you again.” Redheart said, her tone now softening. Caius looked up at her. He noticed tears beginning to form in her eyes, she couldn’t take it, Redheart was obviously carrying a lot on her conscious, the deaths of ponies she knew, ponies she didn’t, the pain, and suffering of the war around them, it was starting to take its toll on her.

Caesar cleared his throat to get his brothers attention before speaking “Listen, I don’t think it would be wise to do anything stupid at this point, you need to rest more, and we need to look into whatever it is that causing you all this pain”

Redheart walked off, crying quietly trying to hide her sobs, still Caius, Caesar knew just what was going on in her mind.
“Brother?”

“Caius, pleases I need to know. If you tell me what happened to you over the past month while you were MIA, I might be able to help narrow down what happened, please Caius, please for the love of Celestia tell me, try to remember.”

“I can’t” Caius muttered softly, rolling on to his side facing away from his brother “I just can’t alright.”
Caesar slowly backed away from the bed; he looked back at Redheart, and looked at Caius.

“Caius, I’ll take care of her for you, in the mean time you need to rest”

Caius just nodded lightly, as he buried himself deeper in his blankets.

“The crystals here. . . . . .They aren’t normal”

“It’s like I see myself in them, not a reflection but an actually copy of myself . . . . . inside the gems”

“Their light . . . it makes you see things”

“I put so much work into you”

Caius eyes shot open, and he nearly flew out of bed as he awoke from, whatever that qualified as. He had a cold sweat,
and his eyes darted back and forth, scanning the room he was in, soon he spotted a figure in the back of the room, the large pony just stood there, staring at him, Caius could feel it, the other ponies eyes burning into his mind, suddenly an image flashed into his head, a large grey stallion smiling with a dark red scarf, and a short grey beard. Suddenly the image left his mind as quickly as it appeared the pony across the room with it. Caius shook his head, and looked around again.

“H-hello?”

No response.

Caius looked at the clock on the end table next to him, it was about one in the morning, Caius sighed and threw his head into the back of his pillow, trying to process what he just saw.

“What happened to me?” he asked whispered.

A quiet voice almost inaudible, responded to his question even though there was not a soul in the room.

“You survived my friend, you survived”

“Survived? Survived what, what did I survive?”

The voice spoke once more.

“Hell”

Caius closed his eyes, and despite his frustration listened to voice.
“What do I do now?”

“Kill a god!”

Caius’s eyes shot wide open as he heard those words, he listened again not completely sure he heard correctly.

“Overthrow those self -proclaimed gods, sometimes when the holy sin, heresy is the only answer”

Now Caius was sure he wasn’t just hearing things, and he knew what this voice was demanding, still the message seemed like a riddle.

“What does that mean exactly?” no response, Caius slammed his hoof against the bed. He couldn’t seem to understand what the message meant, more importantly where the voice came from, he looked around the room again, and still nothing but emptiness, and silence. Caius kicked off the covers, his brother told him to rest, he didn’t say how long, and Caius felt like a spring wound tight, ready to burst. He quickly got up, and trotted back outside. Caius looked up into the night sky, the full white moon glowing, he admired the night sky, with all the stars sparkling, and shining brilliantly. Caius smiled softly, and began to briskly trot between the tents, weaving around them like a maze, after a few minutes he found an opening, he looked around, quickly ducking behind a supply crate, as he heard the approach of a sentry, the guard pony stopped a few feet from the crate looked around, and after a moment moved on. Caius cautiously got back up from behind the crate, and looked back up at the sky, the night was beautiful, it practically left him in awe, he always thought of the night sky as the ultimate work of art, a picture no pony could duplicate, a master piece only achievable by Princess Luna herself. Caius exhaled as he felt a soft breeze roll over him as he stood there enjoying the peace of the night, suddenly a quiet chirp came out of nowhere. Caius looked around, trying to track the sound quickly following it with eyes to a small bat that was flying around in circles over him, Caius watched as the small creature orbited him several times before losing interest and flying off a few minutes later. Slowly Caius turned and headed back to the tent, he didn’t want to be gone too long, and risk somepony (his brother more importantly) discovering he was on yet another stroll, he trotted back as quietly as possible, and when he reached the tent, slipped in the tent flap.

“Beautiful nights always seem to get my spirits up.” Caius thought to himself, he heard a low rumble in his stomach, only now realizing just how hungry he was, he looked around his tent for some form of nourishment, luckily he found a small grain bar sitting on a table, Caius quickly levitated it over to himself, opened and happily began to chew. Caius looked around so more, getting to know his environment a little more, the tent was actually quite large, at least five or six more patients could easily fit in here, there was a small window in the tent, and a few tables sat across from his bed, which were covered in various papers, clipboards, and other miscellaneous items. Caius sighed, nothing really interesting, he thought to himself continuing his search, he looked under his bed, and found a bag, he quickly took the bag out from under the bed, and opened it, his eyes widened in surprise, and slight horror at what he found. The bag was filled with pictures, and notes, the pictures were of him, obviously taken while in combat, due to the low quality image, but one could still tell it was him. Caius became increasingly concerned as he rummaged deeper into the bag, as he dug deeper and deeper the items he found became stranger to him, he began to find personal notes, medical reports, charts, training manuals, and in the bottom of the bag, was a small sidearm. Caius levitated the sidearm to himself; he magically disassembled it, the pistol coming apart, every piece floating in close proximity of each other, after a minute of examination he reassembled it, and began to examine other items in the bag. Caius began to feel sick, as he read the medical charts, every last bit off information on it fit him to the detail, his height, weight, race, eye, allergies, everything. Every last bit of information one could get about him was written down, or printed, and all that information was lying at his hooves, another oddity about the documents was that all names were crossed out, he could already assume his name had been there originally, but wherever it said name on the document, there was a large line of black ink. He flipped through the documents, now instead of medical info; he began to find military documents, combat records, after action reports, the works. Caius couldn’t believe what he was seeing , someone had all this information on him, and- he paused for a moment, how did he know that someone he knew hadn’t placed it there, but that idea was absurd, but still how did he know. The thought was interrupted by the low sound of heavy thumps, they were heavy, and far away, the sound one usually heard when a piece of artillery was being fired, Caius fell to the ground, as an explosion struck a nearby tent, and hell began to break loose. Caius galloped outside, hearing the cannons fire again, he quickly galloped for cover, as more and more shells rained down on the camp.

“THE BASE IS UNDER ATTACK! ALL PERSONELL ARE ORDERED TO EVACUATE IMMEDIATLEY!” A loud voice boomed across the base, and everywhere he looked, Caius watched doctors, nurses, and soldiers scramble as they began to prepare for evacuation.

“Redheart” Caius immediately thought of her, he needed to find her, Caius quickly galloped off, searching furiously, asking everyone where she might be, to no avail, he continued looking around, until a large maroon figure collided with him.

“Caius, you need to get out of here now!” Caesar barked at him as he quickly got back onto his hooves.

“Where is she?” Caius asked

“Don’t worry we’ll get her out, right now you need to get out of here!”
Caius’s face began to turn red with anger “ Where is she?” he asked once more.

“Are you deaf, get going I’ll get her, just go.”

“Caius finally snapped he tackled his brother, and pinned him to the ground.

“WHERE IS SHE!?!” he spat.

Caesar looked his brother in the eyes, he could tell there was no stopping him, he slowly lifted his hoof and pointed to the southern end of the camp, with that Caius took off in the blink of an eye; Caesar knew his brother could move, but he’d never seen his brother move so quickly in his life.

Caius practically flew, as he weaved between tents checking each of them as quickly as possible, still he couldn’t seem to find Redheart, Caius began to panic, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. Caius began to round a corner when a shell impacted near him, throwing him into a nearby tent, he shook his head trying to regain focus when suddenly a hoof came down with a crushing force, Caius rolled to the side, the hoof of his attacker missing his head by inches, Caius looked up to see a large unicorn standing before him, the unicorn was different though, no eyes, strange markings and lines covering its coat, and its mouth stitched shut, a Ragnarok. Caius quickly dodged another assault from the dark unicorn, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, a Ragnarok, a pony summoned by magic created to fight to the death. Caius struggled to avoid the attack launched at him by the creature, dodging punch , after punch, Caius swiftly threw a punch back at the creature, only for it to grab his hoof, and flip Caius over its back and on to a operating table, the Ragnarok, quickly dashed over to Caius and began to violently assault Caius, beating him endlessly with the intent on killing him, Caius shielded his face with his forelegs, and looked around, to his left he spotted a scalpel just out of his reach, he quickly kicked the Ragnarok in the gut, which in turn fell back a few feet, Caius quickly grabbed the scalpel, jumped of the operating table, and with one swift motion, sliced open the Ragnarok’s throat, which to Caius’ dismay didn’t do anything. The creature quickly got back up, and started attacking Caius again, Caius now grabbed the Operating table, and flipped it onto his opponent, who in turn turned around and kicked it away, Caius cursed as his opponent avoided yet another attack, Caius quickly used his magic to levitate a large saw, which he began to spin rapidly, once it spun fast enough he launched at his oncoming enemy, the saw sliced the Ragnarok’s right foreleg clean off, yet the creature just kept coming, even with a major lack of balance, Caius kick the Ragnarok to the ground, retrieved the saw, and launched it at the Ragnarok again, this time removing the left foreleg, the Ragnarok then wobbly at first, quickly got on is hind legs, and began to charge at Caius using it horn. Caius facehoofed as he simply sides stepped to avoid the attack.

“Ok I know I’ve seen this somewhere before” Caius thought to himself, he then swiftly removed one of its hind legs. Now Caius could say he’d seen it all, as the creature simply stood there, bouncing on its last limb quite literally, Caius just decided to get it over with, he rolled his eyes as he cut off its last leg, he laughed as he watch the legless being drop to the ground, wriggling around try to kill its opponent, Caius slowly trotted over to it, the story said the only way to kill the Ragnarok without the curse affecting you was to crush destroy the horn, or skull, and with that Caius lifted a hoof and swiftly brought it down on the abominations horn with a satisfying crack, Caius watched as the Ragnarok turned to dust before him, he stood there watching as it slowly turned to nothing but ash, and dust. Caius looked down on his fallen enemy for one last moment before a shell going off outside the tent reminded him of his mission, he quickly galloped out, the base was now in flames tents were burning, and shells rained endlessly from the sky. Caius looked around and found a pony trying to get away from the shells barrage, Caius quickly stopped him.

“Where’s Redheart?” He asked, the pony pointed back to where he just came from, with that Caius quickly galloped in that exact direction, he weaved between the tents, and structures throughout the camp, dodging the incoming shells, moving faster than ever before, he finally came upon a destroyed bunker where he spotted Redheart and another soldier pulling another out of the rubble of the collapsed bunker.

“Red!” He shouted out to her . Redheart turned to see Caius standing there, she quickly looked down at the body they pulled from the rubble, and then galloped over to Caius, trying to stop him from going near the wounded trooper.
The other trooper was about to call out for Redheart to help him carry the wounded, when a large purple blade made of magic drove through his chest , lifted him and threw him to the side with force, the figure wielding the blade then removed his cloak and made himself visible as he prepared to finish the broken pony at its hooves, but was struck by a magic bolt before it bbring down the blade. Caius quickly charged the Ragnarok, ready to tackle it before it could regain its balance, he slammed right into the undead beings side, sending it hurdling to the ground. Caius quickly crushed its horn, and watched as it dissolved before him.

“Are you alright?” he asked turning to Redheart. She nodded and rushed over to the wounded pony.

Caius quickly trotted over to her and turned over the pony. Caius felt his heart drop. Before him was he brother, broken and injured, Caius knew it wasn’t the moment to get emotional he threw his brothers body onto his back and carried him as he and Redheart galloped for the evacuation portal. Caius looked at his brother, it didn’t look good, his brother was bleeding severely, and if he didn’t get help soon, his brother would die, Caius pushed himself moving as fast as he could, only slowing himself down so Redheart could keep up. They reached the clearing where the portal was still open, and ponies were still filing though trying to escape, all around where the glowing pink ashes of the undead ponies, Caius could see it, only a short distance to cross and they would be safe, they were almost there when Caius heard his lover scream in fear, he turned and saw as one of the beings reared up ready to impale her with a blade made of magic, Caius dropped his brother, and ran to save her as two more of the abominations seemed to materialize from nothingness around his mare, he sent a swift kick straight to the Ragnaroks skull pulverizing it, the abomination disintegrating in mid-air. Caius fought as he tried to hold off more, and more of the abominations, the black creature constantly appearing around him, the number of them was starting to become over whelming, his horned gave a suddenly flash, and a shockwave shot through the ground, sending the undead flying, Caius rushed to his lover.

“Redheart, REDHEART! LOOK AT ME, YOU’RE GOING TO BE OK, WE NEED TO GO LET’S MOVE”

Redheart stood up, and was about to run when a beam of light suddenly thrust through her neck, Caius watched in horror as another the abomination that did, pulled her body of off its blade and carelessly tossed it aside. That was it, the straw that broke the camel’s back. Caius felt a rage build, at the moment the fires of hell had no fury like his own, and a sense of the darkest and purest form of sheer hatred welled up in his stomach. He screamed with rage, as he charged head on at the black creature, he charged full speed ready the abomination however deflected him as sent Caius flying, Caius recovered quickly and created another shockwave which threw the abomination off its hooves, Caius galloped over and with his magic, wrapped a piece of barbwire around the beings neck, and began to pull, the wire slicing into the monstrosities throat, eviscerating its wind pipe, as blood spurted, and began to flow freely from its mouth, then Caius reared up and with one powerful kick the wire sliced through the abomination decapitating it, and leaving a bloody mess on the ground. Caius trotted over to Redheart, her cold lifeless body lying on the ground, Caius fell to his knees, tears welling up in his his eyes as he sat before the dead body of somepony he loved, Caius felt as though all happiness had been taken from him, any reason to smile no longer existed. Caius was then abruptly reminded of what situation he was in when a shell when off near him he quickly got up, grabbed his brother, and jumped through the portal. He felt a deep pang of sorrow as he thought about her, remembering that night he spent with her. It would be a long time before Caius ever smiled again.