Blight of The War Horse (Reforged)

In the frigid air of the mountain-side city, Canterlot, snow gently descended from the barely-parted gray clouds above, blanketing the buildings and street’s below in a thick layer of fluffy white snow. Its citizens walked these streets in their ever-present casualness, wearing thick coats and warm accessories to protect themselves during winter’s takeover. With the holidays in a few weeks, spirits were high amongst the upper classed ponies, with even some of the more stingy nobles showing a more generous and outgoing nature.

Everything appeared swell for everpony in Canterlot.

“Ah! Thief. He stole my purse!”

Unfortunately, nothing ever went as smoothly as one would like.

Running from the elderly pegasus with her small, pink hoof bag dangling from his mouth by its strap, the young unicorn stallion dressed in ragged clothes ran expeditiously through the crowded streets.

“Get bent!” He taunted, voice muffled. Turning sharply at a corner, the thief spotted a trio of royal guards quickly approaching from behind out from the corner of his eye.

But having lived on the streets for a long time, the stallion confidently smirked as he dipped into a seemingly random alley, running up to a stacked pile of crates and climbing them. With a grunt, the thief jumped over a fence dividing the dirty pathway, landing on the other side, successfully creating a way to circle around the trio of guards and escape without being noticed. The thief waited by the entrance for the clanking armor to fade before dashing into a new street, cackling about his victory.

Following a few fair minutes of walking, the stallion found a good spot in a busy park to inspect his reward. Sitting behind a bush near an occupied foal’s play area, the thief plopped the bag onto the ground, pulled back its flap, and began digging. Sadly, there hadn’t been much to write home about in terms of value- the only things of note were a few lost bits and a broken watch.

“Eh, I could fix the watch and sell it off.” The thief shrugged.

Suddenly, just as he finished putting everything back in the purse, a cluster of terrified screams rang out near the play area. Not being a total asshole, the thief worried something must have happened and raised his head to turn around and check-

“Don’t move.”

As soon as those two words left their mark in the air, it felt like it’d dropped into sub-zero temperatures once they registered in the thief’s mind. The thief looked past the bag between his hind legs to see the distinct outline of a hulking figure towering over him now that he wasn’t distracted. And when he thought about it, some screams belonged to adults sitting on the benches nearby.

Swallowing a hoofball-sized lump in his throat, the thief's trembling body slowly, shakingly, looked up to meet the pony he and everypony in Canterlot knew by now.

Glaring down at him with her singular eye that burned with the heat of a thousand suns and a deep scowl was- what locals dubbed her as -the demon of Canterlot. Her purple, golden-trimmed armor glistened with the minimal light pouring down from the sky, her hoof resting on a large sheathed sword attached to her left flank. Usually, tales of her ‘service’ centered around her nightly stalking of the streets for no-gooders like him; seeing the demon in the light no less than an inch away from him was almost too terrible to be true.

Lost in thought, a snort from the demon caused the thief to let out a yelp and back away with the purse close to his chest.

“I don’t have the time nor patience to deal with a pathetic unicorn rat like you. Hoof over the bag, and I’ll let you go without too many broken bones.” She said, adding a sadistic grin at the end.

Whether it was a byproduct of shock and terror or plain stupidity, the thief cupped a hoof around the snow next to him and chucked a decent portion straight at the demon’s face. Once his improvised projectile landed, earning a startled grunt from her, the thief nearly tripped over himself, leaping over the bush he hid behind as he made a mad dash out of the park. His lungs worked overtime to supply his exhausted body with enough energy to run away, pushing over objects and innocent ponies to block the unseen pursuer’s path.

He heard of the stories from his mates in the homeless shelter, how ponies daring enough to brave the night ended up in the hospital after attempting to rob or assault somepony. To say he was afraid would be an understatement; the mere thought of what would happen if he were caught drove him to weave in and out of random allies faster.

One of his mates, Ice Climber, fell victim to the demon and ended up with a nasty concussion when he stabbed a shopkeeper locking his store for the night.

“Dammit! What’d I do to deserve this?!” The thief mentally wailed as he turned what felt like the thousandth corner during his escape. Abruptly, as the thief looked back to check for any sign of his pursuer, his body slammed hard against a solid surface, crying out in pain as a metallic ringing sound reverberated.

The now-prone thief groaned in discomfort, simultaneously rubbing the growing bump on his forehead as he sat up to see what-

THWACK!

Letting the knocked-out unicorn’s body collapse on the snowy ground, the warrior scoffed. She craned her neck down after lowering the hoof she used on the thief and bit the bag’s strap, picking it off the ground and allowing it to dangle off the handle of her ‘sword.’

Hearing a familiar panting sound from behind, the warrior looked back to see Olive Branch closing in on her, sweat falling down his face. Once he caught up, the old stallion heaved and coughed with his head lowered while a deadpanned warrior mare looked on. “Only you… can make an old stallion sweat… during the winter.” He panted. Olive Branch soon lifted his head, only to go wide-eyed at the unconscious thief.

“Storm! I told you to start holding back! Look at sap; you could’ve killed him.” He scolded, pointing to the slight stain of crimson in the snow under the thief’s head.

The warrior rolled her eye, “I did, old coot. He’s just weak.” She argued, repeating what she did with the purse and flinging the thief’s body onto her back. But she did have to admit: he was a slippery bastard- if she hadn’t taken the time to study Canterlot’s layout, he might’ve gotten away.

“‘Old coot,’ huh? You’re acting like I’m some senile grandpa.” Olive Branch said.

A laugh came from the warrior, “Yeah, and I won’t stop saying it until you stop comparing myself to your scrawny flank just because we're almost the same age.” She shot back, adjusting the thief on her back with a sharp nudge.

“Yet, if it weren’t for my teleportation moving you around and mental-link spell letting you tell me where to put you, your fat rump would pass out if you ran around this city trying to cut him off.” Olive Branch chuckled.

Walking away from the scene of the thief’s takedown with the old stallion following beside her, the warrior looked at him, donning a smug smirk on her muzzle. “No pony appreciates a hypocrite, sack of rotting bones.” She said in a joking manner, “You looked like you were on death’s door by the time you caught up because of the amount of magic you used on me. You forget I lived in the mountains; a place like this doesn’t compare.”

A hearty laugh escaped Olive Branch, “Don’t underestimate me, darling. You’d be surprised what these rotting bones can do!” He said, giving a playful shake of his shoulders.

It had been nearly a month since the Nightmare Night ball and the warrior’s conversation with Celestia, the recent snowfall being the cause of winter beginning to take hold of the weather, not that the thick-coated mare minded. And for the most part, she had taken her role as an unpaid guardsmare as well as anypony in her position could. The provided luxuries of free meals from the canteen plus her cell eased the pain of her situation slightly. The only thing that had improved over the month was the ponies around her, taking more of a reluctant acceptance to her presence than their previous outright fear, especially when she took dayshifts.

Oh, that was also another thing that changed, her dayshifts.

Despite being part of Luna’s night guard, the warrior was gifted the chance by her to take up the dayshift for patrols on weekends if things weren’t too busy. She, mostly Celestia, thought getting out during the day with the ponies walking around would make them more comfortable around the warrior. It worked somewhat, not that the warrior cared. The reputation due to her work during the night also proved to deter crime in the daylight… for the most part.

Any slimy wretch trying to start something swiftly stopped if she were nearby, and crime has apparently gone down in the areas she patrolled in if the newspapers she occasionally read spoke true.

Plus, it stopped Olive Branch’s complaining about not getting any sleep at night.

Of course, not everything started as smooth sailing when the warrior began her duties of ‘helping’ to protect the city. In the old stallion’s opinion, she’d been too brutal in apprehending criminals, almost killing a few on occasion because she didn’t hold back.

She already thought death for low-life scum was a reasonable punishment, not just because the majority were pegasi and unicorns.

The old stallion quickly beat that way of thinking out of her with his lessons. But in addition to her newly discovered restraint, Olive Branch made special care to ensure the warrior learned everything there was to know about being a guard: laws, regulations, possible scenarios, language, and all the like. That last one didn’t come with the Celestia translation spell, sadly. Although, she was quick to learn because of the modern language’s similarities to her tongue’s speech.

He even gifted her with a realistic-looking wooden sword to increase her already high intimidation factor, not that she really needed it. Even though her hoof did enough talking, it was nice to have a sword by her side once again- no matter if it was fake.

For the most part, life mostly remained dull for the warrior in her day-to-day life, excluding, strangely enough, her time with Olive Branch. That damn unicorn wasn't as irritating as any other.

Speaking of: the previously mentioned unicorn elder and his warrior companion dropped off the thief at a guard station, then left to go about their routine. Like most days, nothing besides the thief occurred along the duo's trail; only minor disagreements and general problems bothered them. Come the afternoon, the warrior and Olive Branch’s break time, thankfully, allowed the two to relax their sore hooves, to which they sat in front of a cafe.

Olive Branch ordered a black coffee for himself and, for the warrior, a latte with creamer. “Didn’t know somepony like you had a sweet tooth.” The old stallion commented; the server quickly placed the warrior's drink down and ran off.

“A castle wor- maid,” She corrected herself, having learned the palace staff titles by now, “brought me some one day when I asked for whatever. It’s not bad, in all honesty.” She said, taking a sip. “I can’t see how you can drink that shit,” her hoof pointed to his cup of coffee, “it’s so bitter and tasteless I’m surprised your unicorn body doesn’t wretch it up; my body can’t handle the awfulness.”

“That’s the point- it gets your blood pumping.” Olive Branch replied.

The warrior rolled her eyes while placing down her drink and turning to look to the streets. “The only way one can really get their blood fired up is the heat of the battle! The taste of blood and leather of your weapon, the feeling of weightlessness as you strike down your enemies, it’s a million times better than…that.” She exclaimed. However, as Olive Branch laughed, a shallow frown sank the warrior’s lips as she stared at the ground.

From collecting bodies and spilling enemy blood to sipping fancy beverages with her enemies.

How pathetic.

No- shaking her head, the warrior growled lowly in irritation at her intrusive thoughts. Unfortunately, Olive Branch noticed, stopping his laugh.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, concerned.

Downing the remaining latte after throwing her head back, the warrior glanced at the old stallion and back with a deepening frown. “No, I’m fine. A… fly was about to get into my eye.” She lied. Well, there goes her almost decent mood- she guessed that’s what she gets for trying to enjoy herself.

Olive Branch obviously didn’t buy her bluff but chose not to push it, “If you say so?” He said, drinking his coffee.

Now that awkward silence expanded between the two ponies shortly after their conversation- Storm Breaker stared blankly at the crowded street. It wasn’t lost to the warrior mare when her behavior started to change, slowly but surely, and her increasing tolerance for the vexatious ponies around her. She acted as if the answer wasn’t there, but she knew. This place was making her soft and weak. The warrior cried more in the past month and a half than she ever had in thirty winters, leaving her emotionally drained constantly. She guessed the lack of her distraction of everyday fighting made way for bottled-up emotions to take hold.

And as she mentioned that particular night, the thought of escaping passed the warrior numerous times. Sadly, every attempt ended in her chickening out or the night portals sometimes forcing her to stay up far later than she liked to.

But at this point, the warrior only doubled down on her decision reducing any potential incidents to a minimum. What choice did she have?

The more she kept quiet, the faster this shitty job would end.

It was no surprise to anypony that uneasiness gripped poor Twilight Sparkle's heart in an unforgiving vice grip once she'd been called to Canterlot Castle by Celestia herself. In a letter sent by the solar princess hours earlier, the main subject for her visit centered on Storm Breaker. The reason why this meeting took place was well known to Twilight, seeing as she was the one who requested one.

On her way to Canterlot, Twilight constantly stressed the possibilities of what might've happened in the month's worth of silence.

The princesses and royal guard could've suffered injuries if the warrior fought back- but she knew both Alicorn sisters were more powerful physically and magically than the already freakishly vigorous warrior. Plus, they didn’t have any injuries. Still, she could've fought back and was now locked in the dungeons, disappointing Celestia and ruining her mental well-being!

It couldn't be the case- either of them.

Twilight was in the throne room, sitting next to the two sisters- specifically Celestia -as they sat upon their golden seats, wearing serious looks compared to Twilight's visible anxiousness. Sure, they weren't looking ready to go to a party or anything, their hushed talking wasn't doing Twilight's nerves any favors, but at least they were safe. And walking through the palace to get to the throne room, the exact number of guards stayed the same, considering the different ponies making their rounds. Twilight clung to wishful thinking, hoping Celestia’s plan of rehabilitating the warrior mare hadn’t failed.

However, it’d been some time since Twilight’s arrival, and there were no signs of the warrior appearing anytime soon. So, making sure not to get caught, the studious unicorn twisted and angled her ears over to the sisters to listen in on their conversation.

“Sister, I don’t agree with this.” Luna hissed.

“There’s no reason to doubt, Luna. Her recent behavior has improved with Olive Branch around.” Celestia replied.

Luna huffed through her nostrils, rolling her eyes, “Yes, that’s because we’ve confined her to Canterlot. Imagine if it was some act, and she escaped as soon as she touched Ponyville soil.” The lunar princess argued.

A sigh passed Celestia’s lips, “We’re sending our most trained and skilled guards with her, and the elements of harmony will be there as well. If anything were to happen, they could handle it.” At the thought of her and her friends having to fight off the warrior, chills swam down Twilight’s spine. Vanguard knights took on entire armies- what chance did six mares who barely learned what their elements do have?! It didn’t matter if there were five highly trained guards.

Fortunately, Luna seemed to agree, “Still, I’m hesitant. Should we go with her?” She pleaded.

“We sent guards to ponyville to deal with this problem, and it only got worse because those… things took them out without a problem- now they wait around for more, like some sick game.” Celestia spat, voice laced heavily with venom. “If we went out there, it’d be a waste of time. Their numbers are near limitless, and we have a kingdom to run. Storm Breaker is our only option.” She added.

BANG! BANG!

Flinching from the sudden echoing knocks on the throne room’s doors, Twilight quickly recovered her poster before either princess noticed as the giant slabs of wood ahead of her creaked inwardly. Walking in, surrounded by five burly, hard-eyed guards, was Storm Breaker in an unseen suit of armor to Twilight and an old stallion. The latter must be the Olive Branch pony Celestia told her about.

“Now you stand before her majesty and will only be permitted to speak when spoken to!” One of the burly unicorn guards said, his voice loud and commanding, “Any action taken against our princess will result in immediate imprisonment and-”

“I KNOW THAT, SO SHUT UP YOU DAMN HORN-HEAD!” The warrior roared, annoyance clear in her tone.

In contrast to the guard's jolt in anticipation, the old stallion chuckled at the display. “Darling, it’s their job to resight the royal meeting code for ponies like you- ‘prisoners.’” He said, using air quotes on the final word with a hoof. “No matter how long it is.”

The warrior switched her sight to Olive Branch, “Stop calling me darling!” She shouted but in a more flustered and lowered tone.

Twilight was worried about the warrior’s already terrible mood getting out of control if anypony were to provoke her further, but also confused at her interaction with the old stallion. Do they have a thing going on? Wait. Why did she care about the warrior’s social life? There was a national crisis raging near her town, and she was worried about a murder’s conversation! Steeling herself, Twilight sat quietly and followed the band of guards and warrior mare approaching the throne with her gaze.

Once the distance was closed, the guards and Olive Branch kneeled, the warrior remaining standing until the old stallion whispered something that made her follow suit. “You may all rise.” Celestia softly commanded a second later.

“What is it this time?” The warrior rudely blurted out, causing a different guard to slam the flat end of his spear into her ribs, forcing the titanic mare to crouch in pain.

“Quiet, freak!” He shouted angrily.

The warrior’s gaze instantly snapped to the guard, a scowl adorning her features, “Try it again and pray that I don’t rip your limbs off and shove that spear up your-”

Flicking her glowing horn, Celestia’s magic surrounded the doubled-over warrior and lifted her to her full height. “Enough, both of you!” She said, her horn’s glow and the magic around the warrior fading. “My sister and I did not request an audience to witness some barbaric brawl; we have more important things to discuss.” A hoof pointed toward Twilight, “My student here wishes our help in a matter most dire, one that could destroy all of Ponyville.” Seeing Storm Breaker raise her hoof, Celestia nodded. “Yes?”

“What’s Ponyville, and why should we care?” She asked, earning an offended glare from Twilight that went ignored, nudging her head to Olive Branch drink out of a keg he’d held onto since coming in.

Twilight checked out of the debrief at this point- she knew what was happening. For the past several weeks, wildlife from the Everfree forest had started getting more aggressive toward the ponies of Ponyville. Attacks were popping up everywhere, during the day and night, and nopony could stop them without suffering casualties and possible death. As to why this was happening, the magic Discord used still found its way into the cursed forest and grew, evading the likes of Twilight Sparkle, who thought it’d all disappeared. Now the chaos magic affected animals like timberwolves and manticores, making them attack the town that rests well beyond their usual stomping grounds, just like the day she found the warrior mare.

Per Celestia's words moments ago, guards were sent to deal with the issue, but the corrupted animals ambushed them along the tree line. This plan and all other schemes miserably failed.

Fluttershy narrowly escaped the jaws of a manticore when she tried using her talent. Applejack’s apple orchard suffered damage by Timberwolves after she offered her family’s zap apple jam to calm them. And Rainbow Dash spent three days encased in stone trying to run off a cockatrice pack, one of them having looked her in the eyes.

If this string of failures kept up, and the increasing aggression of the Everfree forest’s beasts, Twilight feared the outcome for Ponyville and its residents- including her friends.

As much as Twilight hated this plan…

“We need your services to guarantee no ponies are further hurt as we try to resolve this issue.” Celestia concluded Twilight’s inner thoughts, along with the explanation of her student’s trouble.

…

The warrior looked at Celestia with a quizzical expression, “What services do you need?” She asked skeptically.

Celestia stole a drawn-out inhale of breath to calm herself, exhaling gently a second later. “As you may know by now, our subjects tend to isolate themselves from unsavory concepts; slavery, murder, kidnapping, and topics such as those. The royal and night guard, of course, aren’t turned away by things of that nature, but it isn’t enough to make a difference.” Grimacing. Celestia held her front hooves together, “We need you to…kill any creatures attacking Ponyville.”

“Are you serious?” The warrior asked in disbelief, shocking Twilight and the princesses slightly, “This isn’t a cruel jest?”

“No”

A faint twitch pulled at the corners of the warrior's mouth, “You’re allowing me to slaughter dangerous monsters without complaining in spite of your hatred of my methods. And as long as I do it for your pathetic subjects, it doesn’t matter what tactics I use?” She said.

Luna nodded, “Provided you stay with the five guards escorting you and your caretaker at all times, yes.” She answered.

To Twilight, Celestia hadn’t been wrong in explaining her pony’s dislike of all things gruesome and bloody, herself included. It broke the studious unicorn’s heart remembering Fluttershy’s reaction to the news of her plan; the frantic pleading and tears etched themselves into Twilight's brain. Despite almost dying to them, the element of kindness still sought goodness in the Everfree creatures, hoping for another way to save them.

However, what disturbed her more was the large, gleeful smile on the warrior’s face.