As the two of us continue to walk into the Everfree, Tor talks all the while. The trees thicken as he talks about his job as a masseuse, meeting other humans around town, the general attitude of the ponies, and of course his new found devotion to his faith.

Sure, for the entire length of the war he had proselytized his fellow soldiers, successfully in my and a few others case not so successful in rest.

But this was something new. This was an almost fanatical level of faith.

Not to mention the near single-minded focus on 'keeping the human within alive' as he had put it.

It sounded dangerously close to sedition. Even I had walked the thin line between resistance and outright rebellion, but I had been forcibly and painfully taught what happens when that line is crossed.

Still, I listened and humored him, as there was no need to let him in on my reservations to his ideas.

After the better part of an hour of wandering along a rough trail, Tor pushed aside a knot of hanging vines and gestured to the clearing beyond, then glanced to me with a wide grin.

”My friend, welcome to the Hof.”

A chill ran up my spine as I stepped into the clear grove.

Him calling it a 'temple' sat poorly in my stomach. It was beautiful to be sure, sun shining from on high, the bright green grasses and colorful flowers, even the massive pile of timber sitting at the center of it all.

I paused. Timber in the middle? What?

My eyes lingered at the middle of the grove, staring at the pile of logs that easily towered taller than me and Tor.

He noticed my gaze, then gave me a cheeky grin.

”Yes, nary do I sleep at all. All night, chopping wood for this little gathering.”

I shot him a sharp look, and he out a bellowing laugh, slapping me on the shoulder.

”No, of course not. You see, I was simply wandering the woods on a day I had been given free, just me and Samuel. And we found this place! Of course, it was occupied by a beast, like everywhere in this witch forest. You should have seen in, Anon, a wolf made of wood, big as a damn bear it was!”

I stared at him in silence, not believing a word he had said, but he held a hand over his heart

”I swear, no way would I have been able to do this all myself!”

I stared at him a moment longer, then turned back to the towering pile of timber. Eventually, I decide to believe him and just drop the topic, after all I had definitely seen stranger things far since the damn rift opened up.

A bear-sized wood-wolf didn't seem too out there when there were two ponies that lifted the sun and moon.

As Tor wandered about the clearing, I took a seat and leaned against the trunk of an ancient pine in thought.

Where did it all go wrong?

Was it when I had volunteered for the so-called 'reconnaissance' mission that had first led us to this world?

Perhaps earlier, when I had tried and succeeded in Pathfinder school. Mom always did hound me to become a doctor instead. How long had it been since I saw here last anyways?

Shaking the thought aside, my mind went back to the Pathfinder school. That was one of my fondest memories, standing on parade after a week with near zero sleep in the field, having the torch badge pinned onto my chest

As happy as it was, things had slid from there, first Syria, then Europe, and finally here.

Hell, I shouldn't have joined the army in the first place, maybe that was the mistake at the center of it all.

Sure, maybe I’d be sitting on a farm in the middle of the middle of nowhere, or maybe have actually listened to my mothers ideas of college and have lived in the cities for the rest of my life, but at least then I wouldn't be a slave to technicolor ponies.

Well, at least I wasn’t a gryphon slave.

I shuddered a bit at the thought of the poor guys sent to the catbird empire.

No real news of course, just rumors. And lots of them. Forced labour, constant beatings, starvation, public execution for the disobedient…

Sure, the UN had complained about the treatment of their 'servile repayers', but the gryphons hadn't listened and the ponies had only sent a notice of concern to the gryphons to silence critics.

So there was that going for me. Maybe my life wasn't too terrible after all, I had ended up working on a farm despite my choices. And at least I was fed.

With a loud sigh, Tor sat beside me against the same pine tree.

”Fate works in strange ways, eh friend?”

I gave him an odd look as he continued speaking, gesturing grandly around the open grove.

”Look at this place, it's untouched by the hands of man. The vaettir in these woods have not seen the likes of us, but respond all the same.”

He turned his head toward me and grinned at my questioning gaze.

”The ponies ignore them all the same, worship is a concept that is all new to them. And yet, we are not free men to worship as we please.”

He rubbed the bark of the tree we shared, and it groaned as the wind blew through its boughs.

Sometimes though, I wondered if it truly was just the wind that made the trees moan. This land was rife with magic after all.

The two of us remained silent for a long while, just letting the sounds of nature and the distant howling of the wood-wolfs. After a time, Tor broke the silence once more, his tone gentle.

”Your silence vow doesn't stop you from using instruments, yes?”

I looked at him and nodded, and he visibly relaxed before standing up.

”Good, come then.”

With too many unvoiced questions, I rose and followed after him.

He lead the two of us to a great oak with a hollow in its trunk, rubbing the bark when he reached it.

Without anymore delays, he reached in and took out a number of musical instruments, some familiar, others strange. A few drums, a weird mushroom shaped bit of metal, an odd lyre, and... a tagelharpa? When and where did he find something like that around here?

Without warning, he tossed the harpa at me and I plucked it from the air with ease.

He smiled and continues to lay out the various instruments as he spoke.

”You play, don't you? I remember you saying that before this mess.”

I did, but it did nothing to dull my surprise at him remembering that, nevermind actually getting one of these in Equestria. It wasn't specifically forbidden to have stuff like this as we were allowed personal property, but he would’ve had to either smuggle it in or make it himself.

I looked up at him again, and he seemed occupied in his own world with the instruments.

All this effort, God only knew how much time and risk spent getting everything for it.

It's a bit touching, but more than a bit disturbing as well. Still, I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I set the tagelharpa up on my knee, rested my fingers on the strings, picked up the bow, and gently dragged it across the strings.

I frowned at the sharp sound it made. It needed tuning.

I let out a quiet and almost silent sigh and set about making the instrument sound at least marginally presentable

A few minutes of frustrating tuning later, and Tor came over to watched me as I worked.

In an answer to the look I shot him, he shrugged.

”I can do nothing but bang drums, it is interesting to see someone who can actually make music work.”

Weird, but Tor had always been strange. Even among the rest of the squad and their antics.

Satisfied with how the strings sounded, I played the bow across them once more.

It all sounded tuned well enough, and I move into playing a little tune that I enjoyed.

Tor tapped his foot along with the upbeat sound, his grin growing as I played. It was a small and infectious thing, and I found myself smiling along with him as I ran my bow over the strings. I began move keenly from one song to the next, playing more energetically as I went along.

The day drags along, and in ones and twos, more people show up and watch you play

I hardly took notice, but eventually Tor clapped his hands once, prompting me to stop mid song. I raised an eyebrow at the disruption, before finally noticing the small crowd that's gathered around the grove.

It may have only been fifteen men or so, but that was more than half of the entire human population in Ponyville.

I hadn't been around this many in well over a year. Not since being brought here, in fact

Tor greeted them all like old friends, hugging some, slapping backs, and shaking hands with them.

I stood and dusted myself off, looking around the small gathering that formed to see if I knew any.

Looking around, I spot one. Samuel is among them, of course, and he makes a beeline to me, offering his hand with a toothy grin.

”Anon! It's been way too damn long. That apple horse keeps you bloody busy tending to her orchards, eh?”

A small blush crept on my cheeks and I shook my head at the implication. He simply laughed and punched my shoulder before leaning against the tree trunk.

Samuel had been a member of the SAS that had come along with the expeditionary force, the oldest member by far. Probably in his 40’s if I had to wager.

Quick with a dirty joke, and just as quick with a rifle, he had been the real heart of everything in that troop.

And he too had fallen in with Tor’s practices after that first battle. But he hadn't changed all that much for it

He glances at the rune in my bare forearm and clicked his tongue.

”Ah, so you were serious about that thing... explains the lack of a comeback, no matter though. You play that instrument well, lad. Good thing too, we'll need it tonight.”

He looked pointedly back at Tor, who had finished socializing and clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention, silencing the grove of all noise.

Even the distant wildlife seemed to shut up, the incessant whining of bugs and chirps of birds going eerily quiet.

From the ground, he plucked a lit torch someone had brought in. The grove had begun to darken as twilight comes on, and the fire casts an eerie light on his bearded face, along with the faces of the rest of us dirty and gaunt men.

“Brothers! Listen to me, even though we waste under the hooves of our hosts, the fire in our hearts does not die. Tonight has been a long time coming, but at last we can shed the yoke of slavery and be free men again. And just what is it we have gathered together for?”

As he tossed the torch to the base of the stacks of dried timber, setting a bonfire ablaze, the others shout with one voice as I follow silently in my heart.

“BLÓT!”

Author's Note

I’m back. I think. I’ll try and be more active here if I can help it.

Remember, any question you guys have, just ask and I’ll try and answer them.