Gods of Equestria

༻༺────⊰ Episode 2 - Leshen ⊱────༻༺

Another sunny day, though the weather was planning to slowly and steadily lean into a rain. A few clouds scattered on one side and a thick, dark blanket of rainclouds on the other, slowly approaching the mighty castle atop the highest mountain peaks in all of the lands.

For it was a very specific castle. The main headquarters of the Celestial Order and they were already hard at work, training in various aspects of warfare. One needs to know how to wield a weapon, cast defensive or offensive spells, be fit physically and mentally and have sharpened senses in whatever circumstance they might find themselves to be. Other skills, such as creation of various rations, tonics, decoctions or certain type of oils are also very useful. Beside all that, knowledge itself is as important as any other skill, both in terms of warfare tactics and certain weaknesses of races and even various monsters roaming the wild lands.

Celestial Order has a reason for all that, otherwise it would not have been practiced.

Astrala, one of the Archpaladins, has returned from her war in Draconia with great disturbance and disgust. Her experience in that spectacle has taught her a lot and her aim was to change the order’s course as quickly as she could.

Abnormally to her, she was ready to debate with the Elders at the earliest hour possible. She walked in her robe, carrying few scrolls with her magic, her light shoes gently tapping the marble floors, making the sounds echo along the hallways.

Not many guards posted on the very halls she was walking through, nor at the many exists leading to various locations of the castle. Clearly there were not enough ponies to even guard this place properly.

Eventually she made her way to the Grand Hall, where her Elders would discuss important matters at hoof and also let the knights come and say whatever could have been on their minds. After few days of constant arguing, Astrala knew they would not hear her again, thus she didn’t even plan this meeting in advance with them. She walked to the doors and after giving the knights guarding them a good, fierce look, she stepped inside without an invitation.

All Elders quickly stopped their discussion to look at Astrala, walking up to the centre like she owned the place. Around it was an almost fully enclosed circle made out of a big table with elders sitting around it on the outer side. Whole room was of a circular design with big windows and a chandelier lazily hanging above the centre, as if a warning of hanging to anypony who dared to oppose the Elders. Or so Astrala now thought.

“What is the meaning of this, Archpaladin Astrala?! You shan’t disturb us uninvited! Leave at once!” one Elder said, already knowing her intentions. It was the same Elder that was her mentor thorough her life in this order, which to her, was her whole life. Maybe she even thought of him as a father figure?

“You can wish, but you WILL hear me once again. Since me politely asking did not prove to be fruitful, I will force it on you.” Astrala said, stopping at the centre of the room.

“Force it on us? Have you forgotten your place, Archpaladin? If this will not stop, your title shall be taken away and your rank demoted!”

“Then take it. I do not care about you or my position in this order. I want to save lives of the innocent and the face of this order. In the future we will be shown to had been on the wrong side of history! No matter my stance against you, or yours against me, I do not wish this to happen.” She said, slightly more composed in the second part of her sentence.

The Elder scoffed at her and said.

“Ridiculous. Knights! Take her away immediately.”

The knights, although unsurely at first, stepped forward to Astrala. She immediately turned to them and in voice filled with anger and horn already glowing, she said to them.

“Try me and you will sorely regret it! You have been here, you have heard me, you know I am right!”

Either her intimidation or her reasoning was enough to put the guards at ease towards Astrala and not advance further. Or maybe they have gotten even more wary and that is why they did not fulfil the Elder’s request.

“This insubordination shan’t be forgotten, mark my words-“ The elder started, but was cut off by a blade zooming quickly in his direction, stopping just as its tip was about to cut his neck. It was Astrala, wielding other knight’s sword with her magic, making everyone think she was about to assassinate her Elder.

He scoffed at her even louder.

“Are you planning on killing me, you fool? My sacrifice this great towards everypony in this order and you want to kill me?!”

“Anypony tries something funny and I promise I’m going on a rampage. I’m sick and tired of you pompous buffoons! YOU ALL ARE GREEDY IMBECILES!” She shouted, facing slowly every single Elder, some angry at her, some actually worried and a few small bunch that was honestly confused.

“You are throwing our resources at a war only because some griffon showed you proof that thousands of years ago Draconia was their land? Who do you think you are?! To decide whose is what or not; it doesn’t even matter at this point! As far as I’ve seen, their land is filled with dracons. Whether it is indeed griffon land or not, it matters little, for it is immensely occupied by dracons and their infrastructure! None of them actually even know that it is griffon land!”

“Enough! I shan’t listen to it no mo-“ One Elder stood up to cut Astrala off and he was swiftly dealt with by another sword that flew in his direction, impaled in his chest up to the crossguard. He stumbled, tried for words, only to have blood pour and fly out of his mouth. He grabbed his chest and fell, trying to grasp just a little bit more of the precious air, trying his hardest to stay alive, but ultimately failing and his soul slowly leaving his body with his face filled in pure shock.

Everypony in the room was left dumbfounded, not believing what just had happened. None was sure that Astrala would actually go this far, to kill a member of not only her order but also her Elders?

“Do you think this is a game?! This is one last time I am here. None of you shall stop me, you will listen to what I have to say and YOU WILL NOT try anything funny, or I swear on Celestia’s name this very room here will be such a bloodbath that all of the knights outside on the castle grounds will be able to see a pool of blood in those very windows behind you slowly rising higher and higher as I make your heads roll in the sound of your beating hearts, beating lighter and weaker with each movement of my blade.” She spoke, filled with malice and anger. Due to slight rasp in it too one could even state she has lost her mind.

The Elders were shocked and unsure of how to proceed with this action. For now, all of them decided to stay quiet. They knew how powerful Astrala was. A child of Celestial blood, maybe an incarnation of Celestia herself? None dared to speak.

“I am sorely done with your actions, your blindness, your arrogance! To base a war solely on a singular word and a singular relic that could have been forged specifically to lie into your faces. I’ve seen the griffons with my very own eyes, they aren’t cunning, proud or brave. They are very much everything, but that! I trust no word that will come from their mouth anymore.

“To your knowledge, I have ordered few of my friends, Paladins and Archpaladins alike, some Knights even, to spread word among our forces in Draconia for a full retreat. Upon arriving to the location of our new headquarters, they will have a chance to see for themselves what they had done and repent, or come back to you. Either way, I am leaving this place with a huge amount of knights by my side that, just as me, disagree with you to their fullest.”

“You started a rebellion ...” One Elder said.

“Me? YOU started a rebellion. Your decision-making, your goals, your orders have led to the mass disagreement. I simply awakened them. You could have listened to me! I’ve been here all week! Obviously you, cowards, will pin all wrong on me and I’ve expected that. So, just for spite ...” She said, levitated a spear and impaled the Elder who just spoke straight in the eye.

Few of them stood up and her mentor said.

“Astrala! Enough!”

“Do you wish to fight me? C’mon then! Fight me! Show how much weight you put in your own words! Show them in action! I dare you, cunt-sucking bag of fleas! It’s not just that you tricked behind our backs and definitely had some hidden agenda in this war, but you’ve endangered and killed members of this order AND innocent dracons! Your actions have led to this and I am here to avenge those that died in this useless war!” She shouted at him, her horn glowed bright and, without even looking, she zapped another Elder with a golden lightning bolt.

After that, she added.

“You have also caused me and my friends more suffering than I initially knew. I looked at your scrolls in your own room, ‘mentor’.” She said, phrasing the word ‘mentor’ sarcastically with a face full of disgust.

“Payments to some bands of thugs? Have you all been secretly paying some low-life scum to raid villages and share their profits with you? Have you had any connections with that stupid war that has been going on just south of us with the earth ponies? Found an invoice from the Tsar, very beautiful letter I must say.”

“That- That is outrageous. You are making things up!”

She looked at him, anger filling her eyes. Elders even noticed that the tips of her hair started to burn with fresh, red fire, same for the tip of her tail. Not a standard fire, no, it was a deep red, in the colour of blood, very sinister-looking.

Just as she was about to slash his neck, they heard a bell going off. Attack?

A second later, as they all looked in the direction of the windows overlooking the castle grounds, few heavily armoured dracons burst inside through those very windows and killed off about five of the Elders in this swift attack.

Astrala wasted no time, she brought that sword closer to her and rushed at the dracons. She wanted to kill the Elders but this is an attack that does not help her argument even a tiny bit. Plus, it is very likely her friends might fall from those dracons, she needs to keep those by her safe.

First one, wielding a halberd-like weapon, swung it at her diagonally. With all her force she smacked the blade with her sword, holding it in between the blade and the crossguard, having the tip point at the dracon. She forced through the dracon’s strength, making his weapon get pushed closer to him and Astrala ramming with her shoulder into him from that initial rush, burying her blade deep into his neck. She quickly recovered on her hooves with a swift jump, sword spun around her back, throwing off any excess blood from her blade and now resting in a thrusting position at her left side.

Another dracon in front of her, wielding a curved sword and way more armour than the previous one. He proclaimed a stance of wielding his sword high up above his head, ready to strike down. She knew that dodging this attack wouldn’t be advised, even deflecting it, as the dracons had a tactic of a quick two-slash attack, where you would have to expect the direction of the second swing to successfully defend against it. Too many sides to pick though; she decided on an easier approach.

She rushed straight at the dracon. Just as he was about to slash down at her, she swung her sword at the blade, very similar to the previous block, catching it again with the crossguard. Just as she felt it being pushed aside by her, she let go of the sword with her magic, did not stop running and buried her sharp horn right into the guy’s eye.

With her hoof, she held the dracon’s wielding arm just to know its position well and with all her force, she lightly raised the dracon, sort of like a rhino, doing even more damage to his brain than with a simple thrust. Only now did the dracon actually realise what was happening. Thanks to now irreversible brain damage, he was unable to control his limbs very well, thus her hoof was quite enough to keep that curved sword at bay. She pushed him on his side with her horn still in his eye, making a loud thump. She slid out the horn and took her sword in her magic again.

Fresh blood coating her horn and her clothing, ready to continue the fight against those dracons that attacked their castle. She did not hear anything, did not even know what exactly happened with the other Elders, all she could see, hear and think was those dracons in front of her. Pure battle rage, one could say.

She then heard somepony calling her name, she saw Miryana, half-suited in her armour calling out to her in fear and worry on her face. How did she get here so quickly, did she know where to find he-

Before Astrala could process it, a lump of mass hit her from the open window – another dracon. He flew at her from outside and rammed her. They zoomed through the whole hall and hit the opposite wall, Astrala crushed between it and the dracon.

She gasped for air, not expecting the hit and quickly took a glance at the dracon, ignoring the pain in her chest. It was a Battleborn with a terrifying warmask depicting some horrific devil. He grabbed her and threw her away on the floor, doing slightly more damage to her.

She got to a stop and coughed, gasping for air, quickly healing any broken bones or punctured organs she might have had from the hit. She looked up to the dracon, who said in draconish.

“There you are, the mighty Dracon-slayer. I know you understand me, get up and fight. I wish to be your killer in a fair fight.”

An opponent, not only stronger, bigger, but also armoured. That would prove to be a tough one, this might be the very end of her journey. Or at least that is what she thought.

“Stop this. I wished to end this war between us. Don’t make us have to fight you.”

“Oh, so you want to talk? Let’s go an talk then!” He roared and, with the help of his wings, he lunged at her with great speed. Astrala managed to react to the dracon’s curved blade, deflecting it well, but her counterattack hit his armour and bounced off. He grabbed her by the throat with his other claw, something she again did not expect. She gasped and tried to get free with her front hooves but to no avail. He then flew out of the window, holding her like some sort of sack of potatoes.

The only thing Astrala could hear as she was dragged off was Miryana’s voice, but not clear enough to make out the words.

“Aah!” I gasped in the bed, frantically looking around in search of that dracon. I put my hooves to my neck, but felt no claws there. Fresh drop of sweat dripping from my forehead.

I sighed and turned to lay on the other side, facing the wall. Another stupid dream. Why am I dreaming of it all and why it’s always those few dreams on repeat. Or at least I think they are, are they?

...

Wait, what was the dream about? Something about my neck ...

Perfect, can’t remember, as always. At least it wasn’t that weird dream with me as some fancy-ass knight or whatever walking with a group of other super fancy-ass knights. That one I remember well.

I think this one had a dracon in it, but why a dracon? I can’t recall ever seeing a dracon in real life. Am I dreaming of my future life or-

Is it my previous life? That is why I can’t remember my childhood, or anything from a year ago? Was I some weird knight in some even weirder order?

Huh, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it sounds to be. I really don’t see myself as a knight material, but it would at the very least explain how I can fight so well and why I have such a broad knowledge on many subjects.

Ngh, just gives me a headache thinking of it all. I guess it’s best to leave it for now, not like I can do anything about it now. Time to get to work, I hope I haven’t overslept.

I got up, put on the robe, took my things and stepped out into a sun shining so brightly it blinded me for a second. I put a hoof up to my face to cover the light and looked around. It was still a rather early morning, but many ponies were already doing their chores. One thing earth ponies excel at is consistent and precise work ... well, most of them at least, I think.

The sun was just appearing from above the line of trees, shining brightly with an incredible hue of warm, orange colour. Its light covering the whole village, mind some gaps of shadows still lingering about, giving it a new fresh look, a rather beautiful look I must say.

It felt slightly ... melancholic. Not sure as to why, but looking at the village from this angle, with the light softly warming up the ground and the ponies all around, I felt a slight lump in my chest. Some deep sadness trying to escape my soul and materialise in front of me.

Unaware of what it was, I did what I always had done with such issues – ignored it.

I stepped down on the wooden steps, slightly creaking under my weight and I was down on grass again, supported by my sturdy boots. Well, sturdy is a bit of an overstatement, but you get what you have. I made my way to the bailiff’s house to get my freshly washed clothes back from possibly the only honest pony I’ve met in a long while. How refreshing that was ... and I’ve never knew letting somepony wash you was such a relaxing time.

As I got to the house I knocked at the door and the bailiff opened them.

“Oh, hello. Doooo you need anything else?” He asked, with not so much of a nice tone as before when he had a lot of trouble. Obviously, now that he doesn’t need me, he won’t act nice. At least he isn’t trying to fake it that much – straight to the point.

Before I could say anything, his wife said.

“Oh! Oh, come! Follow me!” And with a bright smile she went past the bailiff, me and started walking to the side of the building.

Such a quiet and shy mare and now that she got comfortable with me she looks way more cheerful and bright. Even bailiff was confused by that. I gave him a small nod and followed her to the side of their house where my things were.

She quickly got to work on taking my clothes off of the laundry lines and started saying.

“Ah hope ya slept well?”

“Not great, not terrible. About as well as anytime.” I replied, but were quickly starting to share her cheerfulness and enthusiasm for the day. I smiled.

“Ah slept v’ry well. If ya have any pain in ya muscles or somethin’, Ah c’n help. Ah heard tha’ my husband didn’t give ya all that ya agreed on, Ah feel v’ry ashamed o’ him and if there’s anythin’ more Ah c’n do to ya, jus’ lemme know, please.” She said with an incredibly genuine and honest smile.

I was quite taken aback at that and I think it showed. She giggled, a sound very light and easy on the ears.

She added.

“Ya’ve done a job tha’ few of our stallions could possibly handle, maybe none! Ah bet once the word goes out all the lil colts and fillies gon’ be talkin’ ‘bout’cha, saviour o’ Bronislava.”

“Saviour? A bit excessive, but thank you. I am good at killing.” I said with a light chuckle, but my joke really did not get the reaction I was expecting. Anytime I get comfortable with somepony, my weird sense of humour gets out and scares everypony. I hate myself.

She slightly frowned and muttered.

“Killin’ ain’t what Ah’m praising. It’s yer skill and, quite plausibly, yer knowledge. Ah heard ya speak, ya seem t’ know what to do and are v’ry assertive; certain of yer actions. Most important of all, ya helped us. Ah want t’ repay ya the best Ah can, it’s the least Ah c’n do.”

I looked aside. Killing. I am good at it, but even though she knows that I killed those thugs, she doesn’t look like she will admit it as what I’m good at. Rather will go for ‘skill’ and whatever else she might find. She knows how rough this world is and still won’t bother to face it head on. I don’t know what to think anymore.

“So, ya’ve got sore muscles or not? Ah doubt ya sleep on nice beds often.” She smiled.

“Oh no, I’m fine. I’ll just take my clothes and be on my way.” I said. Just stop thinking, Astrala. Just stop thinking ...

“Oh, okay.” She said, with a slight disappointment in her voice, but not enough to break from her cheerful act. She put down my clothes and asked. “Need help with yer clothes?”

“No, I will manage.” I took off the robe, put it aside as nicely as I could and started clothing myself.

“Ya know, ya do look better than most stallions in this village, more muscular and assertive, yet ya still have quite a nice feminine style and shape t’ ya.” She said while eyeing me.

Is this another sort of joke about me looking like a stallion? I shrugged it off and did not reply. I really heard it way too much already. Didn’t want to bother, didn’t want to think. Just get my stuff and be on my way.

She noticed I seemed not too keen on conversing and stopped talking herself, but was still standing there and looking at me.

Once I was done putting everything in place I looked at her and said.

“Thank you for everything and have a good day.” Turned around and left.

“Farewell then.” She called to me as I was already leaving. I think, I wasn’t quite listening anymore.

I walked around the place, looking for a blacksmith and I quickly found one, following the sound of metal being hit on metal. There he was, working at his forge already. Hm, quite a young looking lad.

I walked up to him and said.

“Morning.”
He looked to me and said with a small smile.

“Mornin’. Can I help you?”

“I’d like to ask if you would be interested in buying some equipment from me.”

He put down his hammer and faced me with a curious look. “Show me what you’ve got and we shall see.”

I nodded and took out things I wanted him to look at – the pauldron I looted from that thug guy yesterday and my old short sword, since now I have a fancy sabre now. I put them down on a table beside us. He came up and took a glance at them, took them in his hooves, looked closer, hmm’d ...

“Hm, the pauldron looks quite basic, both in shape and material. Same with that sword, but overall they seem rather good. I think I could buy those off of you for maybe twenty Krons.”

“That is fairly cheap ... thirty five Krons? Need to buy myself some supplies.” I lied, just to get more money out of him. Not like I’m gonna be back here anytime soon.

“Twenty five is my limit, otherwise I wouldn’t profit from even taking them apart and moulding them into something useful. Twenty five.” He said, rather firmly. This guy already felt like a better company than that bailiff, fake arsehole.

I smiled lightly and nodded, extending my hoof to him, which he bumped and shook.

He walked to get the money as I waited in the open, so that he does not seem suspicious of me. I don’t want to steal anything from him anyways, I want some fair and honest money. Granted, equipment I’m selling was looted from corpses, but it’s better if corpses don’t have weapons and armour, right?

He came back and gave me the Krons. Had forty five, now I’ve got seventy. Not bad.

I nodded, put them away and said my goodbyes as I was leaving. I’m not sure if that was a fair price for those, usually metal is quite expensive, but we are talking about either raw metal or one made specifically for somepony’s needs. Eh, no matter. Better this way than to walk with too much equipment.

Now, to find those pegasi.

I entered the tavern and noticed them right away, their flamboyant and colourful clothes stood out immensely in there. I walked up to them.

“Right, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

They looked at me and the mare smiled and- ... wait, what was her name again?

“First, let us do a toast, for a safe travel!”, she raised her hoof slightly in excitement. Obviously pegasi would love to drink and drink.

“That ... really is not a necessity. Better to not be drunk on the road, now c’mon.”, I said and left the tavern. If they prove to be a pain in the ass, I’m leaving them. A toast ... why do you need a toast now?! Nothing happened, nor have we even begun! Ugh ... pegasi ...

After a few seconds of me standing outside they finally came out and I said, “Lead the way.”

Without any sort of smile on their face, they started leading the way. Uh, maybe that was a wrong way to start it? Oh, fuck it, whatever, don’t think. Not like I care about them, nor do I have to! I only have to protect them from dangers.

Shortly after, we left the village and were on our way west. West-ish. Very few trees and an old, dirt road.

There were still few houses with huge acres of land covered in lettuce, carrots or whatever else, but the village was long gone. Few small trees sporadically dotted the hills and literally nothing more, nothing else.

“So ... I hope we can talk at least?”, the gal said. The guy was between me and her so she had to move her head slightly forward to look at me.

“Talk however much you want, just don’t make it annoying ...”, I said.

All they were talking about now were the sound of their hooves, which meant they weren’t talking at all. But, after a short while, the guy started talking.

“Maybe you’d like to tell something about yourself? Or maybe we can tell you about us?”

“I don’t like talking while walking.”, I said dismissively. It wasn't true, but I don't want them talking to me, it makes concentrating on the surroundings harder. Don't care if they like me or not, I'm going to do my job and that is it.

I also heard pegasi are annoying so I’m not sure I want to talk with them too much. Might be a total waste of time and energy ... and sanity.

He sighed audibly, looked to his sister and said, “Well then, about the profits. I think we need to change the repertoire a bit.”

A what? Repreruartarar? What?

“What did you have in mind, brother?”

“For starters, you should lead more in the evening hours. More stallions then, they might just pay us simply by looking at you.”

She giggled and responded. “And when will you lead? Not many mares come to taverns.”

“I think I should just play outside, on the streets. Mares like some romantic shmuck that has a guy singing of a heartbreaking stories to random pedestrians. Or maybe start some more upbeat tones at the tavern, those work better for me anyways.”

“Hm, that actually sounds like a reasonable plan. You actually started thinking for once.~”

“Hah, oh really?”

“Yees, really! Finally didn’t think with your dick for once!”

Excuse me, what?

“Hah, I noticed you eyeing some stallions, don’t make it look like I’m the horny one.”

“Horny? But stallions are always horny.”

“Hey, no we aren’t!”

“Okaay, but you are always horny!”

“That might be correct.~”

They both giggled in glee and I just stared at them looking like a total idiot, taken aback farther than eye could see. What in the flying boar of tarantula’s web-fuck tying contest are they talking about?!

“But be honest, idea with singing on the streets has some hidden plan to it, no?”

“You know me.~”

“Mh ... so, how many mares do you plan on bedding this time?~”

WHAT.

“Hmm, I’m not sure ... but maybe we should do a threesome?”

“Oh you just want to have fun with your sister, be honest.~”

Okay, WHAT THE FUCK did I get myself into? What is this? Why are they talking about ... that! What- how even- WHY? Out of all the topics to talk about, they choose this?! And why have I not stopped them yet? What is wrong with me! Annoying? YES! Then grow a pair of balls, Astrala, and tell them to shut the fuck up!

Wait ... pegasi. Annoying pegasi, but maybe it’s normal to talk like this in their parts of the world? I should ask about that. Would make sense why they started that right now. Obviously they wouldn’t be talking like that in the village, but there is nopony here, so they can be themselves. But why in front of me?!

Nh, well that makes sense too. I told them to talk about whatever and I am their guard, not a friend or anything. It’s none of my business what they are talking about.

Just do not listen, think of other things. The dream? Maybe the dream. Maybe I can put some sense into it.

...

But I remember nothing from it by now. Ghh, something else. What is around here? Grass, grass, grass ... more grass. A flower. I think it was a daisy. Hm, daisies are quite tasty and sweet, plus are very common. So, not really worth picking, they aren’t worth a dime. Literally as much of a worth as a hoofful of grass. Besides, their sweetness isn’t even that great when compared to their weight.

“-and then I smacked her ass-cheek with a wing and she got soo startled, but after that she was all over me! Those earth ponies love being smacked, lemme tell you.”

NO! No, no! Noooo, do not listen! What the fuck have I gotten myself into! Don’t listen, don’t think. Just don’t! Ghh, maybe I just should stop here and leave them, but where will I go? I don’t see any intersections in the distance, nor was there one before. We have JUST left the village. No matter what, if I run now I will meet them on the way anyway, may it be at night or in a few days. There are no other roads and Celestia forbid to stray away from them into the wilderness, as it’s the worst idea one could ever have. Stupid pegasi! Why am I still walking beside them?! Worst idea for a job ever. I’m never doing that again.

Hmmm, but free food does sound nice. It is a good deal.

But who talks about such stuff so openly in front of a fucking stranger? What is wrong with them?!

What is wrong with me?! I should have been gone a long time already!

Then I heard them giggling. I looked to them and quite indeed they were, even laughing. I was so confused now.

Eventually, they looked to me and the mare said, “I see you like our topic?~” and they started laughing more.

I was so confused, but I felt myself burn from embarrassment. The fact that they have put me into such a situation right off the bat.

“W-what topic? I wasn’t paying attention.”, I said, hoping I didn’t sound suspicious. Why was it so hard to lie suddenly?

They finally stopped laughing.

“Sure you weren’t~ ... now, maybe you want to start a conversation?”, the guy said with a smirk.

Wait ...

“Wait, so you decided to casually talk about sex just so that I'd stop you and talk about whatever else?!”

And they started laughing again. I felt like an old fool. They played me like a fiddle.

“Oh hell no, I am not playing that game with you. You can forget it!”, I said and looked away from him in a very angry fashion.

“Oh, then we shall talk more between each other then. Say brother, how are your licking skills coming along?”

“NO! No! OKAY! I will talk! Stop! For the love of all that is mighty, just stop!”, I whined and finished with a defeated groan. Stupid pegasi! I hate them! They are so infuriating!

“There we go!”, guy said and they both did a ... they slapped each others’ wings. However you call that. And he continued.

“No hard feelings, but why not opening up a bit, eh? We are going to travel for at least a few days together, no need to be this stiff and boring.”

Stiff?!

“Stiff?! I said stop it!”

“Huh? I didn’t mean anything sexual, now it’s just your own mind playing you, gal~”, he snickered.

Oh that little asshole.

His sister started laughing again and said, “OOoh! Masterfully executed! Jackpot! Her whole face is red!~”

“WHAT?!”, I whined again. I touched my face with the knee of my leg to check, but honestly, how can you check that? I felt fired up, but I didn’t know it was this bad! I’ve Never been in such a situation and I intend to never be ever, EVER again.

I scoffed and said without looking at him, “That had done it ...”

Once they stopped laughing the guy got a bit closer with a slight worry on his face.

“Hey uh, we didn’t go too far, did we? We just wanted to- OOF!”

Oops, what a little dumb bird, he tripped on my hoof! Oh, what an oopsie~. I smirked down at him just the same way as he did at me just few seconds ago.

“Don’t think that was all, feather-brain~.”

He actually looked quite relieved and happy, same with his sister.

“Oh, good to know you know what jokes are.”, she said.

“I do, but there is no way I’m letting you go off with what you did right now. I will repay in a similar way, just you wait.”

“Oh yeah?” The guy got up as he said it and tried to trip me. His hoof moved out of the way from mine, doing the complete opposite of what he intended, almost falling over himself. I stopped to look at him assertively, lightly raising an eyebrow. My face just couldn't help but crack a little smirk.

He backed away with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Oh, whoops~ ... didn’t work.”

I puffed out my chest victoriously and started walking again. Okay, they aren’t that bad. Hopefully they forgot my face back then, because I sure as hell want to forget that topic. Makes me feeling quite uncomfortable ... I think.

Uh, what am I saying. First I hate them, now I like them. Can’t I make up my mind? I bet-

“Gonna talk then, Astrala?”, the guy asked with a friendly smile. One that doesn't look like he wants to continue teasing me. Good.

I looked to him, realising I was deep in thought.

“Uh yeah, talk. So, what talk?”

He rolled his eyes. Oh fuck off, turkey. I grimaced a bit, like, can't he cut me some slack?

“Well, how did you end up there? What do you do exactly? Do you have a husband?”

“A what?”, I asked, surprised.

Did he say husband? What’s this guy’s deal, honestly. Pegasi ...

He just chuckled. “A joooke.~ Now c’mon, you are some knight or some mercenary or what exactly?”

“Uh, yeah a mercenary of sorts I guess. I kill stuff, be it ponies or monsters.”

“With the sword I bet?~”, he said, gazing over my scabbard that held my precious warsword. It is incredibly precious, believe me! You won’t find another one like that anywhere in earth pony lands!

“Yeah, the sword. A warsword to be precise.” I decided to unsheathe it and levitate it by my side as we kept walking so that he can see it in its full glory.

“We’ve heard of unicorns really being fond of swords of this length, but when we came around those parts, we’d noticed that earth ponies don’t really wield those.”, the gal said, trying to get into the conversation as well.

“Oh yeah, for a reason. Only unicorns can reliable wield warswords.”

“Why is that?”, she asked.

“Because it’s big. It can be up to two or three times heavier than a standard arming sword. It’s design is made purposefully in such a way, so that it’s unwieldy to anypony using it in a mouth grip or a hoof grip. The handle is very long, made so that I can have two pivots on it, astoundingly increasing my precision and range of motion, but also making it unreliable when held in one hoof. The hilt guard is also very wide so that it can easily defend me against any incoming strikes that I engage in a bind and the blade itself is incredibly long, thus incredibly heavier. Even with earth pony strength, it would just become a bat, mainly because of many things getting in the way. In those swords, or any swords in particular, but those specifically, edge alignment is key. Warswords are made with-“

“Okay okay, slow down.~”, guy said with a chuckle, putting a hoof up.

I stopped and gazed to him, questioningly. He wanted me to talk, what’s his deal?

“Have you ever talked to anypony before?”, he asked.

“What? What sort of question is that?”

“Nevermind. Well how about you slow down a bit when continuing. How are the warswords made then?”

“Oh. They are usually made from spring steel, so that they bend quite easily, but in this way they will not shatter. Many techniques are used to reduce the mass and increase rigidity to ultimately have a weapon that, along with our already increased range via magic, has an even longer effective range.”

“Mhm, so I wouldn’t be able to wield it?”

“Of course you can, but you will not use it to its full potential. As I said, a club would work just as well then, if not better.”

“I see. Sounds rather exquisite if I’m being honest. And what’s the deal with magic? How can you just wield it so well and such? You said something about pivots?”

“Oh yeah”, I said and levitated it horizontally just in front of us so that he would see it better and continued, “The handle is way longer and finished with leather wrapping coated in a special sap, it greatly increases the strength of my levitation magic. As a comparison, I can very easily levitate a stick and turn it around, but I am unable to make fast, precise movements with it beside just throwing it forward. Reacting quickly to things is also not as snappy as it would be with a hoof.

“This leather negates those cons completely. It makes it so that the movements are snappy and strong, but it also comes at a disadvantage. It uses more energy to have higher, but that also means it, theoretically, limits our range.”

“Limits range? How so?”, he asked.

“Levitation magic, for everypony, has its limit of energy drain. Some have a more timid energy drain, while others won’t be able to hold a cup for longer than an hour. Based on the movements we make, we naturally synergize the energy drain on what we require. If you have higher speed, precision and quick response, then you will have lesser range and maybe strength even.

“Additionally, if I get hit on the handle of the sword or my horn while I’m casting the spell, it causes great harm to me. The more energy-expensive the spell, the more it hurts, so smart unicorns decided to put hilt guards to protect our magic.”

“That makes sense, but why not cover the whole hilt then? Or at least a big portion of it?”, he asked, seemingly curious in me explaining all the odds and ends of it all. I mean, he is asking a lot of questions regarding the sword and such, why else would he ask those if he weren't genuinely interested. His sister, on the other hoof, was quite less into it and way more into the nature all around us.

“Any sort of obstruction between us and the target of our levitation exponentially lowers the spell’s effectiveness. Besides, hilt guards like so are more than enough when it comes to protection.”, I replied and sheathed my sword back into its safe scabbard.

“Hm, that’s interesting. I’ve met few unicorns, all of them had swords, but none really spoke like you did. They didn’t really knew as much details as you do.”

“Details? What I’m telling you is really the most basic knowledge of the craft of both fighting and the sword making. Most of those questions you can answer yourself simply by observation and rational thinking.”

“Yeah, well, you make more sense than whatever they have told me.”, he shrugged. Those must have been some really weird unicorns. Or weird to me at the very least.

“Well, whatever works for you.”, I just said, not sure how else to reply to that.

After a brief pause he asked again, “So, mercenary. Is it nice?”

I looked at him and thought. Is it nice? I feel an amazing rush of adrenaline whenever I fight, I feel so at ease, like I belong in combat, like I was made for it. I am also very good at it, considering I haven’t died yet.

I nodded to him. “Yeah, it’s nice. I like it.” Even though some ponies could be a bit more honest. Making money is sometimes a chore.

“Glad to hear it. You ought to do in life what pleases you most! We also love to be troubadours, although I’ve noticed earth ponies call us bards, but I suspect it’s the same thing?”

“Hm, sort of.”, I said, remembering something about those words.

“Troubadour is more of a performer, composer, that sort of thing, so strictly tied to songs. Bards, on the other hand, are sort of a mix between a troubadour, poet and a storyteller. Both perform publicly and both can travel around.”

“Oh, I do some storytelling sometimes, mostly to kiddos, but many adult earth ponies also love to hear stories from abroad, especially those from villages.”, he said.

“Mh, folks from villages and towns differ greatly so it does make sense what you are saying.”, I added.

“What do you mean?”, he asked, looking at me curiously, his head skewed slightly to the side.

“Although earth ponies in villages tend to be smarter, coming to tough conclusions quicker and generally more mannered, those from the villages are way more curious to whatever might be happening outside their settlements and their engagement to things is also way stronger and more honest.

“If you go and tell city folk and village folk the same fact about some event in some other place, the town folk will just shrug it off and walk away, very few will be interested. Village folk on the other hand will be way more invested into the story; they will ask questions and so on.”

“Sounds logical.”, the mare said. Both my and guy’s head turned to face her as she continued, “In villages you don’t have access to many news nor sort of leisure town folk take for granted. Naturally, they will be way more curious about events, because they aren’t bombarded with those every day.”

“Ah, a little scholar waking up in you again?~”, her brother said with a small, teasing smirk and poked her with a wing.

Right, those wings. How awesome those must be. They literally look like birds’ wings. Soft feathers all around, slowly sliding to a singular point along the length, creating a tall triangle with softened edges. It must be quite nice to just fly around, feeling the wind and be completely free from the ground, able to go just anywhere. Skip oceans or even huge masses of land that would take days to hitch-hike through. How I envy them for those.

Wait a moment. They have wings. They can fly.

I wasn’t paying attention to what they were talking about, my gaze was fixated on that wing until a thought struck me. I looked up to them again and noticed them staring at me, with smirks, with those teasing, treacherous, evil smirks! What have I done again! I quickly felt myself fluster at their gazes.

“W-what?” Honestly, that’s all I could muster? A ‘what’? Stupid pegasi ...

“I see you’d like to take a closer look at my wings, eh lass? Or maybe at me in general?~”, the guy said with a light chuckle.

At him in general?!

“What?! NO! No! Nothing of that sort! My gaze just fell on them! I don’t remember the last time I saw wings, I’m just curious, that’s all! No need to make such a big deal out of it!”, I said to protect my dignity, but I had a feeling it would drop to astonishing lows when travelling with them so was it even worth it? Maybe I should just focus on a creative riposte to their actions rather than on defending myself like that?

“Heeelllloooo~”, guy said, poking my cheek with his wing. Okay, it felt incredibly soft, barely felt it. Even felt a hint of a ticklish sensation. I’d like- GAH! Astrala! What the fuck?! I dozed off into thoughts again?!

“What??”, my eyes snapped to his again.

He just smirked, looked back at his sister and they both giggled. Oh, I’ve about had it! With my magic I grabbed one of their boots each and halted them in their tracks. In perfect unison, both of them made the same squeaking and surprised sound as they tripped, face first into the dirt path. I stopped with a smirk, heavenly proud of my creation here in front of my eyes. That’s what you get, feather-brains!

They got up and chuckled both, cleaned their faces.

“Alright alright, let’s go or we will never get to another town.”, he said.

“It’s not me that stopped, it were you two, slowpokes.” I smirked.

“Slowpokes? Oh, okay! Big oak tree over there, we race to it! Let’s see who is such a slowpoke!”, the mare said.

“I’m in!”, guy added quickly.

Both of them got into positions with their heads lower to the grounds and wings unfurled fully by their sides. They looked to me.

I sighed. “Yeah, okay.” I got into position, but not that much into it. It’s a waste of energy, why do it? Besides, I am a very fast runner, doubt those two little pegasi could outrun me.

“3. 2. 1. GO!”, the guy counted down. Which reminded me that I still can’t remember their names. I started running instantly, leaving them in the dust. Ha, puny pegasi would neve-

ZHOOOM!

Both of them zoomed beside me, going almost twice as fast as me, wings flapping and completely, and I mean COMPLETELY, ignoring the ground.

I looked in awe. Damn, they are fast when they fly. Which reminded me - wow, I forget a lot of stuff - what I was intending to ask them! I now ran a bit slower, because there was no way I would win this race anyway. Once I got to the tree, both of them were panting, leaning on it while sitting.

“Hah, we won. Who is the- haaah ... the slowpoke now?~” Completely out of breath. Looks so vulnerable like that, no wonder they asked me for protection, being this brain-dead and all.

“Sure, I am the slowpoke and you look like you now need a break.”. I said.

They both nodded to which I just rolled my eyes.

“Which reminded me that I wanted to ask. Why do you need protection if you can just fly away like that? Can’t you just ignore every danger by flying?”

“You know how tiring that is? No way. Those wings are too small to fly long distances.”, he said, almost out of breath.

Makes sense, compared to birds, they are rather small considering wing to body proportions.

I shrugged and sat down under another tree opposite to them. A forest was beginning to form, we were just on the outskirts. Maybe we would be able to find a small river or a pond since it looks more lush than before.

“It shouldn’t be a long break. It’s better to take refuge in the forest. It will cover the smoke from our fireplace easier and might mask us from any unwanted visitors. Don’t take too long.”, I said to them.

They both nodded and the guy muttered, completely out of breath, “Sure. Just a few minutes.”

I leaned my head back on the tree and decided to enjoy some peace and quiet. It was nice. Nothing happening, nor going on. Some birds could be heard from the crowns of the trees, maybe being fed by their mother, maybe just looking for a partner? Few flowers could be seen on the ground, but what really was out of place was the amount of mushrooms. It was nearing the season after all, in early autumn, where the rains are still happening quite often, but the heat wave is not that clear, those like to sprung up all over the place.

Eh, too bad I don’t know much about them. There is a lot of poisonous mushrooms, so picking them just like that might not be a good idea. I know few though, but not for eating.

After my thoughts on mushrooms I heard them get up. Was this enough of a brake for them? Shame.

I got up as well and asked, “Ready?”

They simply nodded. We continued walking again, this time through the forest. Sun showed noon, so there was still quite a lot of walking to be done for the day and next few days too, but once we are in another town or village we will be able to relax again. Of course I should try to find some work anyway. Some spare coin could be nice and besides, I like to fight stuff.

After full eight hours of walking and rather useless and unimportant small talk, we had finally decided to call it a day.

Well, they did. I wanted to continue walking, but they were constantly whining in my ear.

“Astralaaaaaa! Pleeeaase!”, the guy whined with a fake sob.

“Stop being such a foal, the sun is literally only just setting! We could still tackle some more road and be almost half way!”

“But we already are half way!”, the gal said with a rather adorable hoof stomp. Pegasi are just tall kids. Granted those two aren’t very tall, but neither am I really. Not that I’m short or anything! I’m normal height! Standard. Basic. I think ... I think unicorns are just tall, because I don’t remember many ponies taller than me.

...

Yeah ... hmff. I’m short, like a mare would be, fuck off now, not tall. Your eyes just don’t work, those pegasi are simply very, very short.

“Fine, we will make camp over there, around those trees.”, I said, pointing out to a place just a few dozen steps away from the road.

They sighed in glee, rushed there and, both in unison, fell down on their faces. Were they really that tired? Weak.

I got to them, took out the sticks and rocks I have collected just a while ago as we were still walking and began setting up a campfire. Very simple thing, a bit of dirt dug out, circle of stones and sticks in the centre, suited in a way so that the fire burns more of them as it starts up. With my magic I spawned a small flame and my makeshift campfire started growing, slowly lighting up the place all around us. Not that we needed that, it was still rather bright, but it would get dark very quickly so better to have it now.

I sat down and looked at them. They slowly sat up around the fire and sighed, looking really tired. That gal was lightly massaging her hind hoof after taking off her boots. Guess I do need to go lighter on them.

“So in terms of food, what do you have?”, I asked.

They both looked at me and the guy said, “Well, we have some flatbreads and salami.”

I waited, looking at them, hoping to hear more from them. Still waiting. Waiting. Desperately hoping to hear more. Don’t tell me ...

“That’s it?”

“Uh, yeah?”, gal said with a crook to her head and a small shrug.

“Are you serious?”, I asked and sighed deeply. Fucking useless. And here I thought I will be able to just sit and eat without working much.

“Well, we usually just buy little, make it to the next place and eat there. Is it bad?”, the guy asked, but I ignored him.

I levitated out my small pot and with few rocks I tested if it would sit atop the fire without touching the wood, which it managed. I really need to buy myself a holder. Oh, and a bigger pot now, it seems.

I looked into my bag, seeing if I could use something for a quick stew. Hardtack, jerky, blueberries, small brick of butter and a hoofful of rosemary. Well, will have to do.

I took out my jug with water and filled the pot with it. Then I threw in all of those ingredients I had, some with lesser quantity than that of others and put it over the fire to start boiling. Will take a while, but will also be much tastier than simple flatbreads and salami. Stupid pegasi.

“Oh.”, gal just said, staring at the pot.

“Yeah, was supposed to be your job.”, I said.

She looked away shyly. “W-well, We didn’t know you could have a whole kitchen out in the wilds.”

“Not the whole kitchen. A pot, few ingredients and you have some good food. Seriously not that hard. Tell me at least you do clean your water?”

“Clean it? Nah, we just buy it fresh in next town.”, guy answered me.

“Uh huh. And what if you have some leftover?”

“We get rid of it.”

I facehooved. Bunch of idiots.

“You imbeciles ... how have you survived out here for so long is beyond me. You use either alcohol or vinegar to kill germs and you can drink it again! Besides, it IS way tastier this way anyway! Have you been living under a rock?”

They leaned away a bit, taken slightly aback by it, but come on! How can you be so-

“Okay, we understand. Don’t be rude.”, the guy said, clearly not liking my outburst.

“What? Don’t give me that. You are now upset at me? I should be upset at you!”

“What we do is our business, not yours. Didn’t you say something like that before?”

“Oh god fucking damn it. Okay, do whatever you want to do. Burn through your money, I don’t care.”, I waved a hoof and got up.

“Look over the stew, it will be ready in like two hours or so. Stir it sometimes. I’m going foraging.”, I dropped a wooden spoon inside the pot and started walking away.

“Foraging what?”, the guy asked as I was walking into the forest.

“Not your business.”, I said and heard no more complains. Bunch of idiots.

How can you walk around the wilderness, from town to town and be this uneducated. Even I know that just this little bit of additional work for your own food will make it ten times better. Even a simple thing as sterilizing your water for crying out loud! How annoying they are.

They probably have every luxury at home, which would explain their lack of knowledge. I seriously should have just not talked to them, nor accepted any deal or proposal they had for me. Why did I even bother? Honestly, why. I knew it would end up like that, why in donkey’s ass did I even try.

Guess, looking at the bigger picture, I am the grand imbecile here. Ghh, don’t think, just gather some stuff around here and shut up.

...

I really like to talk to myself. Eh, what do we have around here? Trees, grass. Oh, mushrooms, right, it’s season for them. I see some browncaps here, might as well take them. I levitated out a knife I had and started cutting them at the stem, picking up quite a number of those in a rather short time. I might sell those later.

Beside sporadically placed mushrooms, there really wasn’t a lot in this forest. It was quite bare, honestly. Quiet and bare. That is very unusual. Way too unusual, now that I think about it.

I stopped and decided to listen in on anything out of place and there I heard it – nothing.

I heard absolutely nothing.

When do you hear nothing in a forest? Never. It’s always some birds or something. Crickets at dusk and such. But here? Nothing. Quite unusual and strange. I walked a bit more, trying to remember my previous steps so that I have no trouble walking back to those feather-brains. Slowly and quietly making my way along the grass, avoiding sticks and keeping my eyes peeled and ears sharp in case of any danger.

It was then when I noticed something. It was a pole with some things stuck to it, bones and a skull? It had feathers in few places as well as some grass and flowers in other.

That’s when it hit me. A quiet forest and a totem like this? A leshen. A leshen that is possibly ready to attack.

I immediately turned back and started running to those pegasi as fast as I could, dodging the trees just barely, trying to get to them as quickly as possible. One day of being a guard and I’m about to fuck it up already. How brilliant.

I quickly got to them, stopped loudly and shouted, “Gather the fuck up! We need to leave, now! Quickly! Up! UP!”

They got startled and confused and, obviously, stayed in place. The mare asked quickly with a tad of worry in her face, “W-what’s going on? Why-“

“There is a leshen in this forest, we definitely cannot here as it might attack us! Now move if you value your life!”

They finally got up and started putting back stuff they had previously took out from their bags.

“W-where are we going then? What are we supposed to do?”, the guy asked.

That is a good ass question. Think Astrala, think. Normally I’d just go and kill this shitling, but endangering those two bitch-nuggets won’t be a smart move. If we make a run for it, just maybe we manage to get out of this forest and get to the village on the other side of it.

“We make a run for it. There is no point going back, we run along the path and when I tell you to fly away, you are going to fly above the trees, at least ten meters above them and fly to the village at the end of this forest. We will meet there.”

“Meet there? What do you mean?”, guy asked with a touch of worry.

“If he comes, I will fight him. I can’t escape like you do, but since you can, you will.”

“There is no way we will be able to fly this far.”, the gal said with clear worry forming in her tone.

They look ready to leave. I motioned them with a hoof to run along the path and they started, while I followed them closely.

“If not, then at least stay above me for the duration of the fight. It will be tough as I have no time to prepare.”

“How do you know he is going to attack us? Maybe he is friendly?”, the guy asked again.

“Have you noticed how quiet the forest was? No birds, no crickets, no nothing. That, and I found his totem inside the forest. He uses them to mark his territory. The only question being, will he actually leave us alone? In his territory? We better not stay to find out. Now quicker! Run faster!", I shouted at them and they actually started to run faster. Guess when it comes to being alive or dead, suddenly they don’t whine.

We’ve been running for a good minute or two and then heard a scream of pain. The leshen did not target us, but he is close, just as some ponies are that have clearly been attacked by him.

I slowed down a tad bit and said, “Okay, we were not his target it seems, that’s a relief.”

They got to a full stop and started panting. I looked behind and stopped as well, rolling my eyes a bit.

“Wait - hah - who is ... the target then?”, gal asked.

“Maybe the villagers from the town we are heading to? Who knows. It was definitely a pony scream.”

Then we heard another, antagonizing scream, filled in pain. Both of their faces grimaced and turned completely white from fear.

“Yeah, this one sounded like a pony too.”, I simply added.

“Can you kill this thing?”, she asked.

“Yeah, but it’s not so easy.”

“Then you need to help them!”

“What?” I raised my eyebrow at that. “Why? They are farther away from us and I am to protect you, not them.”

“W-what? So what? They are ponies! If you can kill it, then do so! Go and help them!”

“I’m not going to, you will be put in danger. I am to avoid putting you in danger and if you are in said danger then I am to protect you from it. Would I be a good guard if I left your side now?”

She stood there, looking dumbfounded a bit.

“You did leave our side when you went foraging!”, she said with a raised voice.

“Yes, because I thought you were safe and now I realised you are not, so I came back. What do you not understand here?”, I asked her, slowly getting a bit irritated while another screams could be heard.

“That- you- Gah! You’re terrible! Why-“

“I’ve been called worse.", I cut her off, "I don’t care what you call me, I’m doing the job you paid me for and nothing more. Now better stop standing there and come on, once the leshen finishes them, he might come for us. You really don’t want to meet him.”

And so I started walking, but I heard only one set of hoofsteps behind me. Then, after a second or two, I heard the guy shout, “Wind!” and I heard some flaps.

I turned around and noticed that shit-for-brains mare flying slowly above the trees towards the screams, where leshen probably is slaughtering our placed-not-on-purpose bait. Things could not have been easy, no. I got to guard some assholes that look for problems in their boring ass lives. Pitchfork up arse, I’m telling you.

Upon noticing her flying away I shouted loudly, “COME BACK HERE!”

I started to run after that mare as fast as I could, but I quickly lost sight of her as she flew above the crowns of the trees. I could only make slight glimpses of her, slowly flying farther and farther away from me. That fucking dipshit. At least I know where she is going, guess I will have to fight tonight.

I kept running roughly in the direction of those screams and shouts that were slowly thinning out. Not an easy thing to do as it was getting dark quickly. While running, I casted the candlelight spell so that I could see where I’m running at least.

Eventually, after running as fast as I could for quite some time I got to the place. I noticed a yellowish blob between the trees quickly fly upward, dodging a bunch of razor-sharp roots elongating themselves at her. She has a death wish, seriously.

And there it was. Blood all around it and ponies dismembered in every direction. Legs lying without their rightful owners, still pouring fresh blood out of them, parts of their intestines and other organs all around the previously green ground, as well as hanging from some branches and small bushes - a massacre in short, even thought I didn’t make it short.

And, in the middle of it all, a creature comprised of brown and rotten-green colours. It looked like a small, but round creature, walking on two, short legs that looked like roots of a tree. Its arms just as short as its legs, hanging lazily down by its round sides. A rough staff made from roots in its claw, grasped tightly. A coat made out of horrid-looking moss covering its back, sides and head. Lastly, the face. Barely visible, looking like an abomination of weirdly shaped roots trying to make some sort of face with unnaturally elongated chin, its bright, yellow eyes, clearly visible in this forest slowly being taken by night, dark sky and a pair of incredibly tall antlers, covered in blood, as tall as its whole body height. All around this creature were roots going in all different, unnatural directions and a few crows sitting on top of them.

Then, it turned and noticed me. It made no sound, but simply pointed the staff at me. I felt the ground under me shake, it was already attacking me. I quickly dodged to the side, evading a bunch of sharp roots escaping from the ground where I just stood that had plans on impaling me right there and then.

As I got on my hooves again I pulled out my warsword in one go and began advancing the monster quickly.

It spared no time, pointed the staff at me again and tried the same trick. They are incredibly smart creatures, easily adapting to changes in battlefields and their enemies, expecting specific movements seconds in advance. Simply speaking – able to think tactically. A way of battling those foes is using their ability of predicting our movements to our advantage. Usually it means putting our lives in a game of chance, but leshen are too powerful for a single pony to be able to do anything more.

I immediately stopped and turned around a tree, changing my direction 90 degrees and making half of an arch to run at him again. As I expected, he thought I will be running straight at him, so his attack was being set in advance. It missed me with some room to spare and gave me some needed advantage. I needed to focus on that staff, his source of power.

As I was running at him, being just few meters from him, he held his staff horizontally with both of his long, pointy, wooden claws and then created a wall between me and him made out of thickly entangled roots, about two meters in height. Incredibly short, meaning he didn’t have that much power at the moment. I jumped high enough to just make it above the wall, sword pointed at him and I was about to pierce his face, when a big root slammed me away in the last second. I flew a dozen feet away, rolling in the dirt, letting out few winces of pain.

That hit was extremely powerful, but I am glad it was not a stab.

I hit a tree with my back, luckily not too hard, because I wasted a lot of that momentum on rolling through dirt. I quickly got up, ignored the pain and looked to him, holding my sword close to me.

Didn’t have much power? Or did he plan that? He would have pierced me then, not slap me away. Time to change the tactic.

I started to run at him again, slightly slower. He held his staff at his side, pulled it back and then swung it forward, making a big, thick root come out of the ground, coming straight at me with its sharp point.

I went into a solid, defence stance and waited, anticipating a strike. It was coming from my right, so I positioned my sword closer to it. As it was about to hit, I smacked it with my sword to push it away to my side just enough, while dodging to the other side, successfully evading a thrust. I heard the root dig into the ground behind me.

Another thrusting root, this time from other side. Same tactic and worked as well. Distance was already shortened immensely. Few more steps and I will be at its horrid face again.

Now the leshen was not joking. He struck the ground with his staff and smaller roots, but great in numbers, dug themselves out all around me. I stopped and moved the candlelight behind me so that it would be just behind those roots. I noticed a shadow of a root behind me pulling back, getting ready to stab me. As soon as it was about to, I swung my sword around and struck it, heard it get slashed off by the blade and land on the ground. Then another root from my right was about to stab me. Without stopping the momentum, I swung the sword around my head and struck the root, cleaving it off. Then the next, and the next.

Leshen was getting hurt and irritated. He decided for a direct approach now, which was my chance. With timid, green light spawned from his staff, he turned himself into a flock of crows that rushed straight at me. I covered my face as to protect the most vital parts. The crows scratched and bounced from my armour and clothes, not doing much damage beside a few scratches and cuts from their beaks and claws. Luckily not managing to hit anything vital, like my eyes.

Then, as I expected, he appeared behind me to grab me in his claws so that I am kept in place. My sword was already pointing behind me and as soon as I saw his shadow materialize behind me, I thrust my sword right where his face would be.

I heard a low, slightly crow-like screech - jackpot. Moving slightly down on my front I steadied myself and bucked him in his face with my rear hooves as hard as I could. He slid out from my sword and stumbled back, letting go of his staff.

Before he could react, I turned around and blasted him with a bunch of flames coming out from my horn, burning him alive. He screeched louder now, but still in that low, trembling tune that you could feel piercing your heart and soul, echoing and resonating inside your chest. I kept going though, cooking him to be about well-done, but since I’m no cook, he ended up being burned to a crisp. Once on fire and without the staff, he was at my mercy and soon enough he screeched no more.

I stopped my magic and looked down in front of me. Scorched roots and a dead leshen, as well as a bunch of grass blades on fire all around him, quickly spreading.

My magic fire is slightly different than normal fire. At first it burns deep red until it eventually turns into that orange hue of a typical fire. I quickly stomped it away as to not create a fire hazard.

After it was done I put my warsword back to its scabbard and let out a sigh of relief. It was a bit tiring, not gonna lie.

This was clearly an inexperienced leshen, a very young one I assume. Still, a formidable opponent. Now I would normally glue any facts together, but I have something more important to do.

“HEY! Where you are?! To me right now, feather-brain!”, I shouted around the forest.

Like a good dog, she flew from the trees’ crowns down on the ground and landed in front of me, looking slightly terrified, but also very relieved. Eh, not that dogs can fly or anything, but that she listened to my call, obviously. I’m not stupid.

“You do that again and I will tie you up, is that clear?”, I told her.

She simply nodded and said quietly, “I didn’t expect you to be this, uh, skilful. Eh, normally I’d be amazed and all, but we need to find any ponies that, uhm, might still be alive.”, she said, looking over at that pool of a massacre, having a sickly, dizzy face.

I simply nodded, seems to be the best course of action now. I walked forth, closer to those lifeless lumps and shouted.

“Hello! Anypony around?! It’s safe now!”

“Over here!”, somepony shouted not that far away and we walked there. Correction, I walked there, that featherbrain rushed there quickly as if hoping to do anything to help them. I sighed and started to trot, hoping that lass won’t get in trouble again on purpose.

We came to the source of that shout and looked upon eight stallions all with crude weapons that mainly consisted of pitchforks, some had swords even. A few of them, about three or four, were lying on the ground, severely wounded.

“I- is that thing dead?”, one stallion asked, looking like their leader. Besides that, he looked like he pissed his pants, honestly.

“Yeah yeah, all dead. Give me space.”, I said and quickly walked up to the ones that were wounded, first to the one that was losing the most blood.

Two stallions beside him looked at me weird, but did not stop me. I glanced at the wounded guy.

Two holes, one at the chest, one at the side. Beside a huge loss of blood, he looks like he might pull through. Nevertheless, I lowered my horn to those gaping holes filled with blood and worked my healing magic on them. I heard some of those stallions say something, but I’m not quite sure what it was. While casting that spell I need to seriously concentrate. After half a minute or so he was healed, but his body still did not register full recovery and thus he was still in pain. Mild pain, but pain nonetheless.

I got up and moved to another one and then another one. Done my magic on both of them, requiring slightly less energy as their damage was not as severe, but it still was plenty tiring. I finished the last one, opened my eyes and noticed him asleep. Hah, almost looked like a scene from some fairy tale, just with reversed roles. I was not going to kiss him though, I don't kiss ouchies.

I stood up and felt my legs turn to jelly. I slightly gasped in surprise and was sure I’d end up on my side, but that feather-brain lass was beside me, securing me with her side and wing around me.

“Are you alright?”, she quickly asked me, her voice filled with honest worry.

“Y-yeah. Spell’s tiring, ‘tis all.”, I said, feeling the effect of this exertion on myself now. I moved my weight away from her side and on my hooves again, not needing the help anymore, but her wing still stayed over my back. In my vision I noticed that leader guy walking to me, so I faced him.

“I honestly don’t know what you did, but it seems you’ve saved some of us twice. I thank you greatly, if it weren’t for you, we all would have wound up dead.”, he said, with sincerity in his voice and a light nod of his head.

“Yes, you would be. What came over your minds to attack a leshen? We are lucky he was a young one, otherwise I would have been dead too, probably.”, I said, feeling it a bit tiring to talk and stand at the same time, my head hanging a bit lower than usually.

“Well, it was giving us a lot of problems, we had to take action-“

“Okay okay, c’mon, we’ve set up camp not far away from here. We can talk there. Take the wounded, but do it carefully. I healed them, but I’m not perfect at it, they might still have something broken, so keep an eye on them.”, I said simply.

He nodded and ordered few of his men to do as I said. Meanwhile that feather-brain was guiding me back to the camp, saying nothing at all to me. Hm, I like this nickname.

While we were walking back those stallions were quietly talking, but no idea about what. I’m too tired for that. I looked to the feather gal and said.

“You should go find your brother. He didn’t go with us.”

“First I sit you by the camp. We’re almost there.”, she said firmly.

“Go, find him. I’m alright, I’ve had worse.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to go through the worst. Be quiet now.”, she insisted. I sighed and let her carry me.

After a short while we noticed the light from my campfire and her brother sitting there, attending to the stew. So he wasn’t being useless after all.

He noticed us and ran up to us. “Oh, you’re both safe, thank the gods.”

“Thank her. All her doing.”, she said and lead me to the fire and sat me down. I felt like a sack of potatoes and sighed like one.

Other earth ponies gathered around and some set up a secondary fireplace. Their leader sat beside me and said, “Thank you again. If there is any way I can repay you, please, say so.”

“Well”, I sighed again, “I usually take money for those monsters, but I already did the job. Feels somewhat cheap to ask for that now. Let’s say we will see later. Are you from the village up west?”

“Yes, we are.”, he simply replied, to which I leaned back a bit, confused.

“Then what are you doing here? That village is still a bit away from here, no?”

“That son of a bitch lead us here. Made us think he was weak, so rather than letting him lick his wounds, we had decided to finish him. It seems he wanted to cut us away from any possible retreat and then began his attack. This forest is too thick in this area to just run and get out of it from here. We were trapped like fish in a net.”

“Hm, at least you have courage to admit it. I’ve met too many ponies that would just try to act tough.”, I said and looked at the pot, seeing that pegasus guy stirring it and replying to some other earth pony stallion what is in the stew. I hope he isn’t planning on sharing, there is barely enough for three ponies, if one can call half a bowl of stew enough. It’s not a big pot.

“You took this monstrosity down alone, I’m not going to fluff things out of proportion in front of you.”, he chuckled slightly.

“Glad to hear that. You guys have any way to sleep out here?”

“No, but we will manage. We have to now, since we’ve been played like fools.”

“I will help you build shelter.”, I said and started to stand up when I heard my favourite pegasus shout in her feminine voice.

“NO!”

I looked in her direction and saw her walking to me from attempting to help some wounded pony. She walked up to me and said, “You sit here and dare not to even move a muscle no more! You barely could stand!”

“Tough shit, you told me to help, didn’t you?” Hah, feels nice to get back on your own words, eh?~"

She huffed rather adorably. “Don’t use my words against me and keep your ass down. Brother, get her my hammock, after she is done eating she will sleep in it.”

Hammock? Also, it would be good if they were to address each other by names, would have reminded me of them at least.

“She will take mine, it’s alright.”, he said, to which she simply nodded. He, on the other hoof, got to his bag and started taking out some sort of rolled up woollen cloth.

His sister came to me and started taking apart my accessories and I was quick to protest. “Ey, ey, what gives?”

“Relax, I’m just going to put those aside so you can feel more comfortable.”, she continued to struggle to take off my scabbard.

I shrugged, used my magic to unbutton and loosen any straps that needed that so that she can do what she wants. She took my bags and weapons and put them by a tree. I decided to be nice for once and when she was done I said.

“Thank you.”

She smiled at me and went on to take care of wounded earth ponies. Meanwhile other earth ponies were talking with each other, but I wasn’t feeling like eavesdropping currently.

Then their leader beside me said, “You’ve got some nice, thoughtful friends.”

“They aren’t my friends. I’m their escort.”

“Oh, I see. Well, they are nice either way. Where are you heading to?”

“To your village, they are troubadours, but wanted some protection on the road due to all that war happening nearby.”

“Ah that. We’ve lost half of our stallions in that war already.”, he said, sounding depressed.

“You were attacked or they volunteered?”, I asked and looked to him. He was looking down at his hooves, ears pulled back.

“Neither. Enemy army came to our village and simply took half of them. If we were to fight back, they would have torched the place. We had to do it. There went our blacksmith, half of our farmhooves and my son too.”, he now looked even worse, and then added with a scoff, “And now we had this monster to deal with. Oh, life isn’t easy. Maybe those troubadour friends of yours are what we would need there right now, actually.”

Hmpf, not friends.

“Just remember they don’t work for free.”, I said.

“Does anybody? Oh, well, you did now, sort of, but you have my word I will not let you leave our village without at least being properly fed and having a good bed to sleep on.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the words, but I don’t believe them. I’ve been scammed too many times to just believe something like that. If you are sincere however, I will be greatly pleased and surprised. Positively surprised.”, I said with a small smile. He nodded to me, putting up a smile as well.

Then my male pegasus friend bumped into me from my other side as he was sitting and said, while pointing to some trees. Wait, not friend, my male pegasus idiot. That's more like it. I don't like him.

“Your hammock is ready, m’lady~.”

He was pointing at a piece of soft looking cloth tied against two trees. I looked to him and asked.

“Okay and what does it do?”

“You sleep on it. It’s a standard for us pegasi. We like to sleep on trees, sooooo some smart pegasus came up with an idea to put bed and tree together! And here it is – hammock!”

“And how do I get up there? I don’t have wings.”, I lightly smirked at him.

“I will fly you up there then.”, he shrugged with a smile. I simply rolled my eyes and looked aside.

He nudged me and asked, “So, maybe a little song to lighten the mood? Appreciate it, I usually want payment for those.” He smiled teasingly.

“I am your protection. It should be you paying me in gold.”, I said with a playful smile.

He chuckled lightly.

“Yeah right. If you were a stallion, gold for a song would have sufficed, but I don’t ask of gold from mares~.” He grinned at me and made his eyebrows go up and down.

I felt myself froze and burn on the face yet again. He simply laughed and added, “Don’t worry! This one's on the house~.”

And so he started playing that lute of his. He used his wing on the elongated part and near the egg-shaped one. Looked quite hard in my eyes. He also sprung up some little singing. His voice was, and I’m having hard time admitting it, quite lovely. It was just between a very high or a very low voice, perfectly capturing all the variety of notes and tones he had to hit, while having an up-beat and cheery feel to it. Everypony seemed to quite enjoy the music, warming them up just as well as the fireplaces shining lights in every direction, separating us from the pitch dark forest.

Once he was done with his little music spectacle everypony clapped their hooves. I refrained from it, simply to not make him think it was anything special to me, just to maybe tease him with it later. In all truthfulness, that song was really nice. I couldn’t help but smile hearing it. It warmed up every inch of my body while it was resonating perfectly with his voice, like two leaves dancing around, slowly falling onto a lake and moving along with the current, while both avoiding each other and not strafing too far away. It felt good, lively, happy, cheerful, do I even know other words to describe it? Could be tough.

I noticed him smiling at me, probably awaiting my verdict. I simply nodded.

“Mhhmmm, good enough, quite alright.” Unable to help myself, but crack a smile, a teasing, playful one.

He immediately knew what I was up to. He nudged me again with a chuckle and said, “Sure, missy~.”

Then, I noticed his sister handing me a bowl of that stew and said, “Here you go, eat first.”

“Uh, n-no, give it to other ponies. I’m alright.”, I said, slightly uncomfortable, being told to eat while others might not only be more hungry than me, but also need it more. I can last without food and it’s not like I won’t have any anyway.

“Eat.”, she said firmly and added, “Others might have not had a chance to enjoy a meal if it weren’t for you. Now eat.”

I sighed and took the bowl in my hooves, better not to strain my magic further. I got it closer to my lips and slipped a bit in my mouth. Thick, salty and lumpy, but still better than eating flatbreads and salami. I quickly finished my bowl and sighed.

“My my, hungry, were we~?”, feather-brain beside me asked with a smirk.

I lightly hit him with a bowl on his head, at which he just giggled.

“Sure.”, I replied with a smile and leaned back a bit, supporting myself with my front hooves behind me, firmly on the ground.

I looked up, trying to see the moon up in the sky, but not only had I seen no moon, there was also a thick layer of clouds. Still, it didn’t matter. It was a peaceful night. I started hearing the crickets in the background along with other ponies talking. Seems the forest has woken up from this leshen’s rule.

Oh, and how godly it was. Cold air tickling your fur with that light breeze carrying it along every strand of hair. That smell at night was also something different. If you were to tell me few months ago that day and night smell differently I would have laughed. Now, I feel the difference. Sun is bright, blinding and it pierces though your fur like hot blades. Night though? Night is calm, it’s gentle. It’s just so peaceful. I feel just amazing sitting at night. So amazing that I slowly felt myself doze off.

Just this fireplace is weirdly resonating with the atmosphere. On one hoof, it greatly adds to the enjoyment, giving you that slight warmth that contrasts perfectly with a cold, freezing night, giving you a perfect mix of both. On the other, it's really blinding and the sound of cracking firewood just isn't what I enjoy.

I blinked and looked around, my vision slightly skewed, angled to the side. I raised my head and looked around, noticing that pegasus grinning at me. Why was he- oh, no. My vision was skewed. I dozed off on his shoulder.

I awaited it, something from him, a tease, a word. But I’ve been awarded with nothing of that sort. Rather than that, he nudged his head to point at a hammock and asked me with a really soft, understanding voice that I felt echo deep in my chest, warming me up better than any fireplace.

“Need a lift up there?”

That was unexpected from him. Maybe he was tired too? O-or he was meaning on getting to the hammock with me?! N-no, Astrala, relax. He definitely did not think that. You can’t know a pony after, what, two days? It’s impossible. Don’t be rude.

I nodded to him. He flew up and above me, grabbed me under my shoulders and lifted me up. It felt slightly weird, but I was too tired to think anything more than that. He set me in a hammock and after it felt like it would just snap under me, I stopped going down and I was sitting in it. It was really soft and warm, filled with some sort of puffy cotton or wool or something of that sort, but was greatly unusual. It felt like I was disappearing in it, it was very elastic and so it moved down with my weight a great distance. Still, it held me pretty well.

“Sleep well.”, he said after setting me there and flew back down. I lied down on it, again thinking it would just go down with me, giving me a back massage by falling on a bare forest ground filled with nature's blossoms, but no, it kept my weight. That hammock is weird, but also quite comfortable.

Before I knew it I had fallen asleep, quite content.