A Fawn's Journey

Elain was lying on her bed, reading her old book. The sun's rays came through the window, illuminating her room naturally.

"Eli!" Elmer called out.

Her ears twitched as she closed the book, then sat upon the mattress, looking at the door. "Yeah? Come in"

Then Elmer walked into the room, holding a tomato. "I saved you this one!" He waved his hoof eagerly.

Elain couldn't help but laugh. She felt the thin fabric of her cyan coat rub gently against the fur of her side as she lifted a hoof over her muzzle to suppress her giggling. She left the book over her mattress.

"Look! I saved this one for you!" Elmer repeated himself with the same energy as always.

Elain jumped off the bed and approached him "Thank you, you are very kind" Elain raised her hoof again, now to stroke his head.

Elmer squeezed his eyes while his sister caressed him. He suddenly raised his hoof and shoved the tomato into Elain's mouth.

Elain's eyes widened as she reared back. What the hell was that for?! She thought.

Elmer sat before her with a grin, waiting for her to eat.

Elain rolled her eyes and bit the tomato. She felt her teeth sinking into a soft mass when, suddenly, all the liquid spilled into her mouth. The tomato was rotten, her pupils shrank. She immediately turned her head to her right and spit it out on the floor.

"Elain, what's wrong?" Her mother asked. At some point she entered the room while Elain was spitting, but only a couple of seconds passed, it was not logical for her to arrive so quickly.

"Mother?" Elain asked bewildered, then she looked in front of her again. Everything froze around her for a moment as an unpleasant chill ran down her spine. Her mother's black coat was covered in blood.

"I thought you liked tomatoes" Her mother continued in a disappointed tone, with a stern expression on her face.

The environment darkened, suddenly the sunlight weakened severely. Elmer kept looking at her with a wide smile.

Elain's ears pressed against her skull as she slowly walked backwards with trembling legs.

"What's wrong, Eli? You don't love me anymore?" Elmer asked in a mocking tone as He approached at the same pace as Elain retreated.

"W-what? No!" Elain answered with a shaky voice. Her rear collided against the wall.

"You already forgot about us" Her mother said as her face saddened.

"That's not true!" Elain responded desperately.

Green flames began to emerge from the ground. The fire quickly spreaded in the direction of her two relatives until it covered them completely. Those figures did not react at all, but Elain saw how they started to melt.

Elain woke up abruptly with a gasp, she coughed and sat on the mattress, covered in sweat. She was only dressed in her uniform pants.

With heavy breathing, she looked at her hooves, then around her to realize it was just a dream.

The complete darkness of the room surrounded her, she decided to get up and walk carefully towards the door so as not to collide with the other beds.

She reached the deck of the ship after a slow walk. Elain looked up, her eyes shining under the starry sky, the one she had not seen since she lived in the village. She dropped her ears and gave a long sigh, then walked over to one of the edges to lean on the railing.

Elain only remembered over and over again the day she was attacked at the fair, how those soldiers who wore her same uniform fell one by one, how he was treated during her captivity. For the first time, Elain began to feel resentment, a deep hatred that increased every time she was left alone with her memories.

Elain looked forward as she spotted some shapes on the water, she considered them to be the escort ships.

The temperature was mild, as was the breeze blowing against the fur on her face and chest. A relaxing star show over the sea that helped Elain to de-stress before reaching the coast.

Just after a few minutes the sky began to light up, the dawn sun was rising from the Equestrian coast in the East. The soft light also revealed land in sight in the west, that one was Olenian territory already occupied by the changelings.

After six days of sailing, Elain seemed to finally arrive at Vaverfront. The convoys approached the port while the crew woke up. Elain decided to return to her cabin to get her luggage.

"Good morning, Eli!" Freya yelled, taking a hoof out from under her bed and waving it as soon as Elain entered the cabin.

Elain chuckled. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Apparently searching for her dignity" Rainer scoffed from his own bed, then coughed on purpose.

"OI!" Freya took a few seconds before getting out from under her bed. "Here it is!" She got up with a green bow tie on her hoof, it matched her antlers. It was Freya's favorite item of clothing, a gift from Astrid years ago. Elain supposed it felt the same way she did with her coat. She proudly tied it around her neck.

"Where is Astrid?" Elain asked as she casted an eye around the cabin.

Rainer shrugged.

"Oh! She's probably in the shower, I wanted to check that but the door was locked"

Elain frowned unwittingly as Rainer choked with his own saliva, coughing violently.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Freya asked with her typical amused smile.

While they were chatting the convoy docked at the dock. The bathroom door opened as an agglomeration of steam came out. Astrid walked out of the shower, wearing a towel wrapped around her back. "Oh, right in time to go"

Elain shook her head. "Oh, I almost forget!" She rushed towards her bed to dress in her uniform.

"Were you all waiting?" Astrid asked as she pointed a hoof towards the bathroom behind her.

Both deer shook their heads in unison, Freya with her carefree smile and Rainer with a poker face.

Astrid shrugged and walked past them, then every deer went back to their beds to finish packing.

Once they finished preparing, they left the cabin and hurried to get where the rest of the troops were organizing, ahead in the port.

From the height of the ship, artillery pieces could be seen, as well as trucks advancing towards the city, supposedly already recovered from changelings' hooves. The plan was to concentrate the counteroffensive on the eastern border.

Elain and her friends walked in an orderly line, along with the rest of the crew of their convoy.

The situation was overwhelming and confusing for Elain, mostly accustomed to a completely rural life, she was deeply grateful inside that she had someone to follow. She walked behind Rainer, concentrating not to get lost in the crowd.

As they walked through the streets, divided into smaller and smaller groups. Elain recognized some places from time to time. She remembered how her parents took her to bakeries and toy stores in winter when she was a fawn.

The city was full of rubble and several buildings lay destroyed, but it was still habitable. The local population watched the soldiers march from their windows, no deer dared to go down to the streets.

Rainer's voice brings Elain back to her senses "Why are we dividing ourselves so much?"

"Possibly to reduce casualties in case of bombing" She offered.

"Wow! Since when you have become such a nerd?"

Elain puffed out her cheeks as she glared at Rainer.

Rainer chuckled and gave Elain a malicious smile.

"Remind me, How old are you?" Astrid sniped.

Rainer snorted and rolled his eyes.

The march went relatively silent as they passed through the streets of Vaverfront. The frontline was north of the city and it would take a few days to arrive on hoof. The rails had already been damaged, so train travel was no longer possible.

After an hour, the silence was brutally interrupted by the city's alarms that suddenly started howling.

"TAKE COVER"

The order sounded several times, from the voices of different officers.

Elain's ears twitched. Acting on instinct, she tried to run away without a clear direction, Rainer grabbed her hoof in time.

"Stay calm, don't separate from us" He ordered with a stern face.

Elain swallowed and nodded as she tried to contain her labored breathing.

The four deer started running, going with the rest of their platoon, they ran in the direction of several abandoned premises to take refuge as the sky darkened, Elain did not dare to look. But the bomber aircraft engines were too loud to ignore. Explosions began to be heard in the distance from all directions.

The city barely had anti-aircraft defenses and the Olenian air force was too small. Elain has not yet seen a single fighter plane from her side. The memories of when she was attacked while escaping from that forced labor camp invaded her mind again, she let herself be carried away by fear and galloped forward, easily overtaking her friends until she finally gained cover by jumping through an open door into a small abandoned stationery store.

The bombings increased as the planes roared closer. Elain hid behind the counter and gave a sigh, closing her eyes for several heartbeats, then looked out the window as more soldiers arrived at the building between the explosions, explosions that scattered debris and smoke.

The bombings hit the streets and the already damaged ruins of some buildings.

Why? Elain wondered. How can such evil beings exist? They just want to destroy everything

She gritted her teeth because of the helplessness she felt. She just wanted a normal life with her family, simple aspirations like having a tomato garden one day. Those creatures had ruined everything for some reason she couldn't understand.

Rainer, Astrid and Freya didn't take long to arrive. Fortunately all three came out alive. However, Freya was limping.

"Freya!" Elain yelled as she shook her head to make her thoughts fade away, then jumped over the counter. As she approached Freya she could spot a blood stain on her uniform at the level of her right shoulder. "Are you hurt? What happened?" She hurried to ask with concern.

"Astrid hits me harder" She shrugged with her left shoulder.

Astrid stood behind Freya with a hoof on her own face. "One of the explosions, I think a piece of debris hit her" She offered.

"Great, just great. What do we do now?" Elain asked with an annoyed tone as she quickly looked around, she was anxious.

"Now we wait here until they stop" A stag from behind Elain answered.

Elain's ears twitched, but she didn't turn around to meet him. Instead, she approached Freya to take a better look at her wound.

"Elias?" Rainer asked.

The stag was sitting, resting his back against the edge of a shelf as his cap partially covered his face, his white antlers were the only thing that stood out.

Elain raised her head and turned around this time. "Isn't this the one who saved us?"

"technically-"

The only word that came out of his mouth was interrupted by another explosion near the building, the furniture shook from the impact. Elain fell to the ground, squeezing her eyes and covering her ears with her hooves. Freya patted her on the head.

"I didn't expect to see you here" Rainer sat before Elias.

"Yeah, the new recruits weren't the only ones that got dragged across the sea"

Elain composed herself and looked at the window again.

How are we supposed to fight something we can't fight? She asked to herself.

She looked around and saw Astrid taking care of Freya behind the counter, Rainer and Elias sitting on the floor and around a dozen stags sitting in the corners, one of them smoking. The scene was depressing in Elain's eyes, it was as if they had already lost.

Elain wanted to do something to change the situation. But what can a doe like me do?

Astrid seemed to have everything under control, she even took a bandage out of her small backpack.

The bombardment would last about a couple of hours. For now, the best thing she can do is to watch while she waits for it to stop, as if it were a rainstorm.

"I don't like this at all" Elias said with uncertainty.

"Duh!" Freya yelled from the corner of the shop.

"I mean, this isn't normal" He continued. "The bombers are always spotted in time, why haven't they warned us?"

"He has a point" Astrid said as she was concentrated on bandaging Freya. "We have radars and explorers, I'm sure they saw it more than an hour ago"

Rainer bit on his lip with a frown.

"What's the meaning of this?!" A stag asked indignantly from the other side of the shop.

"Did they betray us?!" Another stag accused.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Said the one that were smoking.

the crowd began to riot.

"Silence!" Elias yelled. "This is very unprofessional"

"what is unprofessional is what our superiors just did to us!"

Elias unholstered his pistol and shot at the ceiling. Elain flinched and the rest of the recruits fell silent.

"Making a fuss here will do you no more than die uselessly, I will take care of issuing the complaint personally when this is over" He said with authority. No deer objected to it.

Well that was definitely something Elain thought as she stared to the bullet stuck in the ceiling, then she looked back at the window. The planes flying towards the south and the bombings getting further and further away, Elain sighed with relief.