Bright Haze: The Sky Dwellers

I looked at Spectra Speed in sheer horror, he had killed that entire Dweller group then continues to take out an entire camp which was nearby all on his own, he was covered in the enemies blood and mud, his armour was wrecked and the spear broken. I gingerly moved closer to him, he was panting hard and as far as I knew, about to pass out.

"They, killed. My parents." He muttered, mainly to himself, not me. With that Spectra collapsed and Aeb ran to him, now a unicorn. The Changeling did a quick spell and nodded.

"He will be okay, he received no wounds what so ever and will be fine in the morning, maybe a bit tired, but that's it." Aeb said, I nodded my thanks and went to talk to Heart Breaker.

"We shouldn't have said anything." The alicorn said. I nodded.

"It wasn't out place to keep it from him though. That was going to happen eventually, one of the Dwellers were sure to say it, or he would have found out otherwise. This is a harsh world now Heart Breaker, things like this will happen, continue to happen until we get peace." I said. Heart Breaker nodded.

"Then how far away are we from the city?" He asked. I had checked the map earlier, before the sun went down.

"Acording to the map, if we set off right now we would be there early afternoon. So if we get a decent sleep, put the armour on and set off we can enter as night falls." I said. Heart Breaker nodded.

"How do you suppose to get me and Nick up there?" Heart Breaker asked, I knew the question was coming, I wasn't entirely sure.

"Myself and Aeb fly you both up. Maybe Spectra as well."

"Is it wise to let him into the city? After today? How long do you suppose he can hold out amongst the enemy Haze?"

"I am not sure. Try to talk to him tomorrow. I haven't had time to plan most of this out." I admitted.

"Most?" Heart Breaker asked. I nodded slyly.

"Yeah, I know about the king."

"What about him?"

"How to kill him, how to sign peace. All that stuff." I smiled.

"Go on?"

"One on one combat, I will wager, being a warrior race he will accept a duel with myself, to the death, I beat the shit out of him, get him to sign the peace treater before the duel and if I win, peace."

"If you lose?" Heart Breaker asked. I looked my friend straight into his eyes, deep.

"Duels are usually one on one, to the death. So if I lose.-" I stopped, completely serious with a dead straight face. "-Burn the place to the ground." I said.

"Haze." Heart Breaker said, shocked.

"Think of a better idea, then use it. But if not, we will have to win the war, with force. Rather than politics."

"You call politics fighting a king to the death?" Heart Breaker asked.

"Look, I haven't had time to plan this through, it is Derpy who we are saving, along with the rest of Equestria, I have the whole world watching me to make sure I don't fuck up and everypony dies, I just wish though, I didn't have to have that burden, that I could be in peace with my Derpy and be happy, instead of telling a new friend his parents were killed by the ponies we are trying to make peace, through combat, with. Then watch him slaughter nearly one hundred of them on his own. I wish, just for once I didn't have to have a life or death situation where I may die and never come home again." I shouted. Tears brewing, Heart Breaker paused.

"But this isn't your burden alone to bare Bright Haze, we are all here, to save our land we love once more. Eh? Know the old saying, 'once more into darkness, for all pony kind'? We are the heroes of Equestria, and we can retire whenever the fuck we want. As long as we win this next fight. All we need is one more push, and we win. Peace in Equestria once more. We can go home Haze." Heart Breaker replied, I let out a smile.

"Come on, we need sleep, long day tomorrow." I said, just before we dozed off, Heart Breaker asked.

"Should we bury the Dweller bodies?" He asked, we had just piled them up.

"Would they have buried us?" I replied, Heart Breaker was silent and I slowly dozed off to sleep.

I was the first up. Again, I walked around the camp and put on my Sky Dweller armour. Ate some oats and bread and made a note to practice my combat skills, I wasn't particularly good with a sword, or any weapon at that, so I put on a spear saddle, with some hardship, and began to charge at some invisible enemy. The sun was out and it would be midday in about three, four hours. I began to swing the spear about panting a little which wasn't a good sign. I caught sight of Aeb getting up and sneezing before trotting over to me.

"You don't have to do this, I am sure we can think of something." Aeb said, I continued to attack the enemy that wasn't there.

"We don't even know if the king will accept the duel, he could execute us on sight." The Chageling added.

"He has too." I replied with.

"Why? So you can go home to Derpy and be happy the rest of your life? Well what about me? Eh? I have nopony to go back to, no home! No money! Nothing Bright Haze!"Aeb shouted.

"I have nothing, neither does any of of us, maybe Spectra with Rainbow, but me and Heart Breaker, we got nothing, hell even Nick. We have nothing to go to, and you are about to kill yourself just to go win this war and be with the Pegasus." Aeb said, I snapped a little.

"Look here Aeb!" I shouted, steering everypony. "I am not going to kill myself, I will win this duel and give peace to Equestria once more, I am not doing this for Derpy, hell maybe I am, but this is for Equestria. If I can win this I can finally be at peace, I can retire, hell we all can." I added.

"You are worried about dying again aren't you?" Aeb asked. I nodded.

"I hated death, it was peaceful, if I can win, even if I die, it'll be peaceful, you don't understand Aeb, I can't die whilst Equestria needs a hero."

"But you are not a lone hero. You have all of us." Aeb said, gesturing to the now awake ponies.

"That's what Heart Breaker said."

"Then believe it Haze. We will win, and we will retire, in peace." Aeb said smiling, I only nodded.

"Since everypony is up, have breakfast and we can move on." I ordered, everypony smiled and obeyed. I was just stressed, my Dee needed me and I wasn't there, never had been.

The walk to the city was barren and hot as it always had been, no Pegasi flow here, apart from the Dwellers or travellers so there were no clouds blocking out the sun which blasted down onto the ground with blazing effects. We were all covered in sweat and tired by the time the sun began to fall but began to cool as night arrived. We walked all day, and some time into the night, until we found it.

"The Sky Dweller city." I muttered. We were so close to victory I could feel it.