//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     The Sacred River                      
                         -by CBE-                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     The Fated Meeting                     
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Fated Meeting
  The Sacred River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lLKmJJ68DM)
    I can still smell it. The smell of smoke, the stench of burning flesh. I can still hear it. Explosions all around me. The screams of my team, the screams of my enemies... the screams of children.
    Huddled behind a crumbling wall, my rifle cradled in my arms, I don’t know what I can do to survive. What do I do? I trained for this, but all of those hours of intense bone breaking training are gone to me. My squadmates are yelling at me, but their words are lost to me. All I can make out is the muffled sound of their voices. The ringing in my ears is too strong, it overpowers their voices.
    I feel like I’m about to break, or is it already too late? Have I already been broken?
    My eyes are glued to the sandy desert floor of this Middle Eastern ruin that someone once called a house. Suddenly a dusty pair of boots enter my vision. Who is he? Looking up my blurry vision clears.
    It’s my closest friend Williams, his face is covered in soot from what I can only hope is from burning buildings. Despite all the chaos going on around me, he just smiles down at me. For a fleeting moment in my heart, I feel safe. That everything was gonna be alright. He always had that effect on me.
    He reaches his hand down to me, offering to help me up. It’s like a ray of light in this bleak war-torn place. A light vastly different from the blistering light of the desert sun. A light that was only there to protect and heal.
    I move my hand, gingerly reaching for his. I hear a mechanical scream, an explosion. I know that sound. A mortar?  Looking up into his eyes I can see it, they are the eyes of a man who has come to accept his fate. But they still have that cheerful glint to them. I try to yell out to him, to warn him to take cover. No matter how loud I scream, my words are lost to him in the heat of battle. He simply smiles and shakes his head. “You have the reins now buddy.” he mouths to me, that smile never leaving his lips. He then closed those eyes, so full of life. He takes a deep breath.
    In a flash of light I watch as his body is ripped apart by a fiery explosion, then it comes for me. The flaming wall hits me, searing pain envelopes my entire body----- I scream, but is anyone listening?
    I awoke in a cold sweat. I can still smell the faint aroma of death, but it quickly fades into the chilly night time air.  It takes me a few seconds to fully realise where I am.  I’m in the forests of northern Arizona. For a moment I forgot that I fled out here, to get a little time to sort out my feeling. My small 2 bedroom log cabin nestled in between the forest covered Rocky Mountains sounded like just what the doctor ordered... Peace and quiet, that’s what I thought I needed. “Thank you Doc Charles...” I mutter to myself.
    “How had I gotten here again? I remember waking up this morning, but everything after that is a blur.” Looking down to the ground I’m sitting on, I see my shotgun laying beside me, just within reach of my left hand. Looking to my right I see an empty bottle of vodka laying on its side. “Hunting whilst drunk? Charles, this was not one of your smarter moments.” I had decided hunting and drinking at the same time was a good idea, then managed to pass out on the ground till night time.
Looking up I could see that I had ‘passed out’ at the foot of a great pine tree. Its trunk extending high up toward the sky, before it branched out in all directions at the top. Seeing a tree so large and old was humbling in a way.
    I couldn’t stare upward like that for too long, the consequences of today's earlier mistake was rearing its ugly head. Turning to my left I wretched out what had once been my lunch. Not long after, the headache started in.
I can’t keep doing this, I thought to myself.
Its been 2 years since I got home. 2 years since the last time I set foot on a battlefield. I have had 2 years to get over it. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop the pain. The memories.
    Every time I try to sleep, my dreams are bombarded with the memories of the battles I had fought. I can still sense the sounds and smells of war.  While I’m awake my mind is never calm. I jump at every little surprise, expecting to be attacked by a robed militant. The term ‘scared of your own shadow’ pretty much sums me up quite nicely.
    My condition isn’t just affecting me. No, if that was the case I might have not felt so bad about the entire situation. What rips me up the most, is that its been hurting my family. I’m always lethargic, I never want to spend time with my parents, my friends... My wife. I even picked up drinking. Before the war I only touched the stuff on special party occasions, or right after getting back from a particularly long and stupid TDY. Now I feel like I have to have it, just to get through the day.  It’s not uncommon for me to pop my first top before noon.
Today must have been a great example of early morning boozing.
    I knew I was hurting everyone, but I couldn’t stop. I was starting to wish that I had really died over there. Death was starting to sound pretty good to me. The chance to make it all stop. My friends and family would try to talk to me about it, try and get me out of my shell. I only pushed them away, self destructive behavior only becoming more frequent.
    At that point I knew I had to leave. To remove myself from their lives indefinitely. So here I am, alone, hungover, and stupid in the middle of a forest.
    Rubbing the stubble on my chin that signaled the forthcoming of a beard, I couldn’t help but continue to contemplate how alluring death was sounding. So many soldiers seem to be taking that path nowadays. I never thought much about it. Always brushed it off as them just being weak.  Boy do I feel like an ass now. Movies and videogames only glorify war.
“How long can I keep doing this?”
    Shaking my head to rid myself of my thoughts, I grabbed my gun and stood up, keeping one hand on the rough tree to steady myself while the blood rushed back into my legs. That tickly tingly feeling always bothered me.
    The change in position made me a little light headed, my vision beginning to swim.
Giving my eyes a moment to clear, something off in the distance caught my eye.
I could see a faint glow beyond the treeline in the distance ahead of me. I appeared to be pulsating different hues of  pink and blue.It reminded me of a pink and blue aurora borealis, but those should be in the sky. Not just beyond the treeline. What could it be? I’m in the middle of the forest, miles from any form of civilisation. Nothing natural should be making these radiant colors. Aliens? Nah that’s stupid.
Giving a mental shrug, I brought my shotgun to bear, and started forward toward the light, always keeping my eyes peeled for ‘enemies’. Old habits die hard I guess.
    The dried leaves and pine needles crunched under my boots as I continued on toward the mystery lights. If I was still hunting I would try my best to make as little noise as possible, but at this point I only wanted to find the source of the lights.
    As I neared the treeline I could hear the sound of running water. “That’s strange...” I said to myself.
I know this forest pretty well, I have been visiting this cabin since it belonged to my grandfather. As a kid I spent many o’summer vacations exploring these woods.
There is no river around here. The closest one isn’t for 5 miles in the opposite direction.   A flash flood is out of the question, its been dry as a bone up here for days. There should not be any water.
So why was I hearing the sound of running water?
Creeping ever closer, the sound of running water began to change to the rumble of falling water. A waterfall? You don’t see those all too often in Arizona.
Finally I had reached the treeline. The pink and blue lights had become much more intense. Pearing around the final tree trunk that was obscuring my view, I froze in my tracks.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
A shallow stream glowing brilliant shades of pink and blue was flowing right before. me.  A warmth radiated from the stream, breaking the chill of the night mountain air.  It felt more like a comfortable spring evening instead of a chilly autumn night. Above the stream floated a grand array of fireflies, a countless number of them locked in a silent dance of lights. Following them as they floated upwards toward the sky, they looked like a second set of stars. One set was a carpet of faint white blue dots, the other group was a flickering set of amber.
Keeping my eyes set to the show, I followed a large group of them upstream, my eyes settling on the top of a small waterfall. There was no more than a 20 foot drop from the top of the waterfall to the bottom of the stream. Following the water down my eyes settled on something that made my heart leap in my chest.
Standing under the cascading water, was a white horse...Only something was off about it. Actually something was VERY off about it.
Extended into the waterfall, almost like it was embracing it was two large elegant white wings. Atop its head was what looked like a long slender horn, white in color, the same as its coat. It even wore a golden tiara and chest piece. Her(?) mane was the most beautiful sight I had seen in years. It looked to be a rainbow mixture of Aqua blues, green, pinks, and even purple. Her hair looks as if I was blowing in the wind...Only I couldn’t feel any wind to speak of... Her hair even looked to be wet, yet still it moved. On her flank she had some kind of tattoo of a simple looking sun. She was the strangest thing I had ever seen... Yet I couldn’t help but be infatuated with the sight. Just looking at her made me feel happy, almost like all my cares and worries just disappeared.
Apparently I had WAY too much to drink...
Moving closer to get a better look, I could see that she had a calm, almost contempt smile on her face as she let the water of the mystery stream cascade down her wings and on to her head and body.
I was so convinced that she was just some magnificent hallucination, that if I looked away for even a moment she would disappear. But unfortunately for me, I was so focused on her that I didn’t take the time to watch my steps. Needless to say I never saw that twig until it was too late.
*SNAP*The twig easily broke under my foots weight. “Damn it!” I whispered under my breath.
Hearing the the twig mixed with my cursing the creature’s head snapped to attention in my direction, ears up and alert for danger. Her violet eyes locked with my blue eyes, causing me to freeze in place. She then quickly turned toward me, flaring her wings out, as if to look as big and threatening as possible. To be honest, it was kinda working.
    Despite her seemingly threatening actions, she wore a poker face that could put any professional card players to shame. I could see that she didn’t have that blank look in her eyes like any dumb ordinary animal. Her eyes looked intelligent, as if she was as sentient as any human, if not more. She started to examine me from a distance, moving from my head downwards toward my feet. Was she sizing me up, to see if I was even a real threat?
    Her face went from unreadable to suspicious, she raised one of her eyebrows in a questioning look, as if to say “Really?”
Looking down I realised that I had my shotgun clenched in both hands, pointed straight at her. Heh, guess old habits really do die hard.
    Making very slow unthreatening movements, I released the trigger from my left hand, and kept the gun in my right hand, holding it by the barrel, trying to show I meant no harm.
“Woah there girl,” I cooed  slowly bending down I set the shotgun on the ground next to my right foot.  “Sshhhh it’s alright,” Standing up slowly I kept my hands raised to show I was unarmed. Once I was at full height I nudged the gun off to the side as smoothly as possible, putting as much distance from it to me.
“See? I’m not gonna hurt you, everything is gonna be okay.”
    Her looked shifted from looking suspicious to... Amused? Then she started to laugh(?), in a voice that I can only describe as radiant.
“I do believe that is my line.”
    I just stood there, mouth agape. I was shell shocked. Did this creature just TALK?
I tried to speak, albeit I was having a rather hard time formulating coherent sentences after this rainbow bombshell had been dropped.
“D-did you just speak?” I managed to force out.
She gave me another one of those ‘seriously dude?’ looks.
“Of course I spoke, why should this come as a surprise? Although I must say, I’m quite surprised that you can talk. You are one of the strangest creatures I have ever seen.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little offended at her remark. “I’m the strange one? You’re a friggin talking winged, horned horse!” I shouted out while pointing a finger toward her.
“Pony.” she stated matter of factly.
“....Pony?”
With a bemused look she continued “I am not a horse, I’m a pony, an Alicorn if you want to split hairs.”
“But Alicorns are mythological, they aren’t real; you aren’t real! What the heck are you?!” I really felt like I was losing my mind at this point. I could take the mystery river, and maybe I could even take seeing a mythological creature bathing IN said stream, but the whole talking part.... Check me in to the nearest loony bin because my sanity has clearly left the building.
“I can see that manners isn’t a common practice with your species.”
Taking a moment away from my current freak out I focused on her again.
“Huh?” was all I could manage.
With a deep sigh she continued, “It’s considered good manners to introduce oneself BEFORE demanding the name of another.”
She had a point there. Composing myself I stood up straight and cleared my throat.
“My apologies ma’am, I am Sergeant Charles A. Schneider of the United States Marine Corps, and who might you be?” I was trying to make myself sound as important and professional as possible.
She chuckled to herself (much to my chagrin) before answering “I am Princess Celestia of Equestria,  Immortal Mover of the Sun and Moon.”
It was once again my time to be stunned.
Well crap, so much for trying to make myself sound important...That’s one hell of a title.
“Wait, so you’re a Princess?”
“Aye, that I am.”
“Of a country called Equestria?”
“Correct.”
“AND you move the Sun AND the Moon?”
“Right again.” she said with a smile.
I was having a hard time wrapping my head around this concept. A walking talking Alicorn that was the Princess of a Nation that I have never heard of, AND she can move the sun and moon?
My next question was all I could think of, “Are you god?” In hindsight, that was a stupid-ass question to ask.
She broke into a fit of laughter that sounded more like music.. After a few moments of laughter she brought her hoof to her mouth to stifle the laughs into small giggles. Talking in between giggle fits she answered “No, no, nothing like that. I’m just a very powerful magic user.”
Great, now we are talking about magic? I said as I dragged my hands through my hair down to my face.
Holding my head in my hands I mumbled, “I’ve completely lost my mind haven’t I?”
“No, no nothing like that my little...” She stopped mid sentence, almost like she was looking for the right thing to say.
“Actually,” she began, “I’m most curious as to what you are. I haven’t seen a creature like you in all my years.”
Taking a metaphorical chill-pill, I answered, “Oh me? Well I’m a human,”
“Oh? And pray tell, my little human, (Seriously? She isn’t THAT much bigger than me...) where are we?”
“Oh um, well we are in Prescott National Forest, located in the state of Arizona, in the United States of America” I replied matter of factly.
    “Hmm,” was her only response, she held her hoof to her chin, looking as if she was in deep thought.
    “It seems that the Sacred River has become a bridge, connecting our two worlds together temporarily.”
    “The Sacred what now?” I asked confused.
“This,” she gestured with a hoof to the water she was standing in, “Is the Sacred River.”
“ I see.” I had no idea what the hell she was talking about.
She apparently could sense my confusion, after a long drawn out sigh she continued,
“The Sacred River is a magical stream that helps to heal the hearts of those that are broken. Once a year, if said broken individuals comes to the riverbed inside the Everfree Forest, the river will spring up once  the moon reaches its perfect position. However the Sacred River only shows itself if and ONLY if someone who truly needs its help is near.
With a hand on my chin I took in what she had told me. “But wait. If you have to make a journey to the riverbed in your forest, why is it in my forest now?”
“It could be that the Sacred River’s chosen location is not bound to one single world. The river forms in the Everfree, and branches out to neighboring world, reaching those in need. Although it might still have a specific spawning point in each world.” Celestia paused, eyes drifting around to the scenery of the Arizona forest.
“ Apparently the spawning point for the river in your world is here. However, it only appeared because you happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
    This whole story sounded a little far fetched to me, but hell, I was talking to an alicorn Princess, so I guess I could believe anything at this point.
“So somehow this,” I gestured with a hand toward the river “magical fairy river not only has healing properties, but it also connects worlds together?” Celestia nodded her head in confirmation.
“Horse shit.” I deadpanned.
“Pony shit.”
“Right, pony shi- Wait what?”
The princess responded with another one of her regal laughs. "Oh you are far too easy to trip up, you know that don't you?"
As if I'd let her get the best of me, "Oh hardy friggin har, forgive me if I find it a little weird for a prissy pony princess to know toilet humor," going into a mock-bow I continued " It shan't happen again malady."
She wasn’t amused.
A golden glow enveloped her horn as a smug grin grew on her face.Before I had a chance to react she used her magical fairy powers to direct a small tidal wave of water from the waterfall right into my face knocking me flat on my back.
As I laid there staring up at the night sky listening to her self inflicted chuckles, I figured I should be a little mad. But it was strange. I didn’t feel the least bit angry, not even annoyed... Or sad. I felt calm, content even. Actually, now that I took a second to collect myself, my hangover was gone! Was it the so called healing properties of the river that Celestia mentioned? Honestly the whole idea sounded like a buncha hullabaloo. But as I laid there looking up at the star filled Arizona sky, soaking in the calming sensation of the warm water, I didn’t care what was causing it, all I knew was that I didn’t want it to stop. For a moment all of my memories didn’t feel like they were crushing me. They were still there, weighing on my shoulders, but it felt more like a heavy jacket rather than a Grey Hound bus.
For once, I feel like I could talk about my problems, and not be lost to crushing grief. I wish my family was here. I wish Williams was here...
I’m not sure how long I sat there basting in the puddle of magic water, but after a while the sound of the princess clearing her throat brought me back from my emotional confusion.
I sat up supporting myself with my arms, turning my attention to the princess, still standing in the river. She was wearing a small smile on her face. A smile that said to me that she knew very well what I was going through. It makes sense... In theory. The river appeared for her, so she must be broken inside as well. But why would a magical, immortal, all powerful princess pony be broken.
Maybe... Maybe I can talk to her? I thought inwardly, a feeling of hope and excitement growing in my chest. Two emotions that had become so alien to me.
“How do you feel?” she asked me.
Without answering I unlaced my boots, rolled up my pants and took off my shirt. I approached the river, and after a moments hesitation, stepped in. Instantly the calming healing sensation returned tenfold. I closed my eyes, soaking in the feelings surrounding me.
“How do you feel?” she asked me in a whisper.
I slowly opened my eyes and turned to the regal alicorn. With a real smile I responded just as quietly,
“Better.”
                                                                                       End Part 1 of 3.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   Two Hearts One River                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Two Hearts One River
Two Hearts One River (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1VlFvautrQ&feature=relmfu)
I never took the time to enjoy the night sky. I was so used to the city lights at night, that I forgot what a starry night sky even looked like. Even when I was at war I didn’t take the time to simply look up. I was too busy looking behind me. Now that I was here in the forest, soaking in a magical river, I had the chance to notice that wonderful piece of art. It was... nice.
“So what are you like?”
Celestia’s sudden question stirred me from my thoughts. Turning toward her I asked with a snide smirk, “You wanna know about me? Oh, well I’m flattered that you’re so interested in me.” I punctuated my statement with the most feminine batting of the eye lashes I could muster. I bet it looked like I had something stuck in my eyes.
Celestia looked taken aback by my sudden ‘flirting’. I swore I could see her face turn a slight shade of red under her elegant white coat. “N-no, uh-well, I mean yes. But I was referring to your people as a whole. You humans, what are you like?
I let out a hearty laugh of my own; my deep guffaws echoed out into the dark surrounding forests. Finally it was my turn to laugh at Celestia’s expense. Embarrass royalty, there’s one thing I never thought I would get a chance to do. Felt good.
Trying her hardest to hide her embarrassment, Celestia gave me a hard stare, waiting for me to get over myself. “Feel better, Sergeant?” she asked with a slight edge to her voice.
“No need to be so formal with me, Tia. Charles is just fine.” I replied with a wave of my hand, as if to dismiss my rank out of the air. Celestia fixed me with a long stare; her poker-face was back. Was it something I said?
“Tia?” the sun princess responded. “Tia, Hmmm.” She sounded like she was rolling the nickname around.
    “Something wrong?” I asked, a tinge of worry in my voice. Celestia looked like she was deep in thought, almost like she was having an internal battle.
With a gentle shake of her head Celestia answered in a weak voice, “It has been many years since anypony has been so informal with me. Ponies are usually intimidated by me, being royalty and all.”
Oh was that all?
“Sorry about that, Tia. But you’re talking to a man who couldn’t give two shits about royalty.” While I talked I walked into a deeper portion of the river.
“Be it the crazy magical fairy-water dulling my ability to give a shit, or the fact that I’m an American who just naturally lacks any shits to give...” I trailed off, not sure where I was going with this. I decided to be blunt about it. “Shit happens,” then proceeded to dunk my entire body under the warm water. Swimming down to the bottom I grabbed onto a rock attached to the bottom. Holding myself there against the current, my mind drifting off.
I usually wouldn’t act like this, but for the moment I felt too good to care. I haven’t felt this great in years. But in the back of my mind, I knew it probably wouldn’t last. The Sacred River’s waters wouldn’t always be here. I held myself at the bottom until my lungs screamed for air. Letting go of the rock I swam up to the surface.
Breaching the surface I was met face to face with the royal white face of Celestia. She must have decided to join me in the deep end, although even in water this deep, it only reached a little more than half way up her neck.
“So you never answered my question, Chaz.”
“Chaz?” I questioned her, my eyes narrowed.
“That’s right, Chaz. Problem?” Damn, she had me there.
“No, I guess I don’t. So what was your question?”
“Humans, what are you like?” the princess responded with a touch of agitation.
    I figured I had enough fun at Celestia’s expense for the moment.“Humans,” I began, my tone becoming much more somber.  “What can be said about humanity that already hasn’t been said before?” It was a cliché thing to say, but I figured she had never heard that saying before.
“I wouldn’t know, seeing as I’m a pony and all.” The alicorn replied smugly.
“Oh yea, whoops.” I responded with a chuckle. Celestia didn’t find that as funny as I did.
    Collecting my thoughts I continued. “Humanity is complicated. We are a race whose collective hands are stained with the blood of others.”  I turned to Celestia, meeting her gaze with my own. She was listening intently. “We are warriors, it’s naturally in our blood. Even at a young age we feel the need to fight over many things; Toys, candy, who’s ‘It’ in a simple game of tag. As we grow older it escalates to fighting over ownership of lands, resources, even religion. We fight and fight. Honestly though, our resilience to continue on is something to be admired.”
I paused to see Celestia’s reaction, but her face remained unreadable. I think she knew that wasn’t all to my story. However, telling of humanity while treading water was a bit more difficult than I was comfortable with. Moving closer to the shore, the water became shallow enough for me to stand. Even in water this deep I could still see clear to the bottom, a few small fish curiously nipping at my bare toes. Since these fish are in a magical river, does that make them magical fish? I thought internally.
“Are you saying that your people are nothing but monsters?” Celestia’s tone was low, the question sounding more skeptical than accusing.
I let a small chuckle escape, “Like I said,Tia: we are complicated; but to answer your question, no. We are not just monsters. For every punch a thug throws, there is a doctor patching a wound. For every death there is a birth. For every group whose sole purpose is to harm others, there is a group destined to stop them; to heal them.”
I could go on for hours about why we aren’t evil bastards, but something told me we were pressed for time. Figured I better get her the abridged version. “We make music, art and dance. Anything we put our minds to we can accomplish. Humanity wasn’t built to fly, but here we are, flying through the sky with machines we invented. We are inventors, scholars and most of all, lovers. For one reason or another we long to love and be loved.” I knew humanity wasn’t evil. Corrupted? Sure. But not evil.
“We are a flawed species, but we are resilient. The average person nowadays strives to better themselves. To do better, to BE a better person.”
“Is that yourself included, Chaz?” the white alicorn asked.
My eyes drifted off to the twinkling stars in the sky. “At one point... Yes, I did strive to better myself. But it wasn’t so one dimensional. I wanted to better not only myself, but my loved ones as well. I even wanted to go beyond that, I wanted to better the lives of everyone around me; my country. I wanted to live for more than just myself.”
“Is that why you became a soldier?”
“It was why I became a Marine, yes.” I answered back, subconsciously correcting her misidentification.
“I was at a point in life where I was heading nowhere in a hurry. I spent my entire teen years living in the moment, never planning for the future.”
Thinking back on it, boy did I feel like a fool. So much time wasted. “I realised that something needed to change. I saw an add about joining the Marines. I said to myself ‘Why not? It’s a steady job, and I get a chance to help people.’ I thought I had a golden opportunity set in front of me. I was gonna be a somebody...” I trailed off, my mind returning to the memories of my past.
“Charles... What happened to you?” Celestia must have noticed my wondering looks.
I shook my head, trying to wave off her question. I thought I could talk to her about this, but that must have been the Sacred River’s water affecting me. Why should she care? She doesn’t know me. It’s none of her business. “Nothing happened to me. I joined the military, did my time and got out. End of story.” I answered, hoping she would drop the subject.
“You’re lying.” There was a strong sense of conviction in her voice.
“No I’m not! I’m perfectly fine, just look at me! Happy, happy, HAPPY!” I snapped at her, I didn’t even try in the least to hide the venom in my voice.
“Oh, so everything is right in the world for you, is that it Sergeant?!” Celestia shot back, moving from the deep end of the river toward me, her usual passive face replaced with a dark scowl. She was using my rank again, she must of been pissed. That’s good, so was I.
“Yes, I’m fine!” I started to back away from the Sun Princess, trying to keep as much distance between us as possible.
Why was I so angry?
Trying to back away from the rather large equine creature stalking toward me, I managed to trip over one of the many rocks on the bottom of the river.  I let out a quick yelp before I fell back into the waist deep water, managing to swallow a good mouthful of it in the process.
Fighting my way back up to the surface I was again face to face with the princess. Although this time she was looking down on me, glaring daggers. Compared to me, Celestia was rather large. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little intimidated. I have never been kicked in by a horse, but I’m pretty certain that it would hurt like hell. I didn’t even wanna think about what her magic could do.
I turned my head away from her piercing gaze, I couldn’t look into those magenta eyes any longer.
“Talk to me, Charles. I’m here for you. I want to help,” she said in a more motherly tone, but that tint of anger was still there. I felt like a child being scolded.
“I don’t need any help...” I grumbled, making sure to not look her in the eye.
Yep, total child...
Celestia had had enough. Rearing back on her hind legs, she drove her two front legs into the river bed on either side of me, hitting me with a large splash of water. Trapping me between her snow white legs. In her anger the white alicorn flared out her wings in a very intimidating way. Suddenly I felt very small.
“THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE, SERGEANT?!” She bellowed out in a deafeningly loud voice, a more ‘princess’ like tone could be heard. Being military, I had heard some seriously loud noises in my time. This voice of hers easily overpowered all of those noises combined.
I yelled out in pain, covering my ears in a vain attempt to block out her ear shattering yell. I thought my Drill Sergeant had a loud yelling voice, I was wrong. Luckily for me the princess didn’t continue using the super loud voice.
After a few tense moments, I cautiously uncovered my ears, although a dull ringing continued to resonate in them. My eyes slowly opened to focus on the white shape taking up most of my view. Celestia still loomed over me, but she had taken a step or so back, giving me a small amount of breathing room. Her wings, although still flared out, drooped slightly into the water. The intimidating stance she had been putting off was mostly gone, even her eyes had changed.
The magenta flames of rage in her eyes were gone, extinguished with a moist layer of tears. “I’m sorry Chaz-” she began.
“Why don’t you tell me?” I asked coldly, cutting off her apology.
“What?” She asked, confusion laced in her voice.
Now that I had a little room to maneuver, I shakily pushed myself back onto my feet, my eyes never breaking gaze with Celestia. “Why don’t you tell me why I’m here? You think you’re the doctor. Tell me.”
She thinks she knows me...
Celestia held her silence for a beat before letting out a long breath. I let mine out as well, I didn’t realize I was holding it to begin with. “Chaz,” She began. “Just the simple fact that you’re here at this river is proof enough that you aren’t okay. The Sacred river appears to a being if and only IF that being is hurting inside.” She paused, giving me a long stare, as if she was looking for some kind of reaction from me. It was my turn to employ the poker face, she wouldn’t be able to tell, I was clenching my teeth to the point of pain.
I motioned with a flick of my wrist for her to continue.
As if she was waiting for my permission, she continued. “You’re holding something inside, something that happened to you in the past. The Sacred River is here to help you; I want to help you.”
“Why would you want to help me? We just met! You know nothing about me except for what I have told you. How do you know I didn’t lie about everything?” I was bombarding her with questions, but her resolve wasn’t breaking. Mine however, was.
“Did you?” She asked me, but I could tell she already knew the answer. She wasn’t stupid.
Lowering my head, I focused on the suddenly interesting looking riverbed, doing anything to avoid her gaze, to keep myself behind the wall I spent years building up.
“Why?” I asked again, so quiet I figured she didn’t hear it.
The silence between us continued on. The only noise heard was the dull rumble of the waterfall and the crickets of the forest. It felt like hours before she spoke, but I’m sure it was only a few minutes.
“I have been around for a long time, Chaz. More years than I care to count.” She began.
Looking away from the riverbed, I met Celestia’s eyes again, but it was different this time. Instead of a pair of radiant magenta hued orbs ablaze with flames of life, they were much more dull and lifeless. They were the eyes of a tired mare, one who had been worn out from the trials of life. I knew those eyes. Every time I looked in a mirror I would see the same eyes. They were the eyes that scream for release. Eyes that say “I deserve to die.”
“In all my years I have never met a being that truly treated me as an equal. Everypony I meet bows down to my radiant power!” she spat out. “They bend over backwards to make me happy. But it’s either out of respect for my position as Princess of Equestria,” She took a long pause, “Or fear.” she hissed through her teeth.
“However you are different.”
“What’s so special about me?” I asked.
“You treat me like an equal.” She simply replied.
Is that it? She wants to help me because I treated her not as royalty, but as an equal? Because I didn’t fear her almighty pony powers? No, I doubt it’s that simple...
“Is that all, Tia? You want to help me just because I didn’t grovel at your feet-” I took a quick note of who and what I was talking to, “ -grovel at your hooves, and played nice with you?”
“No it is not! I have been around for far too long, whatever it is that is paining you, I’m sure I can sympathize with you!” I was taken aback by the resolve in her voice. She really believed with all her heart that she could help. “So what happened to you, Sergeant Charles? You say that you are one of your country’s soldiers-” I gave her a hard look. “I mean one of your country’s Marines.” She corrected herself with a small blush. “Does whatever that is ailing you have to do with your time in the service?”
“I already said that it’s none of your business!” I replied, turning around to take my leave. I had heard enough.
“Actually, you didn’t say that,” the white alicorn replied smugly. I stopped in my tracks, casting her a side glance over my shoulder. “What?” I asked confused.
“You told me specifically that nothing was wrong with you.” I didn’t like where she was going with this.
“Now you say that it’s none of my business. So if there is to be anything that is not any of my business, there must first be something to not be any of my business of in the first place.”
Fucking Jack Sparrow in pony form?!
I did a 180° turn on the princess. “What the fuck did you even just say?!” I yelled at her.
“Was it something you did?” She asked, ignoring my agitated out burst.
I froze in place, my blood running cold.
Taking note of my silence, she continued, “So that’s it then. You blame yourself for something; something that happened while you were at war.” I lowered my head in shame, this Pony Princess was reading me like a book. Playing with my mind like a child's toy. How? How is she figuring me out so easily?!
“Tell me Charles, tell me what happened. Closing yourself off from feeling, won’t help anyone.” She paused, “Do you have a family of your own?” I nodded without looking up at her.
“If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your family. This must be hurting them as much as it’s hurting you; if not more.”
That was the tipping point.
“I killed my friend...” I whispered quietly. Just muttering those words felt like hot blades being stabbed into my chest.
“I’m sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.” The princess said as she moved closer to me to hear better.
I quickly looked up at her, meeting her surprised gaze with my own tear filled one.
“I KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, my tears flowing freely.
At this point there was no stopping it now, Celestia’s constant badgering had opened the floodgates that was my emotions. I collapsed onto my knees, my sobs never ceasing. It was finally out in the open. I had just told a complete stranger my darkest secret. The one fact that towered above the rest of my screw-ups. I was responsible for Williams’s death. Because of me, he was dead.
“I don’t believe that, Charles. Not even for a moment.” She said to me in a soothing tone. I wasn’t paying any attention to her. My attention was focused on the water I was kneeling in.
The water was no longer perfectly clear. The water directly under me was now speckled with red splotches. They were from my tears that I allowed to drop freely into the water. Each time one hit the water, a red drop appeared at the impact point, each crimson drop expanding in size, joining with the many others like it.
I reached up to my tear drenched face with my hand, wiping away my tears, expecting my hand to be covered in blood. Looking at my palm, there was nothing but clear water.
Looking back down to the water the crimson stain was spreading, gaining a dull pulsating glow. This can’t be normal, we had to leave. NOW!
My head snapped up to Celestia, interrupting whatever she was saying. She could see the alarm etched on my face.
“Celestia,” I started, “We need to-” suddenly the red spot expanded, consuming the entire river. The clear water replaced with a murky red tint. It looked like a flowing river of blood. The blue, pink glow of the river was replaced with an ominous red pulsating glow. The pulses moving like the beating of a heart.
Looking toward Celestia, I could see the fear and confusion on her face. She was just as lost as I was. I stood to leave, expecting her to follow suit.
Then the unexpected happened. Crimson red tendrils shot out from the waters, wrapping around my entire body. My legs bound together, my arms each individually wrapped by more of them. I fought to get away, to get to the shore where my shotgun laid. “Celestia!” I yelled, looking back at the white alicorn. She was faring no better.
She was struggling, red tendrils wrapped around her body as well. She was thrashing against her bonds as hard as she could, looking like a feral mare, spooked out of her mind. Red water splashed all over her body, making her look like she was wounded. Her radiant feathers were being thrown about off her flapping wings in all directions.
She was screaming. So was I.
More tendrils lashed out, wrapping her wings tightly to her body. Her horn lit up with the same yellow glow as before.
Her magic could help us!
More tendrils lashed out, wrapping around her horn, snuffing out the yellow glow and replacing it with red tint before it fizzled out completely..
The tendrils started pulling us both toward the deep end. I was so tired. I felt like I had been running a marathon, Celestia looked very much the same.
The water was nearing both our heads. I looked into Celestia’s magenta eyes, and her into mine. I saw fear and confusion. Sadness and longing, but most of all I saw remorse.
I’m willing to bet mine looked the same.
Celestia was the first to be pulled under the raging red waves, I reached after her. “Celestia! No!” That was the last thing I said before the waves pulled me under as well.
Deeper and deeper I was pulled down, my lungs screaming for air.
Why was this happening?
The last thing I thought of was my family. Mom, dad, my wife. My friend...Williams.
I opened my mouth to breath, the blood red water rushing into my lungs.
Then everything faded to black.
I opened my eyes, not sure how long I had been out. Was I dead? I wasn’t sure. Letting my eyes adjust I took in the view in front of me. My heart stopped. I was looking into the bright blue eyes of a spunky full of life young man dressed in the recruit uniform of a Marine. A young man on his first day of training.
It was me.