Canterlot Archives, 5 A.L.
It wasn’t long ago that I felt as though I was a hero to my fellow reindeer; someone who was faithful to the oath every member of the royal guard had to take. Every time I stood next to him sitting in his velvet-covered throne, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for what position I held in my country. Acting as a protector for White Tail Woods' king, the more well-known Cervidae monarchy in Equestria? It's every young fawn's dream to stand for the crest of Donner the Conqueror and to wear the silver streaks encasing its antlers.
That is not to say that Neighagara Falls’ kingdom in the east is vastly inferior, quite the contrary; they’re staunt allies to be certain.
But there was one specific reindeer, one from our land, who shall forever be etched in my memory as a hero, more of a hero than I ever could be.
I won’t ever forget the day he was initiated into our forces as a recruit. My king had told me someone new wanted to become part of the royal guard, and all he had to do was swear his allegiance by repeating our oath. When he walked into the royal hall, though, he had a stone-cold face that seemed ready to take any challenge.
‘Welcome, young recruit!’ the king bellowed, to which the young recruit puffed out his chest. Grazer and I—on either side of the king—kept ourselves rigid as we stood by our king, but I could still catch a glimpse of the recruit through my peripherals. Where my antlers shone in the light, his cast a dull sight of worn-brown.
The only guardlike feature I attributed to him was his golden-brown underbelly sticking out with his chest, the rest of his darker body remaining stiff as though he was trying to impress us. At the time, his stature certainly did not give me much of an opinion on the young reindeer.
‘Good evening, my lord!’ he said, keeping himself composed. I had to give him courage for not buckling in his Majesty’s presence at least. ‘I’m ready to take the oath!’
It took all of my effort not to sigh right then, as his excitement seemed a little much for taking an oath, no matter how important it was. I figured he’d learn in time.
‘Then, eager young lad, come up to my throne and put your right hoof against your chest and repeat after me: I—’
‘Repeat after me: I,’ the recruit repeated. I was on the verge of breaking my silence with a loud groan, but my conditioning stopped me just in time. I heard a little chuckle escape someone’s lips, but whether it was the king or Grazer on the other side I could not tell.
‘I swear, by the great antlers of Donner the Conqueror, that I will do my utmost to protect my lord, the White Tail King, my fellow reindeer of the kingdom and to never leave the land I was born from, lest every reindeer depart and the curse of the ancient polar bears take my land whole.’
To my great surprise, despite none of the current guard having been able to do it, the young reindeer kept himself composed as he repeated the oath, staring straight back at the king as he did. My mind flickered back to when I took the oath, stuttering and trembling under the king’s royal gaze. Had I been able to take a quick glance at my king and my companion, they probably would have opened their eyes in shock as I had done.
‘Well, um...’ the king blinked. ‘Well done, young recruit. I don’t think I have ever seen another reindeer with that kind of a memory.’ Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him gesture a hoof towards me. ‘This is Fleecer. He’ll escort you upstairs to a trainer. Fleecer, remember to come to the meeting room when you’re done.’
I let a slight wince escape my face as I nodded; thankfully, it went unnoticed by anyone else. I knew it was just a quick journey up the stairs, but he’d probably be asking me all sorts of questions along the way.
When I ushered him along, though, there was something about him that I couldn’t help but notice. He willingly followed me with a straight expression etched on his face, but his eyes weren’t looking on me expectedly. Sure, he looked to me earlier with a little bit of awe, that was apparent the moment he walked in through the front gates.
On our silent journey up the short staircase leading upstairs, I kept turning my head to the sides to see if there was some sort of painting or image he was noticing so much.
‘Sir, may I ask a question?’ the young reindeer asked me. It hadn’t occurred to me before I gave him the chance to ask the question, though, that I didn’t even know his name.
‘First, what’s your name, kid?’
We stopped at the top of the steps and opened a door to a spacious room carpeted with a thick blue material to keep trainees steady on their hooves. At the center of the flat, empty floor stood a stout reindeer encased with thick, padded armour. I was focused more on my charge’s face as he turned to me, though.
‘I’m Vixen, sir.’
I raised an eyebrow, my curiosity piqued.
‘You were named after one of the nine founders of our kingdom?’ I said, recalling the stories my own parents told me long ago. Donner the Conqueror, with his eight companions, freed this land from the rule of polar bears and turned it to a beautiful green landscape. ‘Your parents must have big expectations for you. Now, go along, I think the trainer is waiting.’
Vixen didn’t so much as twitch at his ignored question, but merely nodded and trotted over to the trainer.
‘I’m guessing this is the new recruit?’ the trainer questioned, turning to me and Vixen.
‘Yes, his name is Vixen.’ I surprised myself with the little introduction I had made. Maybe I was getting a little attached to the guy, but I had other concerns to deal with at the time. ‘He just needs some combat training to start off.’
‘Alright, I’ll do what I can. Get to your meeting, we’ll be fine up here.’
I nodded and began trotting down the stairs, but a slight piece of me wanted to stay just a little longer to watch Vixen perform. When I was sure Linker had his helmet back down and turned away, I peeked over the edge of the floor, the staircase being my little hole to see from.
After a few minutes of explanations and nodding coming from Vixen, the trainer trotted over to the back wall where five wooden training swords were mounted, each attached with a metal loop device I had grown accustomed to over the years. Snap the band in place and the sword is yours to swing.
He grabbed two of the swords and passed one to Vixen. After the two had snapped their swords in place—Vixen managing to put it on at lightning speed—they both readied themselves in an attacking stance. For the next couple of minutes, I could do nothing but stare in awe at Vixen’s initial skill with the sword, managing to parry almost every one of Linker’s strikes from every angle.
Even though Linker was encumbered with armour, I could only marvel at each of Vixen’s swings that seemed to gravitate towards Linker’s blade. Not once did Linker’s sword even so much as touch Vixen, where to this day I still can’t seem to stop all of his strikes.
‘Hey, I see you there Fleecer!’ Linker said, lifting his helmet once more as both fighters stopped to turn towards me. ‘You really need to get to the meeting! Don’t mind us up here! And maybe next time you should remember that you have big antlers sticking from your head, no?’’
I had forgotten all about the meeting. Without even bothering to acknowledge his request, I was bolting down the stairs as quickly as I could, eager to not keep my king waiting any longer. But along the way, instead of the meeting, all I could think about was Vixen. Sure, my proficiency was fighting with my antlers, but I still wished my skills with the sword could match his. Linker was the best swordfighter in the castle, and holding your own against him was difficult enough even with my antlers.
Maybe the kid had potential after all.
The small room held a table covering most of the floor, detailed with a map of Equestria and seven reindeer surrounding it, one being his Majesty himself—albeit with an unimpressed face staring straight back at me.
‘Where were you, Fleecer? The rest of the royal guard and I have been waiting for you to get here.’ The king chuckled a little and turned back to me. ‘Did the new recruit prove too difficult for you to handle?’
I quickly made my way to an open spot at the table, trying my utmost to ignore the chuckling making its way across the room. I temporarily forgot Vixen at that moment.
‘Anyway, I have some bad news for you all. As you are no doubt well aware, it has been about five years since that pony princess from the south was banished to the moon.'
‘Yeah, did you know the ponies instituted an Equestria-wide rule to use “A.L.” for “After Luna” to show years that pass?’ one of the royal guards—Leery if I recall correctly—said across the table from me.
'That's not the reason why I’m concerned.' The king cleared his throat and began shaking, much to all of our immediate concern. Our eyes all turned to the king and we leaned over the table to hear him report his news. ‘O-Our scouts tell us that one of the barbarian hordes—somewhere from the west, I presume—are getting kicked out of their ill-gotten homes by Canterlot. They have their sights directly towards us.’
A wave of silence washed over all of us we stared back at the king with unblinking, unbelieving eyes. I wasn’t quite sure how to address the situation, but my mind was running through a whole slew of things at the news. I knew I was going to fight like the rest of my fellow reindeer, just like we said we would in the oath, but something about the king’s expression made that notion seem a little more complicated than I had originally thought.
‘Your Majesty... how big is their army? Can’t we just call upon the Neighagara Kingdom for reinforcements?’’ I asked sheepishly, trying my best to remain composed. My mind flickered briefly to Vixen and his collected expression, wondering if he’d stay the way he is if I told him the same information.
‘W-Well,’ I shuddered at the king’s stammering as none of us had ever seen him this shaken, ‘it’s a sizeable army large enough to take us out without much of a fight, even if we could do something like surround them. Their numbers are too big. The Neighagara army, though, do have the numbers to drive them out. Of course, I already sent for them to come and help us out, but I fear they won’t make it time.’
I knew exactly what he was implying.
‘They’re... they’re on their way right now, aren’t they?’
The room fell silent for at least a minute before the king’s trembling mouth finally began to sound out audible words.
‘Yes... yes they are. And based on what the scout said, it won't be long until they're here. I fear that the curse may finally fall upon our land before the week is over... only the Neighagara reinforcements could help us survive that kind of attack, but it would be too late by the time they arrive.'
For the first time in my life, I didn’t seem like some high and mighty hero ready to defend my fellow reindeer. I felt like betraying the oath right then and there, and my thoughts could only drift towards how Vixen would feel. Would he have betrayed the oath?
***
Not even two days after the despairing news, the entirety of our royal guard and the king were up on the castle balcony, made up of the same white stone the building was constructed with. Out in the distance, there were trees as far as the eye could see, the only signs of civilization being our small kingdom with thatch-roofed homes and a wooden wall.
As I looked to the empty spaces in between the dozens of homes below me, I knew they were preparing themselves for attack. The king had already announced the news, albeit unwillingly, causing some to panic and run away in fear.
‘I think I see them coming out in the distance,’ one of the other guards pointed out, squinting his eyes. ‘Look about twenty degrees to the east, I’d say they’ll be here by nightfall.’
Sure enough, I could see little dots making their way here, illuminated by the afternoon sun. ‘Why don’t we get one of the Equestrian pony lands to come and give us a hoof?’ I offered. ‘I’m sure they won’t want the barbarians coming and taking us over either.’
‘I’d imagine the ponies are still a little shaken by one of their rulers being banished from their land; I think the same would go for us if I had departed. Not to mention they’d be murdering their own species without a reason against themselves.’
‘So what are we going to do? The reinforcements won’t be here until tomorrow night. We won’t stand a chance with our small numbers and weak defenses until then.’
The king stood silent for several moments, still keeping his gaze fixed on the approaching army.
'We’re normally quite loose with our oaths, but I think just this once, we should try our best to keep it. The population can decide to fight with us or leave, but either way, we’re fighting.’ Another pause filled the afternoon sky as we all hung our heads down. I wasn’t sure what to think of the king’s choice. ‘My guards, do you remember what the curse will do if we break the oath?’
All of us recited it at once, recalling our training years and the history we were taught quite some time ago. ‘If no reindeer is left standing in White Tail Woods, deceased or departed, plague will befall our people and the land will be razen to ash.’
Our king hung his head down in turn, striking us all with grief. He wasn’t giving up, but he knew fighting was going to be pointless. ‘I fear none of us will be left standing to stop the curse. Amass the forces now, we need to get this started.’
We all nodded our heads and left the king’s presence at once, each of us going in different directions. I was already assigned that morning to fetch the recruits and inform them of what was going to happen, and I already knew how one of them would respond.
As I reached the top of the staircase, Linker had already grouped them all for my briefing.
‘Ah, here he is now! I think that Fleecer here has something to tell you all, I daresay you should listen and be quiet,’ Linker said, lifting his helmet cover so he could see.
‘Thank you, Linker. Now, I know most of you might already be aware of the incoming army,’ I began, eliciting expressions of shock throughout the group—except for one face that remained rigid and focused, ‘but you have to remain calm. With what training you’ve received, you’re going to fight alongside the royal guard to ward off the attackers.’
The room erupted in a fit of panic and worry, some of the recruits even clampering on to my foreleg and begging me to not send them off. I looked pitifully at almost every single one of them, although three of them were still where they originally stood, nodding their heads solemnly.
Well, two of them were solemn. I had a slight respect for them for their acceptance, but all I could see in the third was awe. Awe as if he was happy to fight alongside his fellow reindeer, fighting for his kingdom.
Vixen was a stronger reindeer than I was at a little over half my size.
‘Silence!’ I bellowed at the top of my lungs, prompting the young reindeers to stop and listen. ‘Linker here will assign you armour and a weapon based on your greatest proficiency, and you’ll be sent to the second line at the walls to fight. You’ll have a short briefing by the king, and we’ll go from there. That is all.'
I didn’t want to admit to anyone there—especially Vixen—that I was just as scared as they were, but I fled from the training room as fast as I could to avoid showing it. I wouldn’t see them until I reached the front line that night.
***
‘Reindeer of White Tail Woods!’ his Majesty bellowed, facing the masses of reindeer I was amongst. It was nighttime, and the king’s assuring voice was the only thing keeping us from being scared of the approaching army. ‘We have held this land for many a year, and I don’t think it will end now. You will stay in your line and replace those at the ahead of you if a comrade falls, and if things begin to look dire, leave the wall and head into the castle. The royal guard and myself will make up the front line at the entrance, the rest of the forces take up the second by watching the walls and the recruits will take up the last line of defense. The citizens who remained in their kingdom can cover any areas of their choice.’
The king raised up his hoof, wielding a golden sword attached securely by a steel band. His armour was similar to my own, with the only exception being a gold-plated antler covering and a steel underbelly where I lacked one.
‘Sir, are you sure you want to fight?’ I asked, both proud of my king’s valiance and afraid for his life at the same time.
‘I figure if I’m going to die, I might as well do it as honourably as possible and take out some of the enemy at the same time.’ The king paused, turned around and sighed. ‘They are almost upon us! Ready yourselves!’
The treeline, previously withholding the sight of the incoming army, began to show thinly-armoured ponies numbering in countless numbers, most of them wielding some form of blunt object. ‘We need only to hold them off for a day!’ the king announced. ‘Act defensively and—oh, blunt objects! Our armour is weaker against blunt weapons!’
There was no time for worry or more speech, however, as the invaders were already upon our wall, either attacking through the entrance or trying their utmost to smash against the wooden walls.
I turned back for a brief moment, saw the unwavering face of Vixen climbing a ladder to reach the battlements and resumed my focus on the battle. I occupied the edge of the entrance, so I didn’t see too much combat myself, but my antlers were sufficient enough to hold off what did come.
I felt no remorse for the ponies dying by my movements, but the sheer numbers that kept coming from the forest did make me feel something else.
Despair.
‘Hold your ground!’ the king yelled, swinging his blade to and fro. He wasn't our king for no reason, and his skill exemplified that to a high degree.
I was too focused on my own job to notice anything around me, and by the time a few minutes had passed, I was feeling optimistic. None of the ponies had come close to passing me to reach the inner kingdom, but after looking around me for a brief moment, reality began to strike.
Four reindeer bodies lay at the entrance, their armour featuring a significant dent deep enough to penetrate their skulls. The king was still alive and fighting, but even he began to slow down with me as he watched the bodies remain still. Several of the wooden pillars had already fallen down along the perimeter, surrounded by fallen ponies and reindeer alike.
‘Argh, this is getting too perilous! They’re getting through the walls, and I fear it won’t be long until they take this entrance from us—’ the king began, interrupted by the falling of yet another of the royal guards. All I could see at the entrance was myself, Grazer and the king along with several unrecognizable troops taking the place of the royal guard.
‘Everyone’s retreating!’ Grazer yelled out, taking a few steps back to fix his defensive stance. Sure enough, as I looked around, all I could see were reindeer running towards the castle door from the ponies chasing them down. ‘Your Majesty, I would suggest heading back to the castle! We are losing too many reindeer and we need to regroup!’
After unleashing a quick slice to an incoming pony, the king hung his head and backed away, nodding his head. ‘Fall back!’ he yelled with all of his might. ‘Fall back into the castle!’
It wasn't a welcome order to receive, because it meant that we were outnumbered and outclassed without any chance of winning under these conditions. In a disarrayed and fleeting manner, reindeer all over heeded the king’s word and rushed to the castle entrance.
When we got through the drawbridge and into the confines of the building, however, the ponies had already begun flowing in from the entrance. Reindeer still in their homes had no chance of survival, and as the drawbridge slowly went up, I feared we would face the same fate.
‘The bridge isn’t closing fast enough! Pull harder!’
The king’s words did not help speed up the movement, however, as the reindeer pulling the ropes were already grunting from the effort. I wanted to help them out, but I could only think of the lives inside their homes that would be lost.
At least, until Vixen stuck his head out from the battlements and pushed aside a loose piece of the wall, sending it crashing down onto dozens of attackers.
‘Vixen!’ I yelled, to which he turned his head towards me. ‘Get in here now!’
He acknowledged my request with a simple nod, rushing down the battlements and towards us before more ponies could rush in. He hopped up onto the elevated drawbridge and slid down into the castle, allowing us to finish up the entrance.
‘I was busy shooting some arrows at the incoming ponies, sir, and I loosened up that stake in case the entrance was overrun,’ Vixen told me, to the great astonishment of the king.
‘Well,’ his Majesty began, taking in the situation we found ourselves in, ‘that was a superb effort on your part, young recruit. I’d wager any ponies still out there would have had ample time to escape because of you. You’ve saved many lives today.’
‘I was only going by the oath, your Majesty. I need to defend this kingdom with as much effort as I can muster.’
‘Yes, that is good... but we have still lost many of our people in the struggle so far.’ I felt a strong vibration course through the entire main hall as the door resounded with a loud “thud”. ‘Argh, they’re already trying to breach the door! We have to get out of here, I know a way out back where we can escape.’
None of the other reindeer in the room even made a conscious effort to oppose him, not even Vixen. I, for one, was astonished that the reindeer I had followed and protected for most of my life was even considering fleeing his kingdom, let alone acting on it.
‘You can’t be serious, your Majesty!’ I began, letting my outrage pour out with every bang on the door. Every so often, a blade or a club burst through the wooden shield guarding us from the outside.
‘This is a tough decision I have to make, Fleecer, but breaking the oath is not worth the deaths of more reindeer. I see the ones being slaughtered and feel that staying and dying would be disrespecting them, whether they’re deceased or they escaped.’
‘But they died for their kingdom!’ I continued, unable to hold my tongue. The other forces had already made their way through the back, leaving only the king, Grazer, Vixen and I looking at each other at the front. ‘You’d be disrespecting them by leaving, making their deaths pointless! Do you want this place to be razed? We can hold on until the reinforcements come!’’
‘If you feel like you stand a chance against them,’ the king said, darting his hoof towards the door and looking at me grimly, ‘then stay and fight. I have an obligation that, now that we don’t stand a chance of surviving here, I have to keep my subjects alive. I would chat longer, but the enemy is nearly through the door.'
And with that, my king just left. Left his kingdom to be razed, left his kingdom to fall under a horde of barbarians with only a lust for murder and plunder. Grazer gave me a quick glance of pity and he too made his way towards the back, leaving only myself and Vixen at the door. I probably felt more pity towards the king than Grazer did to me.
‘Come on, Vixen! Let’s get to the throne room, we can try and make a stand there!’ I didn’t care about any perceptions I had of the boy before, but now that he’s shown enough courage to stay even when the king left, I could do nothing but fear for his life.
He looked to me and nodded, quickly making his way as the now-departed reindeer did down the hallway. I left the door to the throne room open for a few moments so I could see the splintered, bustling drawbridge that looked to break down at any moment, and then closed the door without a second thought.
‘You should go, Vixen. I’ll try and hold them off.’ I knew fully well what I’d get as a response—Vixen shook his head. 'Alright, if you insist on keeping the oath, then we’ll do this together. We need to hold them back until the reinforcements come.’
The beating grew louder as time went by, seconds slowly turning to minutes as we pushed all we could to the throne room door as a barricade: suits of armour, the throne and even a line of mounted spears aiming directly at the door to stop anything that went through.
After a while, I could not tell how much time had passed. All I could tell was that the door was on the verge of collapse.
‘Are you ready, Vixen?’ I said, brandishing my antlers towards the door. I didn’t want to admit that I most certainly was not ready, as Vixen just smiled and brandished his sword without any noticeable fear.
‘I’m ready to keep the oath sacred.’
By some dramatic chance, the complete splintering of the drawbridge marked the time when the barbarians were inside our walls right after Vixen had spoken; as if the yelling wasn’t enough for us to tell. In short time, the throne room door was beginning to burst open, rumbling all of the barricades we had put in the way.
I didn't want to admit it—certainly not to Vixen—but I felt fear begin to seize up my body at the forthcoming foes.
For several minutes, we tried our utmost to push back the tide, but it was of no use. The assortment of barricades was not enough to stop the force that had now broken through the door.
'Vixen, it's pointless now!' I yelled. 'Fall back, you'll just die anyway!'
As expected, the recruit ignored me and rushed towards the ponies who had already entered, dazzling me with his skill to disarm the intruders numbering close to the dozen. Before any more could come in and feel the power of his blade, he had rushed to the door and slammed it shut once more, this time sticking his antlers through the door handle.
'Vixen, you have to come! It's better to fight another day when you're death is certain this way!'
'My apologies, sir,' Vixen replied, 'but I made an oath, and I plan on keeping it.'
His antlers began bending in all sorts of ways with every bang on the door, forewarning the oncoming slaughter so much that, whether it was the fear that took me or the lack of pride—possibly both—I turned and high-tailed it out towards the exit.
I didn't look back. How could I? My fear had gotten the best of me, and I broke a sacred oath that was being kept by a recruit not even three days initiated.
Once I was safely outside beyond the sight of Vixen or the ponies, I allowed myself time to look around. It was nighttime, but I knew Vixen wouldn't last another minute under all of that force. So I waited to see the razen lands appear like the coward I was.
And so I waited, but no sign of it came. Was Vixen really holding off all of those ponies? I didn't have much time to think about that, though, as a thundering sound of hooves began slamming against the ground, nearly shaking it in its wake.
The reinforcements had come.
They were coming from the east and, in no time at all, they were past the wooden walls and into the castle—at least, I figured they were there since I was out back and couldn't see.
'Vixen!' I cried out, rushing back towards the castle to see what had befallen my comrade. I wasted little time in reaching the throne room, expecting a bruised and beaten young reindeer to look back with a bright smile on his face.
All I saw were bodies strewn in every corner, primarily those without antlers. The reindeer reinforcements were scattered amongst the room, talking with one another about their success. One turned to me and, probably assuming I was important by my armour, gave me a short briefing about what happened.
'Ah, you must be one of the Woods' reindeer. I must say, you didn't really bring us here for much, did you? This wasn't really all that hard.'
'Sorry, but I'm just a royal guard. The king is out back through a secret entrance behind the reindeer crest. I'd go quick if you want to catch up with him.
The warrior nodded and slid his sword into a leather sheath hanging off of his side. 'Alright. Neighagara, follow me!'
'Our kingdom thanks you immensely for your help, fellow warrior,' I added, wishing to keep at least some of my pride intact. 'The curse would have befallen our kingdom were it not for you. Did you, by chance, see a young reindeer fighting when you got here?'
The reindeer said nothing but pointed his hoof at a pile of motionless bodies, quickly departing once I made my way over there. It was a pile of antlerless bodies stacked up to my chest. At the bottom, though, I saw another antlerless body—that is, until I saw the stub where antlers used to be. A sword was held securely to his hoof and stuck out of the pile.
Vixen.
I wasn't going to say that I was surprised, because I knew exactly what was going to happen. Nevertheless, the hero that saved many lives, kept the oath to save our land and had more honour than any of his fellow reindeer rested beneath my hooves, motionless.
I wept at the loss of someone I could not commend now, one who inspired me in his own way.
A true hero.
