Chapters Argos
Argos' cart rattled along the rutted dirt road leading to the Equestrian border. He'd made this journey countless times as a traveling gem merchant from the Iron Mountains. This time, however, marked the first time he'd make the trek with his son, Eros. He was really just a hatchling in his father's eyes, only twelve years old. He had the magnificent golden brown feathers of his father and the dark blue eye and head plumage of his mother. His eyes were light brown, flecked with gold that shone when he smiled.
His son sat listlessly in the drivers seat of the cart next to him. The ride from the Griffon empire had been a long one, and Eros seemed well tired of having to ride along at a snail's pace. Argos' tail had already fallen asleep more than once, and he could only assume the same for Eros. Flying to the market in the Equestrian capital would have been much quicker, though hauling the gems for trade would have been near impossible without the use of the cart and dumboxen.
His son's enthusiasm had been high at the outset of this trip, but by this, their third day on the road, he was impatient as any child would be. "How much farther?" Eros asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Won't be long now," Argos answered. "We should be coming up to the border crossing."
Just as he'd finished speaking, two guard towers crept up over the vast, sweeping plains. The amber grass was about neck high on a griffon and undulated in the wind as far as the eye could see. Argos had always enjoyed the rural beauty on his trips through the countryside, though Eros was not as breathtaken. To him, it was just a bunch of grass. But, in time, perhaps he would grow to appreciate it as much as Argos did.
The grasses began to creep closer to the road as they went, the ditches on either side shrinking as they approached the border. Eros was tasked with keeping the dumboxen on the path while his father kept an eye out for bandits and predators. They were certainly uncommon this close to the checkpoint, but a merchant of fine gems could never be too careful. Predators would love a meal strapped to a heavy cart, and thieves would love a merchant without dumboxen to pull it.
Keeping his eyes scanning across the endless golden sea, a rustle in the grass on the right side of the cart startled both of them. The gems rattled against each other as the oxen stamped to a halt. "Quick, Eros, get Bessie," Argos whispered urgently.
The younger griffon fumbled with the nondescript trunk behind the driver's seat. Griffons had natural defenses in their talons and sharp beaks, but nothing scared away a bandit or frightened a predator like the crack of gunpowder. Argos took the weapon from his son and cocked back the hammer, resting it against his shoulder as he aimed at the stalks of grass staying still in the breeze.
"Come out, or I'll blow you away!" he growled. Eros was frozen by his side. Argos had only been robbed once before he'd decided to buy the blunderbuss he gripped tightly in his talons. He could feel the wood of the stock grow slick as he waited nervously for either a thief or a wildcat to come out of the grasses.
The seconds seemed like hours as they ticked by. Eventually, the grass parted, revealing a brown pony clad in border guard's armor, though without a spear or helmet. Argos breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his weapon, uncocking the hammer.
"You gave us quite a scare!" he laughed, tilting the weapon over his shoulder. "I almost took your head off!"
The guard's mouth moved as though he were going to reply, though he did not speak. He seemed to be chewing on something. He kept his eyes on Argos and his cart, though his ears flicked in every direction, as if scanning for a threat. After a long silence, Argos spoke up again.
"So, have they moved the checkpoint closer to the border?" It was unusual to see a guard away from their post, especially one with only body armor and no weapon. The stallion snorted, bending down to take another mouthful of dry grass. He lifted his head back towards them. He chewed his grass slowly, a look on his face as though he was considering how to answer Argos' rather simple question.
Before he could, another creature bounded out of the grass on the opposite side of the road. A prairie lion about the size of a large stallion pounced on the back of one of the dumboxen. As the golden brown blur passed before him, Argos whipped himself around, cocking Bessie's hammer and leveling the weapon. In a roar that echoed through the plains, the shot hit its mark. The prairie lion tumbled off the back of the panicking dumboxen before it could deliver a mortal wound.
A large bloody pool formed around the animal as it lay there, a spot of fur the same color as the grass all around them matted with crimson. As Argo caught his breath, he glanced to where the guard had been standing. In the distance, he could see the grass parting as the stallion put as much distance between the frightening scenario and himself as possible.
"Some guard he was," Argo panted, setting Bessie across his lap. The barrel was warm, bordering on hot as he retrieved the tools needed to reload the weapon from the trunk. As he stuffed the gunpowder down the barrel, it dawned on him that Eros hadn't spoken a word since the encounter.
"You alright?" he asked, glancing over at his son whose eyes had been transfixed on the carcass of the prairie lion.
"Y-yeah, I'm okay."
"This was probably the second time I've ever had to fire Bessie in defense," he said reassuringly.
Eros ignored the remark. "Where do you think that pony went?" he asked.
His father shrugged. "Can't say. Didn't seem like much of a guard turning tail like that, did he?" his father joked, setting his weapon back in its case and hopping down from the wagon. "C'mon now, lad, help me check the dumboxen for injuries."
Eros joined his father and inspected the animal that had been attacked. There was some blood on its back, but the scratches all seemed superficial. The two climbed back onto the cart and pushed their team onward toward the towers in the distance.
Once they were within sight of the crossing, they found it deserted. There were a few abandoned carts by the side of the road, but not a pony to be seen. They slowed their oxen down as they reached the gate. It stood open, a creaky hinge squealing in the breeze. This was the only installation for miles until the first town, though there was no sign of a struggle or anything to indicate bloodshed of any kind.
"Aren't there supposed to be inspectors here or something?" Eros asked. His father stood up and peered around. With a flap of his wings, he was ten feet in the air. Such a vantage point let him see nearly into the next town along the road. He scanned the surrounding area but found no trace of any civilized life.
"Yes, there are..." Argos replied, landing softly beside his cart. "Hello?" He called to the small guard's hut near the gate and noticed the door was closed as he walked closer. The oxen shuffled nervously on their hooves, keenly aware of their surroundings after the prairie lion attack. Eros steadied them as his father knocked on the sturdy wooden door. From the outside, the building looked rather small. Two, maybe three rooms at the most. Bars on the east-facing window led Eros to assume it was also a small prison for thieves and smugglers. He watched as his father opened the door after receiving no reply to his knocks.
The dry prairie wind blew across the open fields, pushing the iron gate. The squeal of its hinges startled Eros, but his heart rate slowed after he realized the source of the noise. He shielded his eyes against the bit of sand kicked up by the wind and turned back to the guard hut, the heavy oaken door now open with a shaft of sunlight illuminating the dusty floor a few feet inside.
His father seemed to take ages inside the building as Eros waited. Just as he was about to dismount the cart and follow his father, Argos reappeared in the doorway. He set a brisk pace back to the cart, though something about his gait was unusual.
"Did you find anyone?" he asked as his father pulled himself onto the driver's seat. A weight dropped to the very pit of Eros' stomach. His father seemed shaken. The young griffon could feel the fear that had gripped his heart during the animal attack creeping up on him.
"No," Argos answered curtly, as if the question itself was offensive. His tone was off. In Eros' eyes, his father was a tough as they came. The time he'd told him about his cart being robbed, he said he managed to fight off two of the four bandits before they made off with some of his lesser quality gems he stored in the outer compartments of the wagon. He'd come home, had a few drinks and told Eros the story, much to his mother's disapproval. He laughed at it, and at the bandits foolish enough to try and rip him off. This time, he wasn't laughing. In fact, a smile was the farthest thing from his face.
Argos took the reins and ushered the oxen onward without a second thought.
"We're just going through?" Eros asked. Although this was his first trip, he wasn't completely ignorant of the workings of international travel.
"We need to let the next town know there's no one staffing this crossing. It'll be a haven for bandits and smugglers if they don't post someone." Argos' words were those of a parent, telling his child the argument was over by virtue of his authority. Eros took a look back toward the small guard's hut. The door hung open lazily as it disappeared around the front of the building. Another barred window came into view as the cart moved along down the road. A white cloth had been tied around one of the bars, blowing in the breeze as though to wave them goodbye.
He turned around to face the road ahead, fighting the chill running down his spine. He was still with his father, and as long as he was, everything would be fine.
Argos felt his eyes drooping as the sun shone its last rays on the plains, casting his cart and oxen team in a long shadow. Eros had fallen asleep nearly as soon as they'd left the empty border crossing, and he couldn't wait to join his son. The town of Prairieville sat in the middle of a picturesque field. Like many frontier towns, this one had walls, but they'd hardly seen a day of battle. Instead of archers and pikeponies, the banners of the Princesses usually hung along the battlements, the white stone of the ramparts standing in stark contrast to the color of the wild grasses in the fields. He felt the usual breeze that seemed to always blow downwind of the settlement. In journeys past, it had carried with it the sound of laughing foals as they played in the meadow, of fresh baked breads and grilled vegetables beckoning him to an inn with a warm bed and a solid roof.
But not this time.
It was the same wind he'd looked forward to countless times before, only it brought nothing but a chill. His son stirred beside him as the breeze ruffled his feathers. The closer their cart got to the open portcullis, the more Argos felt the hope leave him. He'd hoped the border checkpoint was simply the result in a miscommunication, but the state of things said differently. The horror he'd seen inside the guard's shack should have smothered that hope then and there, but Argos was nothing if not an optimist.
There were no guards outside the gates, and the torches along the wall were usually lit by sunset. He noticed his son sit up from his slouched position next to him. He heard Eros gasp as they reached the gates. A cart of spears and armor was tipped over, its contents spilled onto the roadway. The buildings beside the gatehouse had their windows shattered. It looked as though the town had been ransacked, though there was not a trace of gore to be found. No blood, no broken spears, or shattered armor. Eros let out a whimper as he realized this town was the same as the border crossing.
"D-dad, I wanna go home."
His father reached behind Eros, unlocking the trunk and setting Bessie across his lap. He felt his son cling to his arm, scooting closer to him on the bench as though the earth itself would snatch him away. Argos remained silent, hushing his son as their oxen continued down the street into town. As they came to the town center, not a single living thing stirred. One could be forgiven for thinking it was the early hours of the morning, were it not for the setting sun.
Though he was used to seeing Prairieville's town square emptying out by the time he arrived, Argos felt a chill creep down his spine as he noticed the moving black masses hovering above the vendor's food carts. They were flies, swarms of them, helping themselves to the wares no one had either seen to or been around to store. The stench of rotting fruit and decaying greens hit them both like a putrid wave. Eros covered his beak in disgust as his father halted the wagon. He reached back behind the trunk that held Bessie and into another chest. He pulled an item wrapped in a grey cloth into his lap over his weapon. Unrolling the cloth, Argos held a short-sword up in the dying sunlight. The final rays of orange glistened off the polished blade as he glanced to Eros.
"I was saving this to give you on our return trip," he explained, setting it back on the cloth and handing him the hilt. "But I suppose now is as good a time as any." Eros briefly forgot his fears as he gazed at his reflection in the blade.
He reached for it, but hesitated. "We aren't going home?" he asked, voice quivering.
His father sighed. "No, I'm afraid we can't until we sell these gems."
Eros' brow furrowed in confusion. Something was very clearly wrong here, and his father wouldn't turn back until the two of them made money? Surely, his father wasn't that greedy.
"Wha... but what if whatever got these ponies comes back for us?" he stammered.
"We can't go back. Your mother can't work, and I'm the only thing between us and begging for food on the streets," his father said as comfortingly as possible. He'd done well to hide this truth from his son over the years, but his profession depended on the high price and quality of gems mined from the Iron Mountains.
After a long silence, his son spoke. "What will we do now?"
Argos' expression softened. Perhaps he was being a bit reckless. He figured his wife would chase him into the afterlife herself if she'd ever figured out he'd risked his life and that of his son for gold. "We'll stay for the night. I know an inn I use when I visit. When the sun rises, we can head back to the Iron Mountains."
Eros was a bit confused by his father's sudden change of heart. "But, what will we do for food without money?"
His father sighed, resting his talons against the sword on his lap. I should never have mentioned the money... he thought. "I'll find us the money to survive until I can make a trip to the Mixed Cities. I'll borrow some and take double the gems to make back the loan." He looked to his son and smiled, mussing the plumage on his head. "I wouldn't risk you for all the gold in Canterlot."
Eros gave a small smile in return. His father offered him the sword once more, only this time, his son wrapped his talons firmly around the hilt. He felt empowered. Once, a friend of his from school had found an old dagger while playing in the forest around the Iron Mountains. They split time keeping it at their houses, hiding it from their parents and hoping they could find another one to play-fight with. Unfortunately, Eros' mother discovered it while it was his turn to keep it. He'd gotten quite the talking to about how dangerous weapons could be and how they were not meant for hatchlings.
That was two years ago. His father joined his mother in insisting blades were dangerous and he needed to be punished for hiding something like this. And now, his father was giving him a sword of his very own.
"Wait here with the dumboxen. I'm going to see what I can find." Argos hopped down from the cart, Bessie cradled in his arm as he walked toward the town square. The buzzing of the flies seemed to be the only sound in the entire city. Apart from the rotten food, nothing seemed out of order. It was as though the inhabitants simply walked away from their lives in the middle of the day.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted movement. He whipped his head around to face it and drew his blunderbuss to his shoulder. He lowered the weapon when he saw the outline of a few ponies in the dying sunlight. He squinted at them, trying to confirm whether these were actual living things or perhaps just debris that had taken on coincidental pony-like form. As he watched silently, he noticed one drop its head, paw at the ground, and then look back at him. Hope rose in his chest as he approached.
For the usually brightly colored folk of the equine lands, these three were rather drab. One was dark brown, with a tail as black as coal. Another was more of a gray, with a similar colored mane and tail. The third was a hay colored pegasus, with a matching mane and tail. None of them wore any clothes, though that was not unusual. What was unusual, were the matted-ness of their manes. Most ponies usually took time to comb their mane and tail at least occasionally, but these mares looked as though they hadn't seen a brush in weeks.
As Argos got closer, the mares seemed to become more wary of him. They stood in a small patch of grass on the otherwise barren streets. Each was slowly chewing, some blades of grass stuck to their lips and cheeks.
After realizing he'd slowly been walking toward these ponies without uttering a word, he decided to ask the first question on his mind. "What happened here?"
They flicked their ears toward him, and one took a few cautious steps backward. The pegasus of the group fluttered her wings nervously, more than a few feathers coming loose and gently floating towards the ground around her. Argos was close enough now to notice their condition. They hadn't been preened in weeks and there were patches of pink skin showing beneath where her feathers had either fallen out or no longer grew.
He took one step too many, and the mares retreated at full gallop down the street and into the creeping darkness. Argos rubbed his eyes. The only ponies he could find in the area were too skittish to talk. They looked as though they'd just been through a war, but he'd only been in Prairieville a month ago! He turned back the way he came, certain Eros was tired of being alone with the dumboxen in such a scary place, if only for five minutes.
He rounded the corner of the main street and smiled, seeing his son still sitting in the wagon seat, his eyes wide open and his sword in his talons. Argos fluttered the rest of the distance back to the wagon and took the reigns.
"Did you find anyone?" Eros asked.
"No," he replied, driving the oxen forward at a steady pace. The inn he usually frequented was just up the street, and he meant to make it before nightfall.
"If there's no one here, then where will we sleep?" Eros asked, as though it'd just occurred to him.
"We'll stay in the inn until morning, then we'll head back," his father said, his eyes glancing from building to building for any signs of life. "If someone is there, we'll pay them, and if not, we'll stay there anyway."
Eros smiled. "Who's going to stop us?"
"Exactly."
They reached the inn and pulled the cart to a stop. It was almost too dark to see outside without any torches, though a griffon's naturally sharp eyes helped them in the new moon's darkness. They unhitched the oxen and led them to the barn outside the inn. Once they'd both been placed in a stable, Argos doused the wounded oxen's back in alcohol to fight any infections that might be brewing in its scrapes. The animal voiced its displeasure loudly, its cries echoing eerily off the walls of the buildings.
They secured the wagon to a hefty pole with a heavy iron chain and headed inside the lobby of the abandoned inn. Argos could practically smell the coffee the old gray mare that ran the place brewed every evening. She'd wait behind the desk, intimidating any who entered with a dark glare until she saw your purse. Once she was sure you had the money, her mood brightened considerably. She would always chat up Argos, and he even managed a discount on his stays, simply because she 'liked' him. True or not, he took the rate all the same. As he and his son stepped into the darkened lobby, he wondered what had become of her.
Inside, the cash register had been cleaned out, and lay on its side on the floor, but otherwise, everything seemed to be in order. A torch on the wall sat above a bucket of oil and a striking stone. Argos walked over, the floorboards creaking in protest as his did, Bessie still in his arms. He peered down into the bucket and sighed in relief. There was still a bit of lamp oil left. He took the torch off the wall and soaked the rags in as much of the remaining liquid as he could. Striking the stone on the wall with a talon, he sent a shower of sparks onto the fabric. The lobby lit up as he held the light to his face, Bessie now resting on his shoulder in one talon.
Eros took in the surroundings, noticing everything seemed to be coated in a fine layer of dust. It was near pitch-black by the time they'd entered the lobby, and the light brought with it a few more disturbing facts about the building. Every window in the lobby was boarded shut, and behind the front desk, torn posters and faded parchment sat peeling off the walls as though they'd been stuck there as wall paper far past its prime. Eros gripped his sword tightly and crept behind the desk as his father followed with the torch. With the sword pointed in front of him, he leapt behind the desk, setting his back against the wall as he readied himself to fight off an attacker that wasn't there.
Argos sighed in relief as his son lowered his sword. "The room keys should be in a drawer somewhere. See if you can find us one."
Eros rifled through the drawers until he found one that jingled with keys. He grabbed a fistful and spread them on the desk. "How about 108?"
Argos nodded, beckoning his son back over the desk. With a hop, he was behind his father as his torch lit the way down the dusty corridor. As they went, most of the doors were closed, the room numbers rising slowly. Argos noticed a door open, the number 108 reflecting the light of their torch. They stepped over a few overturned chairs and hallway tables before reaching the open door. Argos handed his torch to his son and whispered, "Stay right behind me."
Eros nodded, taking the light in one talon and his sword in the other. His father drew Bessie to his shoulder and took careful steps around the doorway. He turned quickly, Eros in tow, shining a light into the darkness. Argos held his breath as he quickly scanned the room.
Nothing. He exhaled loudly, lowering his weapon and taking in the dancing shadows cast by the torchlight. With heavier steps, he entered the room, Eros following behind him. The room was dirty, but that was to be expected in an abandoned city. The sheets were taken from the bed, and like in the lobby, the windows were boarded up.
Argos pulled a hay stalk from a hole in the mattress and lit it, lighting a lamp on the bedside table. Eros set his sword on the floor and climbed onto the bed. It wasn't as soft as his bed at home, but it would do for a night. Much better than his bedroll on the hard ground. Argos felt his stomach rumble. He could've slapped himself. He'd forgotten to bring in the food!
He turned to Eros, who had taken up his half of the bed and was nearly asleep himself. "Don't sleep just yet. I'm going back to get the food."
His son groaned. He'd eaten enough jerky and hard cheese to last him a lifetime. At this point, the alternative might have seemed preferable.
"It's that or nothing," Argos replied, trying to brighten the mood. "I'll be back in a second."
He closed the door behind him and stepped into the dim hallway. The rest of the doors to the rooms were shut, and he had no inclination to open them. Argos reached the lobby and shouldered his weapon. He knew there was nothing there during the night that wasn't there during the day, but Bessie helped calm his nerves all the same.
Eros
Eros sat up from the bed after his father had left. He clutched his sword as he walked around the room. Even though he'd only had it for a few hours, he was sure to never let it get too far away from him, especially in a place like this. So far, he and his father had only encountered a wild animal, some rotten fruit and a skittish border guard. Nothing particularly terrifying, but something about the atmosphere of this city made his down rise in a chill. Adding to the sense of foreboding that sat over the entire town like an early morning fog, were the boarded up windows. As he walked toward them, he noticed the boards nailed to the building from the outside as though the town were preparing for a storm of some kind.
Of course, Dad had to pick the creepiest building in town, he thought to himself, turning back toward the bed. In the open space of the small room, he practiced his swordplay. He'd seen the imperial guard practice in the courtyard of the palace on the weekends when his father would take him to watch their drills. He imitated their thrusts, parries, and slashes as best he could, fighting the shadows cast on the ground by the lantern. After a bit of vigorous fighting, he set his sword by his side of the bed and climbed back onto the sheetless mattress.
He glanced back at his sword, admiring its blade in the lamplight. It was polished steel, not a knick or scratch anywhere to be found. He reckoned his father had spent a good amount of money on it. He also knew his mother would try and say he was not old enough for something so dangerous. Eros' thoughts drifted back to what his father had said earlier about going back to the Iron Mountains empty-taloned. He said he would just borrow the money, but Eros couldn't begin to imagine from whom he'd borrow it. His grandparents on both sides weren't particularly well-off, and neither his mother or father had any brothers or sisters.
The creaking of the door startled him as Argos appeared in the doorway with a burlap sack over his shoulder, the stock of Bessie protruding from it. "Hope you're hungry."
He couldn't deny that. Perhaps jerky wouldn't be so bad for just a few more nights. As his father divvied up the food, Eros spoke up. "Dad, where will you get the money from?"
"What money?" Argos replied, his mouth full.
"The money we'd need to live on if we went back home," Eros said flatly.
His father never looked up from his plate. "I'd find it. Don't worry."
Argos used his most reassuring tone, but Eros was unconvinced. After all, if finding the money was no trouble at all, surely they would have turned back at the first sign of trouble?
"I want us to keep going."
Argos stopped chewing and looked up at his son. The boy's face was as serious as they come. It was as though giving him that sword had changed him from a hatchling to a valiant young griffon in a few hours time. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I don't want our first trip to market to be a disaster."
Argos smiled at his son, taking a piece of jerky in his talon. "Then we will. But if your mother asks, nothing was out of the ordinary."
Argos
The night wore on as they finished their meal and packed away their remaining stores. They bid each other goodnight as they laid on the barren mattress. Eros went right to sleep, but Argos' mind wandered.
Why was this city abandoned? What could have caused everyone here to flee in such a hurry? Why did those mares run from me? These thoughts and more raced through his mind. The city was quiet, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Not even the song of crickets could be heard behind the walls. Try as he might, his thoughts drifted back to the horror he'd seen in the guard shack. When his son decided he wanted to soldier on, Argos neglected to mention what he'd witnessed.
No use telling him that before bed, he thought. It'd just give him nightmares. Argos rolled over, facing what would have been a window, had it not been boarded up. Through the slits in the wood, beams of moonlight streaked in. Pony lore had it that their princesses raised the sun and moon each day. Whether that was true or not was up for debate, but no one in any kingdom could doubt their power. The sight of the moon filled him with a bit of hope. If the pony legends were true, then maybe this city just needed to be evacuated for some reason. Perhaps the lives of the rest of the equine lands went on as usual everywhere but here?
Just as soon as he'd allowed himself to hope, he felt the dread return. The same dread he felt in the guard shack. He'd entered, walking past the empty reception desk and down the halls, listening for any sign of life. As he rounded a corner, he came to the holding cells. In them was the horror he'd chosen not to reveal. A pony hung by his neck from one of the bunks, another dead in the corner. His fur had fallen off almost completely, and the skin had tightened, revealing the bones beneath in the arid heat. On the wall, a message was scrawled in a ghastly ink:
Better dead than grass-fed.
There was no explanation for the message and no one around to explain it. The eyeless sockets of the dead ponies unnerved him the most. Soulless black pits with mouths shriveled into a permanent, silent scream. However, just like outside, there was no sign of a violent struggle. No dried blood, nothing to indicate there had been anything done to those prisoners except what they themselves willed. Had it been some kind of terrible monster, or black plague, he would have turned around and headed straight for the Iron Mountains. He'd seen woodcuts of towns beset by plagues, and this town was nothing like one. There would be bodies in the street. There would at least be a warning to others outside the city walls not to enter.
But here, there was nothing but emptiness.
That was something Argos simply couldn't make sense of. There had been no travel warnings, no imperial order to suspend trade with the equine lands, no nothing! And what of the message on the wall? Did the rulers issue some sort of decree about eating grass? Why would someone rather die than follow it? Equestria was known as one of the wealthiest and best-stocked kingdoms in all the world. In fact, their aid helped starving civilizations across the globe! How could they have been reduced to eating grass in one month's time?
None of this made any sense. Thankfully, Argos' heavy eyelids won out over his racing thoughts as he finally drifted off to sleep.
The dawn seemed like it arrived a few hours early. Though the windows were boarded up, sunlight still found its way into the room, bright enough to wake young Eros. During the night he'd had a terrible dream. He was back at the guard shack, only this time, he was alone. He had his sword with him, but nothing else. The door to the shack swung open as white cloth snakes crept from the darkness and towards him. He raised his sword to strike, but found it now weighed thousands of pounds. Try as he might, his arms simply wouldn't lift it. The cloth serpents coiled around his legs and deftly pulled him off his feet. Eros rolled onto his belly and clawed at the hard packed dirt, trying desperately to slow himself down as the darkness of the shack came ever closer. He watched helplessly as his sword lay in the dust, getting further from him as the shack pulled him into its maw-like doorway.
He hooked his claws into the doorframe, stopping his momentum for a moment. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came. The half of his body in the darkness was cold. He remembered that distinctly. Eros fought to stay in the sunlight, but soon more cloth snakes took hold of his arms and pried his talons from their embedded position in the mortar. Once he was inside the shack, the door slammed shut, startling him awake while it was still dark out.
Argos was still asleep, so he settled back down, reaching for the hilt of his sword and lifting it, just to make sure he still could. He fell into a fitful sleep for the remaining hours, but he was more than ready to put some distance between himself and the shack. His father shook him awake, offering him more of the same fare for breakfast. They ate in silence, grabbing whatever useful items from the room they could find and loading them onto the wagon. The trip to Canterlot would take them through one more small town. Ponyville was a quiet little hamlet and home to some of the best apples for miles. He recalled the friendly locals wistfully, praying to the gods of griffondom that whatever had happened to the ponies here had not happened to the citizens of Ponyville.
"So, I was thinking about naming my sword," Eros said through a mouthful of jerky and hard cheese.
His father glanced up at him. "Is that right?"
"Yeah, all the heroes gave their swords names. Mine should have one, too."
Argos nodded. "Fair enough. Have one picked out already?"
Eros thought for a moment. "I was thinking... Titan."
Argos smiled. The same name the monster slayer Syrell christened his sword. It was his son's favorite legend. "Such a fierce name for a small sword, don't you think?" he teased.
Eros chuckled at his father. "I'll be needing a sash to hold it. I can't carry it around everywhere."
"I think we can dig something out of the cart for you to holster it," Argos said, finishing the last of his breakfast. "Now, lets get on the road, shall we?"
Argos
Outside the inn, the morning stillness almost made the empty town seem normal. If not for the derelict vendor stands and carts, one would think it was just a lazy Saturday. Argos had finished hitching the dumboxen to the cart after inspecting the injured animal's wounds. They had scabbed during the night and showed no signs of infection.
Argos and Eros climbed back onto the cart they had spent so many hours in over the past three days and began down the empty street. The same deserted buildings greeted them as they rode down what should have been the busiest thoroughfare in town. Bakeries, clothing stores, banks, and all manner of storefronts had been vandalized in some way. An early morning breeze blew through the open portcullis as they approached it. Unlike the one they'd entered, this one had a large poster nailed to the wall. Faded and worn from the weather, its language was still legible in places. Argos stopped the wagon.
At the top of the poster, the royal seal of the sun, moon, and starburst superimposed over one another heralded the authority of its warnings. Below the seal, large, block red letter trumpeted a cryptic warning.
Do not see the blades!
Do not smell the blades!
Do not eat the blades!
Seek Canterlot. Your princesses will protect you
Argos supposed the poster had more to say at one time, but the bottom half had been torn away.
"What do you think they needed protecting from?" Eros asked.
His father shrugged. "I don't know. Let's pray we don't run into it on our way there." He snapped the reigns, urging his oxen onward as they put the ghost city to their backs and headed down the country lane to Ponyville. The ride was uneventful. Inside the borders of Equestria, the only dangerous animals resided in the forests. It would be another day of traveling to get there, and after that, they could easily make Canterlot by noon the next day. Argos felt all his hopes rise as the sun moved slowly across the sky. He'd never wanted to believe a pony legend more than at that moment.
The oxen seemed to keep pace despite the prairie lion attack the day before. Eros sat in his usual slouch on the bench next to his father, Titan secured around his waist by a heavy, woven belt. A talon supported his chin as he propped himself up on the armrest. Argos looked out over some of the fields between the towns. It was mid-summer, and the ripe grain waved gently in the breeze, waiting for a harvest that hadn't come. A few farmhouses dotted the countryside, but none showed any signs of life. In the distance, he'd thought he'd seen a few ponies standing in a meadow, but to stop the cart and trek all the way out to them would cost them time. If whatever had happened in Prairieville was just an isolated incident, he would sure like to know what caused it.
Curiously, the ponies in the meadow seemed to not be doing much of anything. Just standing around each other, craning their heads to the ground and raising them again. He turned back to the road ahead. It was only an hour at the most until they reached the outer edges of Ponyville. Argos smiled as he remembered the farm where that nice family lived that grew those tasty apples. He remembered the laughter of the filly with the red bow as she played with her friends in a vacant field next to the farmhouse and how willing the mare that sold the apples had been to take a few gems in exchange for a bushel of them. He recalled the strong, silent, red stallion whose name he never learned and the old mare who spent most of her time in her rocker on the porch.
They were honest, hardworking folks like him. Argos' smile morphed into a grimace as he thought of what could have befallen them if whatever happened in the last town happened there.
"Something the matter, Dad?"
"Oh—nothing. Just ready to see some civilization and put that craziness behind us."
Eros nodded. "Me too. That guard shack back there at the border gave me the creeps."
His father exhaled through his nose and nodded. You aren't the only one, he thought.
Eros decided not to tell his father about his dream. After all, grown griffons don't let nightmares scare them! Syrell the monster slayer probably never had a nightmare in his life! Besides, as long as he had Titan and his father, nothing could hurt him.
The cart rattled along the road as the familiar farms on the outskirts of Ponyville came into view over the horizon. The fields and orchards sat full of vegetables and fruits, some well past their harvest time. Argos' chest tightened as they continued. Usually there would be one or two ponies on the road for whatever reason by the time he made it to Ponyville.
This time, it was just as barren as Prairieville had been. The sun was already descending beneath the hills, keeping the small hope in Argos' heart alive. Hope that an entire nation hadn't been wiped out in a little over a month's time. The signs continued to point to tragedy the further towards Ponyville they ventured.
Eros was jarred from his light sleep as the cart came to an abrupt halt. He sat up and took in the farmhouse they'd stopped beside. "What're we doing here?" he yawned.
Argos dismounted from the cart after handing his son the reigns. "I'll be right back. Stay here with the cart."
Thankfully for Eros, there were no creepy shacks for him to stare at this time. In fact, where they were now seemed leaps and bounds different than the ghost city they'd first encountered. The farmhouse seemed inviting, with its rocking chairs on the porch and clubhouse in the tree a ways away from the barn. Eros recalled visiting a friend's house and playing in one after his pal moved from the Iron Mountains to the Mixed Cities. He'd wished he could have had one, but there were few trees where he was from. He smiled to himself before glancing down at Titan, gleaming in the setting sun.
Eros' face hardened. He was almost an adult! His father had trusted him with a sword, and adults no longer thought of silly things like playhouses in trees. In fact, in two years, he would be considered an adult in griffon society. He looked back toward his father standing on the porch of the farmhouse as he knocked on the doorsill.
Argos prayed to see a mare in a stetson, a stallion in a yoke, even the old mare he suspected of disliking him. Someone, anyone to let him know whatever happened to the previous city was just an isolated event. After his knocks, he waited. His heart sank as the house remained silent. He opened the screen door and knocked loudly, on the door itself this time. He didn't know why. He knew if no one heard him the first time, a second time wouldn't make someone appear.
He noticed the door was open slightly, as if someone had left but not seen it shut all the way. Argos had decided against Bessie, but for a split second as he rested his talon on the door, he had wished he had it. The door creaked on its hinges as he pushed it open. Peering inside, the flicker of hope he'd been harboring evaporated. The home didn't appear ransacked, but there were plenty of things missing, if the dusty outlines of pictures on the walls were any indication.
"Hello?" he called into the house, though it sounded more like a defeated sigh than he intended. He took a step inside, leaving the door open behind him. The screen door closed with a slam, startling him. He walked farther in, coming into the kitchen. Fruit and vegetables, long since spoiled, sat on the counter. The flies and smell were particularly bad in here. He backed away, thankful not to find any horrific surprises like in the guard shack.
Making his way back to the front door, he caught sight of the stairs. The second level of the house was dark, and he feared what might be waiting for him in the bedrooms of the former occupants. He sighed, making a mental note to toast the family that owned this farm with his next drink. After stepping out of the house, he looked toward Eros. He motioned for him to join him.
Eros hopped off the cart and walked briskly towards his father, Titan swinging from his belt as he went.
"I saw a few trees with apples still on them. We can pick some for dinner tonight."
Eros smiled widely, the thought of food besides jerky and hard cheese exciting him to no end. They hovered over to a tree filled with ripe apples. They plucked them from the branches, carefully to stacking the fruits in their arms until they could hold no more. As Eros was picking, a thought occurred to him.
"Dad, are we stealing?"
Argos exhaled loudly. "No, son."
"So the ponies in there said we could have these?" he asked.
"No, there were no ponies," he answered solemnly. His voice sounded as though he had lost a friend. A pregnant pause came between father and son.
"Did you know them?"
Argos stopped picking apples and landed. Eros followed him. "I did."
"I'm sorry, Dad."
"It's not your fault, Eros." He smiled at him. "Let's just hope there are ponies in Canterlot."
"And that they still want to buy gems," Eros added somberly. How could anyone want shiny rocks at a time like this?
Argos scratched his head with his free talon. "That's right."
They loaded the apples into their cart and fluttered back toward the orchard. Before picking another apple, an angry snort drew their attention. Emerging from the barn was a large, copper colored stallion wearing a workhorse's yoke. Argos recognized him immediately, but the stallion only saw trespassers.
Argos heard his son draw his sword, though the light reflecting off the blade shimmered as his son's unsteady talons gripped the hilt. He motioned for his son to stand down. He took a step toward the stallion, who pawed the ground threateningly.
"We aren't here to hurt you," Argos said calmly. He received only a snort in response. Behind the angry stallion, four mares wandered timidly out of the barn. "We aren't here to hurt your mares," he assured him, though his words seemed to bounce off the overprotective pony.
The other mares were drably colored, most of them being earth ponies, while one was a pegasus with streaks of color still in her mane. Her wings seemed much smaller than usual, and were almost devoid of feathers. Argos took a step back, spreading his wings. He and his son took to the air as the stallion watched them go. From the sky, they watched the alpha male of the herd shepherd his mares back into the barn.
They landed back atop the cart, sitting in silence for a time. Eros looked toward his father, whose feathers had seemed to lose a bit of color from the encounter. He could guess why.
"Did you know him?" he asked quietly.
His tone sounded like sorrow itself as he replied.
"Yes."
Spike
A slender dragon with green and purple scales and a messenger bag slung across his shoulders stepped softly down an abandoned street. The city in which he walked was dead. Some buildings had been burned to the ground, others simply vandalized beyond recognition. It had amazed Spike how quickly the society he'd been raised in, the only one he knew and loved, had collapsed in on itself.
As he made his way into the heart of what used to be Canterlot, he stuck close to the sides of the buildings and near the alleyways. The cities were flooded with wild animals. It wasn't as though he couldn't defend himself, but one timberwolf generally alerted his friends, and if he had to make a dash back to the palace, he'd rather not bring company. On top of that, he wasn't sent out here to fight beasts. He was sent out to gather food.
Spike had matured quite quickly since all of this began. He worked for the few remaining ponies still holed up inside the grounds of Canterlot castle. He was their lifeline, their best hope for survival. They were the last ones. The few remaining ponies of a once dominant nation. Once they farmed fields, shaped the weather, and controlled the very ground itself with their magic. Now, they hardly ever went beyond the high walls of the inner keep. He hurt for them. Especially for the foals and the free spirits. What kind of life was being trapped in such a small area for the foreseeable future?
With the exception of the possible hazardous wildlife, Spike cherished these walks. He was the only one who could leave, and he was thankful. He sometimes brought back toys for the younger ponies and a few gems if he was lucky enough to run across them. And if they were lucky enough to survive the trip back to the palace.
He arrived at a former farmer's market in the old section of Canterlot. Most of the food was spoiled, with the exception of the dry goods sealed in barrels. That's what he was after. Though many in the castle complained about eating the same thing every day, there wasn't much he could do about it. When fortune was truly smiling on him, he'd find a fruit tree or some miraculously preserved celery or carrots.
As he wandered through the overturned carts and spoiled food, he noticed a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around but saw nothing out of the ordinary in the shattered glass of a former storefront. He eyed the scene suspiciously before turning back to his duties. Inside an old bakery, he knew there were still many barrels of stored grains and wheat. Not the most flavorful dinner, but it kept the ponies alive, and that's all that mattered. He reached into his bag and pulled out a scroll and quill. He scribbled a quick note onto it and blew it away in a wisp of green fire.
He began loading fistfuls of food into his bag, the dust from the grains irritating his sinuses. He closed his eyes, quickly trying to stifle his sneeze. In a burst of fire, the grain he'd been collecting went up. In a panic, he tossed the burning barrel out of the broken shop window and into the street. Thankfully, there were still about twenty barrels unharmed. Just as he was about to break into a new one, a growling from outside drew his attention.
Near the burning barrel, a large timberwolf waited, snarling at him. Spike's expression hardened. He tightened up his bag around his shoulders and clenched his claws into fists. In a flash, the timberwolf charged. Spike shut his eyes and concentrated. He could hear Twilight's words in his ears as if she were beside him. Draw your power from inside. Keep the outcome of your spell in the forefront of your mind, and you'll never be without magic. His eyes shot open, the green reptilian pupils replaced by a uniform sapphire glow. The wolf was close now, and no doubt his friends would be nearby. The beast leapt into the window, intending to pounce on Spike and score an easy meal.
Spike had different plans. He raised his claws in front of him, an aura matching his eyes coming around his claws and the wolf itself. The creature hung in the air, snapping and growling within inches of his nose. With a mighty thrust, Spike shoved the aggressor backwards, sending him out of the window, across the street, and into the next building where it scattered into twigs and sticks.
"Aw, yeah!" He smiled, pumping a fist in victory as his eyes returned to their normal color. Unfortunately, his celebration was short-lived. Howling of other wolves echoed throughout the city as he gathered up a few more clawfuls of food and stuffed it inside his bag. Spike dashed out of the bakery and down the street, hoping to leave before the wounded timberwolf reassembled.
Eros
When Eros and his father made it into Ponyville, they found it deserted as well. The only inn the town had was nothing but charred embers, and the other buildings were missing doors and windows. The only building that appeared undamaged was rather peculiar. It seemed to be a house built inside a tree. Upon further inspection, they discovered it used to be a library. The gaps in the shelves and books scattered on the floor suggested that this place had been looted. After stabling the oxen, they headed into the tree and settled in. The sun was still up, but it wouldn't be for long. Argos was dead tired, and after a quick dinner of apples and jerky, he was ready for bed.
Eros, however, wasn't quite ready to bed down for the night. His nightmare from the night before replayed in his mind when he closed his eyes. That, combined with the little bit of daylight still outside, kept him awake. Eros stood from his bedroll and grabbed Titan. The clank of steel on the hardwood floors woke his father.
"Where ya off to?" he yawned, not bothering to open his eyes completely.
"Uhm... just to check out the rest of this place," Eros told him. He wasn't even sure he'd heard him, as drowsy as he seemed. Truthfully, Eros was going to check out the rest of the library. But he was also going to explore the town. He figured there was nothing to hurt him out there, especially if he had Titan with him. He had an almost foolish amount of trust in a sword he'd never used.
He climbed the stairs to the upper floor of the library to find a small bookshelf overturned across a single bed. On the bedroom wall, a note was pinned that seemed out of place with the rest of the dusty old books and scrolls scattered on the floor. It seemed... newer. As though someone had come back to this place and pinned it here. He stepped closer, squinting at the scroll in the dim light.
If you can read this, go to Canterlot Castle.
Maybe there were ponies left after all. Not like that one they'd encountered at the farm. Something was certainly wrong with him, but Eros couldn't place what. He had met ponies before coming here, but they all seemed so... civilized and polite. Their manes were usually brushed and their tails combed. But that stallion and the mares behind him looked like they hadn't bathed or groomed themselves in weeks!
What would make ponies act that way? Would being here mean he and his Dad would start forgetting to preen or start eating worms and hunting rabbits and eating them as soon as they were in their talons? Eros retched at the thought of eating raw animal meat. To his left, the fading daylight cast a long shadow from a balcony window. He tried the knob and slowly opened the door, mindful of any squeaks the hinges might make.
Thankfully, it was silent as he stepped out onto the balcony, breathing deep the still twilight air. With a flutter of his wings, he was on the ground. He kept a talon near Titan as he walked, looking over the ruins of a town his father had once described as 'picturesque'. He'd always thought that was a pretty fancy word for such a small town, but Eros imagined it was probably a lot more picturesque when it still had ponies living in it. As good as the apples had been, he still craved a bit more variety in his meals. On top of that, he never ate his fill during mealtime. His father said he could eat like a tornado's winds blow. His mother was always quick to defend him as a 'growing griffon.'
Eros smiled. Perhaps when he was older, he would tell his mother about the adventure he and his father had in the equine lands. He began down the main street, his head moving from side to side as he scanned the buildings for any sign of unspoiled food. He knew ponies didn't eat meat, but there was still the off chance a crate of it imported from the griffon empire was stored safely somewhere.
As he wandered, he came upon the town square. Streamers hung limply from streetlamps, their colors only a dull hue of what Eros imagined they'd once looked like. There were a few overturned tables in the square, as well as vendor carts and stands sitting untouched from their previous tenants, just like in the cities before.
Even though this town was just as empty as Prairieville, something just felt more inviting about this place. Prarieville had been a rough-and-tumble frontier city, if his father was to be believed. This place seemed like any small town. He recalled his Dad mentioning how friendly the ponies were in general, and how any griffon prejudiced against them was either ignorant or hadn't actually ever met one before. To think that such a kind race of creatures could just disappear from their cities and towns was a bit saddening, made scarier by the fact that they'd been fine only a month before.
A sound nearly startled Eros out of his feathers. He whipped around and clumsily grabbed for his sword. In the act of drawing it, he nearly flung it out of his talons. He regained his grip and held the blade in front of him. It trembled as Eros tried to steady himself. He'd trained with a wooden sword for a while after school, but it was really nothing more than a hobby to make his father proud. Though a blunderbuss might have been simpler to operate, there was a long history of honor in griffon culture that came with mastery of a sword.
Eros was far from mastery.
He pointed the blade at the source of the noise, a darkened doorway inside an old pottery shop. "C-come out!" he tried to yell in his most terrifying voice, though it simply sounded terrified. "Show yourself!" he said again, a little bit steadier, but still with the squeak of a child.
Why did I come out here? This was so stupid to sneak out without Dad! What if it's a prairie lion, or a timberwolf, or worse? How do I fight a cockatrice with a sword? It can turn me into stone! Thoughts of doubt raced through his mind as he waited for whatever snarling beast hid in the shadows to reveal himself.
Out of the doorway stepped a young mare. She was the brightest shade of buttery-yellow Eros had seen thus far. Her red mane was a bit dirty, but not nearly as bad as the ponies he and his father had encountered on the farm. She wore a ratty old bow in her mane as well, though the splotches of dirt and fading color suggested it had seen better days. He lowered his sword, letting the tip drag in the dirt as he caught his breath. His adrenaline was still pumping as he tucked Titan away in his belt.
The mare looked at him, her head titled to one side, bow and mane flopping lazily. "You can talk?" she asked.
Eros looked as though her words had punched him in the gut. "Y-you can talk?" he repeated dumbly. The silence of the town surrounded them as they gawked at each other. "I'm Eros," he said softly.
The filly took a few steps toward him from out of the darkened shop. She had a saddlebag strapped around her. The clasp was half of a giant green apple that sagged a bit around her thin frame. "I'm Apple Bloom."
Apple Bloom
The library door burst open, startling Argos from his sleep. He grabbed for Bessie before recognizing the outline of his son in the moonlight standing in the doorway. Behind him was a shape very unfamiliar. He squinted at him before hearing the sound of hooves on hardwood.
"Eros? Where have you been?" he demanded.
"I was checking out the town when I found her," he replied as his father lit a small candle he'd found in the library. He held it up, shining the dim light upon a yellow earth pony standing behind his son.
"I'm Apple Bloom," she said hoarsely. Argos' eyes widened. She could speak!
With a dried stalk of hay, Argos transferred the flame from the candle to a much brighter oil lamp they'd brought with them from the inn. "I'm Argos."
Apple Bloom looked toward the food stashed just behind Argos, licking her dry lips at the sight of their canteens. "I don't mean ta be rude, but do y'all have any water?"
Spike
Spike leaned against the battlements of the inner keep. He could see most of the city from up here, and he used that to his advantage when planning where he would go to search for food in the ruins of Canterlot. He'd heard from survivors that in some places, the towns and cities were intact, just empty. He'd liked to believe that, but the chaos in Canterlot when all of this started woke him from the dream that all ponies were rational, well-tempered beings. Riots, looting, the fall of law and order... he'd seen it all from behind the castle walls and it sickened him.
He was the only one to ever come up on the ramparts like this. The others were afraid to. Afraid that whatever had claimed many of their friends and family, would get them next. Only fillies and colts dared tread here whether that be due to hubris or ignorance.
He remembered the old mantra, the one strategy that seemed to work in most cases.
Do not see the blades! Do not smell the blades! Do not eat the blades!
He huffed at the thought. If that had worked, there would still be an Equestria.
"Hey, Spike." He turned to look down beside him. He'd grown quite tall since Twilight's coronation. Almost as tall as the princesses. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo trotted up the stairs to the wall, their heads nearly allowing them to see over the edge, something that was absolutely not allowed.
"Hey, girls," he replied with a smile. "What are you guys up to?"
"Can't sleep," Scootaloo replied.
Spike nodded. "Me neither." Strange, considering he was almost a professional sleeper when all of this began.
"Anything new out there tonight?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Nothin' much. Just the same old nighttime."
A pause came between them before Scootaloo asked a question that had been asked in one form or another countless times.
"Do you think we'll ever get out of here without becoming grazers?"
Spike had his reply ready as soon as he'd heard the question. "Yeah, she's working hard on a cure. She just doesn't know how long it's going to take."
It was the same answer they'd always received, but it offered them some small comfort nonetheless.
"You know what would be awesome, Spike?"
"Hm?"
"If you found some cupcakes, somehow," Sweetie replied, salivating at the mere thought of something besides dried hay, grain, and the occasional pickled vegetable.
"Oh yeah, I would kill for some of my Mom's roasted squash!" Scootaloo added, her wings fluttering in excitement.
Spike smiled. "Yeah, I could definitely use a few gems." He yawned into his hand, looking down at the crusaders. "Alright, now I'm getting sleepy. I'm headed to bed." He got off the wall and started back down, the fillies ahead of him. He toook one last look in the direction of Ponyville when he saw something unusual. He stopped, turning back around and squinting at what he thought had to be a mirage or light trick of some kind. He stared at it for a few seconds, before moving along the wall, waiting for it to disappear, as a reflection of moonlight would.
Instead, the glow stayed, and it was coming from Ponyville! Suddenly, the light went out, confirming Spike's suspicions.
"I don't believe it..." he whispered to himself. "Someone's still in Ponyville!"
Apple Bloom
Eros and Argos sat beside each other as the hungry filly ate the apples and even a few bits of jerky. She looked like she'd skipped a few meals, but all-in-all no worse for it. Once she'd slowed down her chewing, Eros asked her the question that had been on his mind since the journey began.
"What happened here?"
Apple Bloom stopped chewing, wiping the crumbs from her lips. "I dunno."
That wasn't exactly the answer either of the griffons were looking for. "Where did everyone go?" Eros persisted.
"Ta Canterlot, I suspect. One day the newspapers started tellin' folks about ponies that lived near the woods actin' funny. They'd just stand around and eat grass all day. At first, folks thought it was just some weird fad or somethin', but then it started ta spread. Before ya know it, everybody knows somepony that's been eatin' grass. Then they stop talkin', their coats get all dull, their feathers fall off, their horns go away..." her voice quieted as she stared into the flame of the lamp between them. "One day I woke up, and my brother Macintosh told me ta get in the storm cellar, and not ta come out till he came and got me. I couldn't tell ya how long I was in there. I ate all the food, I even tried ta save some for my family, but I couldn't. When I had no other option, I went outside. Everything looked fine. The house and barn were still there, apples were still in a few trees, but nopony was around."
She sniffed, and through the darkness, Eros spotted the twinkling of tears beginning to form in the dim lamplight. "After that, I just wandered around lookin' for somepony, but the whole town was empty. I went back to the farm, and I found Mac, and my sister, but... they weren't themselves. They wouldn't talk, they ran away from me when I tried ta go near them. Somethin' was wrong, but I didn't know what."
A stunned silence entered the darkened library.
"I-I'm sorry Apple Bloom..." Eros squeaked.
"I heard some ponies went to Canterlot. That's where I would've gone, but I can't go by myself. The road there is too dangerous." She wiped the tears from her eyes before they had a chance to fall. "And I don't know if I can leave my family behind."
"We're on our way to Canterlot," Argos said. We can take you there, if you like."
Apple Bloom considered it. She had seen the royal announcements plastered all over town when she emerged from the cellar. Was it possible that the princesses had been able to protect some ponies from whatever was happening?
"I... I guess I would like that. But, d'ya mind if I go back to the farm first? I want ta see if my family's still there."
Argos nodded. "Canterlot isn't far, we can stop there and still make good time."
After a bit more chatting, the three of them bedded down for the night. Once Argos was asleep, Eros whispered to Apple Bloom.
"So, if you don't mind my asking, what was this place like before?" He heard her bedroll shuffle as she shifted towards him.
"It was great. There was always somepony around to talk to or play with, plenty of food ta eat and fun games to play. Heck, lookin' back on it now, school wasn't so bad compared ta this."
"There were streamers and stuff still in the center of town. What was that about?"
Apple Bloom thought for a moment. "Oh, I bet it was for the summer sun celebration. That's a really fun time. The princesses come down and everybody dances and plays games until nighttime!" her enthusiasm caused Argos to stir in his bed. The children looked at him tensely, before realizing he wasn't awake.
"That does sound fun. We don't really have too many festivals in the Iron Mountains."
"That's too bad. You should tell them ta throw more."
Eros smiled, though he doubted she could see it in the dark.
"Ya know, Eros, you're the first griffon I've ever met."
"Really?" Eros rolled over, proping his head on his talon. "I wish I could say you were the first pony I ever met, but Dad does business with them a lot."
"Well, I guess technically Gilda would've been the first griffon I'd ever met, but I didn't really meet her. I heard she was a jerk anyway."
"Yeah, not all griffons are as nice as me and my Dad."
Another pause came between them before Eros spoke again.
"Apple Bloom, I'm sorry about what happened to your family."
Though he spoke, the silence persisted. For a moment, Eros feared he'd said the wrong thing, and that his new friend would hate him.
"Thanks, Eros. I'm glad you and your Dad found me."
He smiled again. "Me too. Goodnight, Apple Bloom."
"G'night, Eros."
The ride down to the farm was quiet. It was a short trip, but for Apple Bloom, it felt like the longest she'd ever taken. They stopped outside the farmhouse and Apple Bloom hopped out of the cart, steeling herself against what could lie waiting for her.
"You want me to go with you?" Eros asked, a talon on his sword.
"No, I'll be alright," she replied, walking towards the barn where her father had told her she could find a pony wearing a yoke. They could see the barn from the cart, and watched quietly as she made her way towards the doors.
"Macintosh?" she called into the darkness of the barn. "Applejack?"
The same copper stallion as before appeared from inside the barn. He looked her over, snorting defensively.
"Do you remember me, big brother?" The stallion tossed his head from one side to the other, as if in response. She took a step towards him, but he pawed the ground as he did when Argos approached. Eros went to get off the cart but his father gripped his arm tightly. "Stay here. If he charges, I can get her much faster than you can," he whispered. Eros hated to admit it, but his father was right. He'd only been flying for a few years.
Mac's defensive posture stopped Apple Bloom in her tracks. "Mac, I'm goin' ta Canterlot. I hear the princesses are still there with other ponies." Her words had no effect, as the stallion continued to snort and whinny threateningly. "Maybe they'll find a cure and change ya back..." she mumbled weakly. "I'm sure they will." Apple Bloom fell to her haunches and bowed her head. The tears she'd managed so well the night before dripped onto the dry dirt in front of the barn.
By now, the mares Macintosh had been protecting stepped lightly out of the barn to see the commotion. Mac retreated into the barn, content that the thing that had trespassed onto his territory was no threat. The other mares kept their distance, but one with a golden coat and straw colored mane approached the crying filly.
Apple Bloom felt a shadow cast over her and looked up. "A-applejack?" she asked quietly. There would be no reply. The mare bent down and gave Apple Bloom a lick across her damp cheeks. "I'm leavin', Applejack," she whispered. "I'm goin' ta Canterlot. The princesses are there... they'll find a way ta fix this."
Applejack nuzzled her sister, though whether she knew her or not was debatable. A final lick across her cheeks brought Applejack back into the barn with the other mares. Apple Bloom wanted nothing more than to be with her family. She looked at the grass in the orchards. That's what started all this. Ponies eating grass. Once they started, it wasn't long before they ended up like her family had. Maybe that was what she should do. Maybe the answer to all these problems wasn't to cure her family, but to become like them. She reached for the grassy patch beside her, but before she could take a bite, talons gripped her beneath her forelegs and carried her into the sky.
She looked above her. Argos was taking her back to the wagon. As she saw the world stretched out beneath her, she felt hope renew itself in her heart. Maybe there was something wonderful waiting for them in Canterlot. Maybe the princesses were on the verge of a breakthrough cure for what had happened to her hometown. Argos landed on the cart, sitting her on the passenger bench while his son rode in the back atop the gems.
"Everything okay, Apple Bloom?" Eros asked, a bit concerned over his father's sudden action.
"Yeah. Everything's fine. Let's go to Canterlot."
Spike
"Are you sure that's what you saw?"
"Positive! It had to be a light, there's nothing else it could have been," Spike replied confidently.
The princess ran a hoof through her mane. Sending ponies beyond the wall was always a tall order. They had to wrap their heads completely so as not to be corrupted by the blades, and it would be up to Spike to guide them. But, the prospect of a pony surviving outside the perimeter wall, where the grass was abundant was too juicy a research opportunity to pass up. After all, if a pony had lived in the wild for this long, they could be the key to defeating the grazers.
She sighed. "Okay. Gather whatever ponies volunteer and take them to search for the survivor."
Spike bowed, turning on his heel and heading out into the courtyard, when the princesses words stopped him. "Spike?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise."
Spike stepped out into the early morning light, the courtyard he entered now completely devoid of plant life. Everything was paved over, stone and cement ensuring no plants could grow anywhere near where the normal ponies were living. In his bag, he retrieved a horn, releasing a shrill blast into the stillness of the early morning. Within a few minutes, the able bodied stallions and mares gathered around him.
"The princess needs volunteers for a mission out past the walls," Spike announced. A murmur went through the crowd at the thought. "There's a survivor in Ponyville, one that's been in the wild for weeks. I don't have to tell you all what finding a pony immune to the blades would mean for Twilight's research. Anyone want to go with me?"
Spike scanned the gathered crowd of about fifteen ponies. Only four hooves went up. "Meet me in the armory."
In order to reach the armory, Spike had to cross through the stables. That was the nice term for them. Unlike other places designed to contain, this place was not for criminals. In fact, the stables currently housed the two reigning princesses of Equestria. The most unnerving thing about the stables were the creatures living in them.
Spike opened the door, a twisting mechanical knob only usable via magic or dexterous claws. At the sound of the hinges, the creatures in the stables looked up. He walked down the isle in between the stalls lining the walls. Some of the stables were still empty, but the occupants that were down here tugged at Spike's heart. One, in particular. Five stalls down from the door on the right side, a white pony with a fading purple mane snorted to herself, indignant at being woke from her nap.
These visits both brought Spike hope, and sorrow. He stopped outside the stable as the white unicorn mare approached him. Her horn had been shrinking. Now, it was no larger than a filly's. Spike reached into his messenger bag, producing a small white square. He'd found them in an old coffee shop. Sometimes he'd give them to a few of the foals, but mostly he saved them for her.
She looked the same as the image he held in his mind, with the exception of her mane, which had streaks of white in it to match her coat. Spike extended a gentle claw. Rarity stepped forward, rubbing into his hand. He scratched her head softly as he held out his hand with the sugarcube in his palm. She licked the cube, having gotten used to Spike's treats by now. He hated what had happened to her. It wasn't fair! She didn't deserve this. None of the ponies did.
Her eyes flicked up at him as he continued to scratch. She trusted him. He'd like to think so, anyway. He recalled asking Twilight what had happened to her. He asked if she was going to be like this forever. When all of this started, she was sure they'd figure out a way to turn everyone back to their normal selves. That was three weeks ago. As the days wore on, more and more ponies became grazers, and panic spread. Before long, it seemed like all other cities and towns had gone dark. Only Canterlot remained, and of that, many had already succumbed. When Twilight decided to close off the inner keep, there were around seventy five ponies holed up, guards and servants counted. As of that day, there were now only thirty.
"We're going to find a pony that's been alive out in the wild," he whispered. "They might hold the key to finding a cure for all this." Rarity snorted lightly, as if in reply. "We'll fix this. I know we will." An indignant grunt and whinny came from the stall beside Rarity's, drawing Spike's attention.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you two," He smiled, walking to the next stall. An alicorn with once graceful and majestic wings nuzzled Spike's open hand as he reached out to rub her ears. Princess Luna's coat had grown darker, more of a black now than midnight blue like she had been. Her horn was now about the length of a normal unicorn, as was her sisters beside her. Spike gave both she and Celestia sugar cubes, making sure they got a head scratching for just as long as Rarity had. He didn't want to start any problems between the three of them.
It was a wistful thought at best. Truth be told, neither he nor Twilight could know for sure whether the pony these 'grazers' used to be was still inside them, or lost forever. Maybe the thought of the ponies down here feeling jealousy, impatience and selfishness helped Spike believe that they were still the beings they were, just hidden away or put to sleep by whatever was causing the Equestrians to act like this.
"You know the Princesses get jealous if you spend too much time with Rarity," A voice from behind him echoed. Spike turned his head and stepped away from the royal stables. Twilight's hoofsteps softened as she came near. "It's not good for you to dwell on this, Spike."
"I'm not dwelling on it," he replied defensively. "I'm just down here to keep her company." Spike sidled back over to Rarity, giving her another sugarcube while the princesses busily licked their lips in search of more sugar. "Besides, this is the way to the armory."
"This isn't the only way there," Twilight reminded him, stepping up next to the princesses stables.
"So, what happens if we find this pony and it's exactly what we hope it is?" Spike asked.
"I don't want to get your hopes up, but if that pony isn't a grazer by the time they get here, then we may have a shot a figuring this thing out."
"What about your other projects?"
Twilight sighed heavily. "They aren't coming along like I'd hoped. Without a sample, I can't discover what's causing all of this. I still don't know if it's some kind of visual trigger, or a fungus, or a spore... I have more questions than answers right now."
Spike stepped back from Rarity's stable and faced Twilight. "I'm gonna try to get us some answers," he told her confidently.
Twilight smiled. "Just be careful."
Eros
Argos had shifted the contents of his cart to allow Eros and Apple Bloom to sit in the back and talk. The drivers bench could only hold two, and squeezing one of them in up front was uncomfortable. For a moment, as they rode along the street to Canterlot, Argos smiled. The conversation behind him was peppered with laughs and giggles, something he felt sure the filly they'd found hadn't done in quite some time. The cobblestones they traveled down had weeds growing from in between them, the weeks of disrepair showing in every bump and pothole they ran across.
"Then we made a float which we booby-trapped to get revenge on her for bein' so mean ta us!" Apple Bloom explained, Eros listening intently as she continued.
"So did she fall for it?" he asked.
Apple Bloom smiled sheepishly. "Well, we kinda saved her before it went off."
Eros laughed. "You went through all that trouble to get your revenge, and then you ended up saving her?" he asked in disbelief.
"She's still my cousin, no matter how much of a jerk she was!" she shot back. The lighthearted tone shifted as Apple Bloom's smile faded. Concern flashed across Eros' face as he leaned forward a few inches.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine, it's just..." Apple Bloom considered opening up to him. Though she had only met him less than a day ago, he was the first sentient creature she'd seen in weeks. "Nothing. I'm just worried about my family."
"Maybe some of them ended up where we're going," Eros said hopefully, trying to bring back the smile she'd had moments before.
Apple Bloom nodded, though it seemed like she was simply going through the motions. Eros could see it on her face. She was tired of the world she'd woken up to. Even though he was a foot away from her at most, he'd never felt more distance between someone. There was no way he could hope to try and relate to what had happened to this filly. All he could do was offer his condolences, which meant nothing out here in this forsaken kingdom.
Eros looked ahead, letting the silence take hold. He hadn't really thought about the future until now. What happens when they reach Canterlot? Are he and his father simply going to sell what they can and leave? Leave this filly and whoever else might still be alive to their fate? Heroes never left the innocent to suffer. Heroes helped in any way they could!
But Eros was just a young griffon. What could he do against some mysterious plague? What if he started eating grass and wandering around the wilderness next? What if he and his father were already infected and they just didn't know it?
"What are th' Iron Mountains like?"
Eros turned his head in surprise. The somber expression Apple Bloom had worn only seconds before had morphed into neutrality. "Oh, uhm... well, it's kinda like this place. Only not as colorful. And not as many festivals. And it's cloudy a lot up there," he explained.
"So what is it that griffons eat?" Apple Bloom asked, trying to keep the conversation off of her depressing surroundings as long as possible.
"Mostly meat, though we can eat vegetables and stuff—"
"Not that Eros ever does," his father chimed in from the drivers seat.
"Dad!" he moaned, a bit of blush coming over his cheeks, making Apple Bloom giggle.
"Anyway, we eat all kinds of stuff," he finished, moving a talon to rest on the hilt of his sword. "I didn't know ponies could eat meat, though."
Apple Bloom smiled weakly. "When you're hungry enough, you'll eat anything."
"Well, as long as you don't mind the same thing for every meal, you won't go hungry with us," Eros replied.
Before Apple Bloom could thank him, the cart stopped abruptly. The two in the back slid forward against the front of the cart. Eros raised his head and was about to chastise his father when he saw what waited ahead of them. Four creatures, clothed completely in ragged, dark colored clothes that covered their every inch. They had the shape of ponies, but there were no eyes, ears, mouths or nose exposed to the outside. A taller creature in a brown hooded cloak that appeared to be made from burlap lead them. He lifted a talon and pointed toward the cart. The other creatures advanced on his command.
Argos fumbled with the chest behind the drivers seat until Bessie was within easy reach. He turned to his son and Apple Bloom. "Get down and stay quiet."
Argos
Eros and Apple Bloom ducked down among the chests and barrels inside the wagon. Argos shouldered his weapon, making sure the creatures at the end of the road could see it. If they could see, that is. In the blink of an eye, the beasts split up, darting into the woods on the side of the road.
Argos could hear the shrubs and trees rustling in the forest as he swung his weapon from one side to the other. I've got to make this shot count, he thought, readying the hammer. Before he had time to pick a target, he found his cart surrounded on all sides by the creatures, their leader standing straight ahead of him.
He wasn't sure who they were, or what they wanted, but Argos was sure that they wouldn't be taking it from him. He raised Bessie and trained her on the target in front of him. He squeezed the trigger, but found it jammed. He squeezed as hard as his talons would allow, but the metal piece wouldn't budge. He glanced at the mechanism and found it bound in a purple magical aura, keeping it from firing. When he looked back toward his target, it was already upon him. A scaled claw grabbed the blunderbuss and twisted it away, but not before cracking Argos in the head with the stock of the weapon.
Watching his father fall from the cart, Eros stood up. He unsheathed Titan and held it in front of him, the weapon shaking as though it were in an earthquake. The hooded leader of the group approached him, the other creatures holding back. Eros pointed his sword at it as it stepped ever closer. The leader was only a sword length away by the time he'd turned to face Eros. His weapon seemed to weigh a thousand pounds as it sagged in his arms. The hooded creature looked down at the tip of the blade now poking him in the chest. It swatted the sword away as though it were a fly. The weapon flew out of Eros' nervous talons and stuck into the road beside the cart. He stumbled backward against the edge of the wagon, Apple Bloom still cowering under a blanket near his feet.
The creature raised a glowing purple claw and Eros found himself paralyzed. He floated out of the cart and onto the ground near his unconscious father.
Eros' heart was set to racing as he watched the hooded figure reach into the cart and cast away the blanket Apple Bloom had been hiding under. Her scream filled his ears as he tried to shout, but his cries caught in his throat. He was helpless, just as he had been in his dream.
"Spike?" Eros heard Apple Bloom's voice, only this time, it wasn't a cry of terror. It sounded like... relief. In a flash, the figure tore back his hood, revealing the scaled face of a young dragon.
"Apple Bloom?" The dragon seemed even more surprised than she had been. Eros watched in stunned silence as she threw her forelegs around Spike in a hug tighter than she'd given in quite a while. They held each other for a while before Apple Bloom remembered she wasn't traveling alone.
"Spike, this is Eros and... what th' heck happened to his Pa?" she asked in shock, seeing him on the ground.
"Sorry, he had a gun!" Spike said sheepishly. He turned and pulled Eros' sword out of the ground, handing it back to him. "Sorry about the sword."
Eros finally found his tongue after he tucked Titan away. "Forget the sword, what about my Dad!" he shouted.
Spike nodded. "Yeah, sorry about that, too. It's hard to talk when I'm wearing the hood. I would have just asked him to drop the gun, but before I could, he tried to shoot me," he said flatly, kneeling beside Argos and resting a glowing purple claw over his forehead. Within seconds, Argos' eyes fluttered open. He sprang upright, looking frantically for his weapon before Eros and Apple Bloom assured him it would not be needed.
"Apologies about the whack, but you did try to shoot me," Spike said, standing. He turned to Apple Bloom, unable to help his smile. "I can't believe its you! I saw lights coming from Ponyville, but I never would have guessed it was somepony I'd know!"
Apple Bloom looked ready to cry. The smile on her face not matching the tears forming in her eyes. "Does this mean there are other ponies besides me?" she asked.
"Yeah. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are gonna lose it when they see you," Spike replied. Her eyes lit up like a gas lamp.
"They're in Canterlot too?" she gasped. Spike nodded.
"Well what are we waitin' for? Let's go!" she said excitedly, hopping back in her place on the wagon.
Spike helped Argos off the ground and handed him his blunderbuss. "So, you're from Canterlot?" Argos asked, rubbing his cheek.
"Yeah, we're holed up in the inner keep of the palace." Spike motioned to his party members. "Let's head back."
The group walked together down the road to Canterlot, Spike and Argos talking while Eros and Apple Bloom sat in the back of the wagon.
"So, a merchant eh? You must be pretty hard up for money to make the trip out here," Spike commented as they went.
"I've been making this route for years. First time I've ever seen this, however."
Spike nodded. "Yeah, we're working on that. So what do you sell?"
"Gems form the Iron Mountains."
Spike stopped in the middle of the road, bringing their convoy to a halt. "Did you say you sold gems?"
"I did indeed," Argos replied, reaching behind him for a small sack of samples. "But I don't usually sell to dragons that attack me."
Spike looked at him with regret in his eyes. "Look, I'm sorry I hit ya, but I haven't had a gem in days! We've got gold back at the palace, I can pay you then, just let me have one!" Argos chuckled. It looked like he should have just offered him a gem the first time and all this ugliness could have been avoided.
Argos paused, eyes examining the dragon just to make him sweat a bit. "I'll give you half now, and the rest later. How's that?" He spilled a few brightly colored gems out of his bag and into Spike's claws. In an instant of crunches and flashing fangs, the gems were gone.
"Oh, that was so good," Spike said mournfully. "You've got more of those, right?"
Argos smiled. "The cart is filled with them."
Twilight
The scratching sounds of quill on parchment had been erratic at best. Many books, papers, empty ink wells, and broken quills littered the area around the old, candle wax-stained desk. Twilight sat back in her chair, her wings fluttering in frustration. Her every effort seemed to hit a wall. Every experiment was inconclusive, every test yielded nothing she could use. The grazers grew more numerous every day, while the numbers of survivors in her camp dropped monthly. It was a sad cycle.
One day, they'd find a pony of theirs outside the wall, grazing on the grass as though they didn't have a care in the world. It was easy when the pony that had succumbed was a loner. Nopony would really miss them, hurtful as it seemed. It was when a pony with a few friends left, that she had to station extra guards around the exit. Their friends would beg them not to go, to try and fight the cravings, but it was futile in every instance. In days—weeks, in some rare cases—the pony would be gone, out to graze on the plants growing wildly with nopony to tend them or cull their growth. Twilight would then have to keep a close eye on their friends and family in order to keep them from becoming grazers as well.
It was a tough job. Besides magical intervention, the only other real way to keep ponies from becoming grazers was to secure them, and the implications of holding ponies against their will was not something Twilight took lightly.
She sighed, rubbing her eyes and relaxing in her seat, thinking back to happier times. The times when she had just earned her crown and wings, the times when her brother and her foalsitter, her mentor and her sister had been there to guide her. They were long gone now. It pained her to think of her mother, her father, her brother Shining and her sister-in-law Cadence. No one knew what happened to the Crystal Empire after the spread of the grazing.
Maybe Cadence and Shining found a way to make the empire disappear for another thousand years.
As Twilight remembered, Celestia's voice came through clearly. She recalled the night the princess had told her of the great change that was coming. A change that would sweep the world.
Twilight found Celestia in her observatory that evening. It was unusual for the princess of the sun to be awake during the night, but not unheard of. This was the usual time Twilight would make her observations on the movement of the planets and the grouping of star clusters within their cosmic view.
"Princess? What are you doing up so late?" Twilight asked. It was well past midnight, and Celestia woke early every morning to raise the sun and begin the seemingly endless parade of nobles and commoners alike that requested an audience.
Princess Celestia pulled herself from the rather large telescope, as though she didn't sense Twilight approach. "Just observing my sister's work," she replied, though the look on her face suggested otherwise.
"It is a lovely night out, isn't it?" Twilight said, stepping toward the balcony and peering through the instrument.
"Yes," Celestia sighed. "I could never manage the heavens quite like Luna."
Twilight pulled away from the telescope and turned to face her teacher. She'd never seen the concern on Celestia's face until now. "Everything okay, Princess?"
Celestia's eyes flicked towards the heavens, then back down to her student, her tail twitching from side to side. "Twilight, a great change is coming."
She raised an eyebrow. "Great change? What do you mean?"
The alicorn princess had no words for her student, only a brief silence. "You know of the seasons, don't you Twilight?" she asked, retreating from the balcony to the inner chamber of the observatory.
"Of course," she replied. "Winter, spring, summer, and fall."
"When you were crowned princess, our kind lived in the fall of our nation. Now, I fear, we may be entering the winter."
Twilight enjoyed cryptic speech as much as the next scholar, but simply couldn't make head or tail of what Celestia meant. "Winter?" she repeated.
"Twilight, my dearest student. Do you know how our kind came to be?"
"Of course!" Twilight answered happily. "Our mother Epona created the universe through the magic of her horn, and decided that there should be three pony races, with alicorns to guide them through the ages!"
Celestia smiled. Her student had studied ancient Equestrian lore more rigorously than any of her former pupils. "Yes my dear, but what do you know of the end of magic?"
A puzzled look fell across Twilight's face. "The end of magic?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. A day will come when the magic of our race fails. The day when it begins to leave us, just as it had come."
Twilight was taken aback. There was nothing about this in the books of the library, not even the restricted section! "Leave us?"
Celestia settled herself on a large cushion as Twilight sat on the floor in front of her mentor. "There will come a time when the magic given to us by birth will leave. It happened once before." Twilight leaned forward, hanging on Celestia's every word. "My sister and I stopped it once. We used the elements of harmony, bartering with our mother Epona. We gave up our mortal lives so that the rest of the ponies we cared for would live on with the blessing of sentience." The torchlight in the observatory cast long shadows about the room as Twilight listened, unsure of what to make of what was being revealed. "We were told a time would come when the magic lent to our kind was due to return from whence it came."
Confusion settled over Twilight as she tried to process what her teacher had revealed. "Return? But... what's going to happen to us?"
"I can't say," she replied mournfully.
"Is there some way to stop it? You and Princess Luna stopped it, right?"
Celestia nodded. "We did, but at a price. I have no way of knowing if the same deal can be struck again."
"But... there must be something we can do!"
Princess Celestia seemed to ignore the question, instead looking into her pupil's eyes, cherishing the moments they had together while they were still able to enjoy them. "Twilight. Promise me that if we are unable to stop what is coming, you will not linger here."
"Princess?" A knocking at her chamber door roused her from her memory. Twilight removed herself from her desk and trotted over.
"Yes?" she asked the guard who had come to fetch her. They still wore the armor of old, though very few of the guards could actually find any helms that could fit them. Most of the armory's supply had been out with the guards sent to keep the peace in Canterlot, and had never returned. It was somewhat painful, seeing royal guards in their armor. It reminded her of Shining. Twilight only thought of him and Cadence in the privacy of her chamber, where it was okay to cry, and okay to miss those you knew you could not do without.
"Spike has returned to the city." The tired looking guard reported.
"Is he and his company by himself?" she asked urgently.
"No your Highness. They have found the travelers."
Eros
Eros found himself enjoying Apple Bloom's new demeanor. Somber wasn't a good suit for her. After a trip along the deserted road, they reached the city gates of Canterlot. Like the other cities Eros had visited, this one was abandoned. However, unlike the others, this one showed signs of violence and strife. Burned out buildings and collapsed roofs hardly began to tell the story of all that had gone on here. Apple Bloom seemed just as surprised as he had been.
Her eyes lost the shine the news of her friends surviving had brought her. Eros noticed and leaned toward her from his side of the cart. "Everything okay?" he asked softly.
She glanced up at him, distracting herself from the ruins of a city that once represented everything she could hope to become in her lifetime. "Y-yeah. I'm just fine." Even though Eros had only known her for a short period, he could tell she was a terrible liar. Thinking quickly, he changed the subject to one she might appreciate a bit more than the gloom that surrounded them.
"So, who are your friends? Sweetie Belle and Scooterloo?"
Apple Bloom smiled, smothering a giggle. "Ya mean Scootaloo? They're two of th' coolest fillies you'll ever meet!" she told him, her voice picking up a happy tone. "I don't think they've ever met a griffon before, either," she added as Eros smiled to himself.
"I hope I make a good impression," he replied. The gentle swaying of the cart lulled them both back into silence. Eros was hesitant to comment on the ruin of the city, and he was certain Apple Bloom simply wanted to see her friends. After all, according to her, she had been alone for quite some time. The sparsely populated outskirts seemed even more unsettling than the city he and his father first encountered. In Prairieville, there had only been large, similar non-descript buildings, with few dwellings to speak of.
But here, the damage to the homes and neighborhoods seemed to chill Eros to the bone. These had been ponies houses. Perhaps they'd worked all their life and saved up every spare bit they had to buy it to raise their family in it and live happily together until their children did the same.
Now, they were husks of their what he imagined they once were. Most of the straw roofs were gone, either blown away by the breeze, collapsed, or burnt out. Only a few homes seemed livable, despite the shattered windows or broken doors. Furniture and personal items littered the yards and streets. Everything from tables and chairs, to children's toys and books. The scene was pure chaos, even though nothing but the wind blew through the empty alleys and cul-de-sacs. Eros looked to the head of their convoy. A castle sat perched on the side of the lone mountain jutting up from the otherwise hilly landscape around them.
The trees lining the road still bore leaves, as though nothing was out of the ordinary. It was an startling contrast, Eros thought. The dominant species of this land were gone, to who knows where, and the non-sentient beings simply carried on as though nothing were out of the ordinary. Birds here still chirped sweetly, bees still flew to the flowers marked by their brothers to collect pollen. Everything was fine, except for one glaring absence.
Eros glanced back to Apple Bloom. She stared stoically at her hooves, seeming to want to avoid the world around her. He frowned.
He couldn't blame her.
Spike
Spike and Argos walked beside the cart, Argos holding the reins with a spare talon as they went. They had spent much of the journey from Ponyville to Canterlot in silence as Spike savored the few gems he had given him. Once they'd entered the outskirts of Canterlot, however, Argos could hold his tongue no longer.
"So, what happened here?" he asked keeping his voice down in case they answer was something he'd rather the children not hear.
To his surprise, Spike smiled. "Same thing that happened everywhere."
Argos almost smirked himself, though the somber surroundings made him reconsider. "And that would be?"
"We're still not sure."
"We?"
"Twilight and I. You'll meet her once we get to the castle."
Argos nodded, allowing a brief pause before continuing with his questions. "Apple Bloom told us what she knew, but it wasn't much."
Spike glanced over his shoulder at the tired-looking filly. She smiled warmly at him, as he returned her gesture. "Good. Honestly, the less she knows, the better," he replied, turning back to the road ahead of them. "It started four weeks, and six days ago. That's when the grazing began to spread. The first reports came in about three months ago, but it was only near the forbidden forests. Places like the Everfree, Timberwolf Tundra, real wilderness areas," Spike began an indifference in his tone that seemed as though he were having a conversation about the weather. "Whatever it is, it makes ponies into animals. Not vicious ones, but... docile ones, I guess. It starts with eating grass. They just do it occasionally, whenever they get hungry. Then they start eating it more and more. Soon it's all they eat for all three meals. After that, they're sleeping outside just so they can eat grass as soon as they wake up. After that, they quit talking, they ignore their friends and family, their coats change color..." his voice trailed off, as though reliving a particularly painful memory. "They lose their horns their wings, almost everything that made them who they were. They just stand around eating grass and sleeping."
Argos was at a loss for words. He'd never heard of anything like it. He muttered a hum of agreement and looked down at his paws as he walked. He didn't feel the need to press the issue further, but still had a few questions about his traveling companions. "So, why do your friends have their heads wrapped up?" he asked, gesturing to the other ponies walking beside the cart.
"We're not sure what triggers the cravings for grass, so until we know, anypony that comes outside the walls with me covers their eyes, nose, mouth and ears. I don't know if it does any good, but better safe than sorry," Spike replied.
"And why don't you wear what they do?"
Spike's grin returned. "I don't eat grass."
Twilight
Twilight stood below the wall with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, two guards beside them. A spell she had cast allowed her to look safely over the wall without fear of being affected by the blades. She scanned the horizon towards the road leading to Ponyville.
"Well? We've been here for an hour!" Rainbow said impatiently, Fluttershy staying silent beside her.
"No sign of them yet... they must be on a bend in the road."
Dash stepped forward. "C'mon, let me see if I can find them." She attempted to nudge Twilight out of the way, but she held her ground.
"Just let me give it one more..." Twilight gasped, adjusting her magic to enhance her view. "I think... that's them! There's Spike, his party, and..." her voice trailed off as she removed her eyes from her magic periscope and rubbed them. Could it be?
Before she could check again, Rainbow stole her spot, putting her eyes to her spell and gazing across the deserted city. Dash reacted the same way Twilight had. "Is that... Apple Bloom?"
Fluttershy shoved Rainbow out of the way and took her turn at the magical device. "It is!" she squealed.
Rainbow's wings fluttered happily. "Just imagine the look on squirt's face when we tell her!"
Twilight turned to her guards. "When Spike gets here, he'll be traveling with two griffons and a pony. Once they're inside, scrub them of blades and bring them to me."
"Yes, Princess." They saluted, resuming their post at the only exit to the inner keep. The remaining Elements of Harmony trotted away from the gate, a renewed sense of vigor adding a spring to their step.
"So, this is enough of a reason to break into our keg of cider, right?" Rainbow asked hopefully.
Twilight smiled. "I think so."
"Yes! Party tonight!" Dash shouted enthusiastically, fluttering away to tell the other ponies milling about the courtyard the good news.
"How do you think Apple Bloom survived out there with all that grass?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight shrugged. "I can't say, but if I can figure it out, it may be the final clue I need to figure out how to stop this. Maybe even reverse it." For the first time since coming here, Fluttershy smiled. "You should probably let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo know who's coming." Twilight smiled, knowing the joy on the young mare's faces would raise Fluttershy's spirits even more. "If Rainbow hasn't already beaten you to it."
She nodded and followed after Dash, leaving Twilight in the cement courtyard. Watching the surprise on the other ponies faces kept her smile lingering. This was not a large kingdom by any means. She could walk from one end to the other in a few minutes. But it was the last bastion of what her mentor and her sister had built, what she and her five friends had fought and sacrificed to protect. It was Equestria's last hope.
Twilight looked up at the moon, suspended in the same position since the grass had claimed Princess Luna, even during the daytime. I'm trying, Princess Celestia. I just need a little help.
Eros
Eros gawked at the magnificent buildings surrounding him as they entered the center of the city. Even in such disrepair, they were even more beautiful than anything he'd ever imagined. Griffon architecture was mainly functional, with little time spent on aesthetics. These buildings seemed to have both in mind, and integrated wonderfully.
Apple Bloom seemed to notice his stare. "Pretty neat, huh?"
He turned to her and nodded before resuming his attempts to take in his surroundings. "What are all these buildings for?" he asked.
Apple Bloom moved to his side of the cart and sat next to him. "That one's the temple of the sun and moon," she said pointing to a grand structure in the distance. "That's where the legends say the Princesses defeated Discord and founded Equestria."
Eros squinted against the sun. "They beat him in that building?" He'd heard of Discord, but only thought he was a legend, not an actual being.
"No," Apple Bloom laughed. "They built it over the site. They froze him in stone and stuck him in the palace gardens."
They continued down the bumpy road, Apple Bloom wearing the smile she'd had since Spike delivered the news of her friends being alive.
Eros couldn't blame her. Try as he might, everything around him seemed so surreal. It was as though none of this were real, as though he'd return home to the Iron Mountains after all was said and done, and go back to his normal life of schoolwork, friends, and dodging detention. He could picture his home now. Eros closed his eyes for a moment, swearing the smell of his mother's wood-burning stove wafting through his neighborhood as he made his way home from school.
His modest house filled with the smell of her cooking around sunset, and he could almost feel the dust beneath his paws as he pushed through his front door, the hinges announcing his presence before he ever had to. His Mom would smile, tell him dinner was nearly ready, and ask him how school had been that day. Inevitably, he'd tell her it was 'fine' and usually nothing more, but she was fine with that, it seemed.
A particularly nasty jolt pulled him from his memories, accompanied by the snap of splintering wood. The cart heaved violently, nearly dumping Eros and Apple Bloom into the street. Eros' glanced across the cart to see Apple Bloom with a hoof rubbing her jaw.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just bit my tongue." Apple Bloom climbed out of the cart and spit on the ground beside the cart. A streak of crimson mixed with her saliva as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hoof. Eros jumped out of the cart and inspected the damage with his father. Argos knelt beneath the cart and sighed heavily.
"It's just a broken spoke, but it'll take some time to fix," his father said as Spike came up behind them.
"Sorry, I should have kept a sharper eye out for potholes."
Argos shook his head. "No, it was no fault of yours. I was the one driving the team, I should've kept better watch."
Spike glanced down the road and smiled. "Good news is, we're almost there. You think it'll make it a quarter of a mile?"
"I think it will, but we'll need to lighten the load as much as possible." Argos turned to his son and the filly that had walked beside him. "I hope you two don't mind walking for a bit."
"No sir, I'm fine with walkin'." Apple Bloom answered.
"Me too!" Eros followed, as though she'd beaten him to the punch.
His father smiled. "Well then, let's press on, and hope the wheel will last."
Twilight
"Your Highness, Spike has returned with the outsiders."
Twilight's head rose from her scroll. She set the quill back in her ink jar and removed herself from behind her desk. With a quick spell, her crown and hoof-guards adorned her as she walked to the door of her chambers with the guard that had summoned her.
"What was the final count of their party?" she asked, shielding her eyes from the sunlight with a wing as they entered the courtyard.
"One adult griffon, one adolescent, and an earth pony filly."
Twilight's heart jumped in excitement, even though she'd known Apple Bloom was with them before. The grazing wasn't known to attack griffons, and thought of an earth pony having resisted the grass for so long outside the protection of her compound stirred a feeling in her she'd not felt since before this disaster visited her kingdom. "How is she?"
"She's fine. She answered questions, never tasted the grass, and seems normal overall." Twilight couldn't help but smile. The expression felt almost alien on her lips. It had been so long since she had a reason to do it genuinely. She put on a brave face for those still under her rule—as well she had to. If her subjects thought even for a second that she'd contemplated all hope being lost, then she would be ruling nothing but an empty keep, waiting alone for the cravings to take her. Twilight stopped at the statue of Celestia and Luna in the courtyard. She could see the outsiders cart being inspected by the guards, and they themselves being checked for grass.
It was a necessary, if not a bit degrading step. Twilight was still unsure what exactly triggered the grazer's cravings, but keeping any and all grass out of her domain seemed to be working.
The fluttering of wings drew her attention over her shoulder. "Are they here?" Rainbow Dash asked, with Fluttershy landing softly behind her, each with a Cutie Mark Crusader on their back. Twilight smiled at both fillies, their wide eyes looking to her expectantly.
"Rainbow Dash told us you had a surprise," Scootaloo said impatiently.
Twilight looked to her. "You didn't tell them?" she asked.
"Nah, I figured you could use a win." Dash winked, letting Scootaloo slide off her back as Sweetie Belle did the same.
Princess Twilight nodded a wordless thank you before looking down to the fillies she'd practically seen grow into young mares before her eyes. "We have visitors from outside today," she said softly. "One I think you might know."
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo exchanged glances. "Someone we know?" Sweetie asked.
Twilight stepped out of the way, motioning toward the gatehouse where Spike and three figures approached the statue. The way the two fillies eyes widened was worth all the freshly foraged food and sips of stored wine in the world. Wordlessly, Apple Bloom broke into a run, as did Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Twilight cringed in anticipation of the three of them colliding, but instead, they stopped, simply content to stare at each other for a time. She could guess what was running through their minds.
Twilight tried to imagine herself in their position. She imagined it was Princess Celestia coming home to her, or her brother, or her parents, or Cadence, or Rarity, or Applejack, or...
She paused, feeling a stinging in her eyes as she watched the fillies hug each other, tears and sobs serving as the only greeting between the three of them. No mistake about it, Twilight was happy she was able to give the girls something to be happy about. In fact, she'd wager every pony in the compound would be happy to hear the news. But, for whatever reason, she couldn't dwell on what they'd found today, only what she'd lost in the months prior.
Twilight desperately wished it were her celebrating a reunion. But instead, she would go back to her dreary lab, back to making hard and unpopular decisions for the best of the ponies still untainted by the blades. For an instant, she forgot herself, and allowed the true pain to show on her face. With a swipe of her hoof, the tears were gone, and her false smile had returned.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
For a brief, joyous moment, Twilight had mistaken Fluttershy's voice for one she'd longed to hear.
"Yes. Yes it is."
Eros
There had been a lot of hugs, and even a few tears once Apple Bloom had been reunited with her friends. Eros was happy for her, though it was a bit awkward at first. Eventually, they got around to the introductions.
"Girls, this is Eros," Apple Bloom said, motioning to the young griffon standing quietly behind her. "He found me in Ponyville with his Dad and helped me get here."
Eros blushed, not that anyone would have noticed. "I-uh... we were just passing through and..."
"Don't be so modest!" Sweetie Belle chided.
"Really, Eros," Apple Bloom agreed, turning to face him. "I don't know what I'd have done without y'all."
He glanced away from his paws, feeling the heat on his cheeks. Before the moment could get any more awkward, Scootaloo came to the rescue. "Hey, you guys should come check out the castle!"
"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle chimed. "We've got some time to waste before dinner."
With that, the four set off into the stone hallways of the once bustling castle. Eros had never seen such a palace. The ceilings were so high, he wasn't sure he could even see them. The echoing hoofsteps of the fillies he had been following led him to believe this place was a lot bigger than it looked. Only a few torches had been lit, though there were spots for many more.
"I forgot how creepy this place was..." Apple Bloom mumbled to herself.
"Hang on a sec..." Scootaloo said, stopping in her tracks. "Before we go any further, we have to do something." She turned on her hooves and strode towards Eros. "What do you know about the great and important secrets of Equestria?"
"The what?" Eros asked.
"How do we know we can trust you?" Scootaloo probed further.
"He saved my dang life!" Apple Bloom protested.
"Good enough." Scootaloo turned to her fellow Crusaders. "Looks like we'll have to perform the rites here."
Eros shifted on his paws. "Rites?"
"Eros the griffon, do you solemnly swear to uphold the truths, secrets and values of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
He shifted his uncertain gaze between each of them. "Uh... sure."
Scootaloo smiled. "Good! Girls, welcome the newest member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Sweetie clapped her hooves while Apple Bloom and Eros held their confusion.
"What's a Cutie Mark Crusader?" Eros asked, his question echoing through the empty hallways.
"We are! And you're our first male member," Sweetie Belle explained.
"Oh. So, why was that necessary, exactly?" he asked as they continued their walk down the darkened hallway.
"Because, only crusaders are allowed into the clubhouse!" she continued.
"You guys have a clubhouse here ?" Apple Bloom asked.
"You bet! The Cutie Mark Crusaders are nothing without a clubhouse. C'mon!"
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle galloped into the darkness as Eros and Apple Bloom raced behind them. As he ran, the intermittent torch light illuminated tapestry after tapestry of Equestrian history. He hadn't known much about the subject, but judging by the illustrations, this had once been a great nation indeed. Though it was known throughout the land as a peaceful nation, Equestria seemed to have just as many banners depicting battles as well as times of celebration.
"Are you keeping count?" Sweetie asked.
"Yes, I'm counting!" Scootaloo snapped. "Twenty three, twenty four, twenty five! Here we are."
Eros stared at the blank brick wall before them. Before he could ask, Scootaloo reached a hoof to an empty torch mount and yanked straight down. With a grinding rumble, a section of wall swung open, revealing a tunnel small enough for the fillies and their friend to pass through. Cautiously, Eros followed his new friends down a hallway somehow darker than the one they had just come from.
For a moment, he followed the sound of their hoofsteps alone. Before long, a faint green glow appeared at the end of the long hallway. In a few short steps, he found himself inside what looked like a crystalized room. The ceiling was far lower than the decadent hallways they'd come through. In fact, he cleared it by only a few inches. Thanking his lucky stars that he wasn't claustrophobic, he continued to the center of the room, where a jar of fireflies cast their glow on the pages of coloring books and the few worn out toys that littered the room.
"Here we are." Scootaloo smiled, as though she had just come home from a hard day's work "Our clubhouse away from the clubhouse."
"It's... cool." Eros mused. And cool it was. Having a place to call your own, away from the rules most children are forced to live by was unthinkable. But they had it, sure enough.
"I know it's not as nice as the old one, but it'll have to work until Princess Twilight figures out how to fix everypony," Sweetie said, settling in on a soft but dirty looking cushion. Scootaloo took a seat near a scooter missing a rear wheel while Apple Bloom sat in the opposite corner. Eros took the hint and found the remaining corner.
"So, what was it like outside the wall?" Scootaloo asked. Eros had only just met this filly, but he could tell she hated being cooped up here more than her other friends. He sat up, shifting his weight so his sword rested naturally on his side. "Well, it's kinda..."
Apple Bloom spoke before Eros could find the words to describe the abandoned country.
"Lonely."
Argos
"Your son makes fast friends," Spike commented as he helped him repair the broken cartwheel in the courtyard.
Argos smiled. "He's always been a social one."
He followed the dragon's eyes over his shoulder, spying an alicorn and her friends walking toward them. "We'll unload the cart," Spike said, grabbing a large sack from the back of the cart. "I think Princess Twilight might want a few words with you."
Argos nodded. "I know how many gems are in each sack," he warned Spike as he strode toward the princess.
"Don't worry!" Spike laughed. "They'll be safe with me."
Before he could question the truth behind that statement, he found himself bowing before the ruler of the castle.
"Princess, it's an honor," Argos said sincerely.
"I appreciate the courtesy, but we haven't had much use for formality here," Twilight replied, bidding him rise. "Girls, do you think you could help Spike unload the cart?"
The mares by her side fluttered into action without a word.
"Would you like a tour?" Twilight asked, the first genuine smile she could remember coming across her lips.
"I would, your Highness."
She stifled a chuckle. "Please, Twilight is fine." The two began their walk through the castle grounds. Argos recalled what this place used to look like. Immaculate gardens, gleaming spires, polished marble, everything fit for royalty presented for all to see. Now, everything was the dull grey of concrete, hastily poured to cover every inch of vegetation or soil. The ponies within the castle walls wore masks of cautious optimism. Argos figured visitors were fairly rare. Looking around, he noticed a peculiar instance. The foals of the castle played games in the courtyard, as though they had been all their lives. As though nothing was the matter, as though a scourge hadn't ravaged their population and nearly wiped out their civilization. Something about it filled him with the same optimism he witnessed growing on the faces of all the adults he'd passed on his walk with the Princess.
As they went, Twilight began explaining the desperate times that had fallen upon their once spectacular nation.
"No doubt you've seen what's become of our lands on your way here."
"I have," Argos answered. "I've made this trip many times over the years, and always look forward to it. Suffice to say I was shocked."
Twilight nodded. "I'm sorry you and your son had to see us in our hour of peril. I'm working on trying to reverse whatever is happening, but it's a slow process." As they walked through the stone courtyard, they stopped at a fountain of Celestia and Luna, the water that once flowed from it having long since dried up. Argos stood before the once magnificent deities and held his silence. His guide continued to stare at the statues, as though through will power alone she would be able to keep the fountain flowing.
"They trusted me..." he seemed to hear Twilight whisper.
"Pardon, Princess?" he asked.
"Nothing." She shook off her brief moment of vulnerability like a fox shakes winter snow from its coat. "I don't suppose they need any introduction?" she asked, motioning to the statues.
"Not at all. I was never lucky enough for an audience, but a gem merchant doesn't usually require one." Argos wondered what had become of them, though he wasn't sure it was his place to ask. For the time being, he held his tongue.
Twilight moved on from the fountain and started toward the entrance to the keep. "Forgive me, Princess, but do you know what caused this to happen to your kingdom?" Argos asked, following her.
"I have a few ideas, but nothing proven," Twilight sighed. "But, with your arrival, my fortunes may have just been reversed."
"How is that?"
Twilight stopped at the gates, the two guards posted at the door saluting as she approached. "We will discuss that later. For now, I'm sure you're exhausted from your journey." Argos couldn't argue. It had been a while since he had bathed and preened properly, and he had no doubts he was nowhere near presentable to royalty. Twilight turned to her guards. "Make sure Argos and his son have everything they need."
"Yes, Your Highness! Please, follow us." From a distance, the guards looked as any other Royal Guard might have looked, back when the kingdom was untouched by this plague. Upon closer inspection, Argos noticed that one of the guards was barely more than a colt, and the other a frayed-looking old stallion. Their armor hung loosely from their frames, as if meant for a much stronger and fitter pony. When Argos glanced back toward Twilight, all he caught was her tail disappearing into the shadows of the inner keep. As he did, his eyelids began to grow heavy. Silently thanking the Princess for keeping the tour brief, he followed his escorts to his and his son's new accommodations.
Twilight
The old corridors held so many memories, Twilight sometimes loathed walking down them. If it weren't for her constant efforts to conserve her magic, she'd simply teleport everywhere. In truth, there were only three rooms she ever visited. She steered clear of the throne room. It simply held too many reminders of how far they had fallen. She scoffed at herself. Imagine, her, Twilight Sparkle, savior of Equestria, afraid of a room! Though she may have been a savior in the past, she certainly didn't feel like much of one now. How could anyone be called a savior in any capacity when they watched helplessly as city after city fell into madness and suddenly went silent?
She was no savior. Not until she passed this; her final test. Celestia had always told her that she could do anything she put her mind to. This time was no different. Though, it seemed much much different. She'd already lost some of her friends, and even her mentor herself. Where was she to turn now? Spike was there for her, but even he could only do so much. The answer to her problem was out there somewhere, she knew. But where?
A smile played at her lips at the thought of Apple Bloom. She had survived outside the walls, for weeks on end. She had been exposed to the grass, and yet nothing had become of her. She was still a normal filly, by all accounts. Twilight had to figure out what made her immune to the blade's power. For now, however, she would let the newly re-united Cutie Mark Crusaders have their night of happiness and joy. There was truly not much of that to come by as of late. Tomorrow, she would interview the newcomers in hopes of getting some useful information about the outside world and what had become of it.
But for tonight, a celebration dinner was in order. Tonight, she would have a reason to smile genuinely. And that pleased her.
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