I had put my helmet back on and was now walking towards where the Champions were hidden. Back in Equestria when I told Miranda that I knew her sister, Charlette, was alive because you could always tell where she was. Not a month after the Bloodbath two new Tribes suddenly seemed to come from nowhere, already at full strength. One was the Equestrians, the Tribe I had built with the two deceivers. The other however, they never gave themselves a name. Like they didn't care, they were just there, waiting. They eventually became known as the Howlers, one of the fiercest Tribes there was. Once you wandered too far into their territory you wouldn't come out.
No one had seen what they look like or where they are and lived to tell about it. That's because the Howlers use animals to fight for them. As far as I know the only one's with domesticated animals are the Champions.
I just exited the ruins and looked out into the darkness, where the other two Clans were. After some thinking I decided it wouldn't do me any good to go over there. Instead I removed my helmet, and spit in their direction. Those scum weren't getting any respect from me. But thinking about them reminded me of something, how we discovered My Little Pony.
***
I pushed the rubble off of me and tried to stand up only to fall back down. I heard two groans next to me and looked over, there was two other men trapped under the rubble. I managed to stay on my feet this time and moved to uncover them. When I did I couldn't help but think that they looked familiar, I couldn't think of where they were from so I shook them awake and asked them who they were.
"Um, er. Who are you?" One asked.
I paused and tried to remember. "I'm not sure... I can't remember anything." I responded.
"Oh, well I'm... I don't know either." He turned to the other stranger. "Please tell me you know who you are."
He shook his head. "No, sorry. I have no idea."
"Well what do we call each other?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I guess we should make up names or something."
I nodded, it seemed reasonable.
"Well I want to be Vinnie!" One shouted.
"Okay... How about I'll be Brian?"
"I'll be..." Some part of me stopped me from picking a name. "I don't know, I'll pick one later."
They shrugged it off and we went exploring. The entire place was in ruins and there were bodies everywhere, torn up and cut. Some buildings were even smashed through. We had all kept the strange weapons we found earlier, seeing as how we might need them in a place like this. Even if I couldn't figure mine out.
Eventually we found an intact house and we all got comfortable and were ready to go to sleep.
"Hey guys!" Brian called from deeper inside the house. "Check this out!"
Me and Vinnie rushed to him and were shocked. This new room was full of pictures and toys of little, colorful, animals that were all dancing and smiling. We found and T.V. with a movie in it and hit play, there was the full first season of My Little Pony in it. As a joke we watched it all, then the next season, then the next season. Eventually we watched every episode and fell in love with it.
***
Something clicked at the memory, way back when we were all having breakfast with the Princesses Celestia said she found us by a survivor from the Bloodbath 'thanking her'. No doubt it was the same person that lived in that house, and he probably said 'thank Celestia' on accident after avoiding some dangerous incident or whatever.
Well that explains that at least, not much mysteries left now. I looked around, which was a stupid idea, it was all dark and I recognized nothing. I knew the Howler territory was dead west of the Bloodbath and I had been walking for a while now. So...
There was a sharp growl in front of me and I smiled in relief. I was here.
I stepped forward again and the growl was louder but it seemed hesitant. Good to see that Charlette still trained them the same way. I had to stop my grin and I let out three short and quick whistles.
A team of two Lions and two Lionesses stepped into view. There was no real reason to smile, but I was happy for the taste of home. I couldn't tell which ones these were in the dim light so I held out my hand with my palm up. It was what we did to train our animals to recognize a Champion, they would always be a lot more friendly then. The lead Lion stepped forward cautiously and nosed my hand. I had to stop myself from chuckling I slowly put my hand under the Lions chin and began to scratch.
It purred and lifted it's head up, I laughed a little and scratched a little harder. I moved my hand around and onto the back of it's neck, still scratching. It lowered it's head and I started scratching it's ears. He enjoyed it for a minute before it began the final part of the test. It suddenly reared back and roared in my face as loud as it could. I stood still and when it stopped I made a kissing noise, it wasn't necessary but I thought it was funny. The Lion pounced on me and had me pinned to the ground.
Then it gave me a big lick on the face, I coughed and tried to get him off me but Lions are heavy. Now that it was closer I could see it was one of Eddie's favorite Lions.
"Leo, you're always so dramatic." I laughed. The Lion got off me and nuzzled me the way a cat would. I laughed and scratched his ear some more. The other three Lions had walked up to me now, I had to assume that they remembered me. I often visited the animals with Eddie and we had both gotten to know the animals very well.
Once the licking and the ear scratching was out of the way I looked at Leo. "Alright big guy can you take me home?" He cocked his head. I sighed. "Home." I said clearly. With that the big cat perked up and ran off into the darkness. I laughed and gave chase.
We finally stopped in front of a large wooden gate, extremely similar to the old one the Kingdom had. The Lions kept on going but I paused. What would they think of me? Did they really forgive me? Was I to blame for the Bloodbath? Miranda may have been the leader but I told the warriors what to do. Most importantly, how many times would I get punched in the face?
I took a deep breath and slowly walked forward, half hopping that something would stop me, nothing did. As I got closer I began to hear shouts.
"What?!"
"You heard me!"
"Give me those binoculars! I know that helmet anywhere... It's really him!"
"It is?!"
"Yeah look!"
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! He really came back! He remembered us!"
"Hey everyone! Our Guardian is back!"
Shouts followed by cheers erupted from behind the wooden walls. I chuckled to myself, I can't believe they still held on to that old nickname.
Your their hope, what they held onto this entire time. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought of you as a god or something.
I laughed the idea away and continued to the large gate, this time I walked with purpose. I was home.
The gate swung open with a groan of protest and I saw every surviving Champion standing there, welcoming me home with open arms. I smiled behind my helmet and picked up the pace. But they couldn't wait, they rushed from the gates and met me halfway. I fell to the ground and my helmet fell off as I received a bear hug from Susan. I was a good friend of hers, since I was in love with her sister and everything.
"We got your letter, I'm so glad you finally came!" Susan exclaimed.
I laughed at her, she had a tendency to be a little over dramatic. "Yeah I'm back, now could you please get off me." She apologized sheepishly and backed off. I scooped up my helmet but decided to keep it off.
There was a mighty roar. "Look out!" Someone screeched. The crowd separated and a large Tiger ran down and pounced on me. I was really getting tired of being pinned to the ground today.
I laughed in between the licks I received from the Tiger. I mentioned I had a pet right? Well say hello to Cuddles. "Common boy, that's enough." It took some pushing but the large cat climbed off me and nuzzled me. I scratched it's head and laughed. I realized everyone was looking at me intently, I took a deep breath. "I see you haven't changed much." I announced. "No matter, it feels good to be home!"
They all laughed and cheered as we walked inside. As I entered this new home I realized how similar it was to the Kingdom, it was almost an exact replica of what I had just visited. Except everything was in one piece and... Happier. I was guided to the mess hall, which was an extremely large wooden building with a massive bench in the middle that took up almost all available space by stretching across the room and almost touching the walls on either end. The walls were covered with paintings of warriors and battles, here we enjoyed the lives of all those that had left us. We all laughed and shared stories of what happened while I was absent. They were all trying to catch me up with what was going on, within minutes it felt like I had never left.
I was in the middle of explaining how to snap a neck while suspended in mid-air before we were interrupted. There was muffled shouting then it was cut off with a squeak. Not a moment later the large double doors were kicked open by none other than Dagger. I stood up and went to greet him but stopped when I saw he wasn't moving.
There was my right-hand-man, my top fighter, and my best friend. He was big, bigger than me for sure, if he's been training all this time then he's probably stronger than me too. His face was as stoic as ever, always was the bad ass type I suppose. I noticed that he had his hair, which was a darker shade of blonde, cut shorter than before. He still wore his armor. The armor of a Champion was only a metal, dark blue vest and a custom helmet. While his helmet absent he had his weapons with him. At first glance you would think it was just heavy armor on his forearms, in reality they were blades that spun around the arm-guards and sliced through enemies with ease.
His father was the one that had taught us both how to make weapons and armor. Ever since what happened with Cloak he made sure that his armor and weapons were unbreakable and impenetrable. As I proved when I broke out of my enemies fort, their armor can still be pierced with enough force, it just takes a lot more effort than you would think.
What put me unease was Dagger's throat, there was a horrible pink scar dead center on it. The friend in question walked up to me at an alarming pace and brought up his fist and hooked me on my left eye. Like I said he was strong, so naturally I spun and fell to the ground. I gave myself a shake and stood up after everyone gasped at my friends assault, they didn't move to help either of us. They knew better than that.
I didn't bother asking what that was for, I had a good idea already. "Feel better?" I asked.
My only answer was him stepping back into his fighting pose. He spread his feet apart, crouched, and moved his arms in front of him. I took a step back, crouched, put one arm in front of me while the other hovered over the Guard on my back.
"I don't want to fight you, but you know I will if I have to." I said firmly.
I saw the spark in his eyes that said. "That's what I'm hoping for." He flicked his arms and his arm guards slide forward, unlocking themselves. He flicked downward and a spike flicked out and into his hands, he grabbed them then swung his arms around and the blades swung out from under his forearm armor and in front of his hands maybe two feet in length.
"Well if your going to be that way." I growled and removed the Guard. With a swift flick the over sized switch blade came out. "Then I wont stop you."
Something you should know. Champions know each others movements, so on the rare occasion when they fought each other they always knew what the other was doing. In order for one to best the other he would need the perfect combination of speed, strength, and skill. Something Dagger and I both had, this wasn't going to be a fight. This was going to be a dance.
As I suspected he made the first move. He spun towards me with his arms straight out. I deflected one blade as I jumped back and dodged the second one. I couldn't tell how bad he wanted to hurt me so I only assumed he was trying to kill me and moved to jab him. He idly deflected it and went for my leg. I kicked the underside of the blade and slashed upwards. Just before I made contact he brought his other blade in front of him and my blade slid along it and away from him.
He swung both fists, each still holding onto the sharp spikes, around me on both sides. I ducked under them while flicking in the switch blade, while standing up I pushed the ends of the Guard together and the spikes popped back out. I stepped forward and swung at his head, he held up a blade and it bounced off. I used that momentum to swing it back around and stop his other blade, already inches from my throat. We held each other there, glaring at each other. He was so enraged it was like a drug to him, something wasn't right. I reared back and kicked him away, he stumbled but caught himself. I figured the spikes weren't working and replaced them with the switch blade.
He stepped forward and brought down the spike he held in his hand, and I managed to dodge it by less than an inch. I used the end of the guard and hit him square in the chest, causing him to stumble back. He realized I wasn't going to kill him and used this to his advantage. He focused more on hitting me rather than dodging me by positioning his arms in front of him and running full speed at me. Just because I didn't want him dead didn't mean I wouldn't knock him out, I ducked under the blades and hit him in the back of his knee. He stumbled down and I positioned my blade above him. "Why are you fighting me?" I demanded.
My only answer was an angry growl and him knocking away my weapon. He jumped to his feet and stepped forward and slashed at me in an 'X' formation. I met his blades in the middle and held them there. He gave me a glare that said. "You should pay." I didn't think that running away would end up with my friend killing... But my life is exactly predictable. I slashed forward and my blade only bounced off his armor. He dropped the blades and looked at me with conflicting emotions. "You should die. You're my best friend. Death takes everyone. Not his fault. Ran away. Kill. No. YES." I was surprised, what damage had I done to him? Did I really expect to just dance on in here and think everyone would love me?
While I was distracted he saw his opportunity and kicked my feet out from under me. Before I hit the ground I raised the Guard before he could slice my throat. There I was, pinned to the ground, preventing my best friend from cutting out my throat. I didn't expect the others to stop the fight, no one could stop a Champion with enough blood lust.
I looked into his eyes before he moved his blade the last few inches, his eyes were watering up now, repeating the same words. "You killed her. I loved her. You killed her. I loved her."
Wait just a second, was this over what I thought it was? I decided to voice my thoughts the best way I knew how. "That's what this is about!" I yelled at him as my rage boiled inside me. "You had a petty crush on Miranda, and now you're going to kill me over it!? Why?! You think I wanted to pull that trigger!?" I tucked in my feet and kicked him off of me, he landed a ways away with a thud. I stood up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying a couple more feet. "I loved her! What makes you think I let any of that happen!?" I yelled in pure anger, at first I was upset that I had caused him such grief. But now, did he even try to think about what I went through? I was about to make sure he did.
He made a few weak noises that I couldn't understand, but I could tell that he was upset in some way. I grabbed him by the top of his armor and pinned him against a wall. I saw a battle in his eyes, one part of him wanted me dead the other wanted this to end. There was two voices inside his head. Not like mine, me and Mentor had a truce and cooperated. He was fighting himself constantly. Still enraged I threw him onto the ground behind me, I glared at him for a moment while me made more weak noises before I spoke. "Well? Explain yourself!"
He froze and looked down in shame. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and turned to see Miranda's younger sister, Susan. She looked at me with sad blue eyes as she brushed her long black hair behind her ear. "There's something you should know." She said quietly.
I stopped grinding my teeth and attempted to calm down. "Okay, what?" I questioned.
She gestured to my friend still on the floor. "He was badly injured during our escape. See those scars on the throat? He was shot as we were all running away and he hasn't been able to speak since."
***
I struggled against the two Hunters that held me. "What do you want?" I snapped at Bulls-Eye.
He grinned and held up a sniper rifle. "See this?" He asked. "I'm going to send your Clan a parting gift."
I looked at him in confusion as he put the scope to his eye and looked out into the darkness. Another Hunter put a pair of binoculars up to me and I looked into them. There, in the darkness I saw the remains of my Clan running at full speed into the darkness. I understood what he was doing and ripped my arms from the Hunters that held me. I ran at Bulls-eye just seconds after he pulled the trigger.
***
When Bulls-Eye had shot at my Clan... He had hit Dagger in the throat. I looked at my friend mournfully. "I'm sorry." I told him.
He got up and put a hand on my shoulder. The battle in his head was over and I could clearly see who won. "I'm sorry too. When I had stayed long enough to see that you had... I wasn't myself, can you accept my apology?"
I nodded, knowing from experience just how badly two years of pent-up rage can affect your judgement. "It's okay, I'm sorry that I never realized that Miranda meant so much to you." Something clicked. "You put that plate on the memorial didn't you?"
He smiled. "Yes. I'm glad you visited the fallen."
I gave him a pat after he removed his hand. "Don't worry about Miranda, she's at peace now. Besides, I'm sure the right girl for you is right around the corner." I cast Susan a knowing smile and she blushed, like I said, I shared almost everything with the three sisters.
He cocked his head at me. "How can you know what I'm thinking?"
I briefly explained my 'eye reading' ability.
He only blinked and grinned. "It's good to have you back, many were starting to doubt you. What happened?"
I shook my head. "I got amnesia after chasing down Shadow and Bulls-Eye, the roof collapsed on top of us. None of us remembered a thing so we decided to stick together. When our memories returned we just... Ignored our past and kept going." I scowled at the memory. "They were lying the entire time, when we found their Clans I was captured. I broke out obviously." I grinned at the crowd. "So I thought I'd come back and ask you all if you'd like to join me in a little pay back!" I announced.
I took their cheers as an unanimous yes. I gave them my toothy grin and turned to Dagger, I wasn't letting him get away so easily after a fight like that. "What happened to you? You've never shown such interest in Miranda before."
He looked ashamed. "I always did care for her, but when I had a talk with a Clansman I was convinced that she was my soul mate or something. I'm sorry I thought about her like that, it was disrespectful, I'm not even sure if I did like her. No offense."
I laughed it off. "None taken, it was hard to not like her. Now, who was this you talked to?"
He thought about it a moment before replying. "It was some baker, Jake I think."
I frowned. "First off, it sounds like you were corrupted. Secondly, I knew the baker, I loved his bread and visited him often. His name was Jack, not Jake."
His eyes widened in realization, after all this time the Hunters were still sending in spies. I nodded and followed him out as he charged out the doors.
Dagger held the surprisingly small man by the throat, luckily it was just the three of us in the bakery, so no one would become worried about the threat of more spies. Back in reality Dagger smashed the spy against the wall once more.
"I told you asshole! I'm not a bloody spy, now let me go!" He shouted as Dagger glared at him, for someone with no voice he was surprisingly scary.
Even if the fake baker didn't have my ability to tell what he was thinking, he still had a good idea of what my ferocious friend was trying to say. His eyes screamed in rage. "You corrupted and tricked me into attacking my friend! I should drag this out as long as possible..." Did I mention that he had gotten good at painfully killing people after his brother had died? No? Well he was. Very.
The impostor cried out in a blend of fear and pain as Dagger dropped him to the floor. I don't know what he was about to beg or lie about but he was cut off when Dagger buried both of his blades into his stomach and lifted him into the air. He then threw him onto the ground, possibly denting the stone, and placed his foot over the spy's head.
"You idiot! I'm not spy, how would I even talk to them?" The spy rasped.
I caught Daggers look and moved to the spy I reached into the pocket of his pants and found a metal box. Pulling it out revealed it to be a walkie-talkie. Dagger barley glanced at it before he looked down and pushing his foot down.
"You'll all pay dogs! You'll all-" He was cut off as Dagger crushed his skull beneath his foot. Don't bother feeling bad for the spy, while Dagger can be very... Aggressive, it's all well deserved. These spies were a plague during the Bloodbath, they were never any better than roaches. They would tear apart families and go so far as to murder pets just to hide their true identity. To make it worse they thought we were the animals, all because we were pissed off when our homes were invaded. We were good at scaring them because a pissed off Champion could be more dangerous than a rabid bear, we figured that out from experience.
I shook my head. "Man, these guys are pathetic."
Dagger nodded in agreement. "So, friends?"
I barked a laugh and smacked him on the back. "Always. Now lets get out of here." Just before I exited I turned around and threw the walkie-talkie at a wall, it exploded in a shower of sparks and metal.
I told them all to bring enough supplies for a week each, I had no idea how long it would last this time. Hopefully I could arrange something with the Princesses if it lasted longer than I originally thought. In all honesty I want to end this during the first fight. Everyone was packed and ready to go, I mean everyone. During my time away they all took this time to train everybody in the Clan. Men, Women, even most older kids could fight well enough to hold their own. I was proud, Dagger had led them well. I offered for him to stay in charge but he explained that their respect for me had only grown while I was away.
I showed them the way to the massive box. Along the way Charlette, Miranda's older sister, walked up to me.
"So, the entire time you were with the two that ruined everything?" She asked bitterly.
I looked at her. In the dim light I could barley see her, she looked almost exactly like an older version of Susan. Except with curly hair. "I take it you're upset?" I asked sarcastically.
She snorted and looked away. "That doesn't even begin to cover it."
I tried to be nice. "So, what exactly did I do? I know I did a lot of things I shouldn't have, but what was it that got you upset?"
She shook her head and avoided my gaze. "It wasn't just one thing you know? It just added up, I'm not the only one that's mad at you. You have a lot of explaining to do."
"Yeah, I know. If it helps at all I am really sorry, I never wanted any of this to happen."
"And you think we did!? It's just... Wrong. All of it. Like this was never meant to happen, I don't know if revenge will make anything better."
I put a reassuring arm around her. "Hey, no one could have predicted this would happen okay? This isn't just revenge, we're putting a stop to them so nothing like this will ever happen again."
She shook her head. "No, I'm supposed to be angry with you." She shook of my arm. "Why can't I be angry at you?"
I shook my head. "Maybe it's because you know that I never wanted to leave? That if I had a choice I would have come straight back to you?"
I could tell she was starting to tear up. "No! Ever since you left I felt lost, a lot of people did. Dagger really helped but he wasn't a perfect match." She looked at me, almost crying. "We were barley holding together, we had to hold each other up. Don't you get it? You're like a father to us and you left us, we needed you."
I moved to her but she backed away. "No." She said weakly.
I huffed, she needed me but didn't want my help? That's not how it works. I moved quicker this time and pulled her into a meaningful hug. She protested half-heartily but gave in. "It's okay." I said gently. "I'm here now and I'm not leaving for a long time got it?"
She sniffed and hugged back weakly. "Thank you." I knew how Charlette was, she would push people away the more she needed them. I held her a moment longer before I let her go. She looked at me and shook her head with a snort of laughter.
"What?" I asked with a smile of my own.
"Oh nothing, it's just that Miranda was always the lucky one."
I chuckled. "Well, I sure felt lucky when you girls let a random stranger in your house."
"Oh please, you think we could pass up a cutie like you?" She asked mockingly.
We both broke out into laughter. When it died down I saw a massive object in the distance. I turned around and yelled. "There it is!"
We quickened our pace to a jog then Dagger and I opened up the massive doors. They all filed in, animals in tow, then Dagger made eye contact with me.
"Can I ask you something?" He said.
"Sure, go ahead. I have time."
He hesitated and looked away. When he looked back I could see the question I was hopping for. "Does Susan like me?"
I sighed. "Oh please tell me that this isn't the thing where you can't get the girl so you go for her sister."
He was taken aback and shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no. I just thought that she was looking at me the same way Miranda looked at you."
I pretended to be in deep thought. "Well, how I word this depends on how you answer this: Do you like her?"
He paused and looked down, clearly he's never thought about it before. He came to a decision with a confident grin. "I think I do."
I stifled a laugh and smiled. "Well, I'm not sure too about anything but I think there may be a possibility." I said, all the while not-so-subtly nodding my head.
He flashed me a grin of thanks as the last few people entered the box. I gave him a firm nod and and we closed the doors as we entered. I knew Celestia was watching us so it would only be a matter of time...
Seconds later a golden hue enveloped the box and we teleported to Equestria.
When the strange sensations stopped I gave myself a shake. "That was much better the second time." I told myself.
I heard a groan behind me. I had to hide my grin at the sight of everyone, animals included, trying to stand up straight. It was pretty funny actually. Dagger staggered to his feet and glared at me. "Is this funny to you?"
I snorted a laugh and nodded. He made an angry noise and punched me in the shoulder before he moved to open the doors, I rubbed my shoulder and moved to help him. He nodded three times and on the third we both pushed. Sunlight flooded into the massive box. We all had to shield our eyes from the sudden brightness.
Eventually my eyes adjusted and I could see again. Everyone was basking in the sun's warmth, even the animals were rolling around and playing on the grass. I gave them a couple minutes of enjoyment before I put a stop to it.
"Okay everyone!" I announced. "Set up camp, train, eat, or take a shit. Do whatever you gotta do, because come sunrise tomorrow." I pointed at the Everfree Forest. "We march, and we finally give the Nomads and Hunters what they got coming to them!" A chorus of cheers erupted from the crowd and they began preparations.
Cuddles gravitated towards me and I sat down with him and began scratching behind his ears. Through the mild chaos I spotted Dagger writing down messages and handing them to Susan. I looked over at my pet. "Young love, am I right?" He answered me with a low growl. I chuckled in response and continued scratching.
High above in Canterlot Castle the Sun Princess was adjusting the telescope for an eager Pegasus Mare.
"There, that should do it." The Alicorn said stepping back from her work.
Miranda rushed a thank you as she ran to the telescope, eager to see her family once more. She knew she couldn't go up to them looking like a Pony, so she had settled for the next best thing. She flew the telescope around and aimed it at the camp the Champions were working on. The Mare quickly picked out those she knew.
"Look! There's Susan, she made it after all, oh! She finally worked up the nerve to talk to Dagger, good for her. There's Charlette over by Leo... Is that Cuddles!? I can't believed he made it that's..."
Celestia laughed to herself at the Mare's enthusiasm. Whatever made her happy she supposed. The Princess informed her that she would be in the Castle but didn't think she was paying much attention. Celestia was left alone with her thoughts for the time being as she trotted throughout the Castles seemingly endless hallways. Celestia's mind began to wander. There wasn't much left to find out about the nameless Human, in fact she couldn't think of anything to question about him. That didn't settle her much, there was still the way the Human made Celestia feel... Uncomfortable to say the least.
How he acted was one such way Celestia was uneasy, when he left he was confident to bring back the his Clan, but then he almost breaks down when he visits his old home? Is there anything left to hide? Celestia knew she should be confident with the Human's skills, and if his Clan was anything like him then what's the worst that could happen?
The Princess was distracted as she noticed her surroundings, she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and gone in a circle. She quietly laughed at her own silliness and turned around the next corner she turned revealed a surprised red Mare.
"Oh, hello Princess, I was just looking for you." She said.
Celestia smiled at her subject. "Hello Maple, how can I help you?"
Miranda returned her smile. "Well, I realized that it was starting to get dark and tried to go to my room. But... I got a little lost." She said sheepishly.
"Don't worry, this Castle can be like a maze sometimes. I will show you the way to your room." She said reassuringly.
Miranda nodded and followed the Alicorn down the hall. They walked in silence together for sometime before curiosity got the better of the Princess. "May I ask you something?"
"Of course."
Celestia hesitated a moment before continuing. "It's about the nameless Human of yours."
The Pegasus Mare hardly blinked. "He's not mine."
Celestia did blink. "What? But I thought that you two were a couple."
"Oh we are, but he's not mine. I don't own him, we are loyal to each other but I could never order him around."
Celestia nodded in understanding. "I see." This Clan was clearly very sensitive with owing others. "If I might ask, could you explain the him?"
This time the Mare blinked. "What do you mean?"
The Princess of the Sun chewed her lip for a moment. "Well, he's very unusual. He refuses to share his name, he will kill countless other Humans, yet he almost breaks down when he returns home, and now he's acting like nothing's ever happened."
Celestia recoiled at Miranda's horrified expression.
"What?" Celestia asked defensively.
She stared for a moment longer. "Is that really how you think?" The Alicorn remained silent. "Think about what he's been through, he didn't just wander into a cozy home and start crying his eyes out. He was visiting the dead shell of the only home he's ever known, he was visiting his own grave Celestia! As for the killing, those people weren't just some random bystanders. Those were the same people that had butchered his friends in front of him, he was extremely merciful considering what they put him through."
"Now you think he's all smiley and acting like nothings ever happened? He's being strong for everyone, they can't see him break down and cry before their biggest fight yet. Do you have any idea what he's been through or what he's seen? He would wake up screaming some nights! Trying to save his friends that had been killed only a few feet from him! After everything you want his name? I was considering telling you, but now that I see you can't respect how strong he's being for so many I'm reconsidering. I think I can find my own way to my room." With that she briskly trotted ahead.
When she turned the corner Celestia fell to her rump. Her of all Ponies had been inconsiderate of someone. She had barley scratched the surface of this Human's life, he was in pain this entire time and she never would have noticed. All this time he was being strong and protecting his Clan, Celestia admired that. With her new found respect for Nameless she ran ahead to catch up with Miranda.
They had already been close to her room so she had already found it on her own. Celestia spotted her room and trotted up to it. She tried to open it but found it locked. Frowning she raised a hoof to knock on it, but stopped when she heard a noise from within. Putting her ear to it she discovered that somepony was sobbing quietly within, she had a good guess as to who it was.
She knocked gently on the door. After some clambering and mumbled apologies it opened, revealing a tear-stained Mare. Celestia didn't notice but she had opened the door with a small smile, as if she was expecting someone else. "What now?" She asked bitterly when she realized it wasn't him.
Celestia felt the sting of her words and flinched. "I came to apologize for being so ignorant to you and Nameless, after all he is protecting our land."
"Yes well, that's what he does, he saves people." She said bluntly.
Celestia still felt bad and continued. "If it helps any, I am eternally grateful for him helping us."
Miranda sniffed. "If you really mean that then tell it to him, not me."
The Princess was begging feel even more guilty with this apology, she decided it would be best for a change of subject. "I know I shouldn't ask but I feel as though I should, why do you love him so dearly?"
She blinked at the unexpected topic. "Well, it's who he is and what's he's done. He's the one that was born in the worst of the Clan, but was strong enough to get away from it. Instead of running from it when it caught up with him he fought back and won." She rubbed her eye at the memory. "He's strong enough to fight off evil, and brave enough to do it. You may think that makes him a horrible murderer, but that's not what he does. He's defending his home and loved one's, he only attacks those that attacked first. He was put through hell as a kid and a few years later he's the king of heaven. If it wasn't for him then the name Champion wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"He's the one that's been inspiring the Champions to defend you and themselves, he's the reason Champions are such proud fighters, he's the reason they all smile at death. Don't you see Celestia? He's saving us all, even if you don't appreciate it."
I walked through our freshly made camp. They had done a good job in such little time. I had remembered my talk with Charlette on the way here and was thinking about what I should do, they all seemed to be fine now. I was at a loss for what to do.
We need to talk.
"Oh, and why's that?"
You need to think about what you're getting everyone into.
"I don't understand, they all know what they're doing."
No, they know that they're fighting Nomads and Hunters. Nothing else.
"What else are we going to fight?"
You're an idiot. I want you to think about this fight, plan. You've been in their fort or whatever it is and have the element of surprise, I want you to use it wisely. No more running blindly into battle, you're good, but not that good.
"You want me to plan our attack?"
This is painful- Yes! I want you to put everything you know about your enemies together and think about how your going to fight them.
I blinked. "Huh, never thought about it before."
Shut up and go make a plan, everyone has to be ready for tomorrow.
Miles away the leader of the Hunters was talking with the leader of the Nomads.
"I really expected him to try something." Bulls-Eye said, slightly disappointed.
Shadow waved a dismissive hand. "Pff, knowing him he'll probably try something that's outright genus when were not expecting it, only to fail in the end."
Bulls-Eye looked out the small window. "I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this."
Shadow didn't bother looking up. "Oh yeah, like what?"
He shook his head. "You know, it's that feeling you get just before a really bad storm..."
Back at the Champion's camp Dagger was sharpening his blades with an evil scowl and one thing on his mind: His brothers vengeance.