//------------------------------//
// Left, Right, Left 
// Story: Innavedr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Why's he squriming around so much?"

"Shh!  You crackflank!  You'll wake him up!  Besides, he's probably drifting in and out of the magic plains."

"The magic plains?"

"Yeah!  It's where all unicorns go to gallop together when they sleep.  You see, they all share the same dream cuz their thoughts connect through their horns and stuff."

"No way!"

"Yes way.  That's how they're able to build such large armies and take over countries and stuff!"

"You... d-do you think he's come to invade us?"

"I dunno, Nexx.  But I'll protect you if he tries to attack us—"

There was a heavy set of footsteps across the cabin.

Roque and Nexx spun from where they stood in a bedroom, flanking a mattress where a pained Crimson lay in his sleep.  The door-curtain parted ways, revealing Tweak.  The crystal stallion's body still twinkled from the starlight he had absorbed during his trek outside.  He took one look at the two antsy colts in front of his guest and grumbled.

"Don't you two have better to do than stirring up a commotion?"

"We're not stirring up anything!" Roque exclaimed.  "Honest, Pa!"

"Nexx was telling me about the Magic Plains!"

"Shhhh!"

"Well you were!"

"Get!  Both of you..."  Tweak pointed towards the main body of the cabin.  "Go talk to Ma, then head on to bed."

"Awwwwww..."

"I mean it.  You're up late enough as it is."

"We could have stayed up later if you hadn't opened your shimmering mouth," Roque muttered.

"Hey!" Nexx hissed.

Tweak watched them pass by.  He closed the curtain behind them, flexed his stony joints, then turned towards Crimson.  Marching over, he carried a bucket of wood over to a stove and fed a few more tiny logs into the warming fire.

"Nnnngh... mmf... Rainbow..."

One of Tweak's shiny ears twitched.  He turned and gazed over his shoulder.

"H-heading south..."  Crimson murmured, tossing and turning.  "Must... c-catch Rainbow..."

"I'm afraid it's nighttime, sir," Tweak uttered, closing the stove with a naked, burn-proof hoof.  "That would be rather difficult without sunshine or a rainstorm."

Crimson's eyes squinted open.  He gazed curiously at the bedroom that he was in and the covers over his figure.  "Wh-where am I?"

"Aurum Province," Tweak said.  "The western reaches, to be more specific."

Crimson gulped and tried sitting up under the covers.  He failed.  "I can't honestly say that I have heard of it."

"Hardly a surprise," Tweak remarked, shoving Crimson back down with a firm hoof.  "There isn't much here in Aurum that's worth your conquering, unless you want to get involved in the politics of Killas and Searonese."

With a shudder, Crimson said, "I am not Ledomaritan..."

"Then why were you flying south from the Confederacy?"  Tweak squatted beside the bed with a suspicious leer.  "Did you have a reason to escape their airspace?  Are you a prisoner of sorts?"

Crimson bit his lip and stirred.  "I... very well am one, in a s-sense..."

Tweak's eyes narrowed.  The next comment came out of him like a wad of spit: "You're a deserter."

"I am alive," Crimson said.  "And possessing a great deal more honor and pride than most ponies."  He stirred under the covers until he lifted his dismembered limb.  His eyes went thin as he observed the bandages over the shivering stub.  "I... tr-try and tell myself that it is worth it."

Tweak said, "My wife and I have had experience in treating unicorn wounds before.  There was once a Ledomaritan company sent down here to drive out the Diamond Dog gangs.  They hung around for as long as their Queen saw it fit, and then they were dragged north to fight the tattooed horde."  His crystalline nostrils flared.  "To say the least, they didn't quite finish the job.  We've been hounded by the... hounds ever since."

"The Confederacy has become a huge weapon of war," Crimson murmured.  "Weapons don't think."

"Is that why you abandoned your superiors?"

"No!"  Crimson briefly growled, then calmed down a bit.  He gazed thinly at Tweak.  "I abandoned my superiors because I couldn't abandon my fellow stallions.  We were in a place where we were told to do the unspeakable to innocent ponies, and it was my job to get them home."

"Well, from the looks of things, that didn't exactly turn out well for you," Tweak muttered.

Crimson grimaced, avoiding his gaze as his eyes softened.  "No... and neither did some of my soldiers."

"You were a Captain, then?"

"I was a brother," Crimson murmured.  "A comrade and a friend."  He clenched his jaw as a frown crossed his features.  "I was too trusting, and two of my soldiers betrayed me because of it.  I failed them, and I failed myself."

Tweak's glittering brow furrowed as he rubbed his chin.  "Hmmmm..."

Crimson weakly looked up at him.

Tweak saw the glance, and he said, "I have not known a warrior of Ledo to admit failure so easily."

"I am not from the Confederacy," Crimson hoarsely emphasized.  "I am from Franzington."

"Never heard of it."

"I intend for it to stay that way," Crimson uttered with a nod.  "I have discovered too many terrible things in this world that would gladly rip the place apart.  I would be there now, if it wasn't for... for..."  His voice trailed off, as did his eyesight.

Tweak said, "A friend of yours was captured, I'm guessing."  He pointed out the window.  "Carried south to Searo."

Crimson nodded.  "Out of everypony I've fought to protect, she's the only one I know to still be alive.  A bounty hunter named Roarke carried her away from a battle and into her ship.  I saw the pegasus dangling from the snares of the metal mare's vessel."

"Pegasus?" Tweak remarked.

Crimson went on: "She's on a journey that's bigger than anything I've ever done in my life," Crimson wheezed.  "And because of my stallions, that's all been shattered.  I have to free her.  I owe it to her to make up for my mistakes..."

"And what of your home?  Do you have a family?"  Tweak squinted.  "Surely you owe it to them to return..."

"And what would I be when I returned?" Crimson muttered.  "I've... I've lost so much..."  He covered his face with his remaining forelimb and winced.  "So many resources... so many stallions... so many good friends and..."  He shuddered.  "Rainbow Dash was right.  It's possible to be too loyal.  I... I should have been selective.  I should have turned strangers away and made sacrifices, like a good leader."

Tweak glanced at Crimson, then at the bed that he was in.  "I... always figured that sincere hospitality was what made good souls out of ponies."

"And I-I thank you for taking care of me," Crimson muttered.  "But... I've crashed the managlider, and now Rainbow Dash is beyond reach.  It's the last failure... the final straw..."  His tired eyes reflected starlight as he gazed melancholically towards the window.  "There is nothing left to me.  When I return home, my wife and foals will try to love me, but all they'll embrace is a husk, empty of promise and warmth and..."  He gritted his teeth, hissed slightly, then murmured, "Eagle Eye... Phoenix... Z-Zenith.... You could have had so much more.  I'm sorry.  I'm so... so sorry..."

He fell asleep before the grown stallion could come close to crying.  Even in slumber, his breathing was fitful.

Tweak looked at him.  Stretching his legs, he walked out of the bedroom with a sigh.  "I don't know who you are, but I'm sorry too, my friend..."