That night I dreamt for the first time in over a decade.
In the dream, I was sitting on a wooden raft, floating on an endless sea of the deepest green I have ever seen. The raft rose and fell gently, lifted by small waves. It was calming, peaceful. A welcome change.
The raft itself showed signs of use. The wood that made it bore scars and and the rope holding it together was frayed, but I knew, the same way I knew the sun would rise, fall and rise again, that the rope would hold. For now, at least.
The raft was a few different colours. The majority of it was purple, a few different shades. Some was the pale almost-pink of Twilight’s magic, some the deeper but still light of her coat. Some was almost black of Spike’s scales, though that didn’t make up much. There were some additions to the sides of the raft, two of them, one sky blue, the other light pink. The rope that bound the wood together was white, though it was not without blemishes. The rope also made a loop around my ankle, tying me to the raft. The rope, while soft to the touch, would bend only a little before it could pass as steel. It did not want to come off, though I really didn’t try that hard.
I lay down on the raft, watching as night gave way to day. The stars were fiercely bright, as if trying not to be outshone by the rising sun. But they were washed away by the first rays of an uncaring sun.
The sound of wing beats came to me over the gentle splash of the waves. I sat back up and turned. Luna hovered above the sea, the spray from waves passing through her.
She landed on my raft. The sea grew still.
Luna looked around her, taking in what little there was to see of the sea.
“Your dreams are odd,” she said. “This one is mostly empty ocean, nary a landmass to be found, but I do not think you have ever been near any body of water larger than a lake.”
A dream? She thought this was a dream. I looked at her calmly. Had she gone insane again? I hoped not. Something must have shown in my face, because Luna’s horn glowed briefly. A feeling like glass shattering in slow motion, and the dream haze fell away.
I looked around the dream, seeing it for what it was. The water froze, a circle of ice expanding away from us.
“What do you think?” Luna asked, waving with a wing to the frozen expanse like a child showing their parents a drawing they made.
The pale green ice ran all the way to the horizon in every direction, fading into the blue of the sky.
“Of the dream?” I asked. Though, if this was a dream, she might be part of it. I let out a sigh. I hate this sort of thing. Philosophy was never my strong point. Give me a tangible goal, something I can see and know when I’ve reached and I’ll be happy.
Luna nodded. “Of the dream, yes. My sister informed me that you do not dream when thou- you sleep, so I took the liberty of crafting one for you.”
I looked out over the frozen landscape, watching as snow began to fall in the distance. It was probably impressive, given I’d never heard of anything like that.
The fact Celestia knew I didn’t dream was troubling, but it at least confirmed she had some way of knowing my thoughts. Is it still paranoia if your right?
“Of course, the substance of the dream, the location, contents and characters, are provided by your sleeping mind.” She looked around the dream, in all directions. I did the same. It was empty in every direction. “Your mind is perhaps the strangest I have ever visited.”
“Why?”
“Why the dream? My sister has informed me of why you reacted so badly to my, ah, taking the initiative. This is an apology, of sorts, for both that and what is to come. It is also partly professional curiosity. Every living thing dreams, though perhaps not in a form we might recognise, and I find it curious that you do not.”
I nodded, slowly, watching snow pile up over ice. After a few moments of silence, Luna spoke again.
“My sister will be wanting to see you when you wake. Pleasant dreams, Michael.” She vanished with none of the light or sound you usually get with teleportation. I suppose, if this were a dream she could have just woken up.
I spent some time just looking out over the slowly melting water.
Dude, we need to talk.
It was… huh, he never told me his name.
You never asked.
Well?
Cameron. My name’s Cameron. I’m studying Chemistry at uni, I’m twenty one, and I make amazing pancakes. Not that, y’know, you asked. I guess you just didn’t want to know about the guy that's in your head. I heard a dripping sound behind me, and turned to see someone standing on the raft, soaking wet.
Cameron? I thought at him. He was about a head taller than me, though skinnier, with less muscle. His dark hair was cut short, and his dark eyes had darker bags under them. He was looking out over the water.
Who else would I be? he thought back.
Suddenly dry, he sat down, as far from me as he could be without leaving the raft, his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms holding them tight.
Even asleep I could feel the headache starting. I turned back to look out over the now unfrozen water. What’d you want to talk about?
Maybe about how you killed those dogs? I looked back at him. He was shaking his head slowly. You don’t do something like that and walk away unchanged.
I’m fine.
Yeah, but you’re fucked in the head. I’m not. I’ve never seen something die before, never mind something that could fucking talk. I need to talk about it. His voice was pained. Turning his head, he looked at me for the first time. And you’re all I’ve got.
Yeah, no. Not happening. You’ll just have to find someone else.
And tell them what? That the guy I can see in my head killed some anthropomorphic dogs, and now I’m having nightmares about seeing them die? He laughed darkly, a bit of an accent creeping back into his voice. Oh aye, that’ll go down smooth.
Deal with it. It isn’t that hard.
Yeah, if, like you, you’re completely morally bankrupt. Some people are, y’know, not heartless bastards.
You say that like I care what you think.
You know what, fine. I doubt talking to you would do any good. I need someone that is actually capable of feeling empathy.
Good. Now that that is settled, we do actually have something to talk about.
He looked at me, surprised. We do?
You mentioned passing me information. How?
I’ll be fucked if I know. If I know something, sometimes you’ll know it as well. Same thing vice versa.
Damn. There goes that idea.
I could just tell you what you want to know.
I blinked. That would work too.
Cameron looked around the dream. I kinda thought there’d be people here. People you knew back home, or at least a humanised version of Twilight.
Twilight’s a pony, and I wouldn’t have her any other way. Besides, Luna made the dream, not me.
The way I understood it was, Luna gave you somewhere to dream, but you still made everything in it up. And let me tell you, your dream is kinda boring.
I snorted. What should I be dreaming about, then? Going to a magical kingdom and meeting unicorns and dragons?
He nodded, conceding the point.
The edges of the dream turned fuzzy, like there was a fog forming there. The fog slowly thickened and made its way closer.
I think I’m waking up.
Cameron nodded. I’d like to say it was nice finally seeing you, but it really wasn't. You’re all sorts of ugly.
Bastard got the last word.
The dream filled with fog, turning grey and dreary. I heard Twilight talking to someone as everything faded to black.
“...never been asleep this long, are you sure he’s okay?”
I could hear hoofsteps not far from where I was laying.
“Twilight,” Nurse Tenderhoof replied. There was a pause, and when she continued it was in a voice barely above a whisper. “Twilight, you know better than I do how little he sleeps. It’s probably just that catching up with him.”
As nice as eavesdropping was, Twilight was worried, Celestia wanted to see me, and I was starving. I opened my eyes and pushed myself up to sit against the wall. Twilight was next to me so fast I’m pretty sure she teleported, followed at a less physics breaking pace by Tenderhoof. Those two I was expecting. I was not expecting to see Twilight’s friends.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were just behind Twilight and Tenderhoof, with Fluttershy behind them. Rarity and Applejack were at the back. I returned the hug Twilight was giving me. When she let me go, her horn glowed briefly, and my spear floated up from behind me. I took hold of it, and she let it go.
“Thanks,” I said, checking it over.
“Hey, your voice is back to normal!” Twilight said, pointing a hoof at my throat.
“Is it?” It was. Weird. Only one thing I could think of could have caused that change. “Pass me some clothes?”
Her horn lit up, and clothes floated from various drawers. One of the perks of having your own hospital room. As I sorted through the, making sure everything was there, Twilight and Tenderhoof herded everyone outside for me to get dressed. They were back inside a few minutes later, as I finished tying my bootlaces. That done, I stood and stretched, bones popping. I needed to see Celestia about something, and get some food. A quick look out the window put the time at either a few hours after dawn or a few before dusk. Either way, Celestia would be getting something to eat.
“Twilight, do you know where Celestia is? She wants to see me about something.”
“The Princess is most likely having breakfast just now,” Twilight said. She frowned a little. “How did you know she wanted to see you? You just woke up.”
“Luna told me.” She gave me one of those looks. “She can visit dreams. Coming?” I was waiting next to the door.
“Sure! Lets go, girls!” The five of them came with us. I said bye to Tenderhoof, and went to see Celestia. She was in a small dining room, one that was off the beaten path. Luna was there. I guess this was dinner for her. They both looks up when we walked in.
“Ah, Michael, good to see you up,” Celestia said, smiling warmly. “And Twilight, and the Elements of Harmony.” She seemed surprised to see them. “I was not aware you were in the castle. But still, come, join my sister and I for breakfast.”
Twilight and the rest moved to sit down and, after a look to Celestia, helped themselves to food. I gave the food a once over. It was standard pony food, though obviously better quality than most ponies got. Some hay, flowers, oats, fresh fruit, cheese, bread, eggs. A simple breakfast for the ruler of a third of the world. I took a seat next to Twilight, but didn’t touch the food. Twilight started poking me in the ribs after a minute or two, so I took a couple apples, ate one and juggled the rest. I could do three easily enough, four if I put some effort in, and five if I pushed it and was having a good day.
“Ahem.” I placed each apple on the table as it came back down and turned to face Celestia. “If you’re done playing with the food? We need to talk about what happened yesterday.”
“The Dogs or Luna?” I asked.
“Both. But the Dogs first, I think. It is more complex. Girls, would you please leave us? Crown business.” That got a few gasps, from Rarity and Twilight. The Elements of Harmony were considered Crown Business, so Celestia was saying they were of a similar importance. Probably just wanted them to leave, but didn’t want them possibly being insulted. I gave Twilight a small smile as she left, looking worried. She was the only one that knew what had happened with the Dogs.
Turning back to Celestia and Luna, both with unreadable expressions, I waited for one of them to speak.
With a sigh, Celestia said, “The Dogs have declared war.”
Luna let her head droop. I nodded. I was expecting as much.
“The entire purpose of the delegation they sent was to find a reason for war that would force the griffons to join them. And you gave them one.” She gave me a look that was probably supposed to make me feel upset about that. It didn’t work. “The Diamond Dogs are already on the move, and the griffons are in a state of near war almost constantly, so they will not be far behind either.”
“How long until their armies reach Equestria, sister?” Luna asked.
“The griffons, perhaps a month, perhaps two. It depends on the weather, how much they want to go to war, and how rebellious the lesser nobles are feeling. The Dogs, two weeks to a month. They were readying their army before they even sent their ambassador, and the terrain they have to cross is not so difficult when compared to what the griffons face.” That was an understatement. The Dogs had a fair bit if desert, aye, but that isn’t much when you can tunnel under it, and probably already have. The griffons, on top of being farther away, had a mountain range and the Everfree to deal with. And the Everfree was bigger than Valgryph, and probably deadlier.
I leaned back in my chair. “What will the Night Guard be doing? We don’t have the numbers to fight completely independently of the Day Guard.” There was maybe three hundred Night Guards by this point. Enough that I no longer knew them all on sight. The Day Guard was around four thousand, counting reserves but not non-combatants like clerks and supply officers. They’d had quite a boost in numbers recently. So had the Night Guard, but not quite on the same scale.
“The Day Guard will be marching south, to stop the Dogs. But they will need time, both to get there and to stop them. We cannot fight a war on both fronts, and hopefully we will not have to. If we can defeat the Dogs quickly enough, the griffons will not be obligated to assist them.” I was starting to see were this was going, and it was going to end up with me in the Everfree forest, fighting griffons.
Celestia and her sister shared a look, and Luna took over. “My sister and I can send perhaps two hundred of the Night Guard, with supplies for a month, two days hard trot into Valgryph.” I wanted to let out an impressed whistle there, but I managed not to. Not because of the number of ponies, though that was nothing to sneeze at. Have you seen how much food a pony can eat in a day? It’s a lot. Now times that by a couple hundred for the number of ponies, and then by twenty-one for the number of days, add in armour, weapons, tents, medical supplies, water, candles and everything else we need, and you get enough supplies to, well, kit a small army. And they were teleporting it several hundred miles. I guess thats why they’re in charge.
Celestia continued. “Now, onto other matters. As much as I understand why you did it, Michael, the fact remains that you struck royalty. Legally, you are classed as a magical construct of Twilight’s.” Oh fuck. “You are aware of the laws relating to them, I take it?”
I tried to give her one of those looks she always gives me. I don’t think it worked. So, I said, “I am.” The laws are fairly complicated, worded to give those with the gold to hire lawyers or the luck to have rich friends the ability to get away with anything that isn’t to despicable, but boils down to two key points. A magical construct is the summoner’s responsibility. If the summoner order’s the construct to break the law, they’re treated as if they had done it themselves, else as if they did it accidentally, which has led to some odd things, like ponies accidentally plotting treason.
“And, of course, you know the punishment for striking royalty.” Anything from a dozen years in jail to execution, depending on what you actually did. Though it had been decades, if not centuries, since someone had actually hurt any of the Princesses. “Luna has graciously offered to not press any charges, on two conditions. The first is you tell her why. The second is a favour, to be named later.”
I frowned, my mind chugging along. If it had just been the first, it would have been easy; I would do that for free. The second, I was wary of. It was too open ended. I mean, I was going to take the deal. But some limitations on that would be welcome.
“And if the favour she wants is something I’m not willing to do?”
A small chiming sound stopped either of them answering. The two sisters looked at each other, and Luna rose to leave. “I will take care of it, sister. You and Michael still have much to discuss.” She left, hooves tapping lightly against the floor.
When the door closed behind her, Celestia’s head fell slightly and she let out a weary sigh. “I will try and make sure she doesn’t ask anything of you that you would not wish to do, but I can make no promises. I have been pushing Luna to take on more of her old responsibilities, and to make her stop this foalishness would undermine all progress I have made there. I also cannot completely protect Twilight should you refuse.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not going to, ain’t it?”
A small weight, one barely noticeable among all the others, seemed to lift from Celestia. “Good. One less thing to worry about. Now,” she said, her horn glowing. The dishes on the table were all moved gently to one side and several maps, scrolls, and other documents appeared in a weak golden flash before being caught by Celestia’s magic and set down carefully. “Can you give me a basic list of what you will need in Valgryph? Apart from the necessities such as food, water and the like.”
We spent some time going through that. It was pretty standard stuff, really. Weapons, armour, medical supplies, that sort of thing. I wanted to swap some of my earth ponies for the Day Guards unicorn and pegasi, and I also wanted to leave the handful of griffons we have with the Day Guard as well. I didn’t want them running into someone they knew. Spike would be coming as well, as a way to stay in contact with Celestia. Plus, he might be useful.
Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn’t think of anything else I would need no matter what I was planning on doing. I asked Celestia to send a few servants to get my Lieutenants so we could start planning properly. I spent the time it took them to get here looking over maps and thinking.
Night Wind arrived first, beating the others by a couple minutes. I don’t think Celestia was expecting the knock on the window, but it didn’t surprise her much. I let Night Wind in, closing the window behind her. She landed with a light tap, bowed to Celestia and saluted me.
“What do you need, sir?”
“At ease. I’ll tell you when the other two get here; I don’t want to say this three times. Just look over the maps on the table for now.”
She walked over to the table and a few of the maps slid over to her, wrapped in a weak golden glow. She gave them a quick look. “Sir, these are maps of Valgryph.”
“I’m aware of that, Lieutenant.”
“Why am I looking over maps of Valgryph? And why do we have… are these troop movements? Supply estimates? I didn’t even know we had these!”
“As I said, I’ll explain when the other two get here. This is not something I want to say more than once.”
“Very well, sir.” She shot a glance at Celestia, the worry on her face badly hidden. Now that I thought of it, Night Wind probably had the least interaction with Celestia of any of the Night Guard. She had been based in Cloudsdale until she joined the Night Guard, and she was rarely awake during the day. At night, she usually had the widest ranging patrol routes, or was inside doing paperwork. I don’t think she’d said two words to Celestia. And now tradition dictated she speak to Celestia through me, a higher ranking officer, instead of directly.
Quick Cut and Ironshod arrived together. They were speaking quietly when they entered, but quickly stopped to bow to their princess. She waved, and they got back to their hooves before joining me and Night Wind at the table with the maps.
“Sir,” they both said, saluting.
“At ease.” I waved a hand over the maps. “Quick Cut, Night Wind, Ironshod, we go to war with Valgryph in as little as a month.” They didn’t gasp, or shout. Quick Cut blinked. Night Wind had a moment of clarity. Ironshod grinned. “And by we, I mean the Night Guard.”
“Sir, we don’t have the pony-power to fight the griffons,” Quick Cut said. “We’ll get slaughtered if we meet them in the field.”
“My sister and I do not require that you defeat the griffon army, my little ponies,” Celestia said. “You are strong, yes, but you have you’re limits. You must merely delay them while the Day Guard is fighting the Diamond Dogs.”
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I hate it when Celestia calls them ‘her little ponies’. She does that, and then complains when they worship the ground she walks on.
They bowed their heads to Celestia, and then turned back to me.
“I assume you have a plan, sir?” Quick Cut asked me.
“I have the outline of one. You three will help me flesh it out.” I pulled over a map of Valgryph, a traders map. It showed all cities, all towns, probably all villages, most of the large farms, not that Valgryph had many, and a few isolated homes. I leaned over it and started talking.
It took a few hours, but eventually we had a plan that was had a fair chance of working and didn’t end with us all dead. Sadly, it was not Ironshod’s plan of ‘use Spike to get some big-ass sorry Princess dragons and have ‘em burn the whole place down’. Still, no plan survives past the first arrow, so I went to see a zebra about some plants.
I wont tell you how many times I had to say that that was not a euphemism.
Celestia teleported Twilight, myself and the other Elements back to Ponyville. Well, a mile or so outside the village. I asked Twilight to have Spike meet me at the train station in an hour or so, said my goodbyes and headed into the forest while the others headed home.
A nice walk later, I was talking shop with Zecora. I wanted things that would work when burned or mixed with water. I didn’t want anything too dangerous that could be burned, in case the wind changed, but I was willing to chance it with the dissolving stuff. Anyone that managed to accidentally poison themselves deserved the pain they got.
While I was there, I had one more crack at recruiting her.
“These things would be a lot safer with you handling them, and you would be able to keep a better eye on them as well,” I said to the zebra as she wrapped up various foliage for me to take with me. Not a lot of any one plant, but a lot of variety. “Not to mention another medic is always useful, especially a non-unicorn one. You could do a lot of good there.”
Yes, I was emotionally blackmailing her. I had tried everything else, and another medic would be incredibly helpful. Celestia should have let me conscript her.
“If you tell me why you need these plants, your cause it may advance.”
“Can’t tell you unless you sign up. I’ll make you a second Lieutenant, outside the chain of command,” I offered. “You wont be able to give orders outside of medical situations, but you’ll only have to take them from me. Plus, the pay is good.” It wasn’t really. Beat the nothing she was earning now though. She wasn’t taking it. “A reserve Lieutenant, only called up when needed. You get half pay when not called up.” I technically couldn’t do that, but Celestia or Luna would probably go along with it. And if they didn’t, I’d pay her out of pocket. A skilled medic is worth their weight in gold.
“And what far away lands are you off to see, that you are so desperate to recruit me?” Zecora asked, wrapping up one last bundle for me. “You cannot tell me where, that I understand, but I do not need the name of the land. But if I know the direction you are travelling, your destination I may begin unraveling.” She frowned slightly as she said the last rhyme.
“Not happy with that one?” I asked. She shook her head. I packed away the plants she had wrapped up. I hadn’t recognised a few of them, but Twilight would. I made it take longer than it should, to give me time to think. On one hand, Celestia and Luna had ordered me not to let anypony know about what was happening. On the other, Zecora was not technically a pony.
And technically correct is the best kind of correct, chimed in my head.
What? Look, bit busy here.
Just tell her dude. Celestia was a-okay with letting those Dogs beat your ass, so fuck her.
Not exactly sound logic there, but he did have a point. “Northeast. Beyond the Everfree.” I looked at her, and she nodded. “If you’re coming, come to Canterlot before noon tomorrow.” Hefting the bag I’d placed the herbs in carefully, I said “Either way, thanks for the help.”
She paid me no mind, instead gathering supplies to clean the space she had been using. Going by what she was using to do it, she had given me some pretty dangerous herbs.
I headed back to Ponyville. I considered stopping to see Twilight, but I saw a train on its way to the station, and the next one wasn’t for a couple hours. Celestia wanted me back as soon as possible.
The trip back was uneventful. Once again, Spike and I had the carriage to ourselves, except the little foal that kept popping it’s head in every few minutes until it’s mother told it not to annoy us. I think it was a filly, but I wasn’t sure.
We got off at Canterlot and headed straight for the castle. As far as Twilight knew, I needed Spike for his organisational skills. While that was true, it wasn’t the whole truth. He would be a great help in making sure we had what we needed and nothing and noone got left behind. But it was time for Spike to get back to work. He spent most of his time helping the supply officers sort and count supplies, and the little that was left was either spent sleeping or training.
Zecora arrived an hour before noon the day after. I gave her her uniform and introduced her before leaving her with the Green Seed, the quartermaster that dealt with everything that wasn’t food or made of metal. And Spike, to translate.
The next two weeks went surprisingly smoothly. The only problem was the griffons; they didn’t like being left behind. They cornered me as I was signing a mass of requisition forms at lunch.
“Why are we being levt behind?” one of them, Wing Leader Markus, asked, pounding the table with a balled up claw. His accent hadn’t completely faded even after half a decade in Equestria. “We are just as good, iv not better than pegasi. We are more suited vor combat. So why? Do you not trust us?” The others, maybe a quarter dozen in total, were nodding along as he spoke, but kept quiet. He must be the spokesman. Griffon. Whatever.
“You’re staying because I ordered you to,” I answered, not looking up until I’d finished signing the page I was on. Putting down the quill - I really needed to work out how pens had worked so I can invent the damn things - I leaned back in the chair. “And I ordered you to because I want eyes and ears down that way.” I think of the best things when I lie. Which I was. They didn’t want to hear the actual reason. They wanted to show everyone how much they wanted to fight with the Night Guard. “You’ll be given the important missions by the Day Guard, so you’ll get the best information. Give it to Luna, and she’ll get it to me. Now, if you’re quite done? Most of them seemed mollified, if not happy with that. Must be hard to stay angry when you’re being complimented. Markus looked like he knew that wasn’t the whole story, but he must have felt it was good enough, because he left.
Apart from that, the next few weeks were a blur of paperwork, training and more paperwork. I think a forest passed through my office, never mind what I got handed in hallways. By the time it came to leave, it was almost a welcome reprieve from the flood of paper.
We sent Spike first, to make sure the staging ground was empty. We had checked it an hour ago, but it never hurt to make sure. After five minutes, he sent back a green flag. A glow surrounded both Celestia and Luna’s horns. The brightness steadily grew until it was like the sun had been brought down to earth and trapped in the room. There was a moment of silence like crystal, a sudden feeling of falling from a great height, and I was laying on the ground with grass tickling my cheek. We were in Valgryph. It was time to go to war.