CHAPTER 3
Trouble's Ahead
The next morning came as they always did, with me waking up, heading downstairs and eating breakfast, and then getting ready for work. But the memory of last night, had kept me up, more than I thought it would, as I remembered that I promised River I would stop by the post office and ask Vapor to return the medallion to the sender.
As I made my way through the town, I went off my usual path and made my way to the post office, where Vapor would help me out. The post office had once been a general store that had closed down a decade or so back, and after the owners left town, mayor blue, decided to make this an opportunity to give the town its own postal service, so we wouldn't have to rely on imperial messenger’s anymore.
As I walked in, I saw that I was the only one there, I calmly walked up and rang the small bell on the front desk, a few seconds after the soft cling echoed around the room, I heard a crash come from the back room, and a minute later, Vapor emerged rubbing her head, swearing under her breath. When she looked up and saw me standing at the counter, she smiled as her face lit up, “oh hey Frost! What brings you here, shouldn't you be at the mill?” she asked as she took her spot at her end of the counter. Despite that, I did my best and gave her a friendly smile, “hey Vapor, I just swung by to ask you a quick question, do you know the pony that sent me that gift?” I asked. She immediately stopped rubbing her head, and looked to the side, obviously trying to remember that moment, a few seconds later she shrugged, “no sorry, usually I take names before I work with them, but he seemed to be in a hurry, he just came in, dropped off the package, and left, sorry I can’t help more” she said with a frown.
I sighed and thought of something else, without a name, there would be no way for me to send it back, so I decided to think of another tactic, “hmm, do you remember what he looked like?” I asked, Vapor seemed surprised by this question, but she raised her hoof up to her chin, and then started to talk, “yeah…he was wearing a hood, so I didn't get the best look, but he was wearing glasses, and he was nicely dressed, so he could have been from one of the bigger cities, and I think he had a beard, that help at all?” she asked. Aside from the fancy dressed part, that description matched many ponies in Ashen, but despite that, I smiled at her.
“Well, thanks anyway, on a different note, what’s the deal with those soldier’s, are they here yet?” I asked, I watched as she gave out a heavy groan, and frowned. “Yeah, I hear their up at the mayor’s house, they brought some higher up with them, one of the big general’s, other than that, I’m don’t know, and I really don’t want to know” she said in an irritated tone. Like many ponies in Ashen, Vapor despised the imperial troops, and whenever they came to town, they caused trouble, harassing elderly and children, or shop owners, but they had never come in such a large amount, so it must be something big.
I turned and looked at Vapor, and nodded, “thanks again, see you later” I said and turned to the door, Vapor nodded and went back into the other room, and I stepped outside.
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There was yet another heavy thwack, as the head of my axe, split another chunk of wood in half, sending the head deep into the wood. After leaving the post office, I made my way to the lumber mill, to begin my work day. Mr. Cloud’s gave me a concerned look when I told him I had been to the post office, just like he gave when anypony mentioned Vapor to him, for the most part, Vapor and her father got along well enough, but she had always been rebellious of his plan for her to work at the mill, so she moved out, and the mayor gave her a job as mail pony, much to Mr. Cloud’s dismay, but he later came to accept it, but still didn't like it.
The clock at the mill had read a little past noon, and many ponies were well into their work, just as I was, with ponies constantly dropping off more pieces of wood for me to chop. After splitting another piece in half, I yanked the head out, and wiped the sweat from my brow, despite my using magic, my work had an equal strain on my body, which is part of the reason why I was always so fit, that and the combination of extra work on the side, helped me stay in good physical shape.
Just as I was about to levitate another group of wood chunks to my block, I looked around and saw many of the ponies, dropping their work, and making their way back to the mill. I turned and watched them go, as I did, I saw River running up to me, “River? What are you doing here?” I asked, but before she spoke, she stopped and caught her breath. A few seconds later, she looked up and our eyes met, I could see the distress in her eyes, she had clearly run all the way here, “Frost…the soldiers, there calling everypony into town square, you have to hurry” she said, before I could question her further, she took off in the direction she came, I hesitated for a moment, but dropped my axe and quickly ran after her.
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After following River, we quickly found ourselves at town square, and much to my surprise, she was right, a large amount of imperial troops, were stationed around the square, some of them had set up a makeshift stage in the center, where some other troops, were talking with a pony dressed in a more bulky uniform, which was decorated with medals, and among them was Mayor Blue, and some other ponies with the town council, one such was Mr. Cloud. As we followed the crowd, we passed by some soldier’s, who had equally stoic face’s, and said nothing other than the occasional ‘move along’ or ‘keep going’.
As the soldier’s pushed us into the square, River turned to me, “I have to go” she said and made her way through the crowd, I would have spoken up, but the crowd of ponies kept pushing me in, and we were soon filed into to large columns, with one center aisle, where some soldiers stood guard.
Ashen never had a particularly large population compared to the time it was a new town, 70 years ago, but it was still fairly large, so the Columns were pretty intact, as I pushed in, I saw my mother and sister not far away, and pushed my way over, “mom, misty!” I called out, they both turned to me, and I noticed the immediate relief on their faces, and my mother pulled me into a hug, and then we stepped away.
But before we could say anything else, so soldiers came by and grabbed hold of my mother, she attempted to struggle, but failed due to her age, they quickly spoke up as I attempted to stop them, “I’m sorry sir, but younger ponies on this side, elderly to the other” one of them said, my mother gave me a confident smile, as she stopped struggling and went with them, I watched her go, but quickly turned to my sister and held her close, “Frost…what’s going on? I’m scared” she said, as she scooted closer to me, even though she was older than that, she was still young and had yet to earn her cutie mark, even though I earned mine, when I was her age, and imagine my concern when it turned out to be nothing more than a simple icy snowflake. I calmly rubbed her shoulder, “I don’t know, but…everything’s going to be fine, I promise” I said to comfort her, even though I truly didn't know what was going on, I scanned the crowd and saw River on the far side, with her back to me.
Soon, there was the loud sound of feedback, as we all turned to face the makeshift stage, we watched as mayor Blue came up to the microphone. With a clearing of his throat he spoke up, “good morning my fellow citizens, I know you must all be wandering why you were called here today. I have here with me, general brick of the imperial army, who would like to say a few words” he said, and stepped away, as the pony dressed in a more formal military uniform, stepped up to the mike, and began to speak.
“thank you mayor, good morning citizens of Ashen, I am general brick smasher, and we’re here to solve a problem that has been troubling your fine town for a few years now, so we’ll try not to take up to much of your time” he began by saying, with a confident smile spread on his face, aside from a few quiet murmurs, the crowd remained quiet.
“Now I’m sure many of you had heard the rumors over the past few years, which Ashen has been producing and exporting less and less over the past few years, now before you get all anxious, the government is fully aware that this town recently suffered a mining incident, that forced you mine to close. We are also aware that many of you lost husbands, fathers, and son’s to the incident, so after much consideration, King Red Spear, as gracious and kind as he is, has come up with a solution” he said as more murmur’s came up, but with the raise of a hoof, the crowd fell silent. I had remained quiet for his speech so far, eager to hear what he had to say, but I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling, which something bad was coming.
After taking a drink of water, the general cleared his throat and continued. “After talking it over with his advisory, King Red Spear has come up with a way, that Ashen can go about its daily business, and also pay off its debt” he said as one of his helper’s walked up and handed him a list, the crowd started talking in hush tone’s, I felt Misty tug at my hoof slightly, “Frost, what’s going on?” she asked me, I could hear the fear in her voice, without looking down at her, “I…I don’t know” I said, I knew she was hoping for a different answer, but I had nothing I could say that would comfort her, truthfully, I was as scared as she was.
My gaze wandered back to River, who despite her angle, appeared to be looking down, but from what I can tell, there was shame in her eyes, but my attention was quickly drawn back to the general as he started talking again. “I have here with me, a list of Ashen’s strongest, and most capable youth, those who’s name’s I call out, will come to work in the crystal mine’s of New Canterlot, now before you start to resist, allow me to explain, those who are chosen will be allowed to return to their lives’ here, after they finish their time of work in the mine’s. I assure you, this will allow you to go about your daily lives’ here, those who are chosen will be allowed to write to you, so that we can get through this arrangement nice and easily, those of you who’s name’s I call, please step into the aisle” he said, as he started off by calling out some names. Immediately, I could feel the atmosphere of the crowd turn tense, and I could feel my heart slowly starting to increase its beating.
The whole crowd fell silent, as those who were called out, stepped into the main aisle, and were taken by the soldier’s and lined up in front of the stage, so far, only those whom I had barely known from school, had been called out, until I heard a familiar name, “…Vapor Cloud…” the general called, my eyes immediately shot straight towards her direction, my heart rate increasing rapidly. I watched as Vapor was pushed out into the aisle, and nudged along the row, occasionally pushing back against the soldier’s, but they had been trained to handle resistance.
My eyes darted up to Mr. Cloud, who’s expression showed one of shock and fear, as his own daughter was pushed into the growing line of ‘new workers’. Despite this he continued calling off names, as more and more young ponies were pushed into the line, and then he called a name, I had hoped he never would. “…Misty Rain…” he called out, and I felt like my heart had shattered, I slowly turned to her, as she slowly began making her way to the aisle.
For me, time seemed to slow down, as two soldiers grabbed on to her and began pulling her towards the line, I could feel a single tear slip down my cheek, as they dragged her away, but I would be damned before I let her be taken away to work in the mine’s. As if acting on instinct, I felt my body rush out into the aisle, and run towards the soldier’s, all the other ponies turning their gaze towards me, I pushed through the soldiers and faced the general.
“No! No, take…take me in her place…please” I asked. At this point, the entire crowd had gone silent, and turned their eyes toward me, standing in the middle of their aisle, but I kept a strong stance and faced the general, who had a shocked look of his own, but he quickly smiled and chuckled, breaking the silence. “Well…this is certainly…unusual, I think we have a volunteer, very well” he said, as the soldier’s let my sister go, and came to grab me, my body stood frozen, my heart rate beating rapidly, my mind had trouble catching up to what happened, what I just did.
As the soldier’s pushed me into the line, I heard my sister call out to me, but the soldier’s blocked her path, and forced her back into the Columns. the soldier’s shoved me roughly, into the line, and turned me to face the crowd, their gaze’s still locked on me, but there were a few individual gaze’s I refused to make contact with, as the general turned to the rest of the crowd. “Well, that covers everything, thank you all for your participation and understanding, your now excused” he said, at first nopony moved, some of them still in shock for my action’s, but with a quick move of his hoof, the general ordered all the ponies to be driven from the square, most of them using their rifle’s to shove many of the ponies out of the way.
Those who were selected were turned and marched up towards the stage.