//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: On the Run // Story: The Frost Chronicles: Book 1: Veil of Night // by steelwingx //------------------------------// CHAPTER 6 On the Run The ride to New Canterlot had turned out to be more boring and dull than I had previously imagined, which would make it unbearable. For the majority of the ride, Vapor and I rode in silence, I had managed to occupy some of the time, by looking out the small window on the back door. Vapor seemed content to simply stare off into space, while occasionally glancing around the already dull ride. Since Ashen was on the more secluded part of the kingdom, the only path that we could take to the capital was through the dreaded Everfree Forest, which during the decades of Red Spear’s reign, had only become more dangerous and hard to navigate, with many ponies who had wondered off the path, never returning. Vapor and I had hardly exchanged words the entire trip, mostly from our exhaustion, but also from the fact that she didn't look like she wanted to talk, but I knew I had to try something, or else I would probably die of boredom. I slowly looked up at her, she seemed to be occupying herself by staring at the wall, “so Vapor, what did your father say to you?” I asked, finally breaking the long, tense silence between us, sadly it didn't end like I expected. She quickly looked up at me, with a face full of confusion and mild anger, “what concern of it is yours?” she asked in an irritated tone of voice, I was slightly taken aback, but I also should have expected that, many ponies who know Vapor, also know that she gets touchy when people mention her father to her, but just as I was about to say something else, I was interrupted by something unexpected. There was a sudden jerk on the vehicle, making the both us lurch forward slightly, we both looked around confused, “why are we stopping, it’s the middle of the forest?” Vapor asked, but her answer came when a soldier opened up the back, and looked in at us. “Well, you two are in luck, another pick up, at least you’ll have some company now” he said with a sneer, and backed away, as he did, a new group of ponies slowly climbed into the back, only with these ponies, they all had shackles around their hooves, and then the realization hit me, we had stopped to pick up actual criminals, one’s who had committed actual crimes. I turned and looked at Vapor with a concerned look, her only answer was a shrug of the shoulders, as a young male Pegasus sat next to her, which much to my surprise, seemed different from the lot of criminals. He merely looked out of place among the rough, heavy-built stallions in the back. Just as quick as he opened it, the soldier quickly slammed the small door shut, and with a particularly loud roar, the engine started up again, and we were all met with a slight jerk, indicating that the vehicle had started moving again. Many of the stallion’s had remained quiet through the ride, with the exception of a few who engaged in quiet chatter, as they did, the young stallion looked up at me and gave a calm smile, something I gladly exchanged. He had a brown coat, which was accompanied by a yellowish mane, which was slightly longer than mine, glancing quickly at Vapor and smiling, but her only response was a scoff and a turn away. “So…what they get you two for?” he asked in a calm and welcoming tone, I sat up more and glanced at Vapor, who didn't seem to acknowledge the question, so I quickly turned back to him. “Oh no, were not prisoner’s, we were…volunteered to work in the mine’s” I said with a small chuckle, trying to make light of our grim situation, but it was at least good to talk to somepony. He looked shocked as he leaned back, a small smile cracked on his lips, as he let out a chuckle, “Volunteered? Well…that’s the first time I've ever heard something like that, that’s crazy” he said as he looked at Vapor, who looked at him with a skeptical gaze. He stopped chuckling and looked back at me, “by the way, name’s Dust Wind, and you?” he asked with a friendly smile, he reached over with his hoof, or at least attempted to, since his hooves were chained together, I gave him a suspicious look, but I quickly realized he was simply trying to be helpful, he didn't see like a criminal. I calmly smiled and shook his hoof, “Name’s Frost Fall” I said as we shook hooves, he smiled and looked over at Vapor, “and what about you miss, I think it would be great for us to be friends” he said, Vapor looked him over, with a suspicious gaze, but much to my surprise, she smiled and turned towards him. “Well, aren't you a charmer, my name’s Vapor Cloud” she said as they shook, I sat there with my mouth agape, tried for the entire ride to talk with her, and this guy comes along and she warms right up to him, I don’t know why, but I could feel the smallest amount of jealousy rising in me, but that went away when he turned to me again. “so…Frost, you say you were volunteered, who does that happen, I’m guessing based on your expression that it wasn't you who volunteered yourself, am I right?” he asked with a smug look, I chuckled lightly and shifted to get more comfortable. “Yeah, the town we come from, well, let’s just say it isn't the wealthiest mining town in the kingdom. We suffered a mining incident a few years back, I lost my father to it, but now, he government caught wind of it, they made up a list of the youngest and strongest in town, and called them, we were supposed to get shipped off to the mines in New Canterlot, where we would work for a set amount of time, and then be sent off home” I said with a remorseful look. He gave a me a sad but understanding look, “I’m sorry to hear that, just so you know, I lost my mother when I was young, but anyway, I can only assume they picked your name’s?” he asked, quickly glancing between us. I looked at Vapor and she just shrugged at me, “well, not exactly, they called her name, but for me, it was actually my little sister they called, but she was far too young, so I took her place, much to our mother’s resentment” I said looking down for a moment. He frowned and leaned back, “wow, that’s very brave of you, you must care for her a lot, but enough about sad things, what town are you two from anyway?” he asked, as his tone grew more pleasant, and we were both more than happy to change the subject. “Well, were both from Ashen, it’s a little to the north of here, we've been on the road for a few hours, what about you?” I asked, he leaned back and sighed, as both Vapor and I waited for his answer, he smiled as he recollected his home, “me? I’m from Spring Wood, it’s more to the east, it’s also a mining town, we exported stuff like coal and wood, other various items, I've actually heard a couple travelers talk about Ashen, from what they said, it seems like a nice place” he said with a smile. Before I could say anything to answer him, Vapor gave off a loud enough scoff, so that we both turned our heads to look at her. “Yeah, if you want poorly made homes, a broken down mine, and all other sorts of stupid things like that, Ashen isn't the most modernized town in the kingdom” she said with a smug smile, Dust looked at me and shrugged his shoulders in confusion, but I just waved him off, he calmly turned to her, “well hey? I find that kind of nice, no fast paced lifestyle of the capital or any cities like it, for me, I would love to live in a town like that” he said with a smile, Vapor slowly turned to look into his eyes, and again, much to my amazement, she smiled again, it came to the point where I had to clear my throat to get their attention. “Anyway, so what’s your story Dust?” I asked him, he seemed a little taken aback by the question. “What do you mean?” he asked, not entirely getting the point of my question, “well, from what I can tell, you had to do something to get arrested” I said, making sure not to pry too much into business that didn't concern me. He sighed and leaned forward and chuckled lightly, “me? I was caught trying to sneak around this checkpoint, but hey managed t catch me, unfortunately, I had some goods on me that were acquired…illegally, and they put me in chains and here I am” he said with an unusually calm tone, Vapor seemed more shocked than I was, “wait, you stole them, you’re a thief!?” she said with a shocked look on her face, I on the other hoof, was glad he was merely a thief, and not some mass murderer. He looked at Vapor and chuckled, “well, thief is a strong word, you see, growing up, my family was very poor, and it only got worse after my mother died, I had to acquire some food from the market just to get by, and not long ago my father passed away, and since I had no family ties to the town, I finally decided to leave” he said with a slight frown, I could tell by the way he reacted to telling the story, that he wasn't lying. I was about to ask another question, but was interrupted by a very loud rumble that came from outside the vehicle, a few seconds later, the vehicle came to a jerking halt, almost making every pony fall on their faces. Every pony began looking around, wondering what had been the cause for us stopping, “why did we stop? We can’t be there yet, were still in the middle of the forest” Vapor asked, but before either of us could answer, there was another loud rumble, but this time it felt much closer, making the back of the vehicle shake violently, even throwing some ponies forward. After the last one we all started looking around, and then we heard what we thought sounded like gun shots, which was quickly accompanied by the sound of shouting soldiers. “Where’s the attacker!?” one shouted, as the vehicle shook again, “is that explosions outside?” Dust asked concerned, but he already knew his answer. Then before any pony else could talk, there was a deafening explosion that seemed to go off right next to our vehicle, sending it flying on to its side, sending almost every pony flying forwards of backwards, the last thing I heard were screams and shouts, before I slammed the back of my head against the side, and then, everything went black. ________________________________________ The only thing I could feel was a painful throbbing sensation in my head, my vision had gone blurry, and all I could hear was a high-pitched squealing as I noticed my body being dragged out from the vehicle. My entire body was sore, but ever so slowly my vision began to clear, and I saw soldiers running all around, and with my vision came my hearing, as I heard explosions off in the distance. I quickly broke free of whoever was ragging me and sat up, only increasing the pain in my head, as I stood up, I turned to see Vapor and Dust staring at me with concerned looks, “Frost, you alright?” Dust asked me, I nodded my head and stood up fully, just as a nearby explosion, caused a hail of dirt to wash over us. After recovering, “yeah, I’m fine, what’s going on?” I shouted over the noise, “somepony’s attacking the convoy, we have to get out of here, into the forest” Dust called out as they ran towards the tree line. I slowly stood up and looked around, our vehicle had been completely knocked on to its side, small fires littered the path, and soldiers were running everywhere, trying to find the attacker. As I got up, I realized I didn't have my bag with me, I looked over at Vapor and Dust, “Vapor! Dust! I have to get my bag, I’ll be right back” I said as I ran over to the vehicle, forcing open the door, I crawled inside, and managed my way over to where I was sitting. Much to my relief, my bag was sitting there, I levitated it and put it around my shoulders, I carefully reached and patted my coat, sighing with relief as I felt the bulge where I had put the medallion, with all y things in check, I made my was out of the turned over vehicle. As I did, there was a particularly large explosion near me, causing many soldier to fly past me, the force of the explosion threw me to the ground. Again my hearing was gone, and my vision was blurry, but as I turned on to my back, I saw something that sent chills down my spine. A black-coated figure, slowly walking towards me, a sword levitated by its side, indicating that it was a unicorn, whomever they were, they had a hood covering their head, and a mask covering the majority of their face, I could only see their eyes. Their lavender eyes stared into mine, as I moved to try and get away, he medallion fell from my coat and clattered to the ground, I quickly reached for it, and tried to hide it, but she quickly moved her sword close to my face, the grip covered in a purplish aura. “That’s not possible. Where did you get that?” the pony asked, accompanied with a strong and frightening female voice, the pony’s eyes grew narrow, as she glared from the medallion to me. Fear filled my body as I froze up, my heart rate increasing, but before I could answer her, there was a loud shout, as other soldiers charged at us, and with a quick flash of her horn, and the attacker was gone. In a panic, I put the medallion back in my coat, and scrambled towards the tree line where Vapor and Dust were waiting for me. As I caught up to them, “what just happened?” Vapor asked me, I ran up to her and caught my breath, “I’m not sure, let’s get out of here, come on” I said and we all turned and ran into the forest. The night had definitely taken a turn for the worst.