//------------------------------//
// Morning routine 
// Story: Fallen Equestria 
// by Kickass222urmom 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 4

The next morning



Wyntir found himself standing on a path, flanked by dense snow covered forest. The path seemed to go on forever in both directions. 

"Stay the path," a cold voice whispered, as if spoken by the wind that howled around him.

He took a step forward and recoiled in shock as a familiar young girl suddenly appeared in front of him. With a look of shock and horror on his face, he turned away to head in the opposite direction, but behind him stood another young girl, this one pointing at him. A look of sadness on her face. The two women were mouthing something, but he couldn't tell what they were trying to say. 

His heart pounded in his chest, threatening to explode out of his chest. 

Suddenly, a third woman appeared, standing only a few feet away in the forest. She seemed to be beckoning for him to follow her, a smile on her face.

"Stay the path!" the voice suddenly screamed, right in his ear.

Wyntir grabbed his head and began to shake it, "Why do you haunt me!"

The two women seemed to hiss as their faces twisted in anger. "How could you?" they both in unison.

"Stop!" Wyntir screamed, falling to the ground, trying to cover his ears and eyes at the same time. 

"We trusted you," they said in eerie unison.

"I know you did!" he screeched back as he began to crawl towards the third woman who seemed to promise salvation. A small metallic sound could be heard coming from the woman.

"Stay the path!" the voice boomed, sending Wyntir flying back to the path.


ooo000<^>000ooo


Wyntir's eyes shot open and he leaned forward, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He looked around the room from his position on the floor, taking in the dim room only being lit by the small window on the other side of the room.

He let out a relieved sigh as he leaned back against the wall, and glanced over to the bed. Kara was still asleep, showing no signs of being stirred by his actions. He slowly began to relax, but then he realized that he could just barely make out the sounds of metal scratching against metal.

This set him on edge immediately, as it sounded like someone messing with a lock. He stood up and picked up his longsword and walked out of the room and into the hallway. The sound seemed to be coming from the front door.

Without making a single sound, Wyntir dashed over to the door and gripped the handle. He pulled the door open and held his sword up in one hand, ready to impale who ever was trying to pick the lock.

A surprised eep was heard from below him, and upon looking down, his eye twitched.

"You scared me!" Honey Pie snapped as she held her chest. 

He took in the two slim pieces of metal sticking out of the lock of the door, and her nervous smile. "Choose you're words carefully, kid."

She looked into his eyes, trying to seem intimidating, but upon seeing the cold, dead look in his eyes, she recoiled in shock. "I... uh... Wanted to say hi?"

"Is that a question?" Wyntir asked, holding his stern expression.

"No...?" she replied in an unsure voice. She began to say something, but Wyntir stopped her.

"Why are you trying to break into this house?"

She smiled, losing her nervousness almost instantly. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"The answer is no," Wyntir replied, already knowing what she was going to ask. But as he began to close the door, she stuck her hoof in the door.

"But you haven't heard it yet!" she whined, causing Wyntir to frown and open the door to look at her. At this, she cleared her throat. "I know you said no to me being your squire, but what about trusty side kick!"

"That's the almost the same thing," he said as he shook his head. When she began to pout, he continued, "If I say I'll think about it, will you go away?"

A smile slammed into her face as she began to jump up and down, "Yes!"

"Then beat it," Wyntir said as he jerked his head to the side.

Honey Pie seemed to disappear as she shot off down the street, leaving behind an outline of her body in her place.

"Kids," Wyntir groaned as he closed the door and walked over to the fireplace, which only had the embers of a fire remaining within. He slowly stroked the fire and added more wood to it, and after a quick spell, the fireplace was ablaze with flames.

The fire seemed to blow away the cold air that hung around him as he stared into the flames. He sat there for a few minutes, just basking in the glow of the fire, before he finally stood up and began to stretch. After he finished stretching out his joints, he began to perform one of his light morning workouts.

An hour later, Loric walked out of the room he had claimed as his and stepped into the living room. The sight that met him caused him to raise an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

Wyntir glanced his way as he kept performing his sit ups, without stopping he replied, "Morning routine."

"Uh-huh," Loric said as he nodded. "And you do those in the nude? Why?"

"I sleep in the nude," Wyntir replied as he finished and stood up. 

Loric held up a hand to hide Wyntir's lower half from his view. "That's just lovely, I look forward to our future morning run ins."

With a roll of his eyes, Wyntir reached over to the couch and picked up a small towel, and began to wipe the sweat off of his face. He didn't seem to have any shame.

The sound of a door opening caused Loric to look behind him to see Kara slowly feeling her way out of the room. "Morning," he said with a smile.

"Mhm," Kara replied, not seeming to be paying attention to him. She slowly made her way past him, feeling along the wall with a hand, and walked across the living room. She climbed onto the couch and spread her self out on it.

"Rough night?" he asked, winking at Wyntir.

Ignoring him, Wyntir walked into the kitchen and began to prepare a meal with the leftovers from the night before.

Meanwhile, Loric moved over to the fireplace and began to warm his hands. "So, rough night?" he repeating, fishing for the answer.

Kara merely let out a grunt as she rubbed her face with a hand. 

"Is it a blind person thing?" Loric asked, feeling the glare coming from Wyntir without having to turn around.

"Shut up," Kara groaned, but not in an angry way.

Loric turned to face her and sat down in the floor. "Did I get it right?" He then chuckled a bit, "Look, I'm not an insensitive bastard. So what's really going on?"

"That's her business, not yours," Wyntir warned as he returned to the room, three bowls in his hands. He handed Kara one and she thanked him, a smile finally touching her lips.

Loric smirked up at Wyntir as he handed him a bowl. "You make a great butler, Wyntir."

"Careful," Wyntir said in a low voice as he stepped back and crouched down on the floor, not making a move to drink his soup.

The three sat there in silence, just trying to enjoy their meager breakfast. Loric was the first to finish, licking his bowl clean and frowning. 

Once Kara finished her soup, she sat the bowl down on the floor and smiled. "That was more than I expected, did you go hunting again?"

"Wait a minute," Loric said as he looked between his bowl and hers, noticing that she had had at least twice as much as him. "You son of a whore," he said looking at Wyntir. "You piled up your plates and gave me almost nothing?"

Wyntir held a finger up to his lips and tilted his bowl to him, revealing an unused, clean bowl. "We all got equal, don't complain."

Loric glared at him, but then realized what he had done. He still wasn't happy about it, but he didn't complain anymore. "Fair enough."

Wyntir gathered up the bowls and began to head for the kitchen, but the sounds of hooves on wood caused him to stop.

Without warning, the front door opened and Bliss walked in, a wide grin on his face. "Well, good morning!"

"What do you want?" Wyntir asked, putting the bowls down and crossing his arms.

Bliss looked at him and looked him over, but didn't make a comment about his appearance. "Oh nothing much, just a favor."

"No favors," Wyntir replied, shaking his head. "We plan to leave soon, so we don't have time to do anything for you."

This didn't seem to sit well with Bliss, as he looked distressed. "But you can't leave us here like this, what if more bandits show up?"

"Then deal with them," Loric interjected, which seemed to cause even more distress for Bliss.

"But..." he started, but was cut off by Wyntir.

"Look, yesterday was just a lucky day for your town. We just happened to be in the area, and those bandits choose to attack us."

Bliss fell back on his haunches, rubbing his face. "But you three could be our salvation, the exact thing we need here in our town."

"We can't stay here," Kara said calmly. "I'm sorry."

"Please," Bliss begged, losing his composure. "I already told everyone that you'd stay here and help us!"

"Well you shouldn't have done that, obviously," Loric said as he shook his head. 

"We can give you..." Bliss began to offer, but Wyntir walked over and put a hand over his muzzle. 

"No more begging, we're not going to help you anymore," he said harshly, but then he added in a nicer tone, "We are grateful for the house, but we are being hunted. We can't afford to stay in the same place for too long, understand?"

Bliss opened his mouth, but seemed to reconsider his words. Finally he asked, "Who's hunting you?"

This caused Wyntir to look back to his companions before answering, "The Princess's army, I believe. Maybe the other one as well."

Bliss's eyes widened in shock, "You mean you've made enemies with both armies?! Why didn't you tell me this yesterday?!" All three of them just shrugged in response, causing Bliss to almost scream in panic. "Yes yes, you need to leave now. Before they come back here and finish destroying this town!"

"I knew you'd see reason," Wyntir said as he grinned, finding Bliss's reaction to be quite enjoyable to witness.

With panic mumbles, Bliss spun around and staggered out of the house. The moment he was outside, he began to frantically yell, "Celestia and Sombra are coming! Run, hide!"

As he disappeared from the doorway, Loric laughed. "I think you scared him a little to much. Honestly, I don't think both of them are chasing us."

Wyntir only shrugged as he began to walk towards the room that held his gear. 

Loric rubbed the back of his head as he looked over to Kara, who seemed to be enjoying herself again. "You two are strange."


ooo000<^>000ooo


"Got everything?" Kara asked as she stood next to the door, fully dressed in her robes.

"We don't have much, so I'd think so," Wyntir said back as he shifted his armor around on his body, making sure it was secure.

"Yep, everything I own and a few odds and ins," Loric said with a smile as he patted the new satchel he had 'found'.

Kara nodded as she took Wyntir by the hand, "Good, so do we have any idea where we should go?"

"Random direction," Loric offered as he stepped outside.

"I hate to admit it, but that's our only option," Wyntir said with a sigh as he walked out of the house and followed after Loric, who was walking down the deserted street.

"We need to find a way to get back to our worlds," Kara mumbled just loud enough for them to hear her. "So we have to either go to this Sombra and make him send us back, or we find someone else too."

"Sounds like a plan," Loric said over his shoulder cheerfully. He then began to whistle a strange tone.

Wyntir looked around them, taking note of the abandoned streets. "Hm, they really cleared out quickly."

Loric turned a corner up ahead, and his whistling suddenly halted. "Well hello there..."

With a look of confusing, Wyntir followed him around the corner and was met with an unexpected sight.

There, before them in the street was five armor ponies. With the lead one looking very familiar with its dented helmet.

"I guess they were still chasing us," Loric mumbled, gripping his weapons.

The lead pony stepped forward and pulled off its helmet, revealing a rainbow colored mane and a very confident smile. "Ready for round two, boys?"