“Do you see the hatch?” Hopeful whispered to his comrade.
“Yeah I do. It's covered by a tarp, unguarded.” Midnight nodded back, turning to his ally. “How are we doing this?”
The two were on their stomachs on top of a far-off hill, the town barely in sight. However, Midnight's keen Pegasi eyes made observation an ease.
“Let's just be low key. Last time I did this, I just walked in and out before most ponies were even awake.” Hopeful lifted himself up by each knee, Midnight following his lead. Hopeful looked him up and down, the remains of his gallant armour shining in the rising sun. His chest and shoulders covered in the steel plates, a crowning helmet guarding his forehead and neck. “That might be a little too... Pegasian to be inside of an Earthpony town, don't you think?”
“What if we get shot at?”
“I would rather avoiding us getting spotted in the first place.”
“Armour or no armour, if I'm seen, my wings will give me away.” He flourished a feather.
Hopeful thought about it, “Hmm... Here.” He unzipped his military jacket and slid it off, leaving it hanging out on his hoof toward Midnight.
This almost made Midnight wince at the thought of wearing another nation's stripes, but then his eyes were caught by Hopeful's reassuring expression.
“Fine...” Midnight extended his wings behind his back, untying the few knots keeping his armour strapped to him. After a few moments, he threw off the panels on his sides and chest, chucking his helmet off, leaving him with only his gambeson left. He accepted the jacket and threw it over himself. It was a tight squeeze as his wings pressed against the walls of the wool and cotton. “It's a bit... Tight...” He returned his attention to Hopeful. “How do I look?”
Hopeful almost snickered at him, Midnight looking like a bright-eyed Earth Pony recruit given a uniform that hasn't been washed in the last three months. “Like a stupid, dirt-munching Ant.”
“Ah, perfect,” he said, chuckling, turning to face the town. “Let's go.” He then jumped up about half of his height into the air, leaping forward, an expression of shock and painful realization hit him as he uselessly flapped his wings as they were trapped beneath the Earth Pony paraphernalia. He bit the snow, wiping the icy mud from the fur on his face quickly as he stood up, hauking a glob of spit out into the snow a few times before easing.
Hopeful couldn't help himself, “Did you just..?” He managed to get out before bursting out laughing.
“Shut your damn mouth, alright?” he commanded as he swiped at the snow still sticking to his jacket's collar. “Now, let's walk.”
The two of them began taking a steady pace down the hill, leaving their trail in the snow as they came ever closer to the settlement.
Trotting casually closer, Hopeful began telling Midnight what they should expect. “Alright, the ponies in the gun-nest should be able to see us by now.”
“Wait, WHAT?” Midnight twisted his head around at him, slowing down his walking pace.
“Calm down, they'll see we're Earth Ponies and they'll just think we are travellers looking for somewhere to sleep or something like that.” Hopeful turned around as Midnight lagged behind.
“Just, tell me these things ahead of time, please.” He scurried to Hopeful, keeping him close as he infiltrated enemy territory.
“I did tell you, just now.” He had a cocky smile as he enjoyed scaring a Pegasus, who just spotted the mound of snow slightly angled away from them at the face of the town, two machine gun barrels poking out.
They both tried to play it cool, just trotting in the general direction of the barn, trying to avoid walking to it directly just to be safe.
Before long, they began feeling a stone path from beneath the snow as they trotted into the town, both as observant as they possibly could be, the streets clear from other ponies.
They stumbled into the farm of the town, much smaller than Hopeful's old one. It was also quite integrated into the town, as the barn was practically on main street. “I'll go down and swipe some rations, you keep watch, yeah?” Hopeful explained, slowly creeping up onto the barn.
“Fine just make it quick; I really don't like being here.” He continuously looked over his shoulder, growing evermore anxious.
Once the shadow of the barn pressed down onto them, they sprinted to its wall. They found the hatch, covered in a white tarp and a small bit of snow. While Hopeful lifted up the bottom rim of the sheet, Midnight turned his back to watch out, keeping a keen eye on the farm house especially, it being the closest building to them.
“Midnight, it's locked. I'm gonna need to bust it open.” Hopeful said half a second before he began kicking the lock in, the thud making Midnight jump.
“Just hurry up...” He found it hard to focus on his surroundings as Hopeful began pounding away, the wood cracking and the metal squeaking with each smash. “Hopeful, a pony just trotted out of the farmhouse.” He tried to keep his voice down, as he saw an elderly Earth Pony trot out onto their porch, busy lighting a lantern hanging from the door frame.
“I'm in!” He said as piece of metal audibly cracked, he then lifted up the hatch door, squeezing in between the slim opening.
“Hopeful, they're walking this way!” he said over his shoulder, pleading for help as the elderly pony sluggishly trotted through the snow toward the barn, wiping their eyes and yawning as they walked.
Hopeful, now sitting on the stone steps down to the storage cellar, turned around to poke his muzzle out of the hatch. “Keep him busy!”
“How?” he asked in desperation.
“You're in a soldier's uniform, pretend your a soldier!” Hopeful advised, slamming the hatch closed, the tarp dropping down over it again with the force of the movement. Midnight was left to fend for himself.
Hopeful took a moment, shutting his eyes and taking a few breaths. “H-hello there, sir!” Came muffled from behind the wood, an elderly, concerned voice, causing Hopeful to break his relaxation, instead beginning to gather his surroundings.
He found this quite difficult as it was utterly pitch black in this blisteringly cold cellar. Hopeful began to notice himself shiver. Without his very thick jacket, the cold hit him far harder than before. But, remembering what he still had, he took out the flint and the small knife he got from Midnight.
He struck the flint, a spark fireworking into the air, revealing his surroundings of a mouldy stone staircase for but a brief second before the darkness consumed everything once more. Now with some form of bearing, he carefully went down each step, making sure that there was ground beneath each step before he let himself glide downward.
Once he reached the last step he stumbled a little, too concentrated on safely traversing the stairs to remember when they ended, causing him a slight scare as he expected for the stairs to continue, instead his hoof being met with the floor.
He then sparked his flint once more, and in the flash of light, he saw the dozens of empty shelves stacked on top and beside each other for the entire length of the cellar.
It took a few minutes to navigate the maze-like conditions he was presented, and the clunky method he was using to see didn't make things any quicker.
He went to shelf after shelf, ignoring the generic items like firewood, rope or books that had been stocked. He was focused on his hunt for edibles, finding empty bags and a measly amount of single strands of hay trampled over, sitting beneath the dirt of the floor and the dust of the racks.
Hopeful made it all the way to the other end of the cellar until he finally found whatever scraps of food the town still had. A few dozen bags of hay, two or three of dried carrots and some stray loaves of bread hardened to the point of being unedible.
Despite their shortage, Hopeful, with an argument from his stomach, decided that he needed it more than they did, and began to stuff hay and carrots into his saddlebags. Once his bags were nearly spilling out full, he pinned them closed, throwing them onto his back to feel the new, hefty weight he had just added.
A creak echoed throughout the cellar, the exact same sound that the hatch made earlier: somepony was coming in.
He crouched down behind a set of racks, filled with, judging by their texture and shape, books. But before he could even contemplate what a load of books are doing down here, a light came into the room, an orange, flickering glow of a flame came from all places, right behind him.
He twisted around, landing on his ass as he looked up to find another staircase on this side of the cellar, a back-door.
Hopeful braced himself, covering his face as the light grew to a blinding intensity, “Whoa whoa, I'm wasn't, I'm not...”
“Stealing?” His voice was powerful, confident, but also a tiny bit playful. Like they were enjoying themselves.
“No, no, I wasn't, I just...” Hopeful stumbled over his own words, finally taking down his hoof as his eyes adjusted. “W-what...” He grew very bewildered as things came into clarity. He was able to make out that the pony was in a long red robe.
“Is it greed, if it is necessary?” The pony strode by, giving Hopeful a close view of his cloak. Hopeful was able to make out a shiny, gold dragon painted onto it. As the pony went by, he could feel the heat of the torch's flame tenderly glosen over him, making him instantly feel better.
The pony seemed friendly enough, but Hopeful would not pass up the opportunity to fix the problem, no matter how disoriented he was. He tried to be sneaky as he stood up. He tried his hardest to not make a whisper as he trotted up behind and leapt onto the pony in an attempt to grab around his neck to strangle him out.
To Hopeful's shock, the pony bucked their right hind leg into the air, kicking Hopeful in the chest and sending him stumbling back, gasping for air.
The pony didn't even have their walking rhythm disturbed as he continued down the cellar, keeping his torch in front of him. “Is violence a crime, if it is out of desperation?” he asked to what felt like nobody, monologuing to an unseen audience.
“Who... are... you ..?” Hopeful managed to fit the words in between inhales.
“Me?” The pony stopped trotting. “Ponies simply call me... The Dragon.”
“Dragon who?”
“Just The Dragon.” He twisted around on one hoof, now facing Hopeful.
It was instantly revealed to Hopeful that the pony had no torch, no... That fiery, flickering orange light was being emitted from the ponies horn, shifting between yellows and reds to make it appear like a real flame. Their fur a bright orange. Eyes of deep golden yellow.
“What the fuck?” Hopeful's eyes lit up.
“I know, I know, I get that a lot. Look, I'm on business. I'm not going to snitch on you.”
“Wh-Why are you here? What is a Unicorn doing here?” He began interogating this so-called 'Dragon'.
“I was sent here. I was told to look for a book...” One of the books on the shelf next to them began levitating in his fiery aura and floated toward him. “This one, specifically.” He showed the journal to Hopeful, who noticed the large decorated Sun on it's cover, and with a gentle rotation, he was shown the Moon on it's back, both symbols equally as extravagant. “It's quite a nice piece isn't it? No idea what in Moonstone it's doing in this shithole of a town...”
His eyes wandered up from the journal, meeting Hopeful's with a snarky smile. “But I was also told that I will be giving it to somepony as an important gift, which I believe might be you.”
“Me? What? What are you talking about?” Hopeful was catching none of it.
“Look, I'm not too bothered explaining that much, since I'm supposed to give you this in a year anyway, so I'll get you to sign the contract and all that stuff then. But hey, remember this; Once you become a father once more, meet me in the first train station on new world soil, exactly one year after the war ends, during the celebration. Then we will talk again, alright? Alright. Here, have it in writing so you don't forget.”
He hastily scribbled something on a notepad he floated out from beneath his robe and then ripped out the paper, putting it into Hopeful's hay-stuffed saddlebag. “Wh-wha...” Hopeful muttered.
“Alright buddy, take care now. I've got Moon-business to attend to.” He patted Hopeful on the forehead like a child or small dog, then strolled out behind Hopeful.
When Hopeful finally recovered enough to turn around, he went to trot out behind him up the back-door he had seen the Dragon come from. Although, the only thing he accomplished with that was getting a bruise on his forehead as he bumped into a hard stone wall.
Utterly confused, he sparked his flint again, seeing that there in fact was no staircase there.
After a long contemplation, he made his way out through the original way he had entered.
“H-hello there, sir!” An elderly farmer came towards an uneasy Midnight Eclipse, “What are you doing here, today?”
“Nothing, just you know... Guarding the Storage Cellar.” He puffed up his chest and picked up his chin, as would be expected for a Pegasian guard.
“And why would you be doin that now?” The elderly pony went up real close and inspected Midnight as personally as possible. “I don't think I remember you...” He read out the name tag written on the jacket. “Officer Hopeful, are you new or somethin?”
“I am, yes! Just sent here from the... Barracks.” He said, hoping that's what Earth Ponies called their military training bases.
“Righty then, I didn't know 'bout no guard, but that's fine. I got's to go check up on stocks, so jus' let me by 'ere.” The farmer began circling around Midnight to get to the hatch, which he could not allow. Stepping into his way and raising a hoof to stop him.
“Woah, hold on, you can't do that!”
The old pony stepped back, raising his voice. “Wha? WHY NOT?”
“Cause you might, ugh, steal... Some rations, and I'm here to stop... That.”
“I'M THE BLEEDIN' OWNER OF THIS FARM! THA'S MY FOOD DOWN THERE! You shayin' I am gonna steal my own hay?!”
“Ugh...” Midnight felt like every word in the equine language had just vanished from his head.
“I am callin' your captain, I'm gonna get him to come here and straighten ya out son!” He pointed a shaky hoof into Midnights face, before trotting off in a rage into town.
“Wait! Don't! Please! Ah shit...” He turned to the hatch, becoming frantic in worry. “Good luck, Hopeful. I need to go stab this old-ass stallion.” He whispered to himself, leaving in a hurry after the elderly pony.
He managed to catch up to him as he rambled through the street, shouting the captain's name.
Midnight surveyed the area, seeing that the street was still clear of anypony apart from the old geezer he was about to take out. They were completely oblivious that Midnight was about to jump him. Taking his chance, Midnight crouched down and went for the pounce, but as he went into the air he tried to flap his wings as muscle memory dictated. Which is what lead to him collapsing into the snow as his jump was exceedingly less powerful without the helpful boost of air his wings provided.
“Mr Thistle, what may be the bother this time?” A weary, feminine voice came from inside of one of the larger buildings in the town, soon after a Mare decorated with a neat, prominent military uniform trotted out to meet the old farmer.
Midnight lifted his weight back up. Seeing the two distracted with each other a few buildings ahead of him, he decided it was best he hid. So he dashed behind the wall of the nearest building and crouched down behind some piled up firewood covered in a fairly thin and disturbed layer of snow.
The two went by him down towards the farmhouse, leaving Midnight's vision as quickly as they entered it, the old stallion describing their encounter with a far more grandiose re-imagining of it.
Midnight sighed, seeing that right behind him was right out of the town, he could just leave...
But something was keeping him here; he couldn't leave without Hopeful... That motherfucker has all of the food we came here for! He rationalized for himself, returning to his determination to stop them from catching his ally.
He prowled out of his hiding spot and cantered after them, keeping to the awnings of the houses.
When Midnight reached the vicinity of the farm, he saw the old farmer complain to the soldier mare as they stood around the hatch, shouting and waving his hooves in the air, the mare trying to calm him down and getting him to speak more clearly.
Midnight slowed his crawl forward, prepared to intervene again only if it was needed. For all he knew, Hopeful already made it out.
Soon, the farmer went off to look around, and threw off the tarp from the cellar door. Seeing the busted lock only made him more angry.
Midnight sucked it in and began galloping up, prepared to fight them both, while not immediately being noticed and catching a glimpse of their conversation.
“Please, sir, can you just tell me, you're sure the pony's name was Hopeful?” the mare asked the farmer, trying to be as clear as she could.
“YES, I'M DAMN SURE! HE DONE BROKE MY LOCK! THAT'S MY OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY!” he yelled back, lifting his head up from the hatch. Turning back toward the mare, he saw Midnight behind them. “THERE HE IS!” His hoof sprang up once more, jittery as ever.
The mare spun around. She looked delighted as she went to see him, turning into confusion, and finally, disappointment.
“Mr. Thistle, I will deal with this. You can go back to your home now,” she said unpassionately.
“YOU BETTER! Fricken' no good military diciplined... Sons of bitches...” He began mumbling to himself and trotted past them to his house, eyeing down Midnight as he passed.
“You, who might you be?” She lowered her brow.
“I am... Hopeful.” He gave her a mean stare, seeing that she was not impressed with his answer.
“Really? What's your last name then.” She persisted, trotting in closer to stand face to face.
“It's... Umm...”
“I thought so.” She leaned in to read the name tag, “Where did you get this jacket? Do you know the soldier that it belonged to?”
“The owner gave it to me...”
She immediately stepped in, “Is he safe? Is Hopeful ok?”
“Yeah... Yes he is.” for Midnight this, conversation was going far differently than he had anticipated.
“Is he with you? I assume you are surviving out there with him, right?”
“Yes, he is...” Midnight, even through his dark fur, grew pale.
“Can you tell him that you spoke to Glisten? And tell him that I'm the captain of this town, and that he should come here? Can you do that for me, darling?” A very deep concern ran through her, practically begging Midnight to help.
“Yeah, sure...”
“Oh he must be starving out there... Is that why you were here? Were you trying to get some food from the cellar? Well, it's definitely not allowed, but for Hopeful, I'll turn the other cheek. Go take however much you need and come back here with him as soon as possible, do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand... Thank you.”
“I am so glad he is alright. Now go. I'll go tell Mr. Thistle what he wants to hear.” She finished, nodding politely with a humble smile on her face, prancing off to Mr. Thistle's home.
After a few moments of Midnight watching the mare leave, he heard a set of thuds come from under the hatch.
“It's clear!” he informed Hopeful, turning to the hatch as it squeaked open.
He watched as Hopeful crawled out from under the heavy door, coming to his hooves and meeting Midnight's eye level.
“You won't believe what just happened,” they both said, simultaneously.
“Well...” “Yeah, we should...” “Yes, we should go, fast.” “Talk at camp.” “Yup.”
They agreed and dashed off, running through the field they arrived through, not paying too much mind to their surroundings as they blitzed it out of there.
“And he called himself The Dragon, even though he is clearly a pony. What was up with that?” Hopeful recounted his experience to Midnight, “I don't know how whatever happened to you can be any more stupid or preposterous than that.”
“It might not be as stupid, but I have a feeling it's quite a bit more preposterous.” Midnight answered.
“Boys, is that you?” The voice came from deeper inside the forest they had recently entered.
“Auri! We got a fuckload of hay!” Midnight yelled over to her, flying up into the air higher to project his voice, now only wearing his gambeson.
“Sorry, I don't speak Pegasus. How much is a fuckload in kilograms?” Her laugher could be heard as clearly as her voice.
The two stallions managed to stumble onto their makeshift campsite, using the helpful tool of Aurora's bad jokes for echolocation.
“Nighty!” Aurora, who was still tucked into her sleeping bag, poked out her forelegs to spread them out wide, trying to get a hug.
Midnight strolled over and indulged her.
“Where did your armour go?” she said as they pulled apart.
“I ditched it. It was just slowing me down, really.”
“Oooh, well I like it. You've got the whole, well-worn soldier look now with the stubble and messy hair and torn armour...” She pulled him in for another kiss, keeping herself situated in her soft cocoon of a sleeping bag.
Hopeful, hearing her comments, rolled his eyes before returning to chewing on a spine of grain, scratching his stubble and mess of a hair-do.
“Are you feeling better than this morning?” Midnight asked while fetching a portion of the hay for her and himself.
“Yes, much better now. No idea why, but I keep getting those strong muscle cramps in my stomach. I sometimes even feel like throwing up... I think it's because I've been eating this peasant food for the past few months.” She said as she gladly accepted a few strands of hay, consuming it quickly.
“You didn't eat hay in your fancy castle, princess?” Hopeful mocked her from the other side of their now burnt out fire.
“We did, but it wasn't stored inside of a dirty, rodent-filled cellar beforehoof.”
“Yeah, but did you know it's Earth Pony tradition to spit on every pale of hay that we sold to another race?” He chuckled, chomping down on another hooffull of the stuff.
“What?!” She jumped up.
“Calm down, I'm kidding.” He glanced over both of his shoulders, returning to her with a even more snivy expression. “Or am I?”
“Shush you. So, Nighty, how did it go?” She turned to her lover who had just squatted down beside her.
He looked over to Hopeful, he thought about if he should tell Hopeful about the pony that wanted to see him, but he knew that if Hopeful left to go to that town, he wouldn't be coming back. So at first it felt like a good idea, he could get rid of him...
He then turned back to his fiancée, “Well, Hopeful met a Unicorn that thought he was a dragon.”
“You saw one of the Dragons? In an Earth Pony settlement?” She was greatly surprised.
“Yeah,” Hopeful butted in, gladly prepared to explain it all over again. “He wore this red robe and talked all mystical and shit.”
“I know who you're talking about!” She hopped up. “The Dragons are this Unicorn family that are all about following this code or something written by the first Dragonlord. They’re a bunch of loonies, they claim they have contact with the moon and that she is who orders them around and stuff. Kinda like what the Zebra's believe in.”
Hopeful was growing bored of her exposition. “Well, thank you for that history lesson. Now, can I just tell you the story?”
“Please, go ahead.” She motioned with her hoof to get him to continue.
“Well, I'm down in this cellar and Midnight's watching the way in, when, all of a sudden, I hear a hatch open...”