//------------------------------// // Age 4: The Soldier // Story: The Seven Ages of Pony // by ObabScribbler //------------------------------// Age 4: Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. It is difficult for an immortal to become truly tired. I do not simply mean sleepy or fatigued. When I use the word ‘tired’ I mean that bone-weariness that runs deep into a pony who is doing too much with too little for too long. I was truly tired when the bell at my tent door rang; a soft but insistent ring, as if the pony tapping the bell knew they should leave me alone but also knew they couldn’t. My horn ached deep into my skull and it was with a creeping suspicion that rest would continue to elude me that I called for the pony to enter. “Majesty.” “Commander Maelstrom.” He parsed me with a gaze I’d heard his troops describe as ‘thousand mile’. At the end of those thousand miles, however, was a very tired charcoal pegasus who probably needed sleep even more than I did. “I take it you have something to report?” He nodded. “The bears have taken the western deep.” My heart sank. “What of our forces there?” He shook his head. “They used strange magic.” He gestured at the table before me, where evidence lay strewn around of my attempts to deconstruct the Northern Bears’ sigil-based enchantments. “Somewhat like we have seen before but … unlike it also.” “Explain yourself, commander.” He dropped his chin to his chest for a moment as if gathering himself. “The sigils were written in blood on the snow.” I hadn’t thought my heart could sink further. I was wrong. “Their prisoners …” “Left out in the snow for us to see the source of the blood they’d used.” I schooled my face into a calm mask. My hoof, however, did not receive the message in time. It slammed down on the tabletop, making the papers flutter and my empty goblet fall over. “It is too much! They take too much, ask too much, do too much - ” “Princess.” Maelstrom’s quiet voice cut through my outburst like lemon juice through milk. Ashamed, I gathered myself quickly. “My apologies, Commander.” “Do not apologise, your highness. Your unguarded emotions show just how much you care for your ponies.” Then why can’t I save them? I almost said aloud. Instead, I drew myself up and stepped stiffly to the carafe to pour a fresh drink. One of the perks of an alicorn’s constitution is an inability to get drunk. Our metabolism burns away alcohol so fast that even a light buzz is impossible. “How much ground did we lose to the bears?” “Up to the Golden Valley. Commander Valiant's unicorn battalion drove them back with the help of Captain Airheart’s pegasus platoon.” I nodded. “I will journey to the front and see what must be done.” Knowing Maelstrom could not see me while I faced away from him, I closed my eyes. The Northern Bears were strange and terrible creatures - white behemoths not seen in Equestria since before it even had a name. I had almost thought them extinct until reports reached Canterlot of sightings in far flung villages along our border. When the attacks began, I had tried to find a diplomatic solution but my ignorance of the bears led to a conflict unheard of since King Sombra himself. “Who would you say are the fastest, best-sighted fliers in your troops, Maelstrom?” “Firefly and Whizzer, your highness.” The names pulled me up short. “Whizzer?” “Her true name is Windsong but she, uh, prefers to be named after the noise she makes when she flies. Her record is impeccable so we, ah, indulge her a little on that.” “Very well. Send Firefly and … Whizzer to scout the frontline. Look for any weak points or signs that the bears are preparing to attack again. If they make it past Iron Mountain -” “Canterlot will fall,” Maelstrom finished for me. They were too close. They were too damn close. How had it come to this? Was all my hard work, all the foundations Luna and I had laid, all the good we had done to build up this country and unite its citizens - was it all to fall because of an enemy we didn’t even realise we had? And why were the bears doing this? We had no quarrel with them. “Go now. Do as I have instructed.” “I will do as you ask, my liege.” Maelstrom made a quick bow and departed. I heard the curtain across the doorway swish but did not turn around. To be honest, I was unsure whether my legs would even hold me up for much longer. I had waded into many skirmishes in this conflict. My magic bounced off the bears, doing far less damage than it should have. My shields around Canterlot had held long enough for the citizenry to be evacuated but tensing my magic for so long had left me depleted. I feared the worst even as I prepared to fight it. Somewhere in the back of my brain I could hear my sister chiding me for not showing more fortitude. Mayhap it was lack of sleep, but I could see her in my mind’s eye, clear as crystal, dashing ahead of me as we careened into battle with Discord himself. She was always the braver of the two of us. Some might have called it reckless. I did, actually, but only because her eagerness to put herself in harm’s way to right great evils worried me so much. “You take too many risks, Luna!” I had shouted at her so many times. “And you don’t take enough, Celestia! The world is not made by cowardice - it is forged in battle and doing what must be done by those who can do it!” So many lifetimes had passed since I had heard her voice. I would have given anything in that moment to have her by my side again. Luna would have known what to do about the bears. Luna would have been able to keep our little ponies safe. The curtain swished. Hooves thudded quietly behind me. “Commander Maelstrom, you cannot possibly have -” I turned. My heart caught in my throat. He looked so much older than our last visitation. Red stained his beard and trickled slowly from the corner of his mouth. His knees trembled but he met my gaze squarely. Cradled in one crooked foreleg was a small bundle of fur that sparkled like new frost. “Celestia...” he wheezed. “Wh … what …?” Starswirl buckled like a foal taking its first steps. With a cry, my magic flashed out to catch him and the thing he carried. I registered how frail they both were and eased my grip so as not to crush their bones. “What are you doing here?” I asked, gentling him to the ground. “No time.” Blood flecked his chin as he spoke. When he drew a ragged breath I saw that his cloak was stained and torn in three parallel cuts. “You must … return him …” He gestured at the bundle. “He is their prince … one is born only every thousand years … wild magic … he accidentally transported himself into the Everfree Forest … I knew … where to find him but … but …” He coughed. “I was … almost too late.” Something like a laugh gurgled up from within him. “A time traveller … almost too late to save a little cub from being eaten by a manticore … such irony …” I hushed him but he glared at me and I cowed. “You must return him to the bears ... he is why they are attacking. They think ... Equestria has stolen their prince. They will stop ... at nothing ... to get him back. Return him and their entire army will ... retreat back to the frozen north beyond the Forgotten Empire.” “You’re serious?” I looked down at the tiny face of a bear cub that might have doubled for a child’s plaything. He burbled and sucked his paw like his absence had not caused a war. “Princes of the Frozen North possess powerful magic.” Starswirl breathed in heavily, the air rasping in his throat. “This one is ... more powerful than most … he’ll be a great king someday …” He closed his eyes. “I have seen it. I have seen such things, Celestia …” He trailed off. His eyelids fluttered and then stilled. “Starswirl?” Panic suffused me. “Starswirl!” His eyes snapped open. In a trice he had pushed himself away from me and broken my magical hold on him from pure shock. “No. Not here. Not now!” He shook his head. “This … wasn’t how I saw it.” “Starswirl?” “I have to go … to the right place … the right time.” He shook his head again. “Goodbye, Celestia. Please do as I have asked.” He gave me a tiny smile before disappearing in a swirling vortex of light. “I will be there … at the end … I promise you.” I stared at where he had been. The bear prince sneezed. I frowned. “I may not speak the language or your kind, little one.” I quickly wrote a missive to Commander Maelstrom, sent it in a puff of smoke, exited my tent and opened my wings. I was tired but I would make this last flight. “But I will make them understand the truth of this matter.” He giggled. Two pegasi mares joined me a while later. Firefly and Whizzer flanked me all the way to the front line, their presence buoying me up. They reminded me why I was doing what I was doing. My little ponies trusted in me to keep them safe. Starswirl trusted me to finish the task he had started. I would be worthy of that trust.