//------------------------------// // Chapter LVI: Volitile Times // Story: As I'm Falling to Pieces // by Pinkamena Diane Pie //------------------------------// Chapter LVI: Volatile Times The midday sun, still covered with ever darkening clouds, shown through the trees, creating bars of light that reflected off their armor. Their hoof steps were silenced by the soft ground as they walked through the underbrush. The small ground, made up of twenty ponies, crept through the forest, trying to stay out of sight. Lightning and Phoenix stayed towards the middle, letting the more experienced soldiers take the front and sides. Birds above their heads had long since stopped chirping. A warning that was not lost on any of them. “You think they are around here?” Phoenix asked quietly. Their eyes had not been able to adjust, as they were constantly shifting between light and dark. “Wouldn’t doubt it.” Lightning responded. He took a deep breath. “I just hope this is over soon.” Phoenix nodded, but didn’t say anything. They fell back into silence. After the speech by Lunar, they had returned to their homes just to grab their weapons, then they met back in the field. From there, they were split into groups of twenty and fifty. Lightning and Phoenix were paired together, which neither complained about. Cora and Fluttershy were put into a medical team. But Fluttershy was also made to be part of the sniper team, much to her dismay. The others were separated into other groups. It seemed like they wouldn’t know how the others faired until it was over. They had been told to follow their orders, which were to surround the Death Hunter base in their groups, then wait for the signal to attack. Only the officers knew what the signal was, and that was something Lightning didn’t like. The sound of thunder, although far off, rumbled through the ground. It was going to rain, and what a day for that. They had been walking for a few hours. The base had seemed so much closer when Rainbow had carried him. But now, he wasn’t sure they would make it before sundown. But as it was, he wasn’t sure he would be able to see the sun when it went down. Occasionally, a pegasus, dressed in a blue tunic, would fly by overhead. But other than that, they were alone in the forest. Their officer, a pegasus, held up his hoof, and they stopped immediately. He told them to make camp, while he went to see where they were. He jumped into the sky, and the soldiers dropped their saddlebags onto the ground. Each of them carried part of the supplies. Whether it was food, or tents, or fire starters. As they didn’t know how long they would be staying, they just started a couple fires, and brought out some food. They weren’t very talkative. Even though most had been training for this for years, they seemed extremely nervous. Lightning didn’t blame them. This kind of fighting, against a foe who could actually think like you, was the complete opposite from fighting the infected out in the Wastes. Phoenix was nervously preening his wings. He would extend one wing, pull the feathers straight, row by row. The he would fold it, and extend the other one. Lightning sat down after helping start a fire. “You are going to pull your feathers out like that.” he said, smiling. “What?” Phoenix said, looking up. He hadn’t even realized he had been preening. “Oh, sorry.” he said, folding his wing back. The red of his feathers and fur was faded in the green of the forest. He looked washed out. Like a half recalled memory. His eyes seemed somewhere else. Somewhere far away. “All we can do is wait now.” he said, poking his hoof into the fire in front of him. Lightning nodded, looked around the camp. The soldier’s eyes widened when they saw him keep in in for seconds on end. But soon they turned away, lost in their own thoughts. The fire shown in his eyes as he picked up a flaming stick and broke it in his grasp. “I’m tired of running.” he said, pulling his hoof out of the fire. “I have been running since the bombs fell. It’s time I stopped and turned around.” He spread his wings and flew up into the nearest tree. He sat down on the branch, looking up at the sky. Lightning watched him for a few moments, then turned back to the fire. He hadn’t realized how cold it was, and he moved closer to the flames. A few minutes later, their officer dropped out of the sky. He told them that they were now only a few miles away from the base, and they they should proceed with caution. The pegasi blew out their fires, then they started moving again. Lightning and Phoenix took their spot in the middle again, keeping their officer a few steps ahead. As they walked, the air became more dense. A mist started to move in, and every now and then, a single drop would land on a leaf or their muzzles. The thunder was closer now, less than a mile away by the sound of it. Lightning and Phoenix exchanged glances, worried about what the storm could mean for the attack. Lightning just adjected his tunic and continued walking. ***** An hour later, the officer held up his hoof again. The ground came to a halt. Listening, Lightning could hear the sounds of hooves, lots of them, in the distance. He knew they were close. The was about to fly into the air again, when Lunar dropped out of the sky and landed next to him. he removed his helmet, and, for the first time since Lightning had known him, he looked nervous. His eyes flashed over the faces in front of him, not lingering on one for more than a second. “Soldiers.” he said, starting to pace in front of them. “This is it. All you have trained for. Don’t disappoint me. Do your damndest for this fight. And if you die, die knowing you aided a glorious cause. The bettering of ponies lives everywhere.” “We are going to wait here until daybreak. I don’t want any wandering off, understand? 2 guards, every hour. We attack at dawn. Let’s hope we are ready.” And with that, he took off into the air again, leaving an ominous silence behind him. After a few glances at each other, they began to unpack. This time, Phoenix lit the fires and Lightning helped to put up the tents. When the camp was set, they each chose a tent. Three ponies had to share a tent, and Lightning and Phoenix shared it with a young stallion with soft green fur and a dark blue mane. They didn’t talk much. None of the soldiers were talking. The sun, well, the lightest patch of clouds, sunk in the sky. As it did, more and more of their group retired to the tents. Lightning nodded to Phoenix, who nodded back, then went to his tent. He didn’t know how he was going to sleep. After about twenty minutes of staring up at the top of the tent, his eyes finally closed. Phoenix had not yet come in, and he doubted he would for a while. The last time Lightning has seen him, he was sitting with his back hooves in the flames, looking up at the cloudy sky. he just turned over, tried to block out the other soldier’s snoring, and closed his eyes. ***** The next morning, he was awoken by his fellow soldiers walking around, putting out the fires and packing up the tents. Suddenly, he knew he didn’t want to be there. Today was the day. He walked out of the tent, nodding at Phoenix, who was stamping a fire out. The officer was watching them all. He looked at each soldier as they passed as if it was the last time he would see them. When the camp was disassembled, they formed a single line. The officer walked up and down in front of them. he didn’t say anything for a few moments, then he turned and faced them. “Are you ready?” They nodded. “Alright. Let’s get this over with.” And as one, they walked towards the Death Hunter base.