//------------------------------// // Fifth Cronicle // Story: The Union Chronicles // by ObiWan //------------------------------// "All right, let's get moving," I say as we begin to venture ourselves into the jungle. The humidity and the heat makes a horrible sensation on my skin, sweat falls from my front at every minute that passes by. I was trained to fight from the high ground, not like other divisions that were trained to fight in the jungle, though, no side of our civil war usually likes to create a new front in those terrains, because it is more probable that we end up dying from a disease that from a bullet wound. These jungles are the combination of the Amazonic and the African jungles, making it denser and incredibly more active. Going to say it, the first minutes can be described with insect bites, especially for me that I don't have any kind of protection besides my clothes. The sweat is so intense that the stain remains on my hat, I can even say that drops of water fell from it. When it became unbearable, I took off my uniform jacket, leaving myself in a sleeveless white shirt and also in my dusty pants. I feel water impregnated on the wood and metal of my rifle. Every step I give feels like if I am stepping on a hot surface, my military boots were not designed for walking on these terrains. My body at first feels heavy, but gradually I begin to get used to the climate. I have never been to the Amazonic jungles, but to the llanos, now that is different, at least in that zone the breeze refreshes the ones that work in those places, either with cattle or with crops. Here, the oxygen almost feels scarce, if I become too tired it suddenly disappears from my lungs with no explanation whatsoever, so the best thing that I am doing is trying to maintain a steady breathing rate. I am chopping the vines using my bayonet. Dorado and Celestia have been more talkative, at least they got to know each other better, even though, I am still thinking how this guy Discord made 500 pesos to appear in the middle of this place, could he have a connection with home? probably, but that brings another point, should I trust him, he said that I need to ask Celestia where is home to her, and then escort her to that place. The forest is becoming denser in some zones, making our pass through it a bit difficult. I was concentrating on doing two things at this point, seeing Dorado and Celestia for they can't get lost, and at the same time looking the map. We went through several old stones in a deplorable state, but it should be noted that these were built in different ways, very similar to San Agustín* back home, the difference is that instead of human figures they are these ponies. With care, I can count that we have already passed at least through three gigantic boulders with different animal shapes, now it was Celestia's time to be impressed with something since she began to tell us the story of her father's archaeologists who have investigated this area, the funny thing is that there is also a similar legend to the one of El Dorado, the city of gold. We stopped twice to rest, and thanks to Celestia's magic, the food problem simply disappeared, though she refuses to make meat. Due to the various natural sources, water has not been a problem either, although I would have personally preferred it to be cold. No dangerous beasts have appeared to us, which makes me suspect but at the same time have confidence. I mount Dorado when we reach a partial flat area, taking Celestia unaware we begin to ride along through the jungle. Looking at the map, we pass exactly through a rocky zone with an eagle form. When Dorado was galloping he made a sudden halt, sending me flying across the air and landing directly into a small pond in the front of us. Celestia didn't fall because she used her magic. For my back luck, several leeches somehow crawled to my back through my uniform, making the next 30 minutes a long process in which Celestia carefully removes the leeches off my back, something that was rather painful, even making Celestia and Dorado wince several times. Another hour passes, and thanks to our good luck, we find a natural thermal, making the three of us walk to the hot water. Thanks to the heat, I take off all my clothes, it isn't like another person is going to see me anyways. The water is refreshing, the pain thanks to the corns on my feet suddenly disappeared, well, that peace is temporal thanks to the appearance of several monkeys walking near us. At first, they look inoffensive, but then the monkeys take my clothes and wear them. One of them puts my pants on and begins to run away. My eyes widen and my fists clench, as I quickly exit the water and take my rifle, chasing the monkeys naked as I try to charge them with my bayonet. After a long chase, I finally recuperate my clothes and then I put them on, with the waving monkeys on the branches. I suddenly begin to scratch myself, these monkeys messed up my clothes. After some minutes, we reach an abysm that we easily crossed thanks to a log. The rain finally comes by, leaving us completely wet. Already at noon, we walk to the top of a small mountain, where a huge rock in the form of a dragon is settled upon it. Butterflies fly out of the mouth leaving us amazed for the beauty of that sight. Reaching the lower ground, the sun is beginning to set, the skies are getting dark once again. We camp in an area surrounded by gigantic trees. After eating our lunch, that was fairly good to me because Celestia was finally convinced to make at least a fairly good plate of steak to me. After praying with Dorado, we all fall asleep at 10 at night. May 14, 1900 We wake up early, eating something and beginning our long journey again. After one hour of walking, the jungle is becoming much less dense, the weather is also changing, as the heat is becoming much colder. The sound of the birds on the trees and the insects almost seems to do musical tones, if you ask me, is truly fascinating. My appreciation is interrupted by the sound of laughter coming from Dorado and Celestia, who have been talking a lot. I have remained silent most of the journey, only talking to give directions or add commentary to something that interests me. "Tell me Dorado," I begin, looking at the top of the trees, "have you ever been to a jungle of this type." He tilts his head slightly, "I was raised in the llanos, so no.... not of this density." "The forbidden jungle," Celestia says as she accelerates her pace, "that is the name of this place." "Have you been here before?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. I am currently smoking a cigarette, my rifle is on my back. She gives a blank look before responding with an amused face, "for one reason is called forbidden, don't thou think so?" I shrug, "looks like someone was here before," I glance at my surroundings, a mystic vibe seems to come out of them, "someone was here before." "You know, you're not exactly what I expected," Dorado says as he looks at the antics that the princess has been doing since we began the journey through the jungle. I look at Dorado with a confused face, silently snickering. She smiles and then continues walking next to us, singing softly. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a.... pony with wings swings down and swoops Celestia up into a tree. Our eyes widen as I immediately retract my rifle, pointing it at the smiling figure next to the unicorn. I suppose that is female, her coat is a yellowish colour with a red mane and tail, finally, her eyes are light brown, very similar to my eyes. She..... has real wings, and at that moment I recognize what she could be, a pegasus, another mythological being of the Greeks. "Got it!!" the pegasus shouts in a musical voice. Dorado steps forward, sending a killing glare at the pegasus, not even caring what she is, "PRINCESS!" Celestia glares at the figure as well, "who the- hell are you." "Be still princess, for now, you are coming with us!" she smiles, seeing us ready to attack, "and be thankful, at least I am rescuing you from this giant pony and that ape......beast." "Hey! that's our princess! go find your own!" I shout with a glare, the cigarette still on my mouth. The pegasus laughs, "please, monster! Can't you see I'm a little busy here?" "Monster I!?" I shout, spitting the cigarette and walking forwards, my rifle still pointed at her, "I am going to shoot you down you giant yellow pigeon!!!" "Look, I don't know who you think you are!" Celestia shouts, pointing a hoof at the grinning figure. The pegasus frowns, but, that becomes a happy face again. "Oh! of course! oh, how rude," she says dramatically, imitating Celestia's voice, "please let me introduce myself!" Suddenly the sound of a violin begins to play in a tuneful and merry way as several pegasuses pop out from the bushes. They land on the ground, looking at us with some creepy smiles. I am just confused, where the hell is the music coming from, it is like if it filled the air. "What the hell!" I say, trying to find the source of the music, Dorado doing the same thing. Suddenly, they take out blades and bows, we are outnumbered. My legs shake, as I try to decide who I am going to shoot first, and unexpectedly they all begin to sing in a surprising good rhythm. "Ta, dah, dah, dah, whoo!" The yellow pegasus flies to the ground as well, "I represent the superior race, the pegasus, the ones that control the weather!" "That's right!" "But I'm not greedy, I am a hero! at least for us...." she continues, this is becoming more awkward than scary. "What a leader, Madame Rose!" "Break it down!!! I like an honest fight and a saucy lover......" she makes some acrobatics in the air before landing again. "What she's basically saying is she likes to get lai-" "Paid..." she quickly counters. "So...when two beasts want to grab our prize that's bad, that's bad!" She flies again and lands right in the front of us, "when somepony else wants the little prize of King Cosmos, that makes me mad!" "She's mad, she's really, really mad!" "I'll take my blade and ram it through your heart, keep your eyes on me my friends 'cause I'm about to start..." Before I could press the trigger, a bolt of lighting comes from one of the branches, being followed by Celestia landing softly with her magic. An aura surrounds her horn as she points it to the other pegasus. The yellow pegasus coughs, looking up she sees how Celestia is charging against her. A smile spreads on her muzzle, as she swiftly turns to the right and takes Celestia by her neck. "Look at that!" she begins to laugh, "the little princess of Cosmos is trying to do something, pathetic." "Pathetic my arse!" I shout, pointing my rifle to a near rock and pressing the trigger. BOOM! The sound startles everyone, as Dorado and I begin to send kicks to the others, I finish several of them with my bayonet. The pegasus recuperates quickly and immediately flies towards me, slashing my left arm, making me scream painfully. "Carajo!!!" I shout, falling to the ground. The pegasus turns back and begins to fly with her blade raised upwards. My rifle fell to my left, but when I was just going to take it, she buries the blade in my leg, making me send a kick straight into he face. Dorado sends several bucks, getting to Celestia and putting her on her back. He then glances at me, in my current deplorable state. His eyes widen as he fills with fear, his whole life was just obeying orders coming from humans, but now, he doesn't have anyone to tell him what to do. "Damnit!" he quickly runs towards me but is stopped by the pegasus who suddenly jumps in the front of him, blood dripping from her muzzle. "Not so fast my stallion friend...." she grins maniacally, "you still have a princess there.... you should give it to me if you don't want complications...." His legs begin to shake, his mind feels dizzy. Every step that she gives forwards, makes Dorado back off. "I will enjoy this so much!" she says, ready to jump. But suddenly, Celestia activates her magic again and sends a bolt of magic. The pegasus eyes widen as she shrieks when the ball of magic crushes against her. She shrieks as she is thrown to the ground. "W-what do I do! damn!" Dorado says, looking at the giant bloodstain impregnated on my pant. I cough, my vision becomes dizzy, I have been losing a lot of blood. With all of my forces, I motion Dorado to give me the jacket of my uniform, something that he does without any hesitation. I quickly cover the wound, blood immediately appearing on it as well, but better this than anything. "Help me..." I say forcefully, as I begin to mount Dorado while taking my rifle also. Already on his back, I try to gain some sort of stability for riding him, something that is impossible thanks to the pain of my leg. I might be a soldier, but maybe not a very experienced one, because I've never been wounded in battle, call it luck, but never. An arrow flies next to us and crashes against a tree. Looking behind, several of these pegasus mercenaries that haven't been killed begin to stand up, several of them with bows. "Ride!!! ride like the freaking wind!!!!" I shout, making Dorado to immediately begin to run. Arrows fall next to us, like a rain of death that is walking closely upon our souls. Glancing back, I see how the yellow pegasus is waking up, a frown on her face as she sees us go. "Why father!" Celestia shouts, "if he didn't take my sun powers... I," her ears press against her head as she sighs. I frown as I hear a scream, being followed by the pegasus taking off and flying towards us. A green one appears next to us out of the midst, almost slashing his sword against Dorado. Celestia quickly uses her magic and shoots at him, something that he easily dodges. Again he tries to use his sword, almost killing Celestia. Her eyes fill with determination, as she invokes more powerful magic. She shoots her again, and this time, she manages to shoot him down. Three pegasuses appear behind us, two with bows, shooting more arrows at us. Dorado tries to zig-zag through the forest. Arrows rain down on us. Using that little strength that I have in my hazy body, I aim again and ..... BOOM! I failed. I am having a hard time shooting in this condition. I don't have enough ammunition to keep testing my luck, so I quickly decided to only use the bayonet. "Do not let them escape!!!!" a voice yells from behind, belonging to the determined yellow pegasus. Dorado turns right hard, almost causing the two of us to fall. An abyss lies next to us. Celestia tries to use all her magic to defend us, causing several of them to fall into the abyss while they were flying. The yellow pegasus appears this time with a bow, shooting us rapidly. I frown, trying to push myself forward, looking for something that can help us out of this. "I'LL KILL YOU !!!" the pegasus screams, pouncing against us. Thanks to Dorado's quick movement, she crashes into a rock. Leaving us partially alone. We re-intrude ourselves into the clutches of the jungle, that incredibly, the temperature is becoming colder. The darkness intrudes, my leg is losing more blood, the blade could have slashed near an artery, and I am not even counting the possibility of an infection thanks to it. Everything becomes quieter, the sound of the birds is no longer present, the insects are also silent, and the other sounds of the jungle as well. Suddenly, a cold wind sends shivers down my spine, a really cold wind. I look to the ground, and with the little light that we have I notice how the terrain changed, the grass seems death and the jungle trees are beginning to disappear, being changed by the ones of what I believe are pine trees. The temperature drops, dizziness enters my mind again thanks to this temperature change. The daylight seems to finally come out at the end of this forest. A smile spreads on my face, as we come closer and closer to the light, but I gotta say something, it looks different, it looks much more death. "Keep going!" I shout while pointing at the end, his pace increases, I can hear how his breathing is becoming heavier. I frown, looking at the ground again I notice a change of its colour, white. "Home...." I can barely hear Celestia mumbles, she seems to know where we are going to. Dorado jumps out of the forest, immediately halting himself. Our eyes widen, my mouth and the one of Dorado as well hang loose. We are no longer in this jungle, we are in a forest, in the middle of the snow. "Welcome to the lands of Equestria," Celestia says as she glances to her surroundings as well, "the land of the eternal winter." The white snow is pure, the sun is covered thanks to the grey clouds. A snowflake lands on my hand, melting afterwards. I keep staring at the small water droplet on it. I begin to chuckle, this is the first time in my 25 years of life that I have ever met the snow. Thanks to the Equator, snow in Colombia is impossible if we are excluding the páramos* and the mountains. The sight is beautiful, it is so powerful that both my pain and the cold simply, disappear...... like if magic would be acting here. "So this is snow...." Dorado says as he slowly walks through the forest, glancing at the white trees. "Pretty.... beautiful," I pat dorado on his neck, "don't you think so?" He chuckles, "without a doubt." "What?" Celestia asks raising an eyebrow, "haven't you ever seen snow before?" "Snow doesn't fall from where we come from," I respond with a grin, "this is unique." A spear on the snow is in the front of us, a faint glow coming from it. We keep staring at it quietly before I decide to speak again, "do you know what is this." Celestia responds with hesitation, "no.... I don't even know where we are." "Equestria right?" Dorado asks with trepidation, "you just said it." "Yes," she quickly responds, "we must be in Equestria, the question is where, and in what kingdom we currently are." I glance at the map, trying to find our location, and that is when I realize, that we are lost. When we were trying to escape from those pegasuses I must have lost our track. The cold is finally becoming unbearable, making me shiver. I look at my jacket, all covered in blood, dripping and leaving red stains on the white snow. “Good evening, good evening,” our attention is diverted at the voice. The three of us are simply stunned at the thing that has appeared upon us. It has the stature of an elf, his head, arms and chest are the ones of a man, well, excluding his horn. While his legs are the ones of a goat. Silence elapsed. The creature coughs and starts again, “excuse me — I don’t want to be inquisitive — but should I be right in thinking that you are are the daughter of King Cosmos?” he says, pointing Celestia with his finger. “My name’s Princess Celestia,” she responds with hesitation, not quite understanding him, "but what are yo-" “But you are," he interrupts her, "—forgive me— you are what they call a unicorn?” “Of course I’m a unicorn,” Celestia responds with a frown. “So you are in fact the daughter of King Cosmo? right?” “Of course I’m his daughter” Celestia answers, still a little puzzled. “To be sure, to be sure,” the creature replies, "and what do we have here," he then glances at us, his arms on his back, "a human and a horse," he gets close to Dorado, "but are you sure that you are a horse?" Our mouths are agape, no word coming from them. Even Celestia is impressed, how does this creature know that? Dorado hesitates, trying to formulate something in his mouth, "w-what! of course I'm a horse, what else would I be?" “How stupid of me! but I’ve never seen a unicorn or a horse before, I am delighted, that is to say -” he stops as if he was going to say something not intended, but had remembered in time. “Delighted, delighted,” he goes on, “allow me to introduce myself, my name is Gaia, I am what you call a gargoyle human.” I keep staring at the creature, it looks demonic, but his words are kind, and his tone spreads peace for some reason. Something in my conscious is shouting me run away! but my body is saying to me to stay. "We-" Celestia taps her chin, "I suppose.... that it is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Gaia" “And may I ask, human,” the gargoyle continues, getting close to me “how you have come into Equestrian lands?” “I-I what? I don't ummm," I am sputtering, no word is being formulated by my mouth with ease. Gaia tilts his head when he sees my injury, "human blood is dripping...... you are hurt." He looks at it with attention, "I cannot let a human die in these lands...." "What the hell you are talking about?" my eyes widen, as I try to back off a bit, "what do you mean...." Celestia interrupts our conversation in a harsh tone, "excuse me," she gains the attention of the gargoyle, "if I may ask, where are we now?!" He is silent for some seconds before responding with that same calm voice, "where we are now, is all that lies between the lamp and the great Cair Paravel sea, further into your father's kingdom." He gives a little bow before continuing, "the night is coming and the eternal Equestrian winter is settling again, we shall catch a cold if we stand here talking in the snow, and the human here could die..." he glances at me and then looks back at Celestia, "your royal highness from the great Unicorn Kingdom where magic reigns around the bright city of Avantis, human coming from Earth, where the descendants of Adan and Eve come from, and horse coming as well from the lands of the descendants of Adan and Eve, how would it be if you came and had a tea with me?" "I don't think that is a good idea," I quickly retort with a frown. "But why?" he raises an eyebrow, "you three are hurt, plus you are entering the lands of Equestria, even the princess here knows that walking in the dark is a bad idea." "I know but we coul-" Celestia is interrupted by the gargoyle. "It’s only round' the corner,” Gaia begins, “and there’ll be a roaring fire, warm food, hot chocolate, and cake," he glances at me again, "and I will help to cure those injuries." Very tempting, something that thanks to my forces, I fall for it, "that is very nice....." "Yeah," he quickly continues, "and I will even help you get to your destination, I am an expert in this forest." "I believe that warm food wouldn't be that bad," Dorado chuckles as he talks. Celestia looks at our expression before sighing. “Well, it’s very kind of you,” Celestia says, “but I don't know if we can stay long....” "Just this night," Gaia begins, "and tomorrow in the morning, you can go at the hour that you want." Now this is just incredible, we find ourselves silently walking through the wood next to this strange creature as if we had known him all of our lives. We haven't gone far before the ground becomes suddenly rough. At the bottom of a small valley, Gaia turns aside as if he is going to walk straight into an unusually large rock, but at the last moment, we found out that he is leading us into the entrance of a cave. As soon as we are inside, we found ourselves blinking thanks to the light of the wood fire. Gaia stops and takes a flaming piece of wood out of the fire with a medieval pair of tongs, and lits a lamp, “now this will not be long,” he says, immediately putting a kettle on. The place is comfortable, a very cleaned and beautiful place. There are three windows on the side of the door, the floor is a red carpet with golden figures on it. There is also a table and a dresser. A mantelpiece is over the fire and above that, there is an old, dusty book, with some gibberish letter written upon it. In one corner, there is a small bed with some green bedsheets. The sofa, that is placed near the fire is made out of red wool. Stars and crescents are impregnated on the reddish ceiling, almost giving an Arabian-Europen look to the room. I walk through a small corridor, where next to me there are several books with very interesting titles like Equestria a nation or a concept, Dimensional magic, Humanity, the first on the universe? That title makes me tilt my head, as I turn to look at the gargoyle again, "can I ask you a question?" He is preparing everything for my injury, as he silently motions for me to sit on a leather chair. With hesitation, I slowly sit on the chair. I was going to forget that previous question until he responds with a small smile. Dorado and Celestia are glancing at the decorations of the quite comfortable room. "Of course." "How did you know what I am..." I say with curiosity, "and how did you know about Earth.... and how did you call humans, sons of-" "Adan and Eve," the gargoyle responds, raising an eyebrow. I slowly nod, "yes.. how?" He remains silent as he slowly takes the jacket, revealing my skin and pant all washed on blood, "I am an interdimensional species, but I know about the first world ever created." "And what is that?" I question with an intrigued face. "Yours," he points at me and then at Dorado, "Earth is the first world ever created." I wince in pain, as he begins to disinfect my injury, "you were lucky, it almost passed through your artery." I chuckle with my eyes closed, "lucky me I suppose," I open my eyes and looks at the gargoyle again, "you are a demon?" He laughs at those words, shaking his head, "no, no, no, those are the same that the wendigos, I am..." he taps his chin, "in the middle of the two." He begins to clean the blood, applying water and a class of alcohol, "how did you found the princess?" I raise an eyebrow, "some guys in a desert town knew where she was," I raise my view to look at the ceiling, "they only sent us to retrieve her....." "And?" "And," I am silent for a second, trying to think what to say. I sigh, "bring her to the Kingdom of Earth Ponies? I think if I am correct." "Hmph," he chuckles, "do you have any idea of who is she." I become very confused, tilting my head, "an important princess I suppose." "She is not only an important princess," he raises his tone a bit, "she is the heir of the sun." "The heir of the sun?" I ask, "what does that means?" "It means that she will control the sun," he simply states. I can't believe that. "That is impossible, I mean-" "It is possible," he glances at Celestia before looking down to my injury again. He takes two bandages and begins to roll them around my leg, "she still needs to pass a test." "And how could I believe that," I look around the place, "how could I believe in anything of this." A smirk appears on his mouth, "you are now talking with mythology.... Jose Ramirez, right?" "What," I frown a bit, "who told you my name." "No one," he throws something to me, that being my combat rosary, "I read it." I keep looking at the chain with a frown, it all seems so confusing, "why are you helping us?" I expected hesitation, but his response is almost immediate, "unlike other of my kind, I want to do something good, especially when the Princess of the Sun is present here." "But why?" "Because it is right, as I said, you are lucky," he begins to stand up, already finished on cleaning and covering my injury, "these lands were you are located are controlled by the wendigos, you are really lucky....." "The wendigos?" I ask curiously, "I think that I heard about those back home. "Beasts, they control much of Equestria, even with the kingdoms present," he taps his chin, "they are the most powerful of all." The rest of the night was wonderful. After some indications about how should I treat my leg, I quietly thanked him. We then all seated on chairs, ready to eat our dinner. For the first time, I could say it was the best of all, there were toasts, eggs, salad, salt cookies, and tomato soup. We all graced the dinner, as exclusively for me he has prepared a delicious steak, the best that I have eaten in my whole life. He begins to tell us different stories about his homeland, close to the Equestrian border where the winter has become a crawling nightmare, and the unionists of the seven shrines have united into creating the supposedly Greek dimension of Tartarus. He told us the tales of the northern centaurs and the leader of them with a special power that makes him steal the magic from other beasts, with a brother gargoyle, which he called Scorpan. When we finished our principal meal, we all enjoyed a delicious chocolate cake, and the best thing is that it didn't taste like the synthetic bars that they usually give us in the trenches, but different, with a real sugar flavour. He then takes out a small violin, made out of a beautiful spruce and maple wood. "This was a song that I was taught on Earth," he says, closing his eyes and beginning to play a tune. The fire keeps warming the place, our eyes begin to close at the musical sound, the violin resonates upon the walls, as its fine cords keep giving life to the room. "Ut Deus requiem animabus vestris."