“Hmm... Hmmm hhm hmmm....” A feminine voice softly hummed a soft tune, her vocals were padded by the wooden walls of the humbly sized room.
Silk felt a tender cloth blanket comfort his shoulders, back and belly. For him it was hard to breathe, any air he took scraped down against his bare lips and down to his shriveled lungs. He was left without pints of his blood, his wounds sizzling and scratching against anything pressing against them.
But he was surely alive, and regaining a subtle amount of consciousness. “Wh... Wh... Where... Am... I....” The crackling of an open flame and cushioned resting place presented a large contrast to the barren snow he last remembered before blacking out.
The girlish voice stopped her humming to address his inquiry. “Good morning, mister sleepyhead. You're in a safe place now.”
“W-Who... Are... Y-You..?” Silk tried, but was still too weak to lift his eyelids.
“I'm a friend, I brought you all the way here from out of the snow... You were in really poor shape when I first found you.” Silk heard a small tingling sparkle noise and felt his blanket be straightened for him.
“W-What's your... N-Name..? A-Are you... A... P-Pegasus..?” Silk spoke with an ounce of worry.
“No, mister, I'm... Well... What I am is complicated, but I'm most definitely not a pegasus... My name is Lunar Stargaze. What about you?”
Silk panicked upon hearing she wasn't of his kind, but his body ached harshly when he attempted to escape. He took a breath and knew he was just going to accept this for now. “I'm... Argh... I'm Silk... Just Silk. W-What do you want... From me..?”
She softly pressed him down into the blankets and wrapped him up again. “I want you to stay still, your bones are still setting, they could snap again if you put too much pressure on them.”
Her genuine concern confused Silk immensely. “W-Why... Why are you helping me..?”
“Because you needed help, silly.” She stood up to stoke a nearby dying flame, ensuring its continued warmth for the moment.
“B-But... I'm a pegasus... Y-You aren't... ” He argued, though her rebuttal was swift and firm.
“And?” Stargaze looked to him in utter impatience.
“And... I...” He sighed, his lungs burning a little. “I... Don't know anymore...” Lunar may have not seen it, but a faint ghost of a blush appeared across Silk's cheeks as he uttered, “T-Thank you... F-For saving me... I... I guess...” His Pegasian pride rung high.
“You're welcome!” Lunar smiled and giggled for the first time in a while, “I'm so glad you've said that, some ponies I've helped never stop trying to kill me. I'd hug you if... Well... You know, silly.” She giggled once more, this time a bit more to herself.
“R-Right... I-It's just... I used to think the Pegasi race were my family... The military... B-But... I was betrayed...” His eyes relaxed and a tear rung out from each, fogging his already unfocused vision as he came to an epiphany. “They... P-Pegasi are just as bad as everyone else... All the training... T-The loyalty... It... All meant nothing... A pony from my own race... Tried to kill me...”
Lunar put a soft hoof of comfort onto Silk's shoulder, “I understand more than you know, friend.”
Silk twitched, but after a second he pushed away his instinctual fears and relaxed back down, a hoof from a new friend being far more than welcome at this point in his life. “T-Thanks... L-Lunar...” He shut his eyes, body tired from healing. “I-I think I'm gonna sleep now... I'm... Tired...”
“Go ahead... I'll hopefully have dinner done for when you wake up.” Lunar stood up from his side and let him drift away into his dreams.
“What's on your mind, Silk?” Madame Stargaze poured the wounded pegasus a bowl of hot, yet dully flavoured and coloured soup into his cruddy bowl.
Silk let out a disenchanted sigh, “I... I dunno...”
“You can be confident in anything you tell me, Silk, take your time.” Her eyes took a dart up into his and warmed him more than any fire.
“I... I just don't understand it... Why... Why are you so kind..? I... Really don't deserve it...” His head fell, his eyes staring into the deep void lost pride left him with.
“Haven't I already answered that?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I know that... Y-You helped me because I needed it... B-But I don't deserve it... I'm...” He let out a disjointed sigh. “I'm worthless...”
“You are worth more than you can ever imagine, everypony in the world is.” Lunar dropped her bowl and leaned over to hug him. “That's what my mama always told me.”
Silk tensed at her approach, but his nerves settled as her hug tightened around him. “Y-Your mother was a... Kind pony.” He turned a subtle comforted smile away from her.
“She was... Kindest pony in all of Great Bridleton.” Lunar leaned away from him to let him eat. “Please do not worry about deserving my help, I didn't do this wanting to be paid back.”
“T-Thanks... I'm sorry, I just... I guess I'm a little confused about everything... I don't even know what I want to do with myself anymore...” Silk looked up to the cracks in the tent where the night sky should have been.
“I understand how you feel... I used to work on a farm... Once I lost that, I didn't know what to do for a long while...” At this she fell back against a saddlebag of her things, an ornate dagger, blacker than the darkest obsidian, caught her eye. Lunar lifted it up with her soft magic. “I even thought about... Well... You know...” Her head made a slight tilt downward.
“B-But..?”
She smiled. “But I didn't. And I also didn't have to use this thing on anypony else... Luckily.”
“W-Well... I'm glad you're okay...” Silk finished his bowl of mushy food stuffs.
“You will be too, soon enough.” Lunar perked her eyes up. “How about we talk about something else? Take your mind off the matter?”
“Eh... S-Sure... I suppose...”
“What do you want to do after the war is over?”
Silk froze. Every muscle in his body tensing up upon hearing the question, his hopeful memories returning to him. “W-Well... I... I... Well... Sorta... I have a plan...”
“You have a plan? Tell me about it, I would love to hear it.” Her warm voice strung the words together eagerly.
“N-No... I... Well, I had a plan... I... I don't think I'll exactly be able to do it... It was more... Wishful thinking, in hindsight.” He swallowed.
“Wishful thinking is the seed to all the best fruits, tell me about it. Pretty please.” She fluttered her eyelashes.
“F-Fine...” Silk took a long deep breath. “I had this plan... I wanted to build this city in the clouds, it was going to be the perfect place... Every pegasus that lived there would be happy, healthy, never worry about a thing... It'd be a city of freedom, friendship and adventure... It'll... Uh, it'd be absolutely perfect...” He exhaled that same breath. “S-Shame I'll never live to see it.”
“It sounds beautiful.” Lunar stated, encapsulated with the vision in his eyes.
“T-Thanks... If onl-”
“What would you call it?” She interjected.
“S-Sorry?” Silk was thrown off guard.
“Its name, you must have thought of a name.”
Silk couldn't repress the smile nor the tear this memory brought. “C... Cloudsdale... I wanted... W-Want, I want to call it Cloudsdale.”
“Wow, that'd be an amazing name.” Lunar laughed a little.
“Y-Yeah... I... I like it a lot.” He laughed with her, finally enjoying himself again.
“So?” Lunar broke the silence before returning to her own bowl.
“S-So, what?”
“So, are you going to tell me more now?”
Silk chuckled, “R-Right... Well, I want there to be these giant rivers of rainbow...”
When he woke up today Silk felt safe. Knowing that the unicorn Lunar was there in the tent with him, an idea he previously dreaded, soothed him more than anything else. Though the fire, tent and warm blanket most definitely helped as well.
“Mnn... Morning... Lunar.” He rose up and yawned, stretching his healing hooves out, the pain having eased since the night before, and the previous days he'd spent in this tent with his new friend.
His new friend who hadn't responded yet.
Silk's eyes were rubbed and opened to search around the tiny cube he'd been calling home, Lunar not being in her bed or anywhere in sight. “L-Lunar..?!”
“I'm out here, silly!” Her giddy voice came through the tent's opening as she slid her head in through the floppy door. “How are your legs?”
“Oh! Thank the sun... T-They're all right, much better than yes-”
“Come on out here then! You'll want to see this!” Her magic lifted each corner of the tent's exit, giving Silk a clear tunnel out.
“Okay! One moment!” He pressed his weight against a flat hoof, feeling his bones not giving in he stood all the way up, wincing a little as his bandages burned against his scars, but he managed to walk on out of the tent all by himself. “W-Woah.”
His eyes widened and Silk's hooves wandered over the clear brown dirt mush under him. A small circle which extended just a few meters around the tent was clear of any and all snow, ice, and even darkness as the clouds above them held a small gap directly above their heads. The only such opening for as far as an eye can see in every direction.
“I noticed it stopped snowing on us... B-But today the snow had melted away! It's amazing!”
“I... I've never seen anything like it... H-How did this happen?!” Silk began laughing with his friend, stomping his hooves in mud for the very first time in his life.
“Hehe! I don't know! But I do know we should probably move quickly.” Lunar let out a satisfied sigh as her magic began packing bags inside the tent. “As awesome as this is, we do not have time to play in the mud. Any pegasi that fly this way will totally spot us, so we need to split. You think you can walk a bit? We don't have to go too far.”
“Y-Yeah, I can walk. No worries, I could always just fly if...” He attempted to stretch his wing muscles, finding them unresponsive. His eyes wandered down to his wing stubs. After a moment and a sigh he spoke up again. “I can walk.”
“That's good, I'll get the tent.” Lunar encompassed the tent in her spell and pulled it up from the ground muck, each corner one after another. She also retrieved her bags and the makeshift fireplace from inside the leather-hide tent.
After a minute of packing, Lunar helped Silk get his cloak on just before she got on her own, along with all her bags on her back. Her back now humped several large bags, nothing a farmer girl like her wasn't used to though.
“Y-You okay carrying all that?” Silk inquired as his legs softly trembled at just the sight of such heavy lifting.
“Yup! Now let's get goin'!” She stepped out into the puffing snow piles, her hoof crunching down all the way into the snow.
“Right, sorry... Just a unicorn stereotype I guess.” He followed after her, his hooves shuddering at the touch of snow.
“What stereotype?”
“That unicorns are like, physically weak.” He gulped, walking with her up the unbroken snow, leaving behind two parallel rows of hoofsteps.
“Ha! Really? Not me, I've never lost a hoof wrestle. Not once. And I grew up around farmers!”
“Haha, I understand. Sorry that I doubted you, no doubt you're stronger than myself.” Silk chuckled.
“Yup! Couldn't agree more, Mister Silk. Now let's hurry on up before we get bombed, hehe.”
They trotted together, leaving their trail as they wandered in no particular direction, talking about their lives as they have done for the past couple days. They told each other more about their lives every time they talked, opening up to one another.
It wasn't long in their walk before they talked to each other about the time Lunar met Aurora and how her life was turned on its head, and the events that lead up to Silk being betrayed by Midnight and left for dead.
They felt lucky to have not been spotted in their journey. While being so far into earth pony territory improved their chances when it came to being caught by flying enemies, earth pony squads roamed the land often, so Lunar's attention never faltered from the horizon circling around her.
A near hour's walk later the pair had found a new campground, they set up their tent under the trees of a decrepit, long dead forest.
Once they were completely set up again, Lunar began cooking the breakfast they had so far skipped this morning. “Hey, Silk?”
“Yeah?” Silk slumped down into his bedding.
“I was wondering, where did you plan on building your city?” Lunar began setting sparks inside the tiny fireplace.
“Um... Somewhere far away from any pony country... Why?”
“Oh, well I've been wandering aimlessly for quite some time... A few months maybe, I thought perhaps I could come with you. Finally have a goal set for myself.”
Silk thought about it, leading to a calming smile. “Yeah, sure... I don't know what we'd do once we got there, but leaving this war-zone would be pretty nice...”
“I'm glad you think so too. Did you ever have any place you thought about going specifically?” Lunar took out some of her precious rations to begin food preparation.
“Yeah I do, north. All the way north, past the Zebras, the whole of Moonstone... To whatever lies beyond.” The hope in his voice had noticeably returned.
“That sounds good... Though it also sounds like a dreadfully long hike, hehe.”
“Yeah... And doing that distance without wings is going to hurt no doubt, but I want to at least try.” He smiled again.
“That's the spirit!” She giggled, “Now how about we finally eat?”
“Of course, I would love that.” He replied.
They had their breakfast and then began creating their journey's plan, they took out Lunar's map and worked out the general area which they were in. Then they selected several landmarks on the way north that they could follow to ensure they would be going in the correct direction.
Once their full journey was laid out ahead of them they took another rest for the rest of the night, getting their energy up for when they would begin their long trot tomorrow.
The night was calm and warm.
The next morning couldn't have come fast enough, Silk was already stretching out his legs and eating breakfast with Lunar before the sun had fully popped out of the horizon. By the time it had, their bags were packed and wrapped up around Lunar's waist and shoulders.
“Are you ready, Silk?” She smiled over to him.
“Y-Yeah... I think I am.”
“Great! I'm a little excited... I've never been on a proper adventure like this.” She turned with her compass, spinning in place and looking outward down the frosty hall of trees.
“I guess if you don't count my journey out here... T-This is my first as well.”
“And hopefully not the last!” She stepped forward, then looked back to him.
“Y-Yeah. I'm coming.” Silk walked up to her, his hooves having recovered a majority of their strength. “Walking is burning less and less... Heh.”
“Glad to hear that! You'll soon be as strong as a real earth pony!”
Silk raised his eyebrow, his instinct messed with him, making him feel like that wasn't a compliment. “T-Thanks..? I suppose.”
“Hehe, you're most welcome!”
They got all the way out of the forest, breaching the treeline and casting out into the hills. The sun must have been smiling upon them that day, for not a drop of an incident intruded into their walk. No pegasus, earth pony or unicorn came across them over the whole day.
A dozen hours with a hoofful of breaks scattered in between for meals and to help ease Silk's leg pain when it became too intense.
They had outdone themselves on progress and found a small abandoned cottage, split in half by a bomb, for their troubles. They camped there for the night.
“So what would you do, if you saw her again?” Silk massaged his straining thighs.
“You mean the unicorn?” Lunar looked up to the cloudy sky out from the cracks of the cottage roof, only being able to wish that the stars were visible.
“Yeah, you haven't told me her name yet.” He confirmed.
“I ain't told you her name..? Uh... Maybe I just didn't wanna remember it again. It's Aurora, and I'm not sure what I'd do. I haven't thought about that yet...” She looked down to the bedding that she sat on, “I doubt I'd do much, don't even really wanna see her face, let alone talk to her. I don't think I would kill her for revenge or nothing, I wouldn't have the heart really.”
“I see that, you’re kind of a softie, no offense. I can't picture you using that dagger you have... How'd you get that thing anyways?” Silk looked over to her bag where the weapon sat ready if needed.
“I... Actually... Um... I killed a pony for it... I... I don't think I ever wanna do that again.”
Silk's eyes jumped up a little, “Woah.”
Lunar diverted her eyes along with the subject. “Y-Yeah... What about you? If you met that Midnight guy. What would you do?”
“Oh... Well... I don't know if I'd try kill him, I'd definitely be tempted... But have you ever heard the Pegasian saying, wing for a wing?” He flapped his stumps.
“Can't say I have, but I think I get the idea.”
“Yeah, I'm a firm believer in that saying now. More than I ever was before this.” Silk took a long breath and gathered his thoughts. “What did you say that unicorn's name was?”
“Aurora. Why you ask?” Her eyebrow peeked.
“Aurora Sunshine, by any chance?”
Concern hopped to the tip of her voice, “Y-Yes, how'd ya guess?”
“Aurora Sunshine is a royal if my memory serves me right, the daughter of Princess Platinum. She's second most important unicorn to be currently alive.” Silk spoke with hints of disbelief.
“P-Princess... Who..?” Lunar found to be the more curious matter.
“You really did grow up on an earth pony farm didn't you? Princess Platinum is the supreme ruler of the unicorns... Did you not know that?”
“I think I heard it before... Not sure if Aurora said that or somepony else, but yeah it sure rings a bell.”
Silk shook his head and chuckled, “Well, that's not the point, the point is that the pony that hurt you was a big deal... I wonder what she was doing...”
Lunar paused and scraped through her memory, finding it uncomfortably easy to remember that day she met Aurora. “I think she said something about a pony she wanted to marry, she was going to meet him somewhere... I think.”
“Funny... Midnight said the same thing... He was going to see his 'princess' and marry her...” Silk made the connection, but he didn't suggest the unicorn and pegasus were each other's lovers to Lunar, it just sounded a bit too ridiculous and he didn't want to seem dumb.
“You don't think they are going to marry each other do you?” Lunar said casually.
“I, uh, um, I... Well, that's unlikely... To say the least... They're different species... Which don't...” He looked up at Lunar and watched as she magically lifted up her blanket to wrap around her legs, his eyes landed on her horn. “Mix... A-And they’re both royals so... They could have easily been introduced before the war...”
“So you think they're lovers too?” Lunar asked as she snuggled up.
“Y-Yeah... They must be...” Silk's jaw had fallen.
“Hehe, that's quite the coincidence.” She yawned, “If you don't mind, I'm gonna sleep now. Nighty night.”
He blinked, “R-Right, goodnight.”
Silk thought about that for a long time that night.
The next day came like any other, and with a very light ration for breakfast the two went back on their journey. Snow covered plains and mountain sides were traversed over hours, two hoofsteps at a time. The weather may have been as cold as always, but it didn't bother the two of them as much as it did before, friendship seemed to warm more than just their hearts.
After a short inclined hike up a large hill, the pair saw another landmark. It was a large Earth Pony mining town, the map called it 'Silver Hen'. Of course they made no attempt at getting anywhere near the town, and could see from their distant vantage point that they were very much not welcome. Each machine gun trench a big fat sign to keep out.
“Awesome! I'll mark it off.” Lunar took out their map and drew two opposing lines through the town.
“Where's next?” Silk asked while inspecting the turrets closely, his pegasus eyes allowed him to nearly beat binoculars if he focused himself.
“Ah... Another town, it's real close by... It's called... Blackwall... Oh! That's one I've heard about before, Gravel once ordered a few books from there for our town, I think they make paper and stuff there.”
“Hmm, interesting. Let's rest for a few and then get going again.” Silk trotted to and sat against a dead tree.
“You sure you don't want a long rest? We've been walking pretty relentlessly for more than a day now.”
“And somehow I feel better now than I ever did before... Heh, we'll take a short rest. Unless you need longer.” Silk smiled up to her.
“Short rest is fine with me.” She sat down along the side of the tree for a few dozen minutes with her companion, and they were already gone and on their hooves before the hour passed.
They knew getting to Blackwall wouldn't happen today as it was already the evening and with all the snow it would be at least a day’s walk, but they were content with simply making mostly there. While traveling down the hills they noticed a set of tracks; hoofprints with a long line on either side made by wheels. It was heading from Silver Hen directly to Blackwall. The two proposed it was left behind by a merchant or supplier of some kind.
Once they got close enough though, they decided to keep far away from the tracks in case they ran into somepony, no matter how useful of a time saver it would be to know what is probably the best path, the risk was too great.
After only a few minutes of trotting their blessings of uneventfulness had finally ran out.
The horizon screamed with pain, somepony cried out in absolute distress, begging for mercy from someone or something.
“What in the sun's holy blaze is that?” Silk's head leapt up from his shoulders.
“I-I dunno! Quickly we need to help them!” Lunar began sprinting, kicking up snow as she pushed forward.
“Lunar! Slow down!” Silk jumped up, and then immediately fell back down, his wing nubs helpless in aiding him to catch up to Lunar. “Arghh! Fuck!” He shook the snow off his face and went up on his four legs and ran after, having lost a dozen meters of space to her.
“Come on, Silk! We need to help!” Lunar ran and ran, the hill slowly falling behind her hooves until the pained pony was in her view. She fell back and hugged a tree, crawling down into the snow to conceal herself as much as possible as she stared wide eyed at the shadowy monsters standing over and interrogating a pony who begged for their life.
“PLEASE, I HAVEN'T SEEN ANYPONY, DON'T HURT ME!” The tortured pony screamed as Silk caught up and was pulled down behind the frozen wooden trunk with Lunar.
“W-What's going on?” He asked the unicorn in hushed tones to not have a chance at drawing attention.
“I know those things...” Lunar looked up at the cart that was shattered and thrown over in the snow. “And they have the pony that was leaving the trail...”
“T-Those are the shadow things you talked about..?” Silk concentrated, seeing the several blasted shadows crashing together like clouds in a thunderstorm, deadly magic pulsing from them like a black hole.
It was only a second later that the pony was stabbed and killed by an identical blade to the one Lunar held at her side.
“W-We should go before we get spotted, the weather is picking up and I don't want to be stuck here between them and a bliz-” Before Silk could finish, a voice, even more distant than the recently slaughtered pony, rang through the air. A voice Silk knew all too well, and a name Lunar dreaded to hear again.
“AURORA!” Midnight Eclipse yelled out from another hilltop, both Silk and Lunar's eyes jumped and locked onto the three small dots in the distance, one Midnight, the other Aurora, and the third a mystery to them.
“N-No way...”
“It can't be...”
The weather continued to build up rapidly. It felt like mere seconds since it was clear day, and now winds blasted against their sides and faces, making it harder and harder to see.
“I... I'm going to kill that bastard... I'm going to catch up and stab him through the sun-damned throat!” Silk kicked and thrashed at the snow, blinded by more than the storm.
“S-Silk keep your voice down, come here, the weather is getting too bad... W-We have to just hunker down until this storm blows over, come here!” The sound of the blizzard's wind began overwhelming all other noises.
Silk took a breath, his rage was unsated, but he was a trained soldier, he knew how to control himself. “Grr... Y-You're right... Fine...” He curled up into a hug with her as she pulled out their tent and magically wrapped herself and Silk in it, then piled snow on top to conceal them from the Shadow Service.
“N-Now what?” Silk whispered, their cocoon blotting out a decent portion of the rushing sounds of wind.
“Now we wait, and pray that those shadow unicorns do not find us.”
Silk took a sigh. “Okay... Ugh... I'm really fucking cold now.” He shivered out.
“Me too, Silk. At least I have you to keep me warm.”
“Yeah... And I have you to keep me safe… I might not have gotten control of myself just now if it wasn’t for you... Thank you.”
Lunar smiled best she could as her jaw shook. “It's my pleasure.”
Silk smiled too.