//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five: The Traitor 
// Story: Snowrunners 
// by Argonaut44 
//------------------------------//

Through the hellish torrent of rain and great pillars of freezing wind, three ponies could be seen like specks on the face of a mountain ridge, that peered over the great northern forests like towers of bulking might. Staggering over slippery rocks and twisted formations, the trio had been subjected to the unfavorable weather conditions for close to an hour, moving slower and slower the worse the onslaught of rain and wind became. The mountain was cast in darkness as the fury of the storm raged on above. Small streams had begun to slide down between the crevices of the rocks. Where there weren’t wet surfaces that could easily be slipped on, there were thick caches of mud that bubbled up with rain water. The rain blew back and forth like currents due to the wind, showering over the mountains and forests beyond with seemingly no end in sight.
Guardian Angel was at the front, gritting her teeth as she put all her strength into marching forward through the rain. The mountain was beginning to get steeper, adding yet another obstacle to the ponies’ ascent. She held one of her front hooves up to shield her eyes from the needles of rain that descended from the sky like bullets. Tied around her other front hoof was a string of rope, leading behind her and connecting to the rope restraints of the newest addition to the group, Sundance, the rebel prisoner Guardian had insisted on bringing along with them. He was a sopping mess, his strength withered and his resolve weak, dragging himself forward against the fury of the wind. His climb was slow and tedious, grunting with every step forward as if his legs were about to give out right then and there. He was beginning to think he’d prefer to have been left behind at the cabin, even if that meant a slow death in the cold. And Silver Saber was in the back, carefully watching Sundance ahead of her to make sure he didn’t attempt to run off somewhere. Though, with such hostile weather, she didn’t expect him to try anything. Her injured leg had mostly healed, though she still wasn’t completely prepared for a climb up such treacherous heights. The rain was so dense, so ferocious, that it was difficult to see too far ahead, and Silver could feel the water begin to freeze right onto her armor and skin. She kept trying to shake herself off, but the rain was absolutely relentless. The sky was a terrifying dark blue and black, and the sun seemed to have completely disappeared. Lost in a dark world of incessant precipitation and freezing cold, each of the ponies were beginning to wonder how much longer they could last out here.  





Earlier that morning, Guardian had woken up first, and was pleased to see that Sundance was still unconscious on the floor near the kitchen, just where she had left him since clocking him over the head last night. Guardian saw Silver still curled up in her chair, and decided to let her sleep a little longer, hoping that some rest would do her some favors. The only two pieces of furniture left intact after the scuffle of the previous night were the two leather chairs Guardian and Silver had used as beds, 
Not bothering to move off of her chair, Guardian quietly checked her bag to inspect her belongings. Rations were down to half, though that wasn’t too bad, considering they had already been traveling for a few days. Miraculously, she still felt optimistic about their chances of success. Having made it this far, relatively halfway to their destination, was already something to be taken as impressive. The Mountain Passage wasn’t known for being kind to its visitors. And as far as Guardian could tell, the worst was already behind them. 
The soft sunrise light streamed in through the windows of the cabin, shaded by the ever-present overcast sky. Guardian could see particles of dust drifting through the air, aimlessly tumbling to unknown destinations. She wondered of her own fate; still she insisted upon herself to focus solely on the positive.  
She noticed Sundance, who appeared to be at least ten years older than her, likely narrowly short of the age maximum for conscription. His face was hard, worn from the inhospitable conditions of the north, and speckled with dirt. He was almost beastly in nature, with firm muscles and a bitter clenched jaw. Just by the looks of him, Guardian found herself afraid, and at the same time impressed with herself, for having a defeated a soldier nearly twice her senior. 
Guardian's eyes drifted over again to the sleeping Silver, who, even in her dreams, had an indignant, residual anger resonating on her face, as if she was about to either burst into tears or fly into a fit of rage. Guardian noticed the unicorn twitch a few times, and hoped she wasn’t having a nightmare again. On more than one occasion, Guardian had witnessed Silver have some spouts of violent thrashing in her sleep, the product of some terrible nightmares that Guardian preferred not to know the details of. She felt sympathy for Silver, who she knew as somepony with more than enough internalized pain to live with, possibly even to a self-destructive fault.  
Guardian had always made an effort to tolerate and get along with everypony. But Silver was one of the few who Guardian truly felt required her to make an effort to better herself. She did admire Silver’ determination, though if only Silver’s resentment for everypony else around her could diminish, she could perhaps begin to lighten up.  
As long as Guardian had known her, Silver had never been a pony defined by her anger, rather a victim of it. Silver had always appeared to be merely dissatisfied, both with her own life and the world around her. And the worse the world became, and the worse her life became, the less control over her anger she could manifest. And now there was a new development to contribute to that anger, one with a pony’s face. 
To what end honor compelled her, Guardian was aware of how logistically impractical it was to bring Sundance along with them. He was a burden, an unnecessary load to add to the collection of crushing obstacles already waiting in their path. But it might not have just been honor, nor pity, that made her spare his life. She didn’t know this rebel pony, Sundance, in fact they had barely shared any words prior to him being knocked unconscious to the ground. He was a stranger, utterly and entirely, and that was what may have been so alluring. He was the enemy, a live specimen of the supposed monsters who had brought about the ruin of Equestria. It was a strange feeling, to understand that he and his allies were the ones responsible for all of the misery that had encompassed Equestria for the past year. It was strange, to look in his eyes and understand that, and yet in any other situation he would’ve just been another pony in a crowd. Nothing special in the slightest. To know that her very own neighbors, or friends, could end up just like him, waging a terrible war and devolving into murderous monsters, as could anypony, made her uncomfortable. To think that those ponies immortalized in the textbooks as the villains of history, were once just as ordinary at surface value as anypony else, was an uneasy sentiment, but one that Guardian felt curiosity towards, to perhaps discover some sort of bridge between the divide that had already ravaged her homeland. 
When he had surrendered himself to her, she had felt the distant voice of opportunity calling out to her, beckoning her to take advantage of a rare chance that may never come again. To see how the other side lives, to see whether the ponies she had been fighting all this time were really any different than her.
Silver, however, didn’t feel inclined to see things that way. All she saw was another sorry attempt by Guardian to stick some naïve moral code into their mission, one that would doom the mission to fail. She had let Guardian have it her way, though ideally not for too long. 
Silver awoke in a huff, as if she had thought she was about to be hit by an oncoming vehicle, or face some other disastrous encounter. She produced a high-pitched, admittedly embarrassingly terrified yelp out of fright, her entire body convulsing as she jolted herself awake. 
“Silver?” Guardian said from her chair a few yards away, while Silver was gasping for breath. Her face was pale, and she appeared close to throwing up. Whatever she had been dreaming of, Guardian prayed she never had to experience it. 
Guardian cautiously trotted over to Silver, gently grabbing her by the arms to shake her back into reality. 
“Are you alright?” Guardian asked, her face wound tight with concern.
Silver couldn’t bring herself to answer, far too perturbed by her nightmares to pretend she was perfectly alright. 
“Silver, we should go. That storm is gonna hit us soon, and I don’t want to be caught out here,”  Guardian said, pulling a groggy Silver off of her chair. Silver’s skin was pale and her breath was short, and she went out of her way to avoid making eye contact with Guardian, who was trying her best to make Silver feel at ease. 
Silver shook her head back and forth in an attempt to wake herself up. 
“Are you ok? Here, drink something,” Guardian said, trotting over to the kitchen to pour some water out from her canteen into a cup she took from a stack near the cupboards. She brought the cup over to Silver, who sheepishly accepted it and gulped down the whole thing. Her face was worn down with fear, upon remembering that she wouldn’t even be spared from the horrors of war in her sleep. She was exhausted, but grateful, glancing up at Guardian with appreciative eyes. Despite her trembling psyche, she did feel deep relief that she had a friend like Guardian, and couldn’t even recall what could have caused them to have a rout yesterday.
Then she remembered, when from the corner of her eye she saw Sundance, lying on the hardwood floor near the kitchen island with his mouth loosely hanging open. 
“Guardian, it’s a bad idea,” Silver said, “Just leave him here. There’s a well outside, he’ll have water. He’ll be fine,” Silver said. 
Guardian shook her head, having already made up her mind. 
“Look, I know you don’t want him around, but...We may be able to get some use out of him...Like it or not, he knows this area better than us. He must know the positions of most of the rebel units around here. He mentioned his own, but there’s probably more,” Guardian said, having already reached a firm conclusion last night before she had fallen asleep, “Once we get over this mountain, we’ve got a straight shot down past the river to the 19th…”
“We’ve only got food for...I count five days...Less if we have to feed him too,” Silver argued.
“We’ll get by. It won’t take the whole five days, two at most, if we don’t waste time,” Guardian said.
Silver bit her lip, still uncertain that it was worth taking the risk of dragging a prisoner around. 
“I don’t know about this...And my leg’s still not great,” Silver said, softly grunting as she adjusted her injured leg. 
“We’ve got each other, Silver, we’ll be alright,” Guardian said, gifting Silver with a quick hug, which Silver warmly accepted. Her eyes closed during the embrace, grateful for the trusting bond she had to depend on.  
“I don’t trust him,” Silver muttered, still in disagreement. 
Guardian smirked as she backed away to prepare her bag for their departure. 
“You don’t trust anypony, do you?” she said, clipping her canteen back to her bag. Silver gave a half-hearted laugh, though she wasn’t sure she was a fan of Guardian’s characterization.
“Can you wake him up? We should really go,” Guardian said. 
Silver smugly obeyed the command, trotting outside and quickly returning with a snowball in her hoof. 
Before Guardian could even be aware of what she was doing, she heard the sound of ice flying directly into Sundance’s face. 
Sundance yelled in surprise, springing up to his hooves, only to immediately trip and fall on his face. Groaning in pain, Guardian swiveled around to catch Silver bursting into laughter. 
 “What? He’s awake,” Silver said, giggling. 
Sundance gritted his teeth, desperately fighting back against the ropes that were still tied tightly around his hooves. 
“Hey, stop that,” Silver said, lightly kicking him with her hoof. 
Guardian walked over and brought Sundance up to his hooves. 
“You’re coming with us,” Guardian said. 
Sundance glared at Guardian, still harboring some major ill-feeling towards the pegasus who had bested him in combat. 
“You won’t last long out there, neither of you. What’s that, royal guard armor? And you, unicorn, you’re a lunar guard? Yes, I see. Canterlot folk, in over their heads. This isn’t some pearly palace, you know, you ought to go home,” Sundance said, seething with rage and humiliation. 
“You got a bandage or tape we can shut him up with, or something?” Silver asked, “If he’s coming with us, I at least don’t want to be listening to that the whole time.”
“No, I think he’ll be quiet,” Guardian said, condescendingly leaning in closer towards Sundance.
“Right?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. 
Sundance took a deep breath in an attempt to control his anger, and decided it would be better to comply for the time being. 
“Right.”
“See? We can get along,” Guardian said, grabbing a hold of Sundance’s rope leash. 
 
Silver slipped her bag onto her back, before joining Guardian and a miserable Sundance by the door. 
“Ready?” Guardian asked, nodding at Sundance. He rolled his eyes, unwilling to cooperate beyond walking alongside them.
“Ready?” Guardian asked, this time to Silver, who seemed slightly more lively than usual. Though, it was probably more the exhilarating fear boiling up inside her more than anything else. 
“Ready,” Silver replied. 
Guardian, wearing a tight smile, quickly nodded and pushed open the door, taking her first step into the blistering cold outside. 





 Rain came down like pails of water, making the already-difficult terrain even harder to climb. The wind was a tantrum, shaking the trees and rattling the rocks, and Silver wondered a few times if she’d be blown right off the mountain. 
Sundance hadn’t spoken a word since they had left the cabin, and was still bound in thick ropes, held by a leash, on the other side of which was Guardian’s hoof. He had resolved to be minimally compliant, but only to gain his captors’ trust, possibly enough to set up an escape. Silver would often let him take note of her piercing, disapproving glare, waiting for the moment when Guardian would give up her moral quest. She rarely let anypony except higher-ranking officers overpower her own will when it came to tactical decisions, though Guardian counted as an exception. Silver was aware she could be overly stubborn, but she truthfully preferred not to engage in heated arguments, especially not with a friend. 
Guardian didn’t feel as though she owed Silver an explanation as to why it wasn’t ethical to leave Sundance out to die, though she knew any attempt would be pointless anyway. 
The world was cast in dark blacks and blues, as the rain poured down mercilessly. With every step, Silver concentrated her anger on overcoming the aggressive downpour, as if she was in a physical battle. She was fighting for her own redemption, recognizing that should the mission be a success, her reputation may improve with the officer core, and she may even get some status back, after her bleak demotion. Part of her wanted to see Luna ask her back, just so she could refuse, to stick it back to the pony who practically ruined her life. Outside of the 14th Rangers, who had accepted her as one of their own, ponies all over the military knew Silver as the guard who was fired by Princess Luna, and an ill-reputation that unfortunately stuck to her wherever she went. 
Up the slippery rocks of the mountain, Sundance was the first to finally succumb to exhaustion, collapsing onto his knees against the rocks. For the past four days he had been covering miles and miles of distance with his scouting patrol, and wasn’t much in the condition for some more mountain climbing. Silver, from behind, was already sour as a result of the weather, and had no intention of putting up with the rebel pony’s struggling.
“Look at that, standard rebel material. We’ve got foals with better stamina than you,” Silver spat, preparing to land a devastating kick to Sundance’s back. 
 Silver’s hoof found its mark, precisely as intended. 
The exhausted, disgruntled pony forced himself back up to his hooves, stumbling on his shaking legs, before collapsing yet again. Silver gave a sigh of frustration and kicked him again, this time hard enough to cause him to cry out in pain. 
“Silver, stop,” Guardian said, from up ahead, turning around to sort out the other two, not unlike a concerned mother. 
Silver stared at her with contempt, and backed away from the prisoner, who was trying to catch his breath after enduring a short barrage of kicks to his head and back. 
Guardian flew down the rocky ridge of the mountain face to where Sundance was, crouching down beside him, and helping him back up to his hooves. 
She swirled her head over to leave Silver with a disapproving glare, before continuing her march forwards up the steep cliffs of the mountain. 

For twenty more minutes, their pace had decreased to short steps and frequent pauses, holding onto whatever fixed structures they could find for fear of losing balance in the chaos of the rain and wind. At one point, everything seemed to get even worse, and visibility was reduced to practically zero. 
“We can’t go on!” Silver yelled, as the rain and wind continued to pick up. The mountain would only get steeper from there, and with the current weather, they weren’t making much progress anyway. 
Guardian couldn’t risk trying to fly, as the wind was so strong she feared she’d lose control and be carried off somewhere. She decided Silver was right, that they’d have to stop and find cover for the time being. 
It was difficult to make much out through the thick onslaught of rain, though Guardian persisted in pushing forwards along the ridge, hoping to find some sort of cave or something for them to take cover in.
She located just that, a small cave, carved into the side of the mountain, not too far from where they were. 
Guardian shuffled back around, motioning with her hoof for the other two to follow after her.  

She climbed across the ridge to the cave first, the others close behind, all of them plainly dropping themselves to the dry floor inside, unapologetically exhausted.
“We shouldn’t have gone this way,” Guardian said, bluntly, as soon as they made it inside the cave. It wasn’t too large, but had enough space to fit all three ponies, who were now all lying on the ground, drained of energy and drenched in freezing cold rain. Silver, who happened to already be highly irritated with Guardian for taking Sundance along with them, was in disbelief at how thorough Guardian seemed to be with her sporadic, intolerable lunacy.
“Maybe you didn’t realize, the storm would’ve hit us if we were still in the forest too,” Silver spat. 
“We should’ve stuck to the Colonel’s orders! To stay by that creek!” Guardian yelled, “What good has come this way? Your leg is still wounded and now we’re going to be held back by the rain!”
“Oh, what a surprise. Guardian’s incapable of thinking two steps past what the orders are. You should know by now, the plan sometimes has to be adapted.”
“We’ve only got four days left now before the northern battalions leave! We shouldn’t have wasted time on this stupid shortcut!” Guardian yelled. 
“That’s rich! Slowing us down! We’ve got a lot of dead weight I think we can do without!” Silver yelled.
 Sundance glared at the unicorn, who he was well-aware was dead-set on killing him.  He was also now aware that she had a wounded leg, which he hoped to take advantage of as soon as he got a chance. Silver noticed him glaring at her, and was immediately set off, practically pouncing towards him, sticking her face just a few inches from his. 
“You heard me, the second she gets some sense, you’re dead,” Silver threatened, unsettling Sundance, who was too weary to speak up for himself. 
Guardian sighed and checked the weather outside, which didn’t seem to be improving. 
“We’ll wait here until it calms down out there. Save some strength,” Guardian said.
Silver backed away from a nervous Sundance, sitting against the wall opposite to him, carefully keeping her eyes open to make sure he didn’t try to escape. 

Close to a half hour of waiting for the rain and wind to let up, Guardian decided that now would be a decent time as any to restructure their plan, which had already encountered some unintended hiccups. 
She surprised Sundance, dumping out a large map she had just received and unfolded from her bag . 
“We need to get to the river,” Guardian said, hoping he would have some usefulness to justify keeping him alive, “North.”
Sundance was close to drifting off to sleep, he was so tired, though he couldn’t help but feel obligated to help Guardian, minimally of course, as a small show of thanks for not having him killed already.
“You’re on the right path, down the mountain, back to the forest, straight a-ways.”
“What’s there? Anything that could be a hazard?” Guardian asked. 
“The way you’re going, over this ridge, you’ll have a pretty steep drop to get to where the river is. You could fly over it, I guess, but you’ll be caught by pegasi no doubt. And your friend will be stuck at the top.”
Guardian subtly turned her head back to Silver, who seemed to be hopeful for an alternative course. 
“Is there another way?”
Sundance scanned his memory, before recalling a faint solution.
“There is, if I remember right. A divot in the ridge. Leads down towards the river. There’s a town there.” 
“A town? Are your friends there?”
“No, I already told you, my unit’s east from here.”	
“What’s the name of the town?” Silver asked from across the cave, chiming in unannounced. 
“I don’t know! It’s a small town, we stopped there for some drinks a few months ago,” Sundance replied. 
“Where are the other rebels in this area?” Guardian asked.
“There was a battalion further south, I don’t know how many of them are left. Intel said there was another coming down north to meet some unit of yours, marching up through the passage,” Sundance replied, beginning to grow weary of answering these questions. 
Guardian glanced at Silver, presuming that unit to mean the 13th Velvet Regiment, of whom they had personally helped send off into the passage just days prior.
“So if we go around or through this town, we won’t run into any trouble?” Guardian asked. 
“I’d say probably not. Though your friend doesn’t seem to trust my word anyway.”	
Guardian mulled it over, aware that Sundance could very well be trying to trick them. 
“You’ll be helping us stay on course then, into that town. Will there be boats? To cross the river?”
“Of course there’ll be boats.”
Guardian nodded, seemingly content, though still uncertain over the validity of Sundance’s claims. 
“Alright,” she said, closing up the map and repacking it, deciding they would have to focus on getting over the mountain before worrying about anything else. 

“That’s enough, let’s go,” Guardian said after another hour, once the weather had finally started to get better. The rain had dulled to a mild pattern, and the wind was calmer. 
The trio set off once more, exiting the cave back into the open air of the mountain. 

And, down the other side they found themselves in more forested areas, dark trees with twisted branches and bright red leaves teetering on the edge of mounds of dirt and rocks. Everything was terribly wet from the storm, and drizzle persisted even still. 
“Hurry up,” Silver muttered, purposefully stepping on Sundance’s hoof. The rebel merely scowled and kicked her hoof away, trying to stay closer to Guardian, who seemed to have his interests more in mind.
“When exactly do you intend to release me?” Sundance asked, spitefully. 
“Who said we were going to release you?” Guardian replied. 
Sundance laughed, glancing around the forest as if he believed he had friends already nearby to rescue him. Silver noticed this, adding to her paranoia that they were being followed. Every bird in the sky made her freeze up for a moment, believing it to be another rebel pegasi patrolling the airways.  
“They’re out there. Somewhere. What should happen once they find you? Hm? You won’t be able to outrun them with me tagging on,” Sundance said, smirking. 
“I think we’ll manage,” Guardian said, dryly. She had thought Sundance would be grateful for her kindly insisting on him to live, though his mouth seemed to keep running.  
“Don’t worry, you’ll be dead before you’re left for your friends to find, smart ass,” Silver said, kicking Sundance hard again in the leg. He practically growled at her, the two glaring at each other with mutual hatred.  
“You’ll both be sorry when this is over. Kill me now, or kill me later, it won’t change a thing. In the end you’ll both be in some camp somewhere in the frozen north, slaving away until you run out of use and get put to death already.” 
“You hear that, Guardian? That right there? You really want to keep him alive now?” Silver asked, eagerly waiting for her chance to put an end to the rebel. She was anxious, more anxious than she had been the whole journey. She didn’t like having an enemy so close to her, let alone one who kept making threats. For all the talk she usually had, Silver was afraid of the rebels in the northern forests. Their reputation was one of cruelty and domination. 
“What do you expect him to say? What would you be saying if you were being marched around in ropes...Actually, don’t answer that. But it’d be a lot worse,” Guardian said. 
Silver grumbled and kicked Sundance again, this time so hard he had to stop for a moment to hold onto his leg in pain. 
“Silver, you let him be, he’s not doing anything wrong,” Guardian said, scoldingly. 
“Sure he is, he’s still breathing, isn’t he? I have half a mind to try and fix that, if you weren’t so forgiving,” Silver said, preparing to land another sickening blow to a vulnerable Sundance. But she was stopped, when Guardian ran up in front of her. 
“It’s wasting time, have you thought about that?”
“Yeah, listen to her, miserable bitch,” Sundance muttered. Guardian quickly helped him up to his hooves, but before he could thank her, she smacked him right across the face. 
“Don’t call her that.”
Guardian marched back up the front, leaving both Sundance and Silver a bit stunned. 

Silver remained in the back while Sundance slowly caught up to Guardian, who would tug on his leash everytime he began to saunter too much.
“There’s a fork in the road,” Guardian pointed out. 
“Left. Always stick left from here on, until you reach the divot,” Sundance said, nearly slipping on some soggy red leaves lying in the path.  
“Can I ask you something?” Guardian said, catching Sundance off guard. 
“I’m the one in cuffs. Do what you want,” Sundance said, mostly under his breath. Guardian seemed unaffected by his mild sarcasm, proceeding as if he just gave her a simple, cheerful ‘yes.’
“If you had beaten me, would you have killed me?” Guardian inquired
Sundance wasn’t sure what to make of the question, since such a hypothetical was the exact opposite of the reality they had found themselves in.
“Your friend was still in the house, killing my mates,” Sundance reminded. 
“So would you have killed me?” Guardian asked. 	
“I would’ve held you hostage, I would expect. Then I could escape. Otherwise she would’ve killed me. Not much I can do against a unicorn, except fly away.”
“Don’t count on that, I’ve got a quarter-mile range,” Silver yelled out from a few yards behind, smirking to herself. 
“Ok. Say Silver was knocked out or something, that it was just you and me. What would you have done then?”
Sundance hesitated, as he truthfully wasn’t sure what the answer would be. 
“Is this just some kind of joke, to gloat? I had you down before you surprised me, you barely got the upper hoof,” Sundance said, dismissively. 
“Oh, is that right? Can’t even admit that you got beaten?” Guardian said, teasingly. 
“Your hoof work was sloppy, by the way. Where’d you learn to fight? An alleyway in Manhattan?” Sundance said. 
“I was the top of my class at the academy, actually. Personally trained by Blade Parry,” Guardian said, unashamed to be a little arrogant. 
“Blade Parry! I’ll be! No wonder you’re sloppy,” Sundance said. 
“You...You know him?” Guardian asked. 
“I do! We were chums a while ago, the same grade at the academy,” Sundance explained. 
“The academy? You were a royal guard?” Guardian asked, shocked. 
“Long time ago. I left long before all this, don’t get in such a row about it,” Sundance said. 
“You’re worse than a traitor, you’re a defector!” Silver yelled, furiously. 
“I thought you fought better than most of the rebel soldiers I meet...You could’ve killed me, I know it, but you didn’t, you let me get back up...” Guardian said. 
Sundance sighed, still hostile to accepting any potential gestures of friendship.   
“Yes, you beat me, fair as anything. It’s improper to cut down an opponent helpless on the ground,” Sundance said, with conviction.
Silver kept her mouth shut, recalling the defenseless young rebel soldier she had mercilessly slaughtered just the day prior. 
“Did you know Shining Armor when he was young? What was he like?” Guardian asked. 
Sundance seemed to be slightly bemused by the question, taken aback by a starry-eyed Guardian, who was very eager to learn about the older generations of guards, most of whom now were the ones giving her commands. 
“He was younger than me, I hadn’t heard of him really, but I suppose he must’ve been there during my last year or two. If I had stuck around a bit longer they would’ve offered me a job instructing him, I suspect. But I left, and so now you’re telling me they’ve got Blade Parry of all ponies teaching foals how to stick somepony with a sword. You’ve made me laugh, you have. If you see him again, send him my regards. I respect a pony who’s paid more than he deserves, it means he’s smart in the ways that count. Not for the benefit of you little trainees, though.”
Guardian wasn’t sure whether her feelings towards Sundance had changed, knowing that he had once been a royal guard the same as them. She supposed he had yet to prove any sort of true villainy as of yet, and his  problematic attributes remained constricted merely to a resounding animosity towards her and Silver. And given he was their captive at the moment, she couldn’t claim that to be unreasonable. 

Trotting down the sloped forest of damp red trees, it was Guardian who first noticed an odd aroma filling the air. 
“Do you smell that?” Guardian asked. 
Sundance and Silver both stopped behind Guardian on the path, pausing to sniff around for anything peculiar. 
“That’s smoke,” Silver said, worrily. Smoke likely meant ponies, and ponies likely meant rebels. That very last thing Silver needed right then. Her nightmares seemed to persist into the day, and the world around her was almost surreal. She was beginning to see faces in the trees, figures in the distance that weren’t there. And eyes, most bizarrely. Eyes peeking out from shadowy bushes or underneath rocky crevices, staring directly at her. She was tense, and the knowledge that yet another confrontation may be upon them made her head rattle with thoughts of death and torment. 
Then the sound of a screaming mare bursted through the air, deriving from somewhere farther up ahead on the path. 
“Somepony’s in trouble!” Guardian exclaimed. 
“Wait, wait, Guardian, it’s a trap, a rebel trick, it’s gotta be,” Silver said, terrified that Guardian was about to run right into her death. 
“We have to help them!” Guardian said, quickly springing into a light jog down the path. Tugging on Sundance’s leash, he was forced to keep up, though with his rope cuffs it was difficult. 
Silver nervously followed after, preparing herself to engage the enemy. 
Trotting over a hill, the full scene suddenly came into view. Off the side of the dirt road that extended out through the red forest, there was a house, two stories tall and built from wood. And beside that house was a smaller fixture, built like a barn, ridden with bright orange flames that sent great wisps of thick smoke into the air. 
 The screaming, as Guardian quickly realized, was coming from inside the burning building. At least two distinct voices could be heard, as well as a dog barking. 
Guardian wasted no time slipping off the other end of Sundance’s leash from her hoof, tossing it to an unexpecting Silver.
“Guardian, I’m serious! That thing is about to collapse, don’t do anything stupid!” Silver said, angrily. 
Guardian had already unbuckled the straps of her duffel bag, dumping it on the ground in front of the other two. She turned to Silver with a commanding hoof raised in the air. 
“Don’t let him escape,” Guardian said, before turning and spreading her wings wide. 
She darted through the air towards the barn, which was now fully engulfed in flames. 
She saw a small brown dachshund dog outside in the grass, barking at the fires aggressively. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do much more than that. 
Guardian crept up towards the door, wary of the fires. 
“Hey! Is there anypony in there?!” Guardian yelled, waving smoke away from her face. 
“Yes!” came a voice, immediately, “Yes! Please help!” a mare inside yelled. 
“Is there any way I can get inside?” Guardian asked. 
“The front door, it’s locked from the outside!” the mare screeched. 
Guardian saw the handle of the door was braced with a large metal fastener. All she’d have to do was lift it, though the only obstacle was the searing hot metal that was currently roasting in the fires. 
Guardian took a few deep breaths before forcing her hoof through the fires to lift up the latch. She screamed in pain as she pushed up on it, releasing the latch, at the cost of some second degree burns on her hoof. 
As soon as the latch was released, the doors were flung open, two mares rushing out from inside, falling to their knees on the grass away from the burning barn. 
“Oh! A soldier! Thank you! But please, you have to help my father, he’s trapped!” the mare yelled, while the other pony, presumably her sister or friend judging by her age, rushed over to the dog in the grass, making sure the small canine wasn’t harmed. 
Guardian quickly followed the mare’s pointed hoof inside the barn.

From up on the hill, Silver sighed in disapproval. 
“She’s going to get herself killed,” Sundance muttered, hinting at a possible admiration. 

Guardian dashed over the flames, the mare nervously walking behind her. 
“There! Over there!” the mare cried, pointing at an old yellow-coated stallion earth pony, lying on the ground, pinned underneath a large wooden pillar that had collapsed during the fire. 
“Go back outside, I’ll get him out of here!” Guardian said, rushing the mare back the way she came. 
Carefully stepping over the fires on the ground, Guardian was beginning to sweat beneath the agonizing heat. The air was difficult to breathe, polluted with smoke. 
“Sir?” Guardian called out, hoping the stallion was still alive. She saw him make some minor movements, which was enough for her to double her efforts, with hopes of saving the poor old stallion’s life. 
Suddenly, a loud crashing sound bellowed out from above, and down came swinging another flaming pillar that had been supporting the second story rafters above. 
Guardian dove out of the way right before the pillar would’ve run right into her, narrowly dodging a similar fate as the poor old stallion.
She suddenly found herself in a coughing fit, and she had landed on some small fires that singed the hairs of her coat. Her armor began to burn her skin from inside as it conducted heat, adding to her stress. She was slippery with sweat, as her armor cooked her skin like she was stuck inside an oven. 
Guardian crawled over to the stallion, and stuck her hooves underneath the pillar, using all her strength to lift it upwards. She grunted with the weight of the large wooden pillar, and her weakened lungs did her no favors.  
She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long, nor would she be able to move the stallion out of the way simultaneously. Using her back left hoof to kick over a nearby wooden box, she managed to prop the pillar over top it, backing away to see that her crafty plan had worked. 
She quickly reached down and yanked the stallion out from underneath the pillar, carefully placing him over top her back, and making her way towards the front door. 

Stumbling out a sweaty, ashy mess, Guardian carefully placed the stallion down in the grass. The stallion seemed to not be injured too badly, miraculously, and Guardian was relieved that everypony was safe. Guardian collapsed in the grass right beside him, exhausted. She lifted her head up just in time to catch the burning barn collapse entirely, having just narrowly escaped being crushed to death.
Silver and Sundance had arrived at the scene, to find the other ponies all weary and out of breath.
“Thank you! Thank you, oh, is there anything we can get for you? You’ve saved our lives!” the younger mare squeaked, still a bit frazzled from nearly being burned to death.
Before Guardian could reply, the family dog ran up to her, licking at her legs, excitedly yipping and pawing at her. Guardian smiled uncontrollably, as she already had a strong affinity for dogs. Her father had never allowed any pets, though her childhood friend Amber did have a dog, one who Guardian had always held a dear relationship with. She bent down to pet the dog, running her hoof through its short hairs, allowing it to lap at the burns on her legs and chest. 
“One of our lamps broke, set fire to the whole thing...We’re very lucky you came. Really, is there anything we can get you? We have food, water...You must let us show our thanks somehow,” said the older mare, after helping Guardian back up to her hooves. 
“No, please, it’s alright, we have enough. It must be hard enough living out here, you need all that for yourself...I’m glad we got here in time!” Guardian said, after coughing a few more times to try and clear the smoke out of her throat. 
“You live out here?” Silver asked, surprised how anypony would willingly sit themselves in the middle of an inhospitable warzone.
“Yes, we used to take care of animals in that barn...We had to sell all of the animals to stay afloat, now we do smaller trade. My sister there used to live in Molestown, but she had the sense to get out of cities when the war first started. We’re getting by well enough. As well as anypony could. Rebels never really bothered us. It’s just the three of you out here?” the older sister asked. 
“Yes, just us,” Guardian replied. 
“Uh huh. And why’s he all tied up?” the older sister asked, confused. 
“He’s...He’s a defecting soldier. We’ve been charged to take him to the lines up north,” Guardian said, changing the story slightly, afraid that these ponies may turn hostile should they know a rebel soldier was in their midst. Atop Sundance’s black rebel armor was his grey jacket and dark brown boots, which effectively concealed his military affiliation. Royal defector was the first thing Guardian could come up with, and she hoped it would go down better. 
The older sister was disgusted, spitting at Sundance’s hooves. He glared at her, but kept his mouth shut, deciding not to instigate anything, considering the position he was in.
“We must be going, but I’m glad you’re all alright. You all be safe now!” Guardian said, waving them off as she slowly backed away towards the road. She made an effort to pet the dog one last time, as it yipped and jumped at her excitedly. 
“We won’t forget this! Thank you!” the older sister said, her and the younger one waving them off as the trio went back to the road. 
 
Neither Silver nor Sundance said anything of Guardian’s actions at the barn, in fact Guardian didn’t either. Silver still wasn’t sure she agreed with Guardian’s decision to throw herself into harm’s way, considering the pegasus just barely escaped a terrible death. Still, Silver had to admire Guardian making an effort at all, even if she did find it to be needlessly self-sacrificial. Sundance too, held some mild admiration for Guardian’s actions, and even decided to refrain from making anymore derogatory comments towards his captors, figuring it helped nopony. They continued along the forest trail, passing through falling leaves and stray clumps of snow, waiting until they finally reached the end of the forest.

The trio persisted down through the forests on the mountain, until they at last broke out of the tree line, nervously entering into some sort of large open area beyond. 
The land was rank with the stench of grey corpses, basking in the cloudcast light from above. Every tree had been ripped from the ground, every bush scorched into ash. The dirt, which was upturned and scattered from stray craters left from explosives, was a mixture of browns and reds, dusting over bodies and abandoned vehicles. It was a field of desolation, of destroyed machinery and weapons left uselessly around in careless patterns. In at least two miles in every direction was this field, its grass now blackened or else completely disintegrated. 
This was the site of a conflict, one of such great destruction that Silver could’ve sworn she was back at the battle of Galloping Gorge. 
Bodies numbering at least a few hundred, lying in stray patterns or else in bloody halves or quarters. Deep indents in the ground had to be the remnants of terrible bombs and evil magic. Smoke rose from broken down vehicles and mechanical weaponry, colored black but stained red from both rust and blood. 
The trio were all stone-silent as they breathed in the scent of decay, absorbing the vast feeling of loss that extended out through each crumble of dirt and each mangled corpse. So much death, for any cause, could never be a good thing. 
Then Guardian noticed something, an object buried in ash, not too far from a mound of sagging sandbags a few yards up ahead. 
She left the solemn file to approach the object, praying it wasn’t what she thought it was. Bending down, she wiped the ash off with her hoof, and then jumped backwards in horror, her fears confirmed. 
It was a royal guard’s helmet, though, not just of anypony’s. It was painted solid bright purple beneath its gold edges, the distinct design of the 13th Velvet Regiment.
Silver noticed the tragic helmet once Guardian had stepped out of the way, and caught her breath in shock. All of these dead royal ponies, who must’ve made up somewhere between half to three quarters of the overall casualties on display on the field, belonged to the Velvets, under Periwinkle Radiance’s command, the ponies Silver and Guardian had first escorted Shining Armor to send off. 
“At least they made it halfway…” Silver muttered, gravely. 
Guardian was close to tears, as if she had witnessed the very destruction of Equestria before her eyes. The Velvets, aside from being the beloved unit belonging to Canterlot’s most beloved captain, Periwinkle, had gained a reputation for proving themselves victorious in all nine engagements they had participated in throughout the course of the war. To see the majority of them lying in a malignant wasteland of despair and carnage was a horrible sight, throttling both Guardian and Silver’s hearts, disintegrating much of the newfound optimism they had concocted following their victory against Sundance’s patrol. By all means, it now appeared that they were the only two remaining royal ponies who had yet to be killed in the dreadful Mountain Passage. If by the end of the war the number of ponies’ lives lost could be counted, it wouldn’t be a shock to neither Guardian nor Silver that the passage would hold the largest tally. 
On top of the grief over all these ponies’ deaths, Guardian and Silver also came to mourn their chances of a victory in the region. Shining Armor had promised success this time around with Periwinkle’s efforts, though just like every regiment sent before them, it was a suicide mission. 
While Guardian and Silver both struggled to keep themselves composed, Sundance said nothing, though he too was caught off guard by the morbid sight of so many dead ponies littering the ground, both royal and rebel. 
Despite his silence, Silver immediately felt inclined to turn towards him, her horn glowing brightly. 
“You still want to keep this sorry jughead alive, Guardian?!” Silver said, baring her teeth as she moved to blast Sundance through the face, as revenge for the defeat of the Velvets. 
“Stop, Silver, don’t!” Guardian said, rushing between them. Silver forcefully shoved Guardian to the ground with one arm, and proceeded to smash Sundance’s face in with her front hoof.
Sundance fell on his back, while Silver planted a few more kicks to his side, getting a sick thrill from seeing him on the ground writhing in pain. 
“Silver!” Guardian yelled, picking herself back up and pulling Silver away from the injured Sundance. 
Silver took some deep breaths while Guardian held her by her arms, trying to hold her back from lunging at Sundance again. 
The rebel pony grunted, raising himself up to one arm, to get a good luck of the furious unicorn who was still hellbent on killing him.
“Some of those ponies out there are ours! My friends too!” he bellowed. 
Silver finally calmed down, and Guardian loosened her grip, letting Silver go free. 
“Don’t you even try to-” Silver sputtered, before cutting herself off, “All this is because of you, not us!” Silver yelled. 
Sundance’s eyes widened in disbelief, his head bobbing back and forth as he struggled to find the words for a response. 
“Us! You’re as weak-minded as you are a sorry excuse for a soldier! We suffer losses, day after day, the same as you!”
“We don’t commit atrocities! We’re trying to help ponies!” Silver contested. 
“Atrocities!” Sundance repeated, cackling in disbelief. He sprung up to his hooves, rejuvenated hy his passionate distaste for royals and the fantasy world he believed them to be living in. 
“How many cities have you already brought down to rubble? Families deserted with nowhere to go, and who’s gonna be helping them? Not you, no, definitely not. They come to us, because they want protection, from the ponies who will burn through as much and many as they please just to win over some land! We get new recruits everyday, and you know why? Because more and more ponies are waking up, realizing that the way things are, shouldn’t be that way,” Sundance said, finally having had enough of Silver’s cruel abuse. 
Silver glared at him with utter disgust, unswayed by his attempt at sympathy. 
“You’ll be praying you stuck to the way things were when this is all over...If this is the change you wanted,” Silver said, waving at the carnage of the battlefield, “Then I hope you’re happy.”
Silver spitefully turned around to continue forward through the battlefield to reach the forests in the distance. But before she made it anywhere, she noticed Guardian wiping off some dirt from the scrape she endured after being pushed to the ground, and Silver realized she may have lost control for a second. She approached Guardian gently, unsure whether Guardian was angry with her or not. 
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Silver said, earnestly, hoping for forgiveness. 
“It’s alright...Let’s just go,” Guardian said, dismissively. She wasn’t a fan of Silver’s increasing violent side, nor her seeming obsession with punishing the enemy. If Equestria was to ever heal from the deep wounds made during the war, Guardian saw no viability in Silver’s approach.  

Walking through the battlefield, Guardian became decently heartbroken at the sight of so many dead royal soldiers. She could see faces buried in mud, crimson red blood dried against their armor like paint. Every corpse seemed to have been pillaged of valuables, or else desecrated in other fashions. Neither Guardian nor Silver could recognize anypony, for their remains were so mangled and contorted that they all seemed to be one in the same. Ghosts left to rot in the fresh air, with no resemblance of respect laid in the slightest. 
“Do you think Captain Periwinkle got out?” Guardian asked Silver, who wasn’t exactly in the talking mood. 
Guardian wasn’t so much hurt by Silver’s lack of a response as much as she was afraid of what the answer to her question really was. Guardian had considered Periwinkle Radiance a role model for years now, to the point that their first meeting a few days prior felt like a dream come true. If she was dead, it would be perhaps the gravest of losses that Equestria had yet to endure, surely at least for Guardian.  

They crossed over the battlefield to the forests beyond, Guardian finding some comfort in the familiar sight of dark green evergreens and snow that seemed to be unable to melt. 
“If you’d like, I could find a way to get you back into our lines...You can ditch that uniform, move on...Maybe even rejoin the guard,” Guardian suggested to Sundance, lightly tugging at his leash. 
Silver could just barely overhear them, and became increasingly bitter, skeptical towards Guardian showing amiability towards the pony who was supposed to be the enemy. 
“You just don’t have a clue do you? I don’t want that,” Sundance said, angrily.
Guardian frowned, having hoped that Sundance may have begun to come around to their side. She wasn’t sure how much longer any of them would be alive and in each other’s companionship, and for that purpose she hoped to make some sort of progress, not only in getting a better understanding of the so-called monsters in the rebel army, but also to possibly ignite a bridging friendship. 
“You meant what you said? That you’d have us in some camp somewhere?” Guardian asked. 
Sundance laughed, tilting his head back, amused by Guardian’s bizarre attempts at trying to gain sympathy. 
“You’re fanatics. Both of you. You’re so obsessed with all the lies your princesses have told you, that you do whatever they say. It’s a dangerous thing, being obsessed. You can’t break away by yourself, or at least most can’t. You’re stuck in a circle of strict obedience, and rationalizations. For that, you’re dangerous. I’d know, I almost got stuck in that before I wised up and quit.”
“I’m not obsessed. If Princess Celestia was to order me to do something I knew was wrong, I’d-”
“You’d do it. Without even thinking about it. I can tell just by talking to you. You play it safe, you follow along. You’re not a leader. You’re just a tool, I see it. So what happens when we finally do win? And, to be clear, that will most definitely be the eventuality we find ourselves in...What will happen is, those tools won’t be useful anymore. So you’ll be cast aside. That’s the price you pay for blind loyalty.”
“Let me make something clear, ok? I’m not fighting out here because of some selfish idealogue’s delusions made up by a psychotic, murderer witch. No, that would be you. I’m here because you’ve all put Equestria at risk. Celestia cares about Equestria, and she cares about everypony.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Sundance muttered.
Guardian wasn’t sure whether she really expected Sundance to have a change of heart, though she hoped that with some time, she may be able to reach him. But on top of that, she was beginning to have doubts of her own. For some unclear reason, she could see that Sundance appeared almost disposed to deny the royalty any ounce of favorability, even in due areas. She remained confident that he was wrong, though, and stayed undeterred in her ambitions. 

That night, Guardian and Silver set up their camp in a small clearing in the forest, erecting their lone tent and a small campfire nearby for warmth. While Silver had collected some kindling and some rocks from around the forest vicinity of the campsite, Guardian had left Sundance by a tree away from the tent, and proceeded to continue preparing her sleeping area. 
Silver returned shortly, with little to show for her efforts. 
“What did you expect? Everything’s soaked. I found some small dry stuff inside a log, it might work,” Silver said, expecting Guardian to criticize her lackluster findings. Guardian shrugged, not bothered nor surprised by the undesirable circumstances of their adventure. Compared to previous events, wet kindling wasn’t much to complain about.  
Using the matches from Guardian’s pack, Silver spent twenty minutes trying to start a fire, to no avail. Guardian finally decided she would have to intervene, all the while Sundance was sounding off an obnoxious, purposefully mean-spirited laughing fit at Silver’s expense. 
“Guardian, I swear to the moon and back, I’m gonna kill him,” Silver muttered. 
“Ignore him. Look, if we don’t get a fire started, we’re gonna freeze to death out here. It’s gotta be in the negative degrees,” Guardian said, nervously. 
“I’m trying, ok?! There’s not much to work with!” Silver said, frustrated with her lack of success. 
Guardian stared at her, until Silver finally broke her eye contact from her kindling to meet Guardian’s gaze. 
“What?” Silver asked, unsure what Guardian wanted her to say.
“We do have something we could use for kindling…”
“Uh...what’s that?” Silver asked, unsure why Guardian was beating around the bush. 
“You know...Those books you bought?”
Silver’s face fell, horrified by the very suggestion.
“No way.”
“Silver-”
“No. Way.”
“I know those are your favorite books, but-”
“Forget it! Just give me a few more minutes, I’ve got it,” Silver muttered, refusing to even consider Guardian’s alternative plan of action.
Guardian sighed and stepped away from Silver, climbing inside the nearby tent to go consult the map.

After a few minutes of said map consulting, Guardian was shocked to see the distinct glow and crackling of a fire shining in through the partially translucent tent flaps from behind her, outside. 
Guardian unzipped the tent flaps and stepped out, and was impressed to see Silver had done it. There was a reasonable, small fire burning brightly in the pit Guardian had dug. Guardian was about to apologize for suggesting burning Silver’s books, until she noticed one of those very books sitting on one of the logs nearby. 
“Did...Did you-” Guardian said. 
“Just the Table of Contents,” Silver said, cracking a smile. 
Guardian smiled, relieved that they now had some warmth to last the night.
“Those books were my only friends in middle school, you know,” Silver said, laughing as she bent down beside her duffel bag, retrieving some of her rations. But before she could toss some of the white crumbly bread-like substance into her mouth, Guardian caught her hoof.
“We have to give some to him,” Guardian said, nodding over at Sundance, who was shivering over by the tree she had left him at.
“Like hell!” Silver said, attempting to throw the rations in her mouth a second time, but was again stopped by Guardian.
“Silver.”
Silver glared at her, sighing in the most exaggerated manner possible. 
Silver rose up and trotted over to Sundance, dumping some crumbs she rubbed off from her ration stick for Sundance to eat, not believing he deserved anything more. Guardian, meanwhile, was a bit more generous, giving him half of what she had for herself. 
“Thank you,” Sundance muttered, appreciating that Guardian did seem to be trying to be decent towards him, especially in comparison to Silver.
When Guardian returned to the campfire, Silver caught her first, pulling her by the arm to the other side of the tent. 
“Hey…” Silver started.
“What’s up?” Guardian asked.
“Look...I’m sorry, about pushing you. I shouldn’t have done that, it’s been eating me up all day,” Silver said, guiltily. 
“It’s ok, really. Don’t worry about it,” Guardian replied. 
“I was just...just so mad, and being out here, it’s just...You know, it’s hard. My head’s a mess. And...and I...I’m just sorry,” Silver said, lowering her head in shame. 
Guardian smiled and gave Silver a tight embrace, appreciating the apology. 
“Don’t worry about it, it’s alright,” Guardian said, and again, Silver found comfort in the arms of her friend. 
“That’s not all…” Silver said, as Guardian backed away from her. 
“I’ve been thinking and...Guardian, I think he’s leading us into a trap,” Silver said. 
Guardian sighed, having expected something like that sooner or later. 
“Do you,” Guardian said, dryly. 
“I know you’re trying to be nice and all that, but trust me, he doesn’t care. The second he gets a chance, he’ll kill us both to escape. And this town he’s leading us to, there’s too much of a chance that there will be more rebels waiting for him, waiting for us.”
Guardian merely shook her head, too exhausted to continue the discussion, and frankly not in the mood to have yet another argument with her hot-headed unicorn companion.
“I’m tired. I need to lie down,” Guardian said, walking back to the firepit and taking a seat by the log. 

She was surprised to see that Sundance had crawled his way over to the fire from where they had dumped him, coyly lying by one of the log benches. 
“It was cold,” Sundance explained. Guardian smiled and helped him sit up better against one of the logs opposite to her, before finally taking her seat. 
Silver, still back behind the tent, was struggling to put up with Guardian’s incessant naivety any longer, believing their safety was being put at risk. 
She too walked over to join Guardian and Sundance around the fire, flakes of snow trickling down atop them between the trees. 
“I wish we didn’t have to be enemies,” Guardian said, aloud. Sundance eyed her, still unimpressed. Though, he couldn’t deny that he was beginning to enjoy Guardian’s company, or at the very least not be opposed to it.  
“I wish none of us had to be here, that nopony had to die,” Guardian said, before shaking her head, embarrassed. “I guess that’s stupid.”
Sundance glanced from Guardian to Silver, who seemed quite bitter over their current arrangement. 
“No, it’s not stupid. Just too good to be true,” Sundance said.
Silver glared at him.
“You shut up, you don’t know anything,” Silver said, her words like fire from a dragon’s mouth. 
Sundance eyed, her, and accepted her wishes, turning his head away carelessly. 
Guardian, however, was in search of knowledge. 
“Everypony always blames the world for being how it is. But I think it’s all just how each of us are. If we’re all terrible to one another, then the world is terrible. That’s how things are now, I guess,” Guardian said, hoping to get Sundance to open up again. Silver rolled her eyes, seeing right through Guardian's childish simplification of pony behavior. Guardian noticed Silver's dismissiveness, but thought little of it. 
“That we can agree on,” Sundance muttered, to both Guardian and Silver's surprise. 
Guardian was relieved to find Sundance’s newfound openness to a discussion, carefully preparing to pry at the perspective she was in search of. Silver, however, didn’t quite care for Guardian’s attempt at finding common ground. 
“Your Queen is a monster, she’s killed hundreds of innocent ponies! Your armies have ravaged cities, destroyed lives,” Silver chimed in. 
“Your Princesses have killed ponies too, a lot of them in fact,” Sundance retorted. 
“Why would you follow her?” Guardian stammered. Unbeknownst to Sundance, Guardian did happen to have a personal vendetta against the rebel leader, the Witch Queen, who was said to be directly responsible for the death of her eldest brother, Vambrace. “And why did you join them at all? I can’t understand,” Guardian said, “You’ve betrayed your own nation.”
Sundance scoffed.
“They betrayed me first.”
Silver and Guardian both waited, expecting some elaboration. Reluctantly, Sundance opened his mouth. 
“I used to live in a smaller village. Farmland near White Tail...I was like you, when I was younger, I was in the royal guard,” Sundance revealed, nodding at Guardian’s royal guard armor, watching a slideshow of old memories play in the shiny white glare of the gold metal. 
“I lost touch with it all. But more than that, I had to retire from the service, to take over the farm after my father passed...My mom couldn’t do it alone. She went the next year. My wife hated the farm. I met her in Canterlot, a few years into the training academy. She was the daughter of a bussinesspony, very upper crust. A lot more money than I ever had. But she stayed around the dirt old farm, to keep me sane probably,” he said, his mouth curling into a small smile in reminiscing.
“The kids loved the farm, it was big, it was free, you know, all that...I had heard about all the fighting a week or two after it started, I went to get a drink at this place in Strapberg. My wife wanted us to run, to ditch the farm, flee back to Canterlot, but I didn’t think we’d be hit too bad, I thought it’d all be handled quickly. Eating those words nowadays. A few months in, these ponies showed up at my door, they looked very official. And they start demanding that I owe the state a small supply of my food. I didn’t have a choice, really, and things just kept getting worse,” he said, his voice trailing off. Guardian could tell he was now going over some memories he’d likely not prefer to recollect. 
“Then...this pack of soldiers show up...Royal soldiers. And they barge in, drunk, I would have kicked them out if they didn’t all have weapons already drawn. Then two of them start talking up my wife, and she’s trying to get the hell out of here, so I intervene, and then they get pissed. Start throwing stuff around, breaking stuff. I didn’t care anymore, I started rushing these guys, but they had me down eight to one. Took a spear right here,” Sundance said, pointing at a spot on his underbelly. “I was bleeding out on the floor, I could barely breathe, and I see them start lighting everything on fire, dragging my wife away by her hair, keeping the kids close together. I was just trying not to pass out, I was afraid I wouldn’t wake up. I could hear what they were doing to her in the other room, she was screaming and fighting the whole time, but she couldn’t do much. They got tired of her screaming after a while, so they…” he said, but was unable to finish his sentence.
“And after they did it, they were still using her, like-like a piece of meat, the sick bastards….Kids didn’t know what was going on, but they were screaming too. The soldiers come out, show me what they did to my wife, and they dump her on the floor, on my rug, right in front of the kids. They’re balling their eyes out, and I can barely get up. When I saw her, she...I couldn’t…” he said, his voice beginning to waiver, “Then I’m watching them steal everything they can, and they take the kids outside with them, leave me to burn with the house. I didn’t see what happened, but I heard the kids screaming...and then they stopped,” Sundance said, his tears welling up in his eyes. 
“So it was just me, and I felt like dying too about then, but I decided it wasn’t time for me yet, and I crawled my way out of there, right out the door to see the soldiers leaving. And I saw them, and they laughed. They just laughed. Everything was burning. I tried stating my case to some of the bureau in Canterlot, but they ignored me. Bad look, to put charges on their own soldiers. After that, I traveled north, and I found something worth getting myself into...I enlisted again, in Shortcomb. They didn’t have to persuade me or nothing, I wanted in. To destroy this broken system, where ponies like that can get off scot-free. The day I see those faces again, will be the day Equestria sees bloodshed like it never has before.”
Guardian was mortified by the barbarism of ponies she could very well call allies, and even Silver seemed a bit shaken up, both of them remaining quiet for a while, while the fire crackled in front of them. Sundance leaned back, contently believing himself to be thoroughly in the right. 
“And I say, to hell with those ponies. And the two of you. And the ones on that field, to hell with them!” Sundance said, spitting into the fire in disgust. 
Without delay, Silver’s eyes widened in shock at the disrespect to the dead 13th Regiment ponies, jumping up from her seat and leaping towards him, tackling the bound pony to the ground. Silver dug her hooves into his face and then wrapped them around his neck, throttling the very life out of him, practically screaming in rage as she attempted to choke him to death. 
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" Silver screamed, squeezing as hard as she could as Sundance's head turned an unnatural shade of purple and red. 
“Silver!” Guardian yelled, again rushing over to yank Silver off of Sundance, who quickly tried to regain his breath. 
“You crazy bitch!…” Sundance muttered. 
“That’s it! That’s it! You were right, this was a mistake!” Guardian said, suddenly drawing her knife out and bending down towards Sundance. The rebel pony shuddered, not having expected the seemingly kind-hearted Guardian to be the one to kill him. She brought her knife down towards him, but not into his neck, rather cutting across the rope restraints tied around his hooves. She cut his wing restraints too, effectively freeing him.
She backed away from a shocked Sundance, who scurried up to his hooves. 
“Guardian…” Silver said, wary of permitting Sundance to be free. 
“Go on, get out of here! You can find your own way back,” Guardian instructed. 
Sundance, to his surprise, hesitated, having found himself slightly attached to traveling with these two ponies, if only it meant having some safety. 
He eventually gave in, giving Guardian a slight nod of thanks, before turning and flying off into the air. 
Silver was so exhausted, she wasn’t even able to protest. Guardian figured that Silver would get around to killing Sundance sooner or later, so it probably would be better if the two just went their separate ways. 
“What if he alerts his unit, Guardian? They’ll find us...” Silver said, wearily. 
“We’ll have enough time before that…” Guardian said, though she wasn’t completely sure. She had been aware of the risks of keeping a prisoner when she went along and did it, but now in the face of the consequences, she wondered whether she should’ve been less forgiving.