Hamilcar’s Story
“Twilight!” Rarity cried, as she pushed open the doors into the library – her horn glowing with an aura of brilliant blue as she grasped them both and pushed upon them – with Applejack, Hannibal and his father Hamilcar running alongside her. “We have good news!”
Rarity found that she and Applejack were the last to arrive: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie had beaten them to it, and stood – well, Pinkie stood, Rainbow hovered in the air – alongside Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike and Ace Ray all around a map of the region in which they found themselves.
They all looked up as Rarity, Applejack and their zebra companions entered.
“Rarity,” Twilight said, a smile upon her face, “You’re back! Rainbow told us that you and Applejack had gone to help some poor zebra.”
Hannibal bowed his head. “Help me indeed and very much they did, and if my distraction their true purpose hid, for that I am truly sorry, and even moreso if I made you worry, for where your friends might be, I can only say they were a blessing to me; without their help I would yet lie immured in my despair, thanks to them I’ve tasted success’ air.”
“Even had we done nothing more than help Hannibal here pursue his dreams and come to a better understanding with his father, I would yet maintain that we had done the right thing,” Rarity declared. “After all, just because we happen to be on a quest of our own, surely that doesn’t mean that we have to be completely self-interested, does it?”
Twilight chuckled. “Of course not, Rarity, we should always be willing to help others just as we would always hope that others were willing to help us.”
“And it wasn’t as if you would have gotten anything more done if you’d ignored him,” Rainbow muttered. “Looking for leads was a bust, me and Pinkie didn’t find anything.”
Applejack let out a sort of snort of laughter. “But we did.”
“Darling, I was just coming to that,” Rarity.
“Sorry, Rarity,” Applejack said, not sounding too sorry about it in Rarity’s opinion. “Ah didn’t mean to step on your... dramatic moment.”
“I know, darling, and never mind,” Rarity said airily. “It’s not your fault that you don’t have a sense for these things.” She primped her mane with one hoof, and cleared her throat. “Now then, where was I?”
“Um… one of you was about to say that you found something?” Twilight suggested.
“Yes, yes indeed,” Rarity agreed. “As I say, it would have been worth it either way, but as luck would have it, helping out Hannibal here – who is really very talented, I think we might be hearing his name in Equestria in a few years time-“
“Rarity,” Rainbow said.
“Hannibal’s father went with Sunset Shimmer and her expedition,” Applejack said bluntly.
“Applejack!” Rarity exclaimed.
“We might as well get to the point, don’t ya think?” Applejack said. “Ah don’t know if Hamilcar here appreciates standing there while we talk about him.”
Rarity felt her face flush a little. “Forgive me, sir, I didn’t-“
“I was a warrior who fancied himself bold, but I appreciate a story well told,” Hamilcar said, in a lighter tone than he had been wont to use previously. He shuffled forwards, his hooves scuffing the wooden boards of the library floor. “Hamilcar is my name, though it has very little fame; I’m told you seek to learn the fate, of Sunset Shimmer – traveller most desperate; of her companions I was one, and I’m prepared to speak of what I’ve done.”
For a moment, none of the ponies – or Spike – said a word. Twilight took a step forward, treading upon the map that lay before her. Her voice was soft, and gentle. “Thank you, Hamilcar,” she said. “Sunset Shimmer… I didn’t know her at all, but she was very dear to Princess Celestia, who is dear to me, and so if we can bring her any closure then… I would like that very much. First of all, can you tell me… actually, first of all can I ask that you speak to us in plain prose? I know that you use rhyme out of respect, for which I thank you, but for a story such as this… I would like it as plain as possible, if you don’t mind, so that we can understand it best.”
Hamilcar bowed his head. “As you wish,” he said. “Sunset also sometimes demanded that we speak plainly, although for the most part I think that she preferred us to, as you say, show respect to her. You had a question that you wished answered first… was it, perhaps, whether I saw her die?”
“Or knew for certain that she had died, yes,” Twilight murmured. “And if so, where her bones might be said to lie. I… I don’t really want to bring back that kind of bad news to Princess Celestia, but if Sunset is dead she deserves a better resting place than in the middle of the desert wilderness.”
Hamilcar frowned. “I fear I cannot help you. Although I think that Sunset must be dead, and although the fact that I played some part in her passing haunts me still, I cannot answer your questions for a certainty. If Sunset died, as seems most likely, then she died alone, with no one to inter her, still less to mark her resting place. Her bones will lie bleached in the sun.”
Rarity could not suppress a shudder at the thought. What a hazardous land this was, and what cruel fates awaited unwary ponies who strayed into it. She did not like to think of herself, or of any of them, as unwary… but then Sunset Shimmer, the proud student of Celestia, had probably not thought of herself as unwary either.
What is this region where we find ourselves, and how many fates of death surround us?
What might this journey cost us, in the end?
Rarity frowned. That thought was quite unworthy of her, unworthy of anypony here. It would cost them nothing, nothing at all. No matter what had befallen Sunset Shimmer, no matter how certain her – as yet uncomfirmed – death might seem, no matter how great the odds against them were… they were not Sunset Shimmer. They were not Sunset Shimmer and they were not Dawn Starfall and her friends either. They… well, Rarity didn’t like to stand upon such things but they had defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord after all; surely they could find a way through this new challenge.
They would find a way through this new challenge, together. And then they would all go home to Ponyville together, their quest completed successfully, and they would laugh about this… one day, when it was all behind them.
Twilight sucked in the air through her teeth. “Well… thank you for your honesty, but we might not tell Princess Celestia, or at least not in that way. Spike, will you write down everything that Hamilcar says, both for Princess Celestia’s sake and for our own analysis. Hamilcar, I’m afraid I might interrupt you with questions but, for now, please just start at the beginning and keep going.”
Hamilcar sat down upon his haunches, and his son and Spike and all the ponies did likewise, recognising that this was likely to be a long story.
Hamilcar paused for a moment, looking down and scuffing the floorboards with his hooves, seemingly unsure of where exactly to begin with his account. At length, he cleared his throat, and spoke.
"It was not so very long ago, and yet… it was a lifetime ago. You would have all been fillies then, I think. You are not so different in years from my own son, and he remembers none of this."
Hannibal nodded in confirmation of that last point, but said nothing to interrupt his father.
Hamilcar went on, "I was a widow by then; my wife had died the winter before, and I was considering giving up the adventurer's life for something more… stable, for Hannibal." He glanced at his son. "I probably should have; if I had I would have been less bitter about it than I became after I felt retirement had been forced upon me. But, I confess, that I didn't want to quit. I was an indifferent adventurer, not without skill but that skill never translated into any great wealth or fame, much to my chagrin. I am sorry, Hannibal, for trying to force you to do what I could not, in defiance of your own will and desire." He sighed. "Perhaps it is simply that the age of adventurers is passed, there are no great treasures left to uncover, no mysteries left to solve, no immense glory to be won. Except there is, of course, the Heart of the World: the greatest treasure, the greatest myth, the greatest prize yet to be won. It is our heritage, but it has been lost to us. If any could find it… and yet none have dared for many years. I would not have dared to set out in search of it alone, and not only because I had no idea where to look.
"But Sunset Shimmer… Sunset Shimmer dared all that, and more. I do not know how she came to Utica, or why. She never spoke of her past, or of her motivations. She kept… well, I will get into that later. As I say, I do not know how she came to Utica, but once she arrived in Utica she moved through the town, or at least the parts of the town that I moved through, like a sandstorm, a force of nature. It was whispered in some quarters that she had approached the Lady Sophoniba's regents for aid and been dismissed out of hand, but no creature dared to say as much to Sunset's face and I… I did not believe it. I didn't believe that anyone who had heard Sunset speak could have denied her, because when she spoke… when she spoke her horn never changed colour, there was no sign that she was using magic and yet it was as though she had cast a spell upon any who heard her. When she spoke, she spoke with such passion, such confidence, such ironclad certainty in her voice that you thought the world must surely bend itself to her will. She said that she knew where to go to find the Heart. She promised fame beyond measure for any who would go with her, that our names would be forever remembered alongside the greatest explorers and adventurers not only in Quaggai, but anywhere. She promised a share in the spoils that would inevitably be waiting for us. Is it any wonder that we were entranced; I was a lowly adventurer, no great success, being offered everything I had ever wanted in my life and wealth to support my son afterwards. Is it any wonder that I, and many others like me, flocked to her side, eager to be a part of her great expedition, for the chance to share in what seemed to be inevitable success. Many I knew, even sensible zebras, were already planning what they would do and buy with their fortunes once they returned from finding the Heart of the World.
"Sunset took us all. Perhaps we should have made more note of that: she seemed to have no instinct for who was worth having on an expedition and who was not, although at the time we were all too glad to have been accepted to wonder if we ought to have been left at home. There were over sixty of us in the end, and we had carts laded with supplies. We set off from Utica with high hearts; Sunset told no one where we were headed, I think she feared to be betrayed, that someone would set out and try to beat her to the Heart, but she needed not fear: at that time we were all dazzled with her. We would have followed her anywhere. She could have convinced us to do anything she liked – she did convince us. What fools we were.
"But all of that was to come. We set out from Utica and it seemed the sun would never stop shining on us. Sunset carried herself like a queen; while the rest of us walked or pulled the supply wagons, she rode in a wagon and even had a young zebra attend to her needs in camp as a servant. Nevertheless, we tolerated it; with all that she was going to do for us it seemed a small enough thing to put up with."
"Ah'm guessin' that didn't last," Applejack said.
"No, indeed," Hamilcar replied. "Four days out from Utica we were attacked by bandits; or at least, they must have been bandits although I had never seen bandits so well organised before. They fell upon our camp, and though we drove them off it was not without loss. Nor could we even have been said to truly have drive them off, for they were back the next night. Again, we repelled them, but they began to stalk us, harrying our march, picking off anyone who strayed too far from the group. They no longer assaulted our camp, or our column, but we felt their presence as they bled us on the march.
"Sunset promised that they would not, could not, harass us for too long, for there was no way that they could be supporting themselves in this country. For she had led us into the most barren part of the Quaggai imaginable-"
"Pardon me," Twilight said, "but isn't Qartaggia disputed between Quaggai and Grevyia."
"It is Quaggai land as I am a Quaggai zebra!" Hamilcar declared loudly. "But, ask yourself this… forgive me, I know only the names of Rarity and Applejack."
"Of course, we haven't introduced ourselves," Twilight said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Ace Ray of the Royal Guard of Equestria."
Hamilcar nodded. "Tell me then, Twilight Sparkle, why you think this land remains disputed? Why has water not been spilled on the sand to settle the issue once and for all."
Twilight thought for a moment before she answered. "Because there isn't anything there worth fighting about. Nothing grows, and nothing lives."
"Nothing but endless sands and bare rock," Hamilcar agreed. "Not even a watering hole large enough to fit on a map."
"Did y'all find watering holes small enough to 'scape notice?" Applejack asked.
Hamilcar nodded. "Some, yes, and we were very glad of them. Without them… I and many others would not have escaped back to Utica alive."
"Ah don't know about the rest of y'all girls but Ah'd be grateful if you'd mark them for us," Applejack said. "Might come in useful to know where they are."
"It will be done," Hamilcar promised. "But might I first continue with my account?"
"Of course," Twilight said. "Please, go on."
"Sunset assured us that the bandits would have to leave us be, that they could not survive in the arid desert for very long, they would have to return to somewhere it was easier to live," Hamilcar reminded them. "But the attacks went on longer than she seemed to think possible, and combined with the heat, the lack of shelter, the scarcity of water… it all combined to dent our earlier confidence, and create some ill-feeling towards Sunset. Sunset Shimmer took note of this, and tried to do something about it: she ceased to ride in a cart but walked with the rest of us, she gave up her servant, she even worked when setting up the camp. And she revealed our destination, to placate those who wondered why we had come to such a place."
"Was it Mount Hyperion?" Twilight asked.
Hamilcar laughed. "You do not need to hear what I have to say."
"No, we do," Twilight assured him. "Please, I'm sorry to interrupt, but that was what my research suggested, and I was curious to see if Sunset had come to the same conclusion."
"Sunset had been guarded about where we were going, and to have it confirmed that we were heading deeper and deeper into such inhospitable country was too much. Zebras began to slip away, heading back home again for Utica. Sunset spoke, but a silver tongue is less persuasive when your belly is empty and your throat is parched. The bandits let the deserters go, or seemed to; we didn't know why, but it only encouraged more desertions."
"The bandits were still going after you?" Rainbow asked.
"Constantly," Hamilcar confirmed. "They only stopped when a sandstorm struck, and that was far worse than any bandits. We had to abandon our wagons and all the stores on them and seek shelter in some ancient ruins; it was sheer providence that we found even those, if we had not… caught in the open by the sandstorm like that we would have surely perished. Nevertheless, though we were alive we were also trapped, huddling in the ruins with our supplies lost and little more than what comradely feelings remained among us to sustain our bodies and souls alike. It was more than dawning on us all by now that we had grievously underestimated the difficulties involved in reaching Mount Hyperion. None moreso, perhaps, than Sunset Shimmer. During that time in the storm, huddling in the ruins, she kept herself apart from the rest of us. Brooding. She looked… honestly, she looked shocked that it had turned out this way. As if she'd expected it to be every bit as easy as she'd made it seem."
"And when the storm cleared?" Twilight asked.
"Then most left. Only a few of us remained. We found our wagons out in the sand; they were too heavy for the few of us to move but we salvaged what we could. Sunset was determined to press on, said that she'd rather be buried out here in the sands then go home a failure. The fewer of us there were, she said, the greater the glory, the greater the share of the reward waiting for us at the end of the road. At least, we told ourselves, the bandits were gone."
"Where they?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"They were," Hamilcar confirmed. "But only because we had entered a stretch of land with no watering holes that we could find, and we found that our own water soon ran out. That… that was the last straw. Even then, Sunset wouldn't turn back, wouldn't even here of it. She told us to go, if we were having doubts. There was no room for faint hearts upon the glory road. When her name resounded in every corner of the world, we would regret that we had turned our backs on her."
"And that's when you left," Twilight murmured.
"That's when we left," Hamilcar agreed. "We… I couldn't see any way forward. I'd tried, I'd tried to keep faith, but… I was afraid. I didn't want to die. I wanted to live, and-"
"Nopony is blaming you," Twilight assured him. "The situation seemed hopeless, and you had a son to look after."
"I didn't do such a good job of that, did I?" Hamilcar responded. "But you're kind to say so, anyway." He sighed. "The last I saw of Sunset Shimmer, she could barely walk but she was pressing onwards anyway. She was stumbling, staggering almost, but she kept on going. That's why I think she must be dead, I can't imagine how she survived out there."
He said nothing more, and it was clear that he had reached the end of his account of events. Nopony said anything, once more silence ruled within the library.
What was there to be said, really? What was done was done, and while Rarity couldn't speak for anypony else she found her thoughts dwelling on the implications of what he had said: Sunset had been foolish, and foolishly unprepared for the challenges that awaited her on the road.
Are we any less foolish? Are we any better prepared? The evidence, unfortunately, suggested otherwise.
"Thank you, for telling us all this," Twilight said softly. "I know it can't have been easy for you. But now, if you wouldn't mind, could you please mark on the map those watering places you mentioned, if you can recall the locations, as well as the ruins where you sheltered from the sandstorm? Anything that you can recall, anything at all, will be of great help to us."
She spoke as if there was no question that they would not press on, even after what they had just heard. Well, they had all told her when they arrived in Utica that they did not want to turn back. For Lightning's sake, Twilight could not turn away; for Twilight's sake, none of the rest of them would turn away either. They were… fools for love, you might say.
They would have to hope that love, and friendship, would be enough to see them through this trial, as it had been before.
For it seemed there would be little enough else to rely on.