//------------------------------//
// Transience 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Two stallions, both unicorns, sat behind a broken chunk of wall, leaning into it with their backs. One had come there alone, the other had found him and silently joined him. They looked out over the ruins of the Empire, as the Sun lowered in the sky, not yet close to the horizon but slowly getting there. The sky was a deeper blue than it had been before, if not yet orange. The breeze blew calmly, pleasantly, a far cry from the storm that the city had seen that day.
The second stallion who'd come there was the first to speak. He'd cast off the last pieces of his armour, and he wore only the bandages he'd been put in. He could have had himself healed by Celestia, but he'd chosen to wait, to not bother her. "I should be keeping an eye on you," he said. "You're still a prisoner."
The other unicorn didn't answer immediately. Maybe to think about what to say. Eventually he spoke too. "What for?" he asked. "What can I do now?"
"You're an enemy soldier," said the guard. "You might run away. You might try to attack others. The Princess has yet to give any orders about what to do with you, neither has anyone else spoken up about it. Somepony needs to keep you watched."
"Run away where?" the soldier asked. "Hurt someone for what? Do anything why?" He paused, looking out at the ruins ahead of them. The other did not interrupt him. "I have nothing," he picked up again. "I don't have anything anymore. No home to go back to, no place at all. No one who even knows my name. I don't have a life here, and I can't go back. I'm less than a ghost, at least a ghost can be remembered."
After a pause, the guard said, "You could get a life here. A new life. If you do well, if you do good, if you don't hurt anyone. Nopony will turn you down a chance at it." Another pause. "If you want to, of course. Else, you can choose to stay an enemy, and you'll likely have at least a cell where to stay. Worse, you can always end it here. By yourself, or by forcing someone's hoof. One more enemy casualty, if you can't take it."
"A new life." The soldier sighed. "That sounds nice. I'll admit it does. It sounds like a lot of work too. What do I even tell others? Nothing of what I was is there, now. My past is gone. It's not like moving to a new place. I'd need to rebuild my whole life, start it from scratch. I'm not even sure it would be good enough. There might always be something missing. I just have my name, and memories of something gone. I'm not sure that's enough to build a life."
The guard was silent a little more, opening and closing his mouth, hesitating. He looked out to the ruins, felt the wind blowing gently around them. "You could take mine," he finally said.