//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: The Mountain Flower // Story: The Warden: Part 3, Dream of the Warden // by FortressLegacy //------------------------------// The next environment materialized after a few seconds. Both Luna and the Warden looked around, and saw that they were in a different part of Halterburg. The streets were still clean and made of cobble, and the general aesthetic was still that of the higher class. However, instead of homes, larger buildings lined the street. It appeared to be later in the day, about late afternoon. A frigid breeze soared down the street, stirring Luna's shimmering mane. She looked around, and saw that the trees were bare, and small piles of snow resided in the shadows cast by the buildings. It was clearly a different season than before, which had felt like summer. A few months had passed since then, at the very least. The princess' gaze fell upon the building nearest to them.  They were standing before a rather grand structure, several stories high. It sat in the middle of some well kept grounds, with several trees dotting the plot of land. This building stood out from its neighbors, looking grander and more affluent, with large granite blocks comprising the primary building material and fine carved masonry providing a pleasing artistic aesthetic. Leading up to the two large front doors of this institution was a wide, grand stone stairway, and stretching across the tops of the doors was a rather ornate sign that read: Halterburg Institute of Education. The princess tilted her head slightly. "This was the school you attended?" She asked. "Yes." The Warden replied, and silence followed as a few seconds passed.  Luna began to wonder if they should go inside, but before she worked up the will to ask, the two doors opened, and a crowd of colts and fillies walked out. As late as it was, Luna concluded that they had just been let out for the day. The foals wasted little time in getting away, eager to go home. Despite the chaotic scene, Luna quickly picked out the blue fur and silver mane of Casemate. However, she noticed something odd. While most of the foals were talking excitedly amongst themselves and socializing, none of them were talking to young Casemate. In fact, they seemed to be keeping at leg's length from him, creating a sphere of isolation around him. Luna felt a pang of pity for him within her. Among all of this socialization and friendships, he seemed to be alone. "You… Did have friends here, yes?" She asked, trying to sound hopeful. The Warden shook his head slightly, dampening her hopes. "Not until the following spring. It took them a while to get over their fear of me." The princess' turquoise eyes blinked curiously. "Why did they fear you?" She asked. "You don't act without reason." The stallion merely scoffed. "The very first day I came to this place, some bully tried to pick on me. By lunch, I taught him the same lesson I did Sweeper. He didn't come back to school until a week later." Luna winced, remembering how badly he had injured Sweeper earlier. "O-oh." She said uncomfortably. "I suppose I understand now…" While they were talking, young Casemate had worked his way out of the throng of fillies and colts, and had begun to walk down the street, appearing totally unfazed by his apparent lack of friends. The more Luna dwelled on it, the more it made sense. The colt had been isolated from others besides his father for much of his life up to this point. He still had much to learn about friendship, and probably still failed to see its true value. While unfortunate, at least this meant that he wasn't terribly bothered by his loneliness. As Casemate began to walk away, going towards his Aunt's home, Luna began to trot after him, her shoes making sharp clinking sounds with each hoofstep. Her long, graceful strides enabled her to easily catch up to the visage, and the Warden quickened his pace to stay alongside the princess. A minute or two passed, and young Casemate kept on walking down the street, with Luna and the Warden keeping close behind. As they walked, Luna's mind began to dwell more heavily upon the Warden's younger self, and his lack of companions. "...I understand that you may not have cared very much for friendship at the time." She said hesitantly, glancing sideways and down at the Warden. "But I find it unfortunate that you found yourself alone among your peers." The Warden didn't look at her. "It didn't affect me much." He assured her. "I guess my father partially conditioned me to live a lonely life. However…" He paused as they reached a street corner. The Warden's younger self took a turn, and the pair followed. "Today, I met a very special pony." The Warden gestured behind him, towards the corner that they had just came around. Luna's brow scrunched slightly in curiosity, and she turned her head in the direction that he had indicated.  She saw who he was referring to. Peeking around the corner was a dirty looking filly, white or gray in color, with a yellow mane and blue eyes. It was his future wife again! Luna stopped mid-stride, looking in silent surprise. She turned back towards the Warden, and saw him gesturing for her to follow him. The princess turned momentarily back towards the filly, and saw her cautiously come around the corner, and walk after the colt tensely. Luna came to the realization that she was following him, and decided to follow the Warden's lead. The princess trotted quickly back up to the Warden's side. What was the filly doing? Why was she following him? These questions echoed in Luna's mind as she trekked along behind young Casemate. Oddly, the colt didn't turn around or take notice of his follower. He seemed completely oblivious. At least a full minute passed by, and Luna found herself unable to focus solely on the colt, glancing back at the filly more often than she was at him or the Warden. The filly was moving from cover to cover, trying her best to remain stealthy while looking at Casemate with her curious blue eyes shimmering brightly. Unfortunately, her attention wasn’t on where she was stepping. She accidentally kicked a loose stone, sending it clacking down the street a short distance. Her presence announced, the filly looked mortified, and immediately ducked down into a small enclave in an adjacent wall, right as Casemate swirled around to investigate. The colt instantly adopted a defensive stance, his green eyes darting around in confusion, trying to find out what had made the sound, and if it was a threat. For all he knew, it could have been Sweeper or one of his cronies. Casemate remained silent and still for about ten seconds, before turning back around. However, his guard hadn't been dropped. His ears were now facing behind him, prepared to listen out for any additional sounds. He glanced behind himself one last time, and continued to walk, consciously making his hoofsteps softer. As he walked away, Luna turned her attention back to the filly, who was now peering out from her concealment with caution. When she saw that Casemate was walking away, the filly resumed following. This time, Luna felt compelled to follow the filly, rather than Casemate. She remained where she was, allowing the colt to get farther away, as well as the Warden, who was following his younger self. The princess pondered why she was making such a decision. Sure, the Warden wished for her to witness these events, but he never said that she had to do so by following his younger self. She glanced over to the Warden, who shot a questioning glance back at her. But he didn't object or verbally question her, turning his head forwards towards the colt as if to say "Suit yourself." Sensing that he wasn't objecting to her choice, Luna watched the filly as she passed, and then began to walk alongside her. As she did so, Luna took a more detailed look at the filly. In particular, the princess focused on her cutie mark. Just as before, it was an edelweiss flower. Inevitably, the princess began to wonder what the mark could mean, with no way to ask the filly directly. She did know that the edelweiss was a mountain flower that was renowned for being resilient, often growing at high altitudes, above the treeline. It was also often said among the mountain ponies that to give this diminutive flower to a special somepony was an act of love and devotion, since it often took much effort and time to climb up a mountain to find one, and bring it back down. As she was dwelling on this, Luna happened to look up and see Casemate disappear around a corner, and the Warden followed suit. The princess didn't think much of it, and continued to walk along with the little filly, still thinking. Knowing the symbolism behind the high-growing bloom, what did this mean for the filly's purpose? Was it resilience? Possibly. If the filly was truly out on the street, surviving on her own, then she had to be a resilient soul. This still didn't lessen Luna's pity for her. No foal should ever have to fend for themselves, especially in a hostile environment. "Ha!" Said a sinister voice in a mocking tone. "Quite the hypocrite, Luna. You feel bad for her past circumstances, when you know good and well that we did something far, far more cruel to her later…" Luna's heart almost skipped a beat as her eyes immediately shot up to a passing window, and sure enough, she caught a glimpse of Nightmare Moon's flashing teeth and glinting gaze. Before she could even think about how to respond, her darker personality disappeared, retreating back into her subconscious. The princess sighed, a little frustrated that Nightmare Moon was not giving her the opportunity to tell her off again. Inevitably, doubts and guilt began to seep in. Luna looked at the filly, and felt her heart twist in painful shame. She allowed Nightmare to take that precious young mare away from the Warden, condemning her to an unknown fate… Luna closed her eyes and looked away for a moment, trying to grapple with the guilt cleverly uncovered by Nightmare Moon. That filly would grow up to be the Warden's wife and bear his child. Somehow, she would overcome her bad situation, and get what Luna assumed to be what she wanted: A loving special somepony and a child. And Nightmare Moon took them away from the Warden… Knowing that she had allowed such a grave injustice to be done to the Warden alone was bad enough, but to know that she would eventually wrong that filly as well? Before she knew it, feelings of hopelessness and self-depreciation began to grow within Luna once more. What she had enabled Nightmare Moon to do didn't just hurt the Warden, but others as well… She was so enveloped in her condemning thoughts, Luna failed to notice that she and the filly she was walking alongside had already gone around the corner that both versions of the Warden had gone around, nor did she notice that neither of them were in sight. The filly did, though. She stopped in her tracks, giving a quiet, confused sound.  This was enough to get Luna out from her darkening train of thought, and a bolt of concern and confusion shot through her body. Did she lose the Warden? For a split second, her fears almost took hold, nearly convincing her that she had just lost her only chance at forgiveness. But then she realized that she could still sense him, and that, of course, the Warden's dream was still ongoing. She relaxed slightly. He was still here somewhere… Was he hiding? For that matter, was the colt hiding too? As Luna's thoughts processed the numerous questions coursing through her mind, the filly broke into a quick trot. She walked swiftly down the street, in the direction that young Casemate had gone, looking around in alarm, trying to locate the missing colt. Luna followed, easily keeping pace with the filly as yet another question came to mind. Why was this filly following Casemate in the first place? That question would be shortly answered. Luna and the filly walked quickly along, passing by an alleyway in their search. For some reason or another, neither of them paid any mind to it, walking on by. Once they had passed though, she heard the voice of young Casemate arise from behind. "What are you doing?" The filly started, swirling around to see the colt stepping out of the alley, eyeing her with suspicion. Luna stopped in her tracks, and turned just in time to see the Warden walk out as well, positioning himself next to his younger self. The princess immediately chided herself silently for being so oblivious to the obvious explanation for his disappearance, which was that they had slipped into the alley and waited for the filly to pass. As it turned out, Casemate was very much aware that he was being followed. The filly took a step back, her big blue eyes glimmering a bit with uncertainty as she realized that she had been found out. "U-uh… I-" She stammered, her voice and tone quite soft. Casemate took a few steps closer, his green eyes narrowing. His stance relaxed, as if he knew that she posed no immediate threat. He still seemed suspicious, though. "You… You're the filly I saw three months ago!" He said, his brow rising slightly as he stepped closer. "When I beat that Sweeper guy." The filly nodded, this time standing her ground as Casemate drew to within a few feet of her. "Yes. That was me." She said, clearly a bit nervous. The colt stopped, standing a short distance away from the filly.  "Why are you following me?" He asked firmly, looking her in the eye. Presented with his glare and firm demeanor, the filly glanced away uneasily. "I- I just wanted to find out who you were." She answered, her ears lowering as she began to sound a bit desperate. "That's all. I d-don't want to hurt you or anything, I swear!" His eyes widened to a normal degree, losing much of their suspicious look. He looked at the filly from head to hoof, as she did the same to him, both examining the other. Finally, after a few seconds of this, the colt's expression lost all of its harshness, replaced by a true, genuine curiosity. "Why?" He asked again, this time much less sharply. The filly inhaled, her body language indicating that while nervous, she had realized that he did not pose a threat either. "I've never seen anypony beat up Sweeper like that…" She admitted, exhaling as she did so. "He's mean and big an-" She looked fearful for a second, her voice choking out for a moment. Luna's heart ached for her. She recognized the signs of a traumatic experience that the filly must have undergone involving the bully, Sweeper. But the filly rallied after a few seconds, and resumed. "He always beats up smaller foals, and he always does whatever he wants to do… But then you beat him up!" She exclaimed. Luna was a bit surprised with how swiftly the filly had staved off a panic attack. Indeed, she did seem to be resilient, as her cutie mark would suggest. Then, the filly's mouth curled into a faint, tired smile, and her eyes began to show an expression of admiration as she looked upon Casemate. "It was amazing… You did something that everypony thought was impossible!" She declared, beginning to sound excited, having lost all indications of unease. Luna could not help but feel a slight smile play across her lips, as her heart warmed. It made her happy to see this beautiful, endearing filly get excited over Casemate. The filly then seemed to become a bit self-aware of her excitement, and she shrunk back bashfully. "M-may I know your name?" She asked, making eye contact with the colt for a moment before looking away again. Young Casemate stood silently, thinking. Luna could tell that he was processing what the filly had just told him, and what she thought of him. After some silent deliberation, he sighed. "Casemate." He replied. "My name is Casemate. Who are you?". "Edelweiss…" The filly answered, straightening her posture as her bashfulness seemed to fade somewhat. The colt nodded, understanding as he gazed thoughtfully at Edelweiss. Luna could swear that he looked more at ease than he ever did at all during this sequence. Considering that he almost always looked wary and confrontational around all the foals he was around, this spoke volumes. An adorably determined look came across the filly's face, as if she had just resolved to say something. "Well… I-I just want to tell you that I think you are very brave and nice, Casemate." Edelweiss praised, giving a genuine smile and a look of admiration towards the colt. Casemate looked genuinely taken aback, his eyes widening a bit as he visibly struggled to find an appropriate response. In fact, he almost looked flustered, going so far as to glance to the side. Of course, he probably hadn't received such praise from a pony outside his family before, which could explain why. "...Thank you, I suppose." He said hesitantly, finally having summoned the focus required to reply and the courage to look the filly in the eyes. Edelweiss looked far more at ease than before, as well as visibly happier. But before long, one of her ears drooped as her brow furrowed questioningly. "Why are you walking home alone?" She asked. "I have never seen anypony walk alone out of the school before you." "Uh… I don't have any friends." Casemate answered bluntly. "They are all afraid of me." Although he was trying to hide it, Luna could tell that he was bothered by this fact. Maybe his isolation had left him lonely among his peers after all. Edelweiss looked even more confused, taking a few steps closer to the colt, contrasting with the fear and uncertainty that she was displaying earlier. "Why? You aren't scary." Casemate sighed, shaking his head. "Some bully tried messing with me, and I beat him up. That's why they're afraid." "But you're not mean!" Edelweiss objected. "You didn't try to beat me up in that alley and you let me go. You're actually kind of nice." The colt let off another sigh. "Really? I'm not some scary colt who beats up bigger colts?" He asks, sounding and looking skeptical. The filly shook her head. "Not to me! I don't know for sure, but the other foals in that school are probably afraid because they haven't seen a fight out in the street." She explained, shrugging. "I guess I'm used to seeing fights, and I think that what you did makes you brave." Casemate's gaze fell away for a few seconds as he thought about this. As he ruminated silently, Edelweiss continued, pawing the stone street in slight bashfulness. "Hey, if it is okay with you, I think I would like to be your friend…" She murmured, her voice beginning to trail off a bit. "We both don't have any real friends, and…." The colt was snatched out of his thoughts, and he gazed up in surprise at her. "You would?" He asked, tilting his head. Edelweiss nodded. Young Casemate looked downwards again, going into thought. He clearly had a choice to make here, and Luna knew that although he didn't know it at the time, it would heavily influence his life to come. The filly remained silently hopeful, looking at the colt before her. Finally, after more than a few seconds, Casemate's eyes took on a legitimately happy shimmer as a small smile appeared on his face. "Alright. You can be my first friend, Edelweiss." The filly's ears perked up, her tail raised, and she did a little hop, clearly happy and relieved that all her efforts to follow him were not in vain. Luna felt like her heart was going to blow up from the cuteness. "Thank you, Casemate!" She said loudly. "I will try to be as good of a friend as I can!" The colt continued to smile, looking at the filly with an expression of relief and a hint of fondness. But then he gazed up at the sky, and saw that the sun was beginning to set. "Oh, um… I need to keep on walking home, or else my aunt is going to hunt me down." Casemate explained, walking closer to Edelweiss. "Thank you for not thinking that I’m scary or anything." "You're welcome!" Edelweiss said cheerily, her messy yellow mane bouncing a bit. "Can I walk with you?" "...Okay." Casemate said after taking a moment to think, before electing to spend a little more time with his new friend. The filly gave a joyful grin, and the two foals walked down the street, both talking amongst themselves. As Princess Luna watched them walk off, she felt her heart swell. She could definitely see the spark between the two that would eventually climax into all-out love. While Casemate was reserved and quite self aware of his shortcomings, Edelweiss had a bright energy about her, overcoming any barriers that the colt had. For a filly whom Luna assumed was living by herself on the street, Edelweiss was certainly peppier and more outgoing than she had expected. Not to mention how she got hung up on her description of Sweeper for only a second or two before finishing it. She truly seemed to show the resilience reflected by her cutie mark, in addition to the beauty of the flower after which she was named. Luna sighed. She could tell that Casemate needed a friend, and the brave little filly became one. Not only that, but with how much she seemed to admire Casemate, he was going to become a light in Edelweiss' dark life. She heard the Warden sigh wistfully, and she turned her attention towards him. He was gazing out with a peculiar expression, following the pair of foals visually. His ears were drooping, and his face showed a degree of emotion that Luna had not yet witnessed from him. His eyes shimmered, and she could swear that she saw the precursor to tears beginning to form. It made sense. He was rewatching the moment when he first befriended his future love, firsthoof. The same love that Nightmare Moon took away from him… A dagger of guilt sank deep into Luna's heart as she recalled what was in store for the colt. She gave a trembling sigh, hanging her head. She didn't want to admit it, but it was tiring to be subjected to this sheer amount of guilt. With each sequence played out, she had to fight harder to keep the hopelessness at bay. It didn't help that she was being shown what the Warden had undergone even before Nightmare Moon committed that awful act. Luna almost felt like giving up. She knew that the guilt was only going to grow worse. "Is there a problem?" The princess' ears jolted upwards as she faced the Warden, who had just asked the question. Any evidence of tears in his eyes were gone, replaced by a firm sternness, as was typical. "N-no." Luna said, her tone revealing a bit of emotional strain. Internally, she wondered why she wasn't honest. She just blurted the first and safest answer that came to mind. Still, she wasn't going to be able to take it back now.  "Are you ready to continue?" She asked, after collecting her thoughts. The Warden nodded once, and Luna mustered the will to continue, casting a spell to bring about the next event. It had been a grueling rollercoaster of hopeful highs and heartbreaking lows thus far, and she knew that they weren't done. But she was already this far in, and her best hope of keeping Nightmare Moon at bay lay at the end. She could not stop now. No matter how much worse her guilt got, she still knew that there was a chance that she could be forgiven. She was not going to give up yet.