~Chapter 26: Thicker Than Water~
Ursa’s face clouded with anger as Backdraft related the events of the previous night to the earth pony. Draft had waited just until Ursa had time to shake off his sleepiness before he began retelling the events, wanting to get it out before the larger stallion had the chance to question him first. It seemed like a good idea to get it all out in the open as soon as possible. The crystal pony’s reaction was about what Draft had imagined it would be. At first Ursa was disbelieving, then upset and now he was downright furious with Draft’s brother.
“He tried to get you to have sex with those prostitutes!?” Ursa asked in a voice wavering with his rage. “I’m going to stomp that little bastard into dust for being so stupid!” the earth pony exclaimed as he hopped off of the bed and headed to the door. Draft knew he should try to stop his friend, but part of him really wanted to see his brother get what he deserved, so the pegasus silently followed Ursa out the bedroom door and into the hallway. He could always intervene if things got too violent, after all.
Ursa marched down the hallway, heading straight for Downpour’s room. A mare outside one of the many matching doors kept her distance, sensing the furry rolling off of the large stallion in waves. Although he was pretty easy going, Ursa could be extremely intimidating when he wanted to and it was showing through as they walked down the hall. The pair finally reached Downpour’s room and Ursa pounded on the door loudly. It took a little while before Draft’s brother answered the door.
Sleeping in had been Downpour’s plan when he had finally collapsed after the previous night’s intimate activities, but a loud pounding on the door ruined that idea. He opened his bloodshot eyes and had to squint at the ferocity of the light peeking through the window. The distinct smell of sex and stale alcohol assaulted the pegasus’s nose as he pushed himself up from the mattress and carefully made his way over the twins sleeping on either side of him. Last night was a bit of a blur, but Downpour definitely remembered having relations with both of them more than once; Strata was going to murder him if she found out. He grimaced at the thought as he stumbled over to his bedroom door.
Downpour’s line of thought was abruptly cut off when he opened the door and received a large hoof square in his tattooed eye. The punch dropped the stunned pony to the ground and the next thing that he saw was a large green leg speeding towards his chest. The blow knocked every bit of air from Downpour’s lungs and the pegasus tried to suck in a raspy breath as he looked up into the enraged face of Ursa standing in his doorway. His blue eyes widened in realization as he attempted to brace himself against the next ferocious kick.
“You little bucker! I’m going to flatten you for being such a prick!” Ursa’s shouts woke up Desire and Passion, who shrieked when they saw the green stallion kicking Downpour’s incapacitated body. “What kind of a brother would do something like that!?” The question was punctuated with another hard blow to Downpour’s head, sending his mind reeling from the force. The twins’ screams continued to fill the air as the earth pony wailed on the hungover pegasus.
“What the hay!” Downpour finally managed to scream as he raised his forelegs to ward off the next barrage of stomps. The pegasus kicked out his legs into Ursa’s knee, buckling the leg and dropping the large stallion to his level. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Downpour followed up with three more kicks directed in the earth pony’s broad chest. “Do you think you’re going to come in here and bucking hit me, then just walk away. I’ll beat the shit out of you!” Downpour pushed his legs under his body and rose to his hooves, preparing to stomp on the back of Ursa’s exposed head.
Draft slammed into Downpour before he got the chance, sending both of them tumbling further into the room. The twins’ screams punctuated the air once more as they rose off of the bed and flew out of the bedroom in a panic. Downpour managed to get two hooves between him and Draft when the younger pegasus glanced away at the fleeing mares. He shoved his light, younger brother off of him as hard as he could. Draft stumbled a few times before he managed to balance out with the help of his wings.
“I don’t want to fight with you, Draft, but I swear if you attack me again I’m going to pummel you for it,” Downpour said between gasping breaths. He locked eyes with his younger brother and they stared each other down in silent rage for a full minute before Draft turned around to leave. The grey pegasus helped Ursa, who was staring daggers at Downpour the whole time, to his feet and they left without another word. The door slammed loudly as Downpour slumped to the ground, out of breath and aching from the unexpected attack.
“Damn it…” the pegasus said to himself as a tear of anguish forced its way down his reddened cheek. Out of all the times Downpour had ever messed up, this had to be the worst one yet. The bluish pegasus pulled his legs to his chest and dropped his head onto them. He sat there for over an hour, silently weeping over how badly he had reacted the last couple of days. He knew that Draft was never going to forgive him for what he had tried to do and couldn’t blame the younger pony.
Ever since they were just colts, Downpour seemed to be the brother always doing terrible things to ponies. The way the pegasus had treated his mother after his father had abandoned them had been horrid and the way Downpour treated his friends, although Nature Spark was the only pony he could really call his friend anymore, was nearly as bad. Now his brother hated him too. It seemed like the brash stallion was destined to drive everypony away. Maybe it was for the best though, every time somepony got close to him, he would end up hurting them. His tears fell one by one, punctuating each dark thought in his mind as they splashed against the floor. He was a monster.
Eventually Downpour’s tears dried out and he found himself unable to cry any longer, so he slowly got to his hooves. The pegasus made his way over to the bed and reached a hoof under the mattress. After feeling around for a moment, he pulled out the second vial of magical powder. He had stolen it from his brother’s saddlebag when he’d left the note on Draft’s bedroom door the night before. It was just one more deed to add to his ever growing list of transgressions. Draft and Ursa had forgotten to lock up after they left and Downpour had helped himself to the drug. Everything felt better when he was using it and right now he needed more to feel better. He poured a little bit out on top of the small wooden night stand and sniffed it up, coughing slightly as it coated the back of his throat.
The euphoria set in almost instantly and everything seemed to get brighter. Sure Downpour had screwed up pretty badly, but he could always find a way to make it up to his younger brother. The intoxicated pegasus let out a relaxed sigh as the magical properties of the powder numbed the pain of his swollen black eye and bruised ribs. Making up would only come after he had paid Ursa back for the cheap shot the earth pony had taken on him though. Downpour slowly crawled up onto the messy bed and laid down, staring up at the ceiling as his mind drifted off.
As soon as he and Ursa had gotten back to the room, Draft started packing up their supplies. He threw everything carelessly into the saddlebags as bitter tears ran down his face. Ursa stood by and watched as the pegasus angrily forced his boots on and threw his cloak over his slender shoulders. When everything was ready, Draft walked past the earth pony and out the door.
“Where are you going?” Ursa asked as he followed Draft’s hoofsteps down the hallway and into the main room of the inn.
“We’re leaving,” Draft replied flatly. “I’m going to the capitol without him. You’re welcome to follow if you still want to.” Draft headed for the door, but a firm hoof on his shoulder stopped him. He pulled away, but Ursa tightened his grip and yanked the smaller stallion closer to him. The crystal pony wrapped Draft in a tight hug, which he struggled against momentarily before finally giving in. He sank into the shaggy stallion’s warm embrace and laid his head on the earth pony’s shoulder. Tears soaked Ursa’s back as Draft broke down into sobs, in front of the mare sitting at the front desk.
“It’s going to be okay, Draft,” Ursa assured him in a comforting voice. “Of course I’m going to go with you.” Draft hugged his companion fiercely as he wept; taking every bit of the comfort he was offered. “It’ll be alright.” They stood like that for a few more minutes before Draft was able to choke back his tears and speak again.
“Thank you,” he mumbled in a wavering voice. Ursa stroked a hoof through his long grey mane, trying his best to ease the younger stallion’s flaring emotions. “Thank you for standing up for me back there and thank you for being here for me now.”
“Well, we’ve already made it halfway to the capitol, so I figured why not go all the way,” Ursa joked. Draft’s last whimpers quickly morphed into hysterical laughter, until the pegasus glanced back and noticed the innkeeper watching them with a bewildered expression.
“Ahem, maybe we should do this somewhere else,” Draft suggested as he wiped his tear streaked muzzle with a hoof. “I think were scaring the innkeeper a little bit.” Ursa peeked over his shoulder and chuckled when he saw the mare’s questioning face, her light blue eyes full of confusion at the strange spectacle occurring in her lobby.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Ursa agreed as they let go of one another. Draft waved goodbye to the innkeeper before turning around and heading out the front doors. She smiled awkwardly after the stallions as they departed. The sky was dotted with grey clouds as they left the cozy building, a promise of rain soon to come, and there was a cool breeze blowing through the streets. Draft pulled his cloak tighter to keep off the chill as they rounded the block and headed north for the capitol. The two ponies walked in silence until they had exited the city limits, neither stallion knowing what to say to the other, but eventually Draft initiated conversation with his companion.
“Does the duke have power to declare war or is it only the king that can do that?” Draft eventually asked. The pegasus had been wondering exactly how close their countries really were to plummeting into all out war and now seemed as good of a time as any to find out. He sure didn’t feel like talking about his own problems right then, but those were the only two thoughts on his mind.
“He’s an emperor,” Ursa replied.
“What?” Draft asked, completely oblivious to the fact that he and his older brother had been misaddressing the royal family for the past few weeks.
“He’s not a king,” Ursa reiterated. “He’s an emperor.” Draft let out an exasperated sigh. The technicality didn’t seem very important to the foreign pegasus. King, emperor, prince; they could call themselves whatever they wanted as long as they held all of the power, he mused.
“Is there any difference?” Draft asked the earth pony as they continued down the dirt road leading away from the town.
“Not really, but when dealing with royalty, it’s best to use the proper titles when addressing them,” Ursa explained. “Ponies with power tend to prefer everypony else know exactly how much power they command.” Thinking back, Draft thought he remembered other ponies referring to them properly. Apparently the Equestrian pony had missed those lessons in school though.
“Alright fine, is the emperor the only one that can declare war?” Draft asked again, in a slightly more annoyed voice.
“Unfortunately, I think that the duke has the right to call for a war since the emperor is unfit to rule right now,” Ursa replied with a frown. That wasn’t the answer that Draft was hoping for, but it only meant that he had made the right choice in continuing on to the Crystal Castle or Palace, whichever they wanted to call it, instead of trying to deal with his family issues. Not that he was very eager to talk with his brother again after everything the inconsiderate older pegasus had done, but it wasn’t as if he could just cut off all contact with his only relative, as easy as it would have made his life to do so.
“Great. Is there anything else that I should know before we get there?” Draft questioned. “I’m not exactly well versed in Crystal Empire politics as you can tell.” Ursa was silent for a moment as he thought about the question.
“There isn’t anything important I can really tell you that school hasn’t taught you. You’ve talked with your own rulers, so just try to behave like you did with them,” Ursa shrugged. “That’s the best advice I can give.” The pegasus groaned audibly at his statement.
“I’m sure school would have taught me about your country, seeing as how we were allies, but my brother and I quit school after our mother died, so I missed out on some knowledge that seems to have gained more importance in my life then I ever thought it would,” Draft explained dryly.
“Oh, well I guess that I can fill you in on some of what you missed,” Ursa replied with mild surprise. “I can’t believe you quit school though.”
“Yeah, well, it’s kind of difficult to pay for what you need to live without getting a job, so I didn’t really have much of a choice,” Draft retorted in an irritated tone. He had asked about the Crystal Empire to avoid talking about his personal issues, but it seemed to be an inevitable topic of conversation. “I would have loved to finish school and have a loving family that wasn’t totally bucked in the head, but not everypony is so lucky.”
“I’m sorry,” Ursa apologized as he brushed his muzzle against Draft’s neck tenderly. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“It’s not your fault,” Draft sighed. “I think I’m just a little touchy about personal subjects right now. Can you blame me?” He gave his large friend a halfhearted smile. Life seemed to be having fun messing with the pegasus lately and it was starting to get very tiresome. If he hadn’t met Ursa, well, Draft was pretty sure he would have had a mental breakdown days ago or maybe he would have just gone on in quiet unhappiness, until he violently lashed out at everypony around him.
“I’d be more than happy to teach you what I know,” Ursa replied with a grin as Draft returned his affectionate nuzzling.
They spent the next few hours talking about seemingly endless aspects of politics and general life in Ursa’s home country. Some of it was essentially the same as Equestria and some of it the crystal pony had briefly covered earlier in their travels, but much of it was completely foreign to Draft. Ursa explained the way their emperor ruled, how laws and decrees were made, who held power over what and many other things that the pegasus did his best to memorize. Much of it he would probably never use, but it was better to be safe than sorry. They even skimmed over important historical events, as the clouds gathered overhead, the two stallions talking for hours to pass the time as they neared their goal.
Snort! Snort! With each little pile of powder, Downpour’s troubles seemed to grow smaller and smaller. It wasn’t a fix by any means, barely more than a bandage over the gaping wound that was his life, but for the rest of the day it might be enough. Downpour had no idea what he was going to do next. He was nearly out of money and stuck in a foreign country. It didn’t really matter to the pegasus anymore though. The war, his brother and his lack of money, none of that meant a damn thing. Nothing would change for him one way or another, so there was no reason to help anypony else. Nopony had given him a hoof when he was down. A wetness around the bluish stallion’s mouth brought him out of his thoughts. He wiped a hoof across his face and it came back covered in blood.
“That can’t be good,” Downpour commented as he pulled a blanket off of his bed and dabbed his nostrils. A red stain bloomed on the fabric as his nose continued to bleed. He figured that it was a sign he needed to cut back on the powder for a little while. “I think it’s a good time to go have a drink.” The pegasus gripped the soiled blanket with two hooves and ripped off a strip from the sand colored fabric.
A few minutes later Downpour walked out the front door of the inn, with a piece of cloth wedged in both of his nostrils to keep the blood off of his face. With the volume of blood that had been leaking out it seemed like his nose should have hurt, but the intoxicated pegasus couldn’t feel anything as he walked down the streets of Calvary. A few ponies that he passed shot Downpour strange looks when they thought he wasn’t paying attention, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. It wasn’t as if he was ever going to see any of them ever again anyway. With that thought in mind and a smile on his face, Downpour picked his way through town and back to the Full House. The bouncer stopped him at the door again, but he was already digging the bits out of his bag to pay the entrance fee.
The club wasn’t nearly as busy as it had been the night before, which wasn’t too surprising, but there were still a few severely intoxicated stallions scattered about the dimly lit room. Downpour cut a path straight for the bar, snatching the bloodied scrap of cloth from his nose and tossing in a trash bin as he passed by.
“Spade, my favorite barkeeper, how’s business?” Downpour asked as he took a seat at the empty bar. The one-eared earth pony seemed a little surprised to see the bluish pegasus in his bar at such an early hour, but gave a nod in his direction as he poured a glass of whiskey for another patron.
“Downpour, what brings you into my bar at this time of day?” Spade asked as he walked up and leaned against the bar near the pegasus. “It’s usually only the regular barflies that buzz around here at this hour… and what the hay happened to your face?” Downpour gave the earth pony a smile, the stain of blood evident around his mouth, before sighing heavily.
“It’s a long story,” Downpour replied. Spade gave him the once over before turning around and grabbing a bottle from the dusty shelf behind him. Then the bartender grabbed two glasses and threw a couple ice cubes into each one. Downpour watched him as he filled each glass with amber liquid and slid one over to the pegasus.
“I know that look. You see it plenty in my line of work,” Spade told him as he took a long sip off of his own alcohol. “So how bad did you buck up?” Downpour gave a pitiful smile as he took a long drink off of his rum, coughing at the fiery burn that stripped the numbness from his throat. It was the good stuff, he realized, as warmth filled his belly.
“It’s that obvious, huh?” Downpour laughed humorlessly.
“Not really, but I’ve learned to notice the subtle signs. Like the fact that you look like you spent the night being dragged through Tartarus by your nose,” Spade informed him with a dry laugh. “I take it whatever crazy plans you had with the girls backfired on you?” That was putting it mildly of course, Downpour mused silently.
“I guess you could say that,” he mumbled in response. Spade waited silently while Downpour took a few more sips from his glass, allowing the pegasus plenty of time to figure out how he wanted to tell his tale. Finally Downpour admitted, “I bucked up pretty bad this time. I don’t know if I can fix it either.” Spade just silently observed him as he swirled the half empty glass of rum, no judgment on the earth pony’s face or in his mind, as far as Downpour could tell. “My brother told me he was gay.” Downpour waited for the gasp of surprise that never came.
“Is that all?” Spade asked dismissively, much to the depressed pegasus’s chagrin.
“It’s sort of a big deal, Spade,” Downpour exclaimed as he frowned into his drink. The pegasus suddenly got the feeling that it was going to take a few refills before he finished the whole story.
“Is it now?” Spade questioned as he gulped down the rest of his drink and set it back on the table. “Hey, Sweetie, do you mind covering me for a little bit while I go talk with my friend here?” the earth pony called to a pretty mare that was waiting tables.
“Go ahead, hun,” she replied with a smile. Spade grabbed the nearly full bottle of liquor and walked around the bar, motioning for Downpour to follow him. The one-eared stallion led the pegasus to one of the empty tables in the back of his bar and they both sat down facing each other. Downpour didn’t even glance at the beautiful mares dancing on the platforms as they passed; his mind was busy trying to figure out what he was going to say to his new friend.
“Alright, Downpour, what’s the short and sweet of it?” the black pony asked as he filled up their glasses for the second time that day. Downpour took another sip from his drink and took a deep breath, readying his mind to open up to this stallion that he hardly knew. Something about Spade relaxed the pegasus though; probably a skill the bartender had gained over the years as he spoke to all sorts of ponies, in all states of living.
“Where should I start?” Downpour asked with a huff. “First off, I want it to be clear that I love my brother. I mean, he’s the only family that I have left and nothing will ever change that.”
“I see, have you told him that?” Spade asked.
“Not exactly, but I’m sure he knows,” Downpour replied, fully believing it to be true. The bartender smiled and shook his head in disbelief.
“You’d be surprised how much it helps to actually tell ponies what you really mean,” Spade commented. “Some things that seem obvious to you are much less so to others.” Downpour absorbed his words and drained half of his glass before continuing.
“Yeah, that would have been better than what I did,” he sighed.
“The girls?” Spade asked, seeming to already have deduced the answer for himself. “Hay, I bet that went badly.”
“Mhmm, he didn’t seem to think it was as good of an idea as me and, well, we got in a fight over it this morning,” Downpour replied. “I’m pretty sure he hates me now.”
“I can imagine,” the earth pony said. “What happened after that?” Spade’s dark blue eyes stared at Downpour from across the small table, full of a calm wisdom that the pegasus could only envy.
“After him and his coltfriend decided to jump me?” Downpour asked. “Nothing. They left and I started using this magical powder my friend made. It helped dull the pain.” Just listening to his own voice was enough to make the pegasus sick. He sounded like a whinny little filly and it wasn’t something he cared for. “Then I started bleeding from my nose and came here. That’s the whole story, more or less.”
Spade scratched behind his remaining ear and sighed before replying, “It sounds like you blew everything out of proportion. What were you expecting to happen?”
“I don’t know, but not that,” Downpour mumbled as he fixed his gaze on the ever draining cup of alcohol in front of him. “I suppose I was just hoping that he’d see a cute pair of mares and forget about trying to rut with stallions. It’s just wrong.”
“Downpour, if there is one thing that I’ve learned over the years, it’s that you can’t pick who you fall in love with. Take me and my wife for example,” Spade said, nodding towards the cute, middle-aged mare that he had asked to cover the bar for him. “Sweetie and I are probably the most opposite ponies that ever lived, but when I saw her, well, I knew for a fact that nothing in the world would ever change how I felt about her.” Downpour noticed the absent minded smile that crossed the bartender’s face just talking about his lovely wife.
“It’s not the same,” the pegasus replied flatly.
“How so?” Spade asked with one raised eyebrow.
“She’s a she. You didn’t go off and fall in love with a stallion,” Downpour retorted as he tossed back the last of his drink. The warm buzz was extending through his whole body at that point. The pegasus hadn’t really eaten for awhile and thus the liquor was hitting him harder than it usually would have. His head reeled as he glanced around the room.
“It doesn’t matter. Just look at your self,” Spade said as he held out the bottle, offering his new friend a refill. Downpour nodded in answer, hoping that the booze was being poured as a gift, because he didn’t have many bits left to waste getting drunk. “You’re in love with a hippogriff right?”
“How’d you know?” Downpour asked with surprise.
“Please, you get a little liquor in you and you’ll blab about anything and everything under the sun,” Spade explained with an amused grin. “You certainly seemed very smitten with the hippogriff when you were telling all of my customers about her.” Love was a strong word, but Downpour couldn’t deny that he felt a powerful connection to Strata, although the same might not be true for her when she found out what he had done with Passion and Desire last night. He was going to have to get some advice about dealing with that monumental screw up as well.
“Yeah, but what’s your point?” Downpour questioned.
“My point is, back in the day, ponies would have said that you falling in love with a hippogriff was wrong, the earth pony elaborated. “I want to know if that would have made you change the way you see her.” Spade spoke as if he already knew the answer, which he most likely did.
“Nope. I wouldn’t give a shit what anypony else said,” Downpour responded. He got the point Spade was trying to make before he even finished getting the words out. His head slumped as the full weight of his stupidity crashed down on his mind. “Damn.”
“Do you see what I’m getting at now?”
“Er, yeah, but I’m still not happy about it,” Downpour replied with a scowl.
“The truth is seldom easy to swallow, but it does a world of good to accept things for what they are,” Spade assured the pegasus as he glanced around the room. Downpour lifted his gaze to meet the earth pony’s eyes and groaned loudly as he contemplated what he was going to have to do to fix things with his younger brother.
“I have one more situation I need advice about,” Downpour told the barkeeper as he took a sip from his glass. The burn from the rum had worn off and now all the pegasus could feel was the tingling sensation that spread through his body and out to his extremities.
“Oh, what’s that?” Spade asked, genuinely surprised for the first time since they had started their conversation. As bad as the situation with his brother was, Downpour was almost positive that last night’s indiscretions were going to completely destroy whatever foundation of a relationship he had begun building with Strata. She was a very proud mare and not likely to brush of his betrayal of trust. Honestly, he was just hoping that the hippogriff didn’t skin him alive for it.
“It’s about Strata,” Downpour finally told the stallion. “I think she’s going to be even more pissed at me than my brother is.” Spade stared at him with a blank expression, reaching for his cup and belting back the contents without breaking eye contact once.
“Tell me you didn’t,” Spade said in shock.
Downpour slammed his head into the table and left it there, whispering, “I did,” without raising it from the wood. “I cheated on her with the twins and she’s going to take my balls as retribution and then leave me in the gutter. It’s what I deserve though.” He waited for Spade’s sage advice to come, but there was no response from the older stallion. Downpour peeked up from the table and saw the bartender rubbing his had as he processed what Downpour had told him.
“I’ve got nothing,” Spade finally told the pegasus.
“Great,” Downpour replied as he forced his head off of the table and took another gulp from his rum. Getting drunk wasn’t helping much anymore. Now he just felt depressed and drunk. “No advice then?”
“Beg,” Spade said replied.
“Excuse me?” Downpour asked, not sure that he had heard the black stallion properly over the faint sounds of music in the air.
“You heard me,” Spade said. “Your only option is to bring her the best gift you can possibly find and grovel at her claws. You’re going to have to kiss her hooves and plead with her for forgiveness.” That was what Downpour thought the bartender had said. “If she really loves you and doesn’t know any better, Strata may just take you back.”
“That’s the best you’ve got?” Downpour asked as he lay back in his chair with a groan. He had been hoping for some sort of magical fix-all that repaired ruined relationships, but if begging was what it took, then begging is what he would do.
“That’s the best advice I can give. I’ve never been stupid enough to think that I deserve my girl so much I could get away with cheating on her,” Spade told him without a trace of humor in his tone or face. “Tell me how it goes.” Downpour nodded silently as he stared off into the back of the bar. It was going to take plenty of work for him to undo all of the harm he had inflicted on those around him, starting with making amends with Draft and Ursa. Downpour sighed and tossed back the rest of his drink while Spade just shook his head in disapproval from across the wooden tabletop.
“I guess I have a lot of shit to make up for, huh?” Downpour asked to nopony in particular as they sat in the dimly lit club, the sound of drunken conversation and music being drowned out by his own conflicting thoughts. Not only to apologize to those he loved, but also penance for those that he had killed. Spade sat with the morose stallion for awhile after that, content to be moral support, until intoxicated customers forced the earth pony back to his post behind the bar. Downpour was so lost in thought that he hardly even noticed the stallion leaving. Spade had been kind enough to leave the bottle though and it was gone before Downpour walked back out of the Full House.
The cloud cover overhead had thickened as the morning passed into afternoon and the grey skies looked ready to unleash a cascade of rain at any moment. Draft glanced to the air every few minutes as he walked, anticipating the inevitable dousing to come. Even with his body wrapped tightly in a cloak, the cold winter winds were beginning to take their toll and the pegasus shivered as a particularly aggressive gust forced its way through his clothing. His boots kept the mud and cold from his hooves, but there was still dirt speckling his underside as he and Ursa trudged along the dirt path.
Draft had avoided talking about his brother, not only because it would only aggravate them both, but also because there wasn’t much to say on the matter. Downpour had disrespected him and Ursa and then treated it like another one of his jokes. His betrayal had cut a deep wound and Draft doubted if anything would remove the emotional scars, even if time was supposed to heal all wounds. Having a goal to focus on was the one thing that seemed to be keeping him sane at the moment, that and the handsome stallion traveling with him anyway.
“What do we have, like another day of walking after this?” Draft asked, in an attempt to break the silence that had fallen between them at some point. It hadn’t been a conscious decision, but the ponies had both needed time to think and that was easier to do when they weren’t trying to maintain a conversation.
Ursa shook his head and answered, “No, we should make it by tomorrow afternoon, as long as we don’t run into any trouble anyway.” It didn’t seem likely to Draft that they would. Ursa had been right when he’d told them that the Crystal Empire, as the pegasus had been told to call it, was relatively safe. The only problems they had encountered were Downpour’s fault, so now that they had left the irresponsible pegasus behind, it would most likely be easy traveling for the rest of the trip, weather permitting.
“Good, I can’t wait to be done with this. Then I’m going to head home and pack up what stuff I need. The sooner I get out of under the same roof as my brother, the happier we’ll both be,” Draft commented as he glanced up at the clouds once again. The pegasus thought that he felt a small drop of water on his grey face, but he couldn’t be certain.
“Have you given any thought to my offer,” Ursa asked, with a note of hopefulness in his deep voice. Draft had actually thought about his friend’s offer quite a bit, but he hadn’t yet reached a decision on the matter. As much as the pegasus enjoyed Ursa’s company, moving to another country for a stallion that he had only known for less than a week, seemed like the kind of rash action that only a madmare would take.
“I’m still thinking it over, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. We have awhile before I’ll be returning home, so that gives me plenty of time to ponder the question,” Draft explained as he lifted off of the ground, tired of walking so much. “I promise you that I’ll have an answer by then.” Draft really didn’t want to lead the earth pony on, but a life changing decision like the one he was considering wasn’t something to be taken lightly. He hoped that the Ursa understood the reason for his indecision. The crystal pony didn’t respond to his answer though.
Choosing to change the subject instead, Ursa asked, “Do you think that your brother will try to follow us?” It was a fair question, as Downpour was ridiculously stubborn most of the time. The brash stallion’s pride might actually force him to see the mission all of the way to the end, whether it was for the best or not.
“I suppose it’s possible,” Draft admitted as they reached a fork in the road. “Although he may have a tough time finding us, seeing as how he doesn’t know exactly where to go, like you do.” Ursa headed down the left path and Draft hovered in his wake, trusting the older stallion’s sense of direction. It had brought them that far without any troubles.
“I don’t know about that,” Ursa replied. “I’m sure if you were to fly high enough, you could probably see the edge of the city from here. It’s pretty damn large and hard to miss.” If it was close to the size of Canterlot then Draft wouldn’t doubt the green stallion’s statement. You could see the Equestrian capitol from quite a distance away.
“Well then, I wouldn’t be surprised if Downpour decided to head north after all,” Draft commented. “He may even beat us there since he can fly straight to the palace.” In fact, the more that the pegasus thought about it, the more likely it seemed that his brother would try to handle the situation before them, just out of some form of spite. The very idea made Draft laugh.
“Uh, what’s so funny?” Ursa asked, perplexed by the grey pegasus’s seemingly random outburst. Draft shook his head dismissively, not sure why exactly the thought was funny to him.
“It’s nothing, I think I’m just going a little crazy today,” Draft explained, much to his friend’s bewilderment.
Celestia’s sun disappeared behind the clouds after a time, leaving the landscape gloomy and cold in its absence. As if they had been waiting for exactly that moment, the clouds released their building deluge down upon the forest, covering the road in mud and puddles within mere seconds. Draft sighed as he retightened his cloak and Ursa did the same. The sloshing sound of the earth pony’s boots in the mud mixed with the ceaseless pattering of rainfall, the only two sounds in the empty forest as the stallions traveled along the path.
Downpour stumbled his way down the busy streets of Calvary, heading for the inn to grab his things and talk with his brother. The liquor had done its job a little too well and the pegasus was having trouble maintaining a straight line as he headed to his destination. The grey skies weren’t helping to improve his mood and the promise of rain hung in the air, like a weight upon the city. The deluge hadn’t yet begun by the time that he made it inside the small lobby of the dull colored building, but it seemed to be on the verge of starting. The pink mare behind the counter glanced up for a moment when the tattooed stallion arrived, but quickly returned to whatever was written on the stack of papers before her.
Downpour stumbled up to the counter and leaned against it for support as he asked, “Can I get the key to my brother’s room. I think he might be sleeping and I don’t want to wake him, but I need to get in the room.” The earth pony gave him a puzzled look as he stood there, doing his best not to fall over as the room swayed in his vision.
“The grey pegasus that you came here with?” she asked as she straightened a sheaf of papers and fixed him with her light blue eyes.
“Yeah, who else would I be talking about,” Downpour replied in a slightly annoyed voice.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” she replied, shying away from the stench of alcohol on his breath as he spoke.
“Why the hay not?” Downpour asked her as he swayed away from the counter momentarily, before gripping the tabletop to steady his legs.
“He checked out earlier today, along with your friend. I thought that you would have known that,” she replied in an even tone. Downpour stared at her for a few seconds, unsure whether the mare was joking or not, but her face held no sign of humor as she met his drunken gaze.
“Oh, well then. I guess I’ll go grab my things and check out,” Downpour replied as he let go of the counter and cut a zigzagging path down the hallway. Thankfully his room wasn’t very far away and he made it there without hitting the floor; a rather large victory for the pegasus considering his current state. After fumbling with the lock a few times, he managed to get the door open and stumbled straight for the bed. Downpour’s back hit the mattress and the room began to spin around him, so he immediately sat back up. His stomach was starting to revolt against the corrosive fluid that filled it and he felt a bad taste rising in the back of his throat.
Downpour grabbed the trashcan and hugged it against him as he vacated his insides of alcohol. It burned much more coming out then it had going down, but eventually the winged stallion started feeling well enough to get to his hooves, eyes watery from the searing pain in his throat and nose. He washed out his mouth and grabbed the few items he had left scattered about the room, holding back another wave of nausea at the sight of his vial of powder. He didn’t plan on touching the magical concoction again for awhile, but he grabbed it anyway and placed it in his pocket.
Once he had everything stuffed into his cloak, Downpour threw on his boots and headed back out the door. His plan was to checkout, find somewhere to get a bite to eat and then pick up his brother’s trail. With any luck, he could find the younger pegasus and apologize before nightfall. The innkeeper had an annoyed expression as she glanced up from her paperwork to see him standing in front of her desk once again.
“I’m checking out,” Downpour told her as he placed the room key on the counter. She took the key without saying anything and the pegasus shrugged his shoulders as he turned away from her and headed out the front doors into the dreary evening outside.
Downpour had barely made it outside of the city limits when the rain began to fall from the sky in fat drops, which covered the woods in a very short time. Every exposed part of the stocky pegasus was soaked in seconds and the cold winds sent shivers through his body. Between the liquor and the rainfall, he didn’t make very good time as he picked his way around mud puddles. As soon as he sobered up, Downpour planned on taking to the air, but drunk flying in a storm wasn’t something that the pegasus was eager to do, so he continued on hoof for most of the afternoon.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Draft nearly shouted, just to be heard over the torrential rains that hammered down around him and Ursa. It hadn’t taken very long for the rain to develop into a raging storm and it was getting difficult for the stallions to see more than a few yards in front of them as they walked. Draft didn’t doubt his friend’s ability to find his way, even in the relentless deluge, but it was getting very cold and he was eager to get out of the rain for the rest of the day.
“Yeah, it’s about time that we stop and make a shelter, before the storm gets any worse,” Ursa agreed as they slowed their pace and then stopped along the side of the trail. “Grab whatever large branches you can find and we’ll just set up camp right here.”
“That sounds good to me,” Draft replied as he made his way into the woods and looked around. Everything was soaking wet for miles, so a fire was out of the question, but between the two of them, they managed to find enough large branches for Ursa to erect a small covering. Draft was pretty certain that even with a roof over their heads, the two of them were in for one damp night of sleep. At least they would have body warmth to help keep the cold off, he thought, as he watched Ursa grapple with the last few branches on the lean-to.
“Alright, well that should help a little anyway,” Ursa observed as they started clearing a spot under the covering to sleep on.
“Mhmm, it’s pretty damn good, all things considered,” Draft agreed as he laid out their blankets and took a seat on top, doing his best to keep his filthy hooves from spreading mud all over.
“It’s still a little early, but we may as well eat dinner now. There isn’t much else for us to do in this weather,” Ursa suggested. Draft nodded in agreement and pulled some provisions from his saddlebags.
The stallions talked as they ate, cracking jokes and telling stories to keep their minds off of the fact that the temperature was dropping rapidly. If Downpour was planning on following them, then he was going to have a tough time doing it. Even though the sun hadn’t yet set, it was very dark in the forest and getting darker by the minute. Between that and the driving rain, it would have been next to impossible for him to find them in their little shelter beside the trail. Thunder boomed from off in the distance as Draft bit another chunk off of a piece of bread.
It wasn’t long Draft and Ursa had finished dinner that the two stallions slipped under their damp blankets and snuggled up to one another. The warmth that they provided each other was a welcome break from the chilling bite of the winter winds that blew through the woods. Draft could smell Ursa’s damp mane as he buried his face against the larger stallion, but it wasn’t an unpleasant scent. It was this smell of musk and nature that filled the pegasus’s mind as he closed his eyes and fell into a content sleep.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Downpour chanted as he was repeatedly blown back and forth through the grey skies. The raging winds above finally forced the bluish pegasus back to the ground. He had sobered up rather quickly as the cold water drenched his mane and tail, sapping the heat from his body. Downpour had tried flying soon after the rain began, but was met with much more resistance than he had anticipated. He settled on walking through the forest, but it was very slow going and he wasn’t even sure that he was still heading in the right direction as the sunlight vanished. In the morning Downpour was going to have to fly up and try to find the proper direction, but it wasn’t as if he was going to get very far off track if he kept walking at his current pace, so the determined pegasus gritted his teeth against the cold and continued on.
“I really hope those two didn’t make it too far today,” Downpour said aloud, before slipping in a large patch of mud and catching himself with his wings. As much as he loathed using any more of his powder, the only way the pegasus was going to be able to keep going would be with a little push, so he pulled out the glass vial and held it under the flap of his cloak. A little sprinkling of the magical mix and Downpour felt the vigor retuning to his body, allowing him the energy needed to force his way through the storm. Draft wouldn’t be happy when he found out that his older brother was still using, but that was just one little problem piled on top of much larger ones in his life. The blackness of night set in around Downpour as he continued to walk along the trail, sure that if he stopped moving, the cold would take him in its deadly embrace.
“Hopefully Draft will take some pity on me when he sees what I went through just to apologize,” Downpour mumbled to himself. It was lonely in the dark woods and talking to himself seemed to keep the slightly drunken pony’s racing mind occupied, so Downpour decided to practice what exactly he planned on saying as he sloshed through the mud, his boots filling with sludge and his short mane dripping with icy water.
If anypony had been around to see him, Downpour would have appeared to be a crazy stallion, walking aimlessly through the woods during a terrible storm and he might as well have been at that moment. The pegasus was arguing with his thoughts as the sound of falling rain continued on unabated. He would walk and walk until he found his sibling, Downpour decided. Little doses of the powder and the goal of redeeming himself in Draft’s eyes kept the pegasus going through the dismal night and he only stopped moving to force a small bit of food down his throat every couple of hours as the storm worsened around him.