//------------------------------// // The Train // Story: Perseverance of the Ancients // by The Bourgeoisie Bear //------------------------------// In the pitch-black abyss, Twilight galloped as fast as her legs could take her. Reaching out to her from every shadow were hands lusting for violence, ready to tear her asunder. Ragged and sharp nails would have tore her to shreds by now were she just a tiny bit slower. There was no hope, the accursed limbs stretched out far in impossible ways, and she was growing tired. No more could she go on; she reached her limit. Hundreds of arms came for her. Certain doom approached, she would have preferred it come in any other way than death by human. This way just seemed too cruel, to have one's death satisfy such a sick creature's perverse fantasies. Before she could die, an azure flame ignited and surrounded her, yet this alone could not stop the human hidden in the abyss. The human could not be denied his prize so easily. The flames chard whatever flesh dared to strike out at the responsive fire. Neither side gave into fatigue and neither side was overpowering the other; they were equally matched. The battle continued for some time. Against reason, the fight seemed less relevant to Twilight as she became more and more aware of a rocking sensation. The familiar feeling of being on a train slowly seemed more real than the surrounding battle of fire and horrors. Opening her eyes, she began to make out the real world. The empty red seats in her train compartment revealed themselves to her groggy eyes in the dim morning sunlight. She was leaning onto the pony next to her. His familiar touch quieted her earlier fears. The still Captain of the Guard wasn't in uniform or armored, just the sibling she adored and loved her entire life looking straight at her. “Twily!” Shining cried out happily. “Don't worry about anything. Everypony is alright.” He pulled his sister into a reassuring hug. 'Is this a dream?' she questioned herself. 'Where was I last night?' Having alone time with her brother would be what she would dream about and it seemed too good to be true. “Shining? What happened?” A sympathetic smile accompanied his sad eyes. “You were attacked, a human at the marketplace broke free of his cage, but you're safe now.” The rhythmic sound of railway wheels running on the railroad continued during the entire trip. “The human... badly injured several ponies, and killed a guard, and the owner of the First Tier company.” He pulled his sister closer in with his foreleg. Twilight could sense that this was real. That posh stallion from earlier was dead, ripped to pieces by his own merchandise. Twilight struggled in her mind to recall his overly proud face, now dead and cold, and in pieces. “When we realized what happened to you, Celestia and I arrived to make sure you were alright, and after some talking with Octavo, Celestia ordered me to go with you. The feral human is being taken care of and has likely already been caught, that or it died of its injuries.” An image of the bleeding stallion passed through her mind. She looked around. “I-Is he here?” Twilight asked appearing nervous. Shining's lips drew down to a slight frown. “Ovtavo? No. He said you fired him. He didn't tell us any more than that, even though we asked him to. He seemed strangely upbeat about it.” Her brother kept up a curious stare at her. “Did something happen between you two?” 'Wait, he was upbeat about getting rid of me?! That little...' Her mind was put back on track as she caught her brother eyeing her, attempting to discern why she looked so irritated. 'He beat up one of your guards and erased his memory,” she tried to tell him telepathically. “And... I sort of encouraged his behavior, but only the erasing memory part, but it was still all his fault.” She rubbed her eyes. “I-I don't know what to say...” Twilight couldn't tell on him. Not after what he did for her, even though she was the type to always side with those in charge. That and he didn't do it out of cruelty, he believed he was doing something noble, standing up for a divine law. Sighing seemed all she could force herself to do. Her brother wasn't somepony she enjoyed lying to, but it seemed like the best option given the circumstances. “You don't have to tell me,” he replied, much to Twilight's shock. “I've had to make many difficult decisions in my life Twily. I won't make you justify yourself. I've fired many a pony in my time, and I've given many promotions when others felt they deserved the title more than the one I was giving it to --it's a difficult thing to justify.” There was a pause as his lips prepared to speak again, she loved these moments beyond all reason with her brother, but they were far too seldom for her to enjoy properly. “Whatever mess up Octavo could have done... seems uhh... let's say negligible...” He looked over to Twilight almost expecting some chastisement for his word choice, for reasons beyond her understanding. She never overlooked any advice Shining had given her since she became a princess, Twilight let the thought go. “...considering the good that he has done, so perhaps he deserves another chance, hmm?” Before Twilight could respond, he continued. “But I believe he already left for Broncovy. But it's not like that’s some sort of alien far out land. It's one train ride away after all.” “Yeah,” she murmured as she drew closer to her brother and rested on him, “I think I may have made a mistake.” “Your brother makes a lot of mistakes Twily, you're doing better than me. Give him time though. He'll need to heal up before he leaves his homeland, being a scientist is hard work I assume, lifting quills and test tubes all day.” “Ha, funny,” Twilight mumbled lost in the bliss of family reunion. “In all truth,” Shining began, “I'm surprised that the human was even able to wound Octavo.” Memories of Octavo's swordplay and magical power strolled through Twilight’s mind causing her curious self to straighten up. “What makes you say that? He's just some graduate from Celestia's college, right?” she asked, the question being directed more to herself than to her brother. “That's what I thought until recently.” Shining cast a studying gaze on her for a moment. “I suppose since you're a princess now you have clearance for these sorts of things.” He inhaled deeply before speaking. “Broncovy is a deeply religious nation run by several high-ranking priest known as cardinals. Together they are know as the 'College of Cardinals.' ” Already knowing this, Twilight nodded. “They like Equestria, but they don't want to become a part of the Equestrian Empire because they prefer to be led by the gods.” He shrugged. “Or at least I think that's how they would describe it. Meh.” He took a moment to get his thoughts together, apparently rolling his eyes at his own uncharacteristic political correctness, he was a military pony, not some diplomat after all. “Anyway,” he continued, “I knew when I meet with Octavo outside Celestia's throne room that I heard his name somewhere, and as soon as you two left I began my research. It didn't take me long to find his file.” He gestured behind himself in what she assumed was pointing at Canterlot. “Broncovy as our ally gives us extensive records of their activities, which are stored in the Grand Archives in Canterlot.” As he had been speaking the last sentence, he began digging through his saddle-bag until he found a file and gave it to his sister. When Twilight opened it, she was greeted by a black-and-white photo of Octavo several years younger than the one she knew. She read it to herself: Name: (Octavo Atlas), it had printed in large letters at the top next to his picture. She skimmed down. Address: (Sacred Divinity; 1253 Blessed Ave.), Height: (fifty-two inches), Parent Information: (Father: Deceased -Cause: K.I.A; Mother: Deceased -Cause: Typhoid Fever). She continued on with a hint of guilt for seeing something so private. The file read: Criminal Record: (None) Twilight reeled her head in surprise inadvertently. She continued: Religious Duties: (Ex-Crusader of the Griffin Dethrone War; Awarded the Medal of Sanctification; Champion of Travafe). Twilight recalled what Octavo had told her, Travafe was the God of travel and... something... she couldn't remember exactly. One last part at the bottom: Education: (Lesser Education: School of Reverence; Higher Education: Celestial College) If she understood it correctly, then that meant that Octavo was highly regarded and seen as an idol of virtue in his country, just being a champion of a god alone would get a pony recognized, even in Equestria. Twilight rested her head on her hoof as she spoke. “I don't even know where to begin. He didn't tell me any of this.” Shining nodded. “It's interesting, I talked with Luna about the stallion. Apparently she didn't even know about his past, not counting his education history.” He double tapped the 'education' part of the file Twilight was carrying, as though she hadn't even read it yet. “Luna just gave him a room because she found him 'well mannered and interesting company',” Shining continued. “Octavo arrived late last night and they met in the Royal Library, according to Luna they talked for an hour or two about history and became quick friends. When he was about to go to an inn, Luna offered him the suit, and the rest is history.” He turned to his sister blank faced. “Forgive the bad pun.” 'What pun?' she asked herself. 'Oh no... they were talking about history and you... no...' “I'll let that go this time.” He gave her a silly grin in response. “But” - She turned back to Octavo's file. - “can you tell me what an ex-crusader or crusader even is?” she said putting a breathy emphasis on 'crusader', not even sure how to pronounce the word. He arched an eyebrow. “It's what Broncovy calls their veterans. Because they call holy wars as opposed to our regular wars,” he said with a bit too much sarcasm. “When Equestria sided with the current griffin war-lord to overthrow the previous one, we called our ally Broncovy to help us. They responded immediately to our call for aid. Their clergy declared it was a righteous war, a holy war, one that all young stallions should join. Their monarchy-” “Theocracy,” Twilight corrected. She was listening intently now. “Uhh...” He froze up. “What's a theocracy?” “Rule by a religious order, or from a god directly.” Twilight was getting the impression that a crusader was just a holy veteran who fought in a holy war, if she followed the pattern correctly. “Oh right... anyway they had an excellent turn out. Their stallions were lining up to join their army, while we had to force a draft to get our stallions to form our Equestrian army.” Shining shrugged again, looking up at the ceiling. He had spoken of his nation's army with distaste in his mouth that Twilight easily recognized. She figured that the frustration he felt for his less than patriotic comrades was still festering inside him. “It was the right thing to do though,” he continued, “the rulers knew if we wanted to fight back against the griffin we had to do it while they were having another civil war, when they were weak and divided. And the war-lord we backed up was in our dept after we helped him gain power. Though considering what happened yesterday I don't think he feels much the same way.” Twilight re-examined the file. “And what's a Medal of Sanctification?” “It's like our Medal of Valor,” he responded. “It's one of the highest recognitions you can get. It implies war-hero. And frankly, I don't understand how he got hurt by a human, a scrawny human at that. Octavo could probably beat me in a fight, yet I feel pretty confident that I could have taken on that human without getting more than a scratch from it,” The Captain of the Guard repeated the topic he wanted to discuss again, desiring a few more pieces of the puzzle he had been putting together. Twilight knew all this; she knew Shining smelled a secret, not the law breaking secret, but the one that Octavo had hidden by modesty. “Especially so since Octavo’s ‘ceremonial’ sword looked a lot like a battle sword.” Her brother’s eyebrow lifted up in a disbelieving fashion as he spoke in his mocking tone. ‘So that’s the lie he used to get out of trouble?’ considered Twilight. ‘Well, perhaps it really was a ceremonial sword, it doesn’t matter in the end.’ “He...” She choked up. Gulped. “...he saved my life... and that led to him getting hurt. He tried to grab a spear that was thrown at me, if he hadn't intervened I would be dead. But the human threw it too hard and he was only able to slow it down a bit with his spell. Which is why... when he pushed me out-of-the-way, it didn't kill him. That human... was much... much... much stronger than he looked. That human haunts my dreams.” Twilight wanted to say the last sentence but chose not to, she instead settled with rubbing her still tired eyes and tried thinking of more positive thoughts. Like Octavo still being alive. Twilight heard her brother's exhale. “I know it's hard now Twilight, but things will get better I promise you. That human will never get the opportunity to hurt you again, I give you my word.” “Thank you, Captain.” Her answer surprised herself, she couldn't recall the last time she called her big brother Captain. 'I need a long nap,' she told herself. 'And after that nap I'm getting right back into my studies like never before. Maybe I'll find peace in learning more about humans. Once I read how they're just like any other living creature it'll calm me down.' Twilight's eyebrows curled in, giving her a sad look, but she smiled at her brother. “Thank you for answering all my questions, you sure know a lot about Broncovy's army structure.” He was smiling broadly. “No problem Twily,” he said as he rubbed the back of her neck, giving her some relief. “The ponies from Broncovy are a strange lot. Nice, but strange. They take time to get used to. They're oddly zealous, but I have little to complain about. I've led some of them into battle even, they're fierce fighters. Which may be one of the reasons why I got such recognition for my efforts during the war.” Twilight watched him understandingly, he had only served in one war; it was the only war Equestria engaged in since he turned eighteen. (The required age to join the Equestrian army) He realigned fully in his seat, letting his legs dangle a bit as he recollected his memories. “I went from a Royal Guard from before the war, to a general during the war, to the Captain of the Guard after the war. Getting the Medal of Valor sure as heck didn't hurt my chances of rising in rank. Even got a recommendation from the last old-and-withered Captain of the Guard.” He was readjusting himself in his seat to straighten up and appear bigger. “I know it didn't hurt my chances with the mares either.” He pursed his lips together in a childish expression. “Shining!” cried Twilight in shock at the quick change in seriousness, she smacked her brother's side with a quick backhoof, with a dim twinkle in her eye telling him she found humor in the jest. He threw his hooves up in a mock gesture. “I'm kidding! I'm kidding!” They shared a laugh and much to Twilight's joy the conversation turned to a less serious one. She enjoyed the wonderful few hours of just simple talking with her brother. During the train ride Shining revealed Octavo's saddlebag which was filled with the books and supplies he was carrying for the human project. Her brother had taken it upon himself to make sure Twilight would have everything she needed to continue on near solo until she could hire an assistant –not counting Spike. The Crystal Empire was in view now. Twilight, the pony closest to the window spoke up, “We're almost there.” Twilight turned to her brother. “Is Cadence expecting you back?” He shook his head. “No. I was scheduled to come back in five days, when I could finally pass the torch down and step down from my position as the Captain of the Guard.” Twilight cast another glance at her destination. “And then when you come back, Cadence will give you the title of Master and Commander?” she asked, not entirely sure of where her brother's career was going, but knowing it was not going anywhere bad. Shining sucked his lips. “That's the plan Twily. It's not really appropriate for me to guard the co-rulers when I am the prince of a completely different sovereign nation. I have to look over The Crystal Empire now.” With that now clarified Twilight leaned onto her brother's side for the rest of the journey, in silence. All the while, Twilight’s human sat in his dark cell, plotting of a more free future. The sound and feeling of the train’s movements brought a smile to his face. He didn’t truly know what strange land he was in, or how he got there. Things were fuzzy ever since those horned ponies had played God with his mind, but despite all uncertainties, change, he realized, was coming.