A steel-shod hoof broke through the surface of the upturned gravel. It desperately dug into the dirt before it and the ground shifted, once, twice, three times. Then on the fourth and final push, the muzzle of a stallion burst forth. The growing mound burst, revealing the behemoth of an equine that promptly threw himself panting onto his belly. Shock rendered his thoughts a muddled mess. A quick glance over his shoulder revealed the hell he found himself in, a foreboding cloud of dust hung in the still air. Absent was the mountainside, that had led to the rockslide that had buried them all alive. Two whole armies...gone, in the blink of an eye. Was this the cost of peace?
The stallion that was none other than myself, known to all as Indomite; untamable, ungovernable, unsubdued, unrestrained… That is what they used to call me, a name that meant all of those things and yet none of those things. It hinted at a wild fierceness, a force that cannot be denied. Even still, that does not capture who, or what I was. Perhaps…perhaps that was the point? How does one name another that inherently cannot be summed up succinctly? Perhaps that is why I was Indomite.
Once, a lifetime ago, or so it seemed, my brothers and I stood tall. Defiant against the world, we fought to write the wrongs that were laid upon us, we fought to honor our kin, those both living and dead. We fought because it was right. In our every battle, plate-steel gleamed under the sun, declaring to all who saw it that we would not fall without a fight. That Equestria would not go quietly into the night! Outnumbered and overpowered, we not only fought, but we won. Battle after battle we won, but the longer we fought, the more apparent it became that we never neared victory. In hindsight, it’s amazing how quickly the years pass into decades, when fighting for one’s life, running from one battlefield to the next.
Now, dirty lids squeezed tightly over emerald eyes. It was as if they were closed tight enough that everything wouldn’t be. That the pervading pain and loss would just simply vanish. The stallion that was once Indomite had become a creature so thoroughly beaten that it had forgot its purpose, even its name. All it knew was pain. There were no tears left to shed as it trembled, cold and alone on the last battlefield he had ever known. Now Equestria would know peace…
My head hung low, my tattered mane concealing my once proud face as I swayed gently from side to side with each irregular step. Somewhere along the long road behind, my right-rear shoe had come undone and was discarded without thought. Fighting for survival was impossibly hard, though it was not the weight of such struggle that weighed down my shoulders and harrowed my steps. Nor was it the rough cry of grinding steel that seemed to be the only sound that filled the air, as the abused plates that remained of a ruined suit of armor, sang a macabre song of shared pain and woe. The matching helm had long ago been discarded, I had no further need of it.
Ponies of all walks of life stopped in their daily business to regard this broken soldier, a thing they had never before seen, sheltered by the magnificent solar-regent. I was just another casualty of a war unseen. Our fight, like the noble sentiments of war we lived and died by, lay somewhere hundreds of leagues behind, on a distant field with my fallen brothers. They were the true heroes of this forgotten war, those who gave all they had without complaint. Honor, justice, righteousness? None held meaning any longer. Like all the miles behind me, they meant nothing to me now. They were simply steps between me and my past. A past that I would rather forget.
I took no heed as the course beneath my hooves turned from the dirt roads of the country, to the cobblestone streets of Canterlot. Likewise, I paid little notice as they changed once more to the polished sheen of the white marble floors of the castle. Even as I entered her hall, I did not take notice of the golden armored guards that stared at me in awe, amazed that anyone survived, let alone walked away from that battle! Indeed, none had - the stallion that emerged had long since become numb to all feeling. Dead save a beating heart. It was only when I felt plush velvet under hoof that I finally paused. The gold trimmed, red carpet beneath my hooves was the first feeling of comfort that I had known in such a long time, yet so exhausted was I, that I scarcely took notice of the soft sensation caressing my naked back hoof. All the fight was gone in these hooves, spent on more battlefields than I cared recall.
It was with a great, heaving sigh that I looked up from where I stood, to her position high upon her throne, a great and glorious symbol of the radiant sun. My dull and aging vert eyes beheld her youthful, and unspoiled violet ones. My dark earthen coat a stark contrast to her pristine white. A time ago, she might have smiled at me, and I at her. However, I doubted that I could even muster such a gesture again.
“It is done…” I sighed defeatedly; the last survivor of an army that once stood so defiant against the world, was now no more.
She regarded me with a pleased smile and rose from her seat, languidly striding down the dais where she sat. As she made her way toward me, each and every one of their faces came flooding back in a wave of bitter agony. That smile of hers had cost me everything, and now, it brought me perhaps more resentment than I had felt ever before. Yet, I couldn’t blame her. As much as I hated her, I knew, had our roles been reversed, I would have done much the same…