//------------------------------// // Outside the Walls // Story: Regression // by chief maximus //------------------------------// Argos The night passed uneventfully as Argos and his son enjoyed the plush bed formerly owned by royalty. The sunlight shone through the curtains and blinded the eldest griffon. He rolled over, followed by his son.. "What time is it?" Eros asked groggily. Argos put a talon on the nightstand, feeling for his pocket watch. "Seven thirty..." He sat up, rubbing his eyes with a talon. The excitement of the night before was still fresh in his mind. He pitied the plight of his hosts, but felt there wasn't much he could do for them. He promised that the rest of the world would know of the tragedy that had befallen their kingdom, but short of that, their future seemed bleak. "Dad?" Argos snapped out of his daydream. "Yes?" he yawned. "After we leave... what's gonna happen to Apple Bloom and her friends?" For a moment, he was speechless. " I... I don't know, son." "Can't they come with us?" His father sighed. What could he do? With the collapse of his main trading partner, he and his wife would have to scrape by to provide for Eros alone until he found a new job. He simply couldn't take in three other mouths to feed, regardless of how terrible their circumstances. "Son, we can't take them." Eros angrily hopped off the bed. "Why?" "Where would they sleep? What would they eat?" "They can sleep in my room! And we're not poor, we have food!" Argos sat in a lavishly decorated chair, his shoulders slumped. For now, anyway. "This whole thing isn't just bad for the ponies. It's bad for us, too. We aren't poor, you're right. But I need another job, and it may be some time before we can find one. "So we're just going to leave them here?" He hated having to admit the unpleasant truth, but, like it or not, it was the only viable option. "I'm sorry, Eros, but we have no other choice." This was usually the part where his son would argue, grasping at straws to get his way if he thought, even for a moment, that there was a possibility he could convince his father to see things his way. Instead of bowing up for a fight, his shoulders slumped. "Can I at least tell them goodbye?" "Of course," Argos said. "Take this, and meet me at the gate in an hour. Spike and I should have the cart loaded by then." Argos handed his son his pocket watch from the nightstand. It was an elegant, polished brass affair, with intricate carvings of the majestic vistas of his home in the Iron Mountains. He had never seen his father without it, but felt pride swell in his chest as he looped the chain around his neck. "That's my favorite watch, you know," Argos said with a smile. "When the big hand reaches the twelve, come find me in the courtyard." "Okay, I'll take good care of it, I promise!" Twilight Twilight stared at the runes before her. All complete nonsense as far as she was concerned, a dead language none but the princesses themselves could decipher, and they weren't talking much anymore. This was the last book in her library, and happened to be the one she couldn't read. Scouring her memories, she could neither find nor remember anything about this mysterious language. Her memories brought her nothing but frustration at herself and anger at her situation. So many were counting on her, so many needed her to come through, but she wasn't any closer to figuring out this problem than she was at its onset. Apple Bloom presented no distinct characteristics that would help her overcome the scourge of the blades. Her vitals, and physical exams yielded nothing different from any other pony under Twilight's protection. Perhaps it had just been dumb luck keeping her safe. Twilight tore her gaze away from the book, rubbing her tired eyes with her hooves. All she seemed to be anymore was tired. Celestia had given her this book without the key to translating it. The only clue she had found was that the encryption key was inside the castle of the two sisters, well outside the protection of her compound, and much too far to send a search party out to recover. Even if she did find a group of brave souls or hearty fools to take up the challenge, not even she knew what she was looking for. Twilight had thought for some time after Celestia and Luna's crossing over, that the book might contain the cure, but if it did, surely the princess would have simply read it herself? Why allow her subjects to suffer when she could have stopped the entire tragic event? A chill raced up Twilight's spine. Perhaps the book didn't hold the cure. Perhaps it was simply the confessions of a matriarch as she lay dying, her sentience slowly beginning to leave her. She had no idea, and it appeared she never would. A knock at the door drew her from her thoughts. "Come in." "Your Grace, the gem merchant and his son are about to depart," an elder guard informed her. "Very well." She packed her book in a saddle bag and headed down to the courtyard. Perhaps this was just the thing to clear her head. Perhaps Argos would even send help of some kind. Twilight shielded her eyes form the sun as she stepped into the noontime day. "Princess, thank you for your hospitality," Argos said, tying down the last bit of gold to his cart. He wanted to refuse her payment, but he knew the ponies here had no use for gold, and Twilight insisted he take them. "I wish we had more to give," "In better times, I know you would have. Trust me, I'll spread the word of what happened here. If the Emperor has a shred of decency, he'll send aid." Twilight smiled. A sound in the distance perked up her ears. Spike stopped working on the cart's wheel and took notice, as did the other ponies milling about the courtyard. It was a rhythmic deep bass, like a massive drum being played for the cadence of a parade. Or an army. "Your Highness, the wood line!" a guard on watch atop the wall shouted. Twilight fluttered beside him with Argos following her as Spike scurried up the steps. Squinting into the distance, she recognized a line advancing out of the trees. At first, they were too distant to identify, but soon a banner rose from the fifth line, the talon and lightning bolt of the Grand Imperial Army snapping and fluttering in the breeze. Twilight's hopes began to rise. It was known that the pony and griffon kingdoms were rivals, but they hadn't gone to war in over 1000 years. Surely this was an aid mission! Her optimism was short-lived. Further back in the advancing column, oxen pulled large cages, followed by siege engines. Aid convoys didn't normally bring weapons of war. As they marched, a few soldiers would stop, light torches, and fling them into the abandoned houses in the suburbs of Canterlot. Columns of smoke slowly rose in the army's wake as it moved toward the castle. "Princess, we can't fight them, I suggest we abandon the castle." Twilight scowled. "And go where? We have nowhere safe to run!" In a snap decision, Argos turned to her. "Princess, they won't be here for at least another hour. If we load up all the supplies and split up, we've got a better chance of escaping. I can take some of the fillies with Eros and I, we'll be safe in the Iron Mountains." The guard whirled around from his post. "Where are we going to go? The grass is everywhere! We won't last two days outside the walls." Twilight glanced at the pastures outside the walls. "Apple Bloom did. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but we have to try. It's either that, or wait and see what those cages are for." She had no illusions. "Load the carts. We'll be out of here before they get there." Apple Bloom Eros found the Crusaders in their new clubhouse, the fireflies still doing their best to illuminate the windowless cavern. "Howdy, Eros!" Apple Bloom said with a smile. He couldn't help but return one. "Hey guys." Sweetie Belle noticed his tone didn't match his expression. "Something wrong?" "Yeah... my Dad wants us to leave today." The smiles faded from the room. "I came to say goodbye. I tried to get him to take you guys with us, but he wouldn't budge." "What makes you think we'd want to leave?" Scootaloo asked. "You, you'd want to stay here?" He replied, surprised at her question. "Well, yeah, our families are here!" Sweetie Belle added. "What's left of them..." Apple Bloom sighed. "I didn't mean anything by it, I just thought you guys would want to go somewhere that you didn't have to be afraid of a bunch of grass." "And where would that be?" "The Iron Mountains. There are a few ponies there, so you wouldn't be alone, and you could all be safe there while Princess Twilight figures out the cure." Eros fidgeted with Titan's hilt nervously as he waited for the fillies reply. Apple Bloom was certain he hadn't meant to insult them, but she knew a life in the Empire would be better than a life living in a castle you aren't allowed to leave and eating the same stale food over and over again. "Girls... Ah think he's right." The other crusaders gasped. "What?" Sweetie Belle asked in shock. "But I can't just leave Rarity in that musty old stable!" The youngest Apple turned to her. She had only just found out about her sister even being there in the first place. She knew what she must have felt better than anyone, having seen her own family succumb to the grass. "Ah know it's hard ta leave your family behind, but there ain't gonna be anything we can do for them until Twilight finds a way ta fix this." It pained Apple Bloom to watch the tears begin to well in Sweetie's eyes. "Sweetie Belle, Ah know this may be hard ta hear, but Ah don't think the ponies that eat the grass remember the ponies they were before. Ah'm not even sure if my family remembered me—" "No! You shut up!" Sweetie demanded, her outburst startling everyone and echoing noisily around the crystal cavern. "Rarity's still in there! She knows who I am and I'm not leaving her!" The echoes died down, and silence blanketed them once more, Eros now more than sorry he'd brought on a fight between friends. "I've seen what they're like, you know," Apple Bloom whispered. She looked Sweetie in the eyes as tears dripped silently down her cheeks. "They ain't like you and me. They don't talk, they don't think like we do. All they do is eat, sleep, and run. That's it. Macintosh, Applejack... they didn't remember me." Apple Bloom's smile seemed to surprise even herself. "In fact, when I went to say goodbye, Mac wanted ta run me over." The chuckle at the end of her sentence surprised herself even more. Nothing about what she was saying was funny. She vividly remembered the event in question, and it was one of the most heartbreaking moments of her short life. Yet, here she was, giggling at the memory of her brother acting like a wild animal. "Ya know, I was out there for so long, I didn't even think of them as ponies anymore. They were like... rabbits, or birds, or bears. They just minded their own business, and didn't have a care in the world 'cept where they'd find the next patch of grass." "Rarity isn't a grass-eater! She's a proper lady, and I won't let my big sister outside to be an animal!" Apple Bloom wanted to cry herself. The world she had been used to, the leisurely life of going to school, doing a few chores and eating every single meal with her loving family all seemed like a distant daydream, and the world she found herself in now was nothing but a nightmare. In the old world, there would be nothing that could tear apart the crusaders, and nothing that could stop them from reaching the elusive goal of earning their cutie marks. But in this, the terrifying new world it seemed a single decision would change the track of her life and guide her away from one or possibly both of her best friends. "Girls, Ah'm not gonna try and tell you what choice to make, but we're doin' nothing here but taking up space. If anypony can figure out a cure for this, it's Twilight. But until she does, I ain't stayin' here, waiting ta lose my mind like that mare the other day. I'm goin' with Eros and his Pa." Eros perked up, checking the time on his father's watch that he'd secured to his sword belt. "Uhm... but he said I couldn't bring you guys." "He said you can't bring us, but he didn't say anything about us not following you." Eros opened his beak to reply, but found no words. She had a point. Technically, his father couldn't stop her from following them. Apple Bloom turned back to her friends. "Girls, you're all I have left. Ah don't want to leave without you." The castle shook violently above them, a thin layer of dust floated down from the ceiling. "What was that?" Eros asked. "Is the cave collapsing?" "I don't know, but I don't want to wait to find out!" Scootaloo replied, heading for the exit. The others followed suit and made their way to an old broken stained glass window. Apple Bloom glanced out the window in time to glimpse a black blur smash into a spire, sending rubble crashing to the ground. They sprinted to the courtyard to find ponies running in every direction. "Spike! Get the fillies and go with Argos!" "I'm not leaving you here!" Spike shouted back to Twilight from the ramparts. "Spike, that's an order!" "But what about you?" "I'm still the ruler of Equestria, I'm going to see if I can talk to them." "Talk to them?! They're firing at us!" "I don't care! If nothing else, I'll hold them off. I want you to take my research with you, and get out of Canterlot!" "You're not doing this alone!" Dash shouted, Fluttershy right behind her. "If you're going down there, we're going with you!" Spike turned to Eros and the fillies as they stood trying to take in the scene before them. "Get to Argos' cart, I'll be right back!" "Eros, girls, hurry!" Argos shouted, securing the last strap to the side of the cart and hopping into the drivers seat. They sprinted to the cart, Eros fluttering next to his father as the fillies piled into the back seat. "Hya!" Argos snapped the reigns and the team of oxen charged forward, toward the open gate. Apple Bloom held onto the sides of the cart, keeping her head low as she peered over the edge to the advancing griffon army. A line of cannons faced the castle she had called home for the past week, each one spewing fire from its mouth, with a rumble to follow. With each shot of the cannons, a piece of the walls and tower came tumbling down. She watched a blue, yellow and purple blur speeding towards the advancing army. She musta lost her mind! she thought. While still looking downrange, she noticed a cannon turn away from the others, facing right toward them. Before she could utter a word of warning, fire erupted from its mouth. All she could do was push her friends heads down as she heard the massive projectile whiz past them, and shatter a large oak tree on the side of the road. In a split second, she found herself flying through the air, the sky and ground flipping endlessly in her eyes as a hard impact shook her bones to the core. Sprawled on the side of the road in a ditch, she managed to glimpse one look around. Sweetie and Scootaloo were near her, but Eros and Argos were nowhere to be found. The only thing she could see up the road before she fell into darkness were the shattered remains of the wagon, and the massive oak tree that brought it to a halt.