//------------------------------// // An Inch // Story: Dawn of the Vanguard // by Mystic Song //------------------------------// Truthfully Ashen really didn’t know what to expect when it came time for the Elements of Harmony to return. He was never the cynical sort. Well, he wasn’t up until he accepted the fact that his grandfather was a useless oldfeather. However, he was sure that they had gotten themselves killed, probably by poking at something cute, and waiting for them was ultimately pointless. However, he was a griffin of his word. Which was why he waited hours for six ponies he was sure were dead, extending the wait period every time his ‘last hour this time for sure’ ran out. He was on his fifth extension when he saw a multitude of shapes flying towards him. "About time." He muttered to himself, before yelling at the mass flying towards him, "Do have any idea how late you are!" He yelled feathers brisling in anger, "I should have made you swim back to shore you..." His eyes widen as the large mass came closer into view. That wasn't a pony. Huge black feathered wings came into view as the creature got closer to the ship. The creature swooped in for a landing and all Ashen could do was watch. He wasn't stupid. He knew that there was no way he would come out of a direct confrontation with that creature uninjured, especially not with the speeds it was coming to the boat with. As Ashen tensed for the oncoming fight he was remained of how ponies always compared every kind of behaviour that a bird of prey had to a hawk. Being a griffin he knew better. This creature did not land like hawk. This creature landed like an owl. The creature spread it's wings out giving him the resistance need for a quick stop. Just before the creature reached the boat he kicked his legs out and landed on weathered bark. There was no awkward hop and skip that many birds where known for. He just stopped. His body pitching slightly forward and his wings stretched wide to even out the force of his arrival. The creature pulled it's large wings back to his body as he righted his bi-pedaled form and observe the boat. His sharp blue eyes scanning the wooden vessel from its life preservers to its mast, and finally to Ashen himself. Ashen felt his mouth go dry as the creature’s intense gaze pierced into him. Then like an old light bulb flickering to life Ashen realized why the creature seemed so off putting to him in a way that passed it's sudden arrival on his boat. The creature’s build, how it balanced so easily on those two long back legs, the way it was covered in cloth to cover its unusual nakedness. “What,” Ashen asked, years of his grandfather’s tall tales coming back at him with a hesitant and strangely muddled vengeance, “What are you?” The creature held its silence for a moment longer before his mouth opened to speak. “Hi Ashen!” Both he and the creature were startled out of the trance-like bubble they had put themselves in when a mass of pink fluff pulled herself up on the creatures shoulder and began to wave wildly. Ashen blinked widely as the pony continue to smile and wave, “Pinkie Pie what are you doing?” “I’m saying hello!” Pinkie Pie then laugh happily ending with a strange snort, “Silly.” Ashen’s disbelief only grew when Rarity also pulled herself up from the creature’s back hanging from its opposite shoulder, “Honestly, Pinkie Pie you’re only confusing him.” Rarity tutted as Pinkie Pie continued to laugh before looking up at the creature who Ashen realized with a start was heavily bandaged, “Zachery dear, if you please?” The creature now named Zachery crouched down and let released the backwards grip he had on Rarity and Pinkie Pie allowing them to hop to the deck. Zachery stood up and stretched his body making a round of popping sounds. Seemingly satisfied with his stretches Zachery turned back at the ocean. “Fluttershy sure is taking her time.” Zachery said as he continued to stare at the bright blue sky. "I should probably go after her." “Maybe,” Rarity spoke up, “I know that she didn’t want to bother you anymore because you had to carry both Pinkie Pie and myself, but demanding to fly here by herself. Honestly!" Zachery sighed then muttered something under his breath, before easily stepping back and balancing on the boat’s slippery railing. His wings spreading to take him back into the bright blue morning sky. “Wait!” Ashen shouted finally getting out of his stupor, “What by the oldest talons of my ancestors is going on here?” Zachery pointed out to the horizon and in a very inattentive almost lazy voice replied, “I’m getting Fluttershy.” Ashen felt a large part of his common sense wither up and die as Zachery continued to act as if the situation they where in was completely natural. One eye twitching hard he pointed at Zachery and glared at Pinkie Pie and Rarity, “What. Is. That.” He bit out. His face dropped as Pinkie Pie giggled. “Zachery is a human. You know like the ones your grandfather talked about.” Pinkie Pie managed to get out around her large grin. "Isn't that great?" Ashen, frozen in shock, barely heard as Zachery excused himself before pitching over the side of the boat. Ashen’s mind came back to him just to leave once again as Zachery shot through the sky faster than any being had the right to. Rarity came to stand beside him as he continued to gaped and placing a foreleg around his shoulder she spoke calmly to him. “Let’s go to the commons room and have some tea while we wait for Zachery to come back with Fluttershy.” Rarity said soothingly as she led him deeper into his ship, “Then we can tell you all about what happened.” Ashen's shock dimmed as he stood in the familiar surroundings of his ship's interior, which inadvertently caused him to realize something quite pressing. Something that, surprisingly, neither Rarity or Pinkie Pie brought up, “Where’s Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack?” The ship's peaceful atmosphere died a very unexpected and horrible death. An almost identical look of rage flashed across Rarity’s and Pinkie Pie’s faces. Just as the look came it left, leaving Rarity with annoyance and Pinkie Pie with sadness. “Don’t worry about them,” Rarity huffed as she went through the common rooms cabinets to busy her angrily shaking hooves with tea making, “they will get here sooner or later. We came to the agreement that it would be better for all of us to travel in two separate groups.” Ashen quickly looked between Rarity’s anger and Pinkie Pie’s complete loss of joy. Unable to hold the question back any longer he broke, “What the hell happened on those islands?” “Island,” Rarity corrected as she grinded loose tea leaves, “we only got to one.” The room was filled with the scent of peppermint as Rarity began to pour water into three different cups before giving one to Ashen. “As for what happened on that island, well that is just a story that would be better told if all four of us was here to tell it.” Rarity said as she poured sugar into her own cup. Ashen couldn't stop his shaking claws from biting into his cup. Something was incredibly wrong and he was apprehensive to know what that was, but he was the captain of this boat and he had to know, "Why can't you tell me now?" For a quick moment Ashen saw Rarity's teeth grated together, before she tried to cover it up with a sip of her tea. Sighing deeply Rarity turned her somber look towards him, "Believe me Ashen there is no way you will believe me unless you see the scars their actions have left for yourself." Ashen nodded stiffly as he felt ice enter his blood. As he took a sip from his cup Ashen could almost hear the snarl his grandfather had always used when he spoke of the evils of Equestria's royalty. "They don't care about you, me or anything that is not a pony," The intimidating griffin had said, "don't forget that Ashen and you will be safe from their evils." The human was injured. How did the human, who his grandfather always raved about in terms of strength, get injured? Unless... Ashen forced the warm cup to his beak and hoped that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were too deep in their own thoughts to see as he shook. He couldn't believe it, his grandfather couldn't be right, he wouldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe that he personally brought the princess over to the Forsaken Islands, so that she could recreate the nightmares that his grandfather spent his life dreading. He would not believe it. Not until he heard it from the princess's mouth himself. Tired, she was so tired. Twilight sipped her tea in the silence of the commons room on Ashen’s ship. She knew that Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie would tell Ashen what happened on the island, and they had. He needed to know why they had broken one of his ship’s laws and why there was no way for Zachery to stay on The Forsaken Islands. It was expected, it was needed. No matter how painful it was when Ashen looked at her in horror after she told him that everything they had told him was true. No matter how her soul shattered when Ashen said that his grandfather was right about the princesses. She never knew that a pony could feel so alone on such a small populated boat. Of course she had seen Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie multiple times it didn’t matter how badly they wanted to avoid her the boat was too small for that to truly happen. However, that didn’t mean that they needed to talk to her. The only person she had not seen once was Zachery. She had thought he decided to cut all communication to them and stay in his cabin to avoid seeing her. It wasn’t until she overheard Fluttershy lament about his night flights and the strain it was putting on his body that she learned about the nightlife he had adopted. Knowing that he was active on the boat didn’t mean that she could find him. Due to bad weather they ended up spending four days on the sea oppose to the three they had estimated. Here she saw her chance to talk to the elusive human. On the third night she tried to stay up to hear him leave. All she needed was minute a second without the others aiming at her throat to properly apologize. The whole night she was up, sunset to sunrise, ear against her cabin's door and she didn’t hear him leave. She sadly concluded that he choose to stay in, and then the next morning she had found Ashen complaining about the claw marks Zachery had left the night before. It was the fourth night now and by tomorrow they will be at the Griffin coast. Four train transfers and yacht trip after that, and they will be in Equestria. Then, if Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had their way Zachery would get a house in some obscure place where he will fully heal. After that, he would go straight back to The Forsaken Islands and never will have to see her or any other pony again. And after what felt like days of thought Twilight finally accepted that she couldn’t disagree with them. Rainbow Dash was right when she said that they needed her to lead them. The mission that they had started off on was, saying it was a spectacular failure was entirely too lenient. As a princess she needed look after Equestria, that was true, but she also needed to know when to call it quits and try to salvage whatever was left. Zachery could not go to Canterlot or be exposed to any other ponies. She knew that doing so would just make this terrible situation that much worse. Operation 'Apologizing to our friends and Zachary in the Hopes of Mending the Relationship we have with the Only Human we have Found Since we got here' failed the second that they had refused their apology and demand to be left alone. They wouldn't even acknowledge their presence anymore. The cold shoulder that she, Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued to receive slammed the final nails in the coffin of the idea of that plan ever being revived. Apologizing did not work and she had done so much horrible things to her friends and Zachery. If there was no way mend what little friendship she had left other then exiting the lives of the person and pony's that she wronged she would disappear silently into the night. Maybe then, years after everything was said and done, they could find it in their hearts to glance at the path that will lead them to forgive her. Twilight stood up and carried her mug and deposited it into the sink. It was getting late she should just go to bed as tomorrow promised to be a tiring day. She walked out of the common room and entered the hallway to start the tense quiet walk back to the room she Applejack and Rainbow Dash shared. She didn’t even make it two full steps before she walked straight into something. She looked up to apologize only to find that she had to crane her neck all the way. Twin crystal blue eyes looked down at her from a what she had found out was a naturally pale face. Twilight's mind went blank as she and Zachery stood frozen in the hallway both of their paths blocked by the other. ‘Can’t I even disappear right?’ Twilight lamented as the tension between them grew. Seeing that this was getting them nowhere Twilight spoke, “Excuse me.” She was shocked when Zachery sidestepped as much as he could out of the way opening a small path for her to walk through. He actually responded to her. “Thank you.” She whispered before quickly walking past him her mind going a mile a minute ‘I just have to make it to the cabin and then…’ “What are you doing up this late?” Zachery asked causing her to freeze in place. ‘Ponyfeathers!’ Twilight slightly turned back, keeping her eyes anywhere but his face, and tried not to think about how his voice still had a rough edge to it. “I was drinking tea.” “At one in the morning.” Zachery replied in the same painfully detached tone she was quickly realizing was the only emotion that he had for her. “Oh.” Twilight said trying to think about what happened to the time. It was only nine when she had poured her first and only cup of tea. No wonder it was so cold. “I must have lost track of time.” “I see.” Zachery said his eyes still watching Twilight’s every muted movement. “Yes, well goodnight Zachery.” Twilight said her stomach churning as she made a hasty retreat for her cabin. It was too painful. Just too painful. The way that Zachery looked at her was like the look her father had given a poisonous snake as he stood between her and it. Her father had tried to keep her calm by keeping a straight face, but it was that emotionless face that had scared her the most. Blank, with a set jaw and unblinking half laden eyes as he tried to gage every possible deadly move that the snake would make to kill something that it knew, with a certain sadistic cruelty, whose death wouldn't be beneficial to it. The very same tense guarded look that Zachery gave her, because he was not going to make the same mistake of reaching out to befriend a creature that will only wait for him to lower his guard before opening it's poisonous maw to strike. Just like the ponies before her, she used a human's trust to bind and torture him into doing what she wanted. She was going to throw up. Twilight sprinted past Zachery, ran out to the deck and headed straight to the railing of the ship almost pitching over the edge in her haste. She prepared herself for the unpleasant act of releasing her lunch as a dry retching sound escaped her mouth. With tears burning at her eyes she retched, she choked she coughed. Nothing. She sputtered on the acid feeling in her throat, she feel her stomach churn hatefully in protest, and her muscles tensed. Nothing came out. Twilight staggered away from the side of the ship. “I was sure that I was going to throw up what happen?” Twilight said using a hoof dry the spittle at the edges of her mouth, “What can’t I even throw up right anymore? What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I do anything right?” Tears started to leak down her face as she turned her angry gaze at the vast expanse of the dark blue sky and black rolling waves. She looked at her surroundings, how she got to this point, and was filed with anger, “Celestia why did you turn me into a princess? What were you thinking? I’m not ready for this, I’m not ready for any of this. I try and try and nothing works nothing I do fixes anything. Why did you think that I could do this." Twilight glared at the sky wishing that her anger could pierce the veil of night and strike the sun right where it would hurt the most. "Celestia answer me!” “Oi.” Twilight's head snapped back to the common rooms door to see Zachery leaning against the door frame. “You better not be throwing up on my favorite spot.” Zachery said willfully ignoring Twilights state or not caring about it, “Also, stop screaming. You’re going to wake everybody on the ship.” Stunned Twilight could only watched as Zachery strode past her and sat on the railing a mere hoof length from her. “You’re sitting with me?” Twilight asked shock lining her voice. “No. You’re sitting near my spot. Why should I move for you?” Zachery said his legs hanging lazily over the side of the boat. Twilight could only blink widely at Zachery’s nonchalant attitude, “You’re talking to me. You hate me.” “I do. I hate you a lot. In ways you most likely can't hope to understand.” Zachery replied the relaxed air he used a head spinning turnaround of his earlier attitude. “Then why are you talking to me?” Twilight could only ask as a hitch pulled at her voice. “One because your horn has been glowing in a way I really don’t like." Zachery said gesturing to her head. "So, I’m hoping that by distracting you I will keep you from accidently blowing the ship up and drowning everybody-being-creature-whatever on board.” Twilight gasped and looking over the edge of the boat she saw that her horn was indeed glowing in a bright threating way. Panicked she clamped her eyes shut and forced her magic back into its dormant form. Gasping and horrified from the amount effort she needed to use to lower the danger level of her own magic she turned back to Zachery. “And two," Zachery continued barely looking at Twilight's horrified face, "I finally figured out exactly how much I hate you.” “How much is that?” Twilight asked wearily. Zachery paused an annoyed look briefly passing his face and with some hesitation he spoke, “There isn’t a word for it in Equestrian. So I will explain this the best I can and only once. In my language there are many ways to portray hate. However the three main ways to do this is by time.” Zachery held up one finger. “The first is ‘pythefnos’ hating someone for a day or a few weeks and in some terms cannot really classified as hate. The second is ‘lystar’ hating someone for a couple of years. The last is ‘sto’ hating someone for life maybe even after death.” Static filled Twilight's mind as her jaw went somewhere past the floor of the ship. That was the most that Zachery had ever told her about his language. Hay it was the first time Zachery talked to her without contempt pulling roughly at everything he said. Even if it was just for the purpose of telling her how much he hated her it was huge. “What I guess I am saying is that, Sentio lystar malamas vin.” Zachery said slowly enunciating every word. Twilight eyes went wide at the sentence that Zachery gave her. When his voice wasn’t clouded with anger his language, while still rough, almost sounded pleasant. She shook herself out of her stupor, the interest of studying his langue being beaten by the importance of his words. Or at least the one word she understood, “You don’t completely hate me?” “In theory, no I do not.” Zachery said looking back at her. "Pythefnos and lystar and put into a different category then sto. That category being reason. I hate you but my life isn't unreasonably consumed with the hate of you." Twilight eyes widen with disbelief. “How can you not?” “I don’t know. What I do know that if I had sto for you I would have thrown you overbroad the second I saw you glowing with magic and shouting to Celestia.” Zachery said leaning back on the railing, “I could have gotten away with it too. You would have been too distracted to do anything but fall, and I know you’ve tried to kill yourself. No one would question you jumping overbroad and finally succeeding in ending your life.” “How, how did you know about that?” Twilight slightly annoyed that he knew about what she had almost done. “You greatly underestimate how loud you ponies can be.” Zachery deadpanned. "Why you think that your voices are harder to hear at night then in the day I will never understand." “Ashen doesn’t complain.” Twilight retorted. “Ashen sleeps with ear muffs on.” Zachery said before shaking his head, “Look the point is if I had sto for you I would have killed you. No thought or care about ending your life. I didn’t therefore I don’t.” Zachery paused, “Well at least how the others explained it back to me.” Twilight eyes widened, “You talked to Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity about this?” “I needed the feedback, I never disliked someone to the point where lystar and sto was confused,” Zachery plain reply caused Twilight to flinch, “Well at least I wasn’t confused for such a long period of time before.” “They must have taken your hate towards me well.” Twilight her ears lowering as she thought about the conversation they must of had. “No they did not.” Zachery answered back bringing her attention to him, “Ponies don’t seem to take discussions of hate well.” Twilight shook her head. The easy way the Zachery was talking to her after so many days of silent anger was just too unnatural, “Why are you telling me this?” Zachery ran his hand through his hair in a way that Twilight realized was a sentence filler in it's own right, “Look, Twilight. From what I know we have about twelve or more days of travel before we reach Equestria right?” “Yes but I don’t see how-” “Do you really want to spend all that time too afraid to and I quote ‘Shit in a forest because the other might be stuck mid-shit in the bush next to you?'" Zachary said his finger taping on the wooden railing. Twilight felt the silence between them get awkward and she wasn't sure whether it was because of how vulgar what Zachery just was or because of the absolutely serious way he had said it. "What?" She asked after giving up on trying to figure out the tone or meaning of the saying. “It sounds better in my language." Zachery explained dryly. "The point is we’re stuck together until we reach Equestria, and I don’t want to spend the next twelve days tip toeing around you.” “And after that?” Twilight asked trying not to expose how much the answer to that effected her. “After that Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Zachery said his tone quickly becoming clipped and harsh, “I never want to see you again.” Twilight’s ears fell against her head, “I understand.” “Good.” Zachery said twisting around the boats railing to land on the deck. “Well then I believe that this is goodnight.” With that Zachery made his way back inside. “Wait!” Twilight exclaimed stopping Zachery at the door. She didn't want to push what little luck that she had but she needed to know something, “What about Rainbow Dash and Applejack?” “For Rainbow Dash I don’t feel anything over pythefnos for her in terms of hate. From what Fluttershy told me if Rainbow Dash didn’t get her I would have died, surprisingly I like not dying. As for Applejack,” Twilight held her ground even as Zachery’s lips pulled back into a silent snarl, “I’m undecided.” Twilight stayed silent as Zachery left. “Pythefnos, Lystar, Sto.” Twilight recited stumbling over the words. “I need to write to Celestia…” She trailed off. Should she write to Celestia? Twilight thought back to the way that Zachery explained the situation to her. He didn’t need to tell her how he felt or how the others were feeling to stop her from breaking down. So why would he? The answer came to her so suddenly that she felt faint. It was a test to see what she would do with that information. One last test to see how much of a distance he needed to keep from the coiling snake that he though she was. To see if she would strike at the first bit of unarmoured skin that she saw. To see if she was worthy to be in lystar or should never be forgotten in sto. Hypnotically her body went through Candace’s breathing exercise as tried to force herself not to hyperventilate. Lystar and Pythefnos meant hate, yes, but it was hate with reason. He was testing her understanding of the situation and if she would pull a mile from the inch he gave her. Using the small inch he was giving her who would be a smart person to tell about all of this? “Rainbow Dash.” Twilight whispered to herself. Zachery hated Rainbow Dash less, and Rainbow Dash wouldn’t tell anypony if she told her not to. After Rainbow Dash got a good handle of the incredibly fragile situation Zachery presented to them she could tell Applejack about it. She wanted to trust Applejack, she really did, but she couldn't be an idealist. Twilight couldn't blindly believe that if Applejack knew about this test Zachery was giving her that she wouldn't accidently or purposely cause her to fail. She had to be careful about this. She was not going to fail again. “Okay Zachery,” Twilight whispered to herself, “I’m going to pass your test, stay in Lystar, and make sure that your time in Equestria is the most relaxing period of time you ever have in your life. Even if you hate me I’m going to make sure you don’t hate Equestria or the ponies in it.” Twilight left the deck and headed back to her shared room. Hundreds of plans, not of friendship as that opportunity had long since passed, but of a way to stay in a position to reason playing out and being discarded just as quickly as they came in her head. Twilight couldn't cross the riff that she made between her friends it was just too wide, but maybe with the inch and voice she was given someday somepony, or someone will respond to her cries for forgiveness.