//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Reflected Reflections // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Sunrise yawned as her hooves hit the stone and looked over at Garlic, who had been set down first. The big earth pony was eager to get moving, she could hear him sniffing from under his helm, and for whatever reason, the cave seemed a little darker now. She tried to coax more light from her light spell and the circle of ghostly illumination around her grew. “I’ve been hearing stuff echoing through the tunnels, “ Garlic warned, looking at Sunrise and then at Fogwalker. “Voices. Sound carries down here,” he whispered. “How far up are we?” Sunrise questioned as Garlic began to move forward, ahead into the dark passage that angled upwards. “Oh, I doubt we’ve even hit the one quarter mark,” Garlic grumbled, not bothering to look back over his shoulder at the disappointed unicorn that was no doubt deflating from his words. He heard Fogwalker’s armor clink behind him as the pegasus began to move. “We have a long way to go. Double time, let’s get moving,” he commanded as he doubled his pace. Sunrise, already sweaty and stinky from all of her exertions, was too tired to complain. She fell in place behind Garlic, her short stubby pudgy legs pumping, she practically had to run to keep up with Garlic’s easy loping gait. She didn’t dare say anything, they had rested for another four hours and she had not been asked to take a turn at standing guard. Which was a good thing really, Sunrise knew that at some point, she would fall asleep standing there and doing nothing. Her respect for her companions was growing with each hour spent with them. Not only did Garlic battle goblins, but boredom as well, and so far, her experience with the earth pony contradicted almost everything she had learned from her family about earth ponies, such wise words of wisdom that had been said like earth ponies were poor because they were shiftless and lazy, lacking in dedication and drive to improve their life, and that they were mindless brutes that could barely be trusted to pull a wagon or haul a load to market. Garlic was far more noble than most of the unicorns that Sunrise knew and somehow, she doubted that he was lazy or was lacking in any sort of drive. Sunrise already had the knowledge that she was, in fact, quite lazy, not to mention fat. This death march into the dark heart of Canterhorn mountain felt like it was going to be her undoing. The muscles in her legs burned, quivered, and she had hitching pains in her sides already, just behind her ribs. Behind her, Fogwalker moved with an easy grace and she envied the fit and nimble pegasus. Determined to prove herself, and to do so without complaint, Sunrise put one hoof in front of the other and followed after Garlic, trying to ignore what felt like her own death as her body protested this horrible experience. “We have trouble,” Garlic warned, turning to look back at his companions. “I hear stuff up ahead and see light. Goblins incoming.” Fearful, Sunrise Surprise let out a whimper and began to prepare for her own death. The unicorn felt her stomach clench when she heard the first sounds of something thudding on stone, the clank of metal, and then the sounds of raucous laughter from up ahead. The trio began to back up, pushing Sunrise along as they did so, eventually pushing her into a crack in the wall behind them. Garlic and Fogwalker stood shoulder to shoulder, waiting, preparing themselves for conflict as the sound of the goblin troop moved closer. The first of the goblins came into view, fell silent, and stood there looking stupidly at the ponies. Several more goblins came to join the first, all of them gawking at the giant earth pony in front of them. “This good day. Kill spiders. Get poison. Now we have slaves and something to screw that is not goblin,” one of them remarked as it pulled its axe free from the sheath. “The big one could pull mine cart once we geld him,” another goblin commented. “Smash Toe be happy with us if we bring them back mostly in one piece.” “Feathers for pillows,” one goblin gasped. “Pillows!” “Shut up Pillow Humper!” one of the goblins shouted. Fearing for her life, feeling a great deal of stress, and unable to deal with the notion that she might lose her virginity to a goblin of all things was simply too much for Sunrise Surprise to bear. She felt a tingle of magic build up inside of her, a rush of raw magic powered by emotion, she let out a fearful cry as her whole body tensed, and she felt as though she was going to sneeze, only out her horn rather than her nose. Pressure built, becoming painful, and then there was a flash of light. One of the goblins burst into flames and immediately began screeching. “Ooooh! Pretty!” Fogwalker gasped, entranced by the flames consuming the goblin, who was now running around in a circle. She watched as the stupid creature set one of his companions on fire. Seeing her opportunity, she launched herself at the nearest goblin, driving herself shoulder first into the creature, catching him from behind, shattering his spine on impact. The feculent snot covered creature collapsed and Fogwalker stomped down upon its skull. Moving gracefully into the fracas, Fogwalker left Garlic behind to defend Sunrise. The goblins squealed and screamed. They were used to dealing with farmers and common ponies, not well trained soldiers backed by a unicorn with faulty light spells. As a panicked goblin went running past, Fogwalker stuck out a hind leg and tripped him, smashing her greaves into the goblin’s shins. When he went down, Fogwalker lept atop of him, planting all four hooves down upon the goblin’s spine, and a loud crunch could be heard. Swinging a sword, one goblin rushed Fogwalker, attempting to cut her head off with one clumsy swing. The pegasus ducked her head and the sword landed a glancing blow upon her helmet, sending a shower of sparks spraying from the impact. Kicking out with her front leg, she smashed her metal greaves into the goblin’s groin, sending him to the floor with a high pitched yelp. “How dare you threaten to geld the future father of my foals!” Fogwalker spat as she reared up on her hind legs, pitched her weight forward, and then came smashing down on the groin clutching goblin on the ground in front of her, one hoof landing mid spine, the other on the goblin’s skull. There was a sickening crunch and Fogwalker turned her attention to the last goblin, who had his mace raised and was backing away. The mace was spiky and glistened in the faint light. Fogwalker advanced carefully, aware that the weapon was probably poisoned and even a little scratch would be life threatening. The pegasus mare felt confident in her abilities though. She had been trained from her first year for situations just like this one. “Your move dung breath,” Fogwalker growled at the goblin. “Tell me, any particular way you want to die?” she asked as she glared through her visor slit at the goblin. Much to the goblin’s surprise, his hair caught on fire, causing him to screech and drop his mace to the stone. Reaching up, he clutched his head, trying to put the flames out, his screech becoming an agonised scream as his skin began to melt away from his skull. Fogwalker Fetlocks backed away and allowed the flames to do their work. “Nice work,” she praised, never taking her eyes off of the burning goblin. “This went well.” “Indeed,” Garlic agreed, still standing resolutely in front of Sunrise, who was securely wedged into the crevice behind him. “I killed something with my magic,” Sunrise gasped as the goblin fell to the stone with a thump, landing on his own spiked mace. “I feel so conflicted… I did something horrible but I feel so proud of it at the same time.” “Better them than us,” Garlic said as he stepped away and allowed Sunrise to escape from her confinement. “You did good, you kept Fogwalker safe,” he praised. Sunrise, unsure of what do when she heard Garlic’s sincere words, fell silent and looked up at the big earth pony with unabashed affection, her glasses sitting lopsided upon her face. She looked at Fogwalker, then at Garlic, down at the goblins, and then back up at Garlic again as she adjusted her glasses, leveling out her bifocal line. “That was invigorating,” Fogwalker said as she stepped over a goblin. “It was over to quickly though, I was enjoying myself.” The pegasus mare shook herself, causing her armor to jingle, jangle, and clank. Reaching out with her wing, she lifted her helmet visor and looked at Garlic. “Not one word about what I said, or so help me, I will figure out a way to lay you low.” “How did you learn how to move like that?” Sunrise asked as Garlic began to look over the bodies. “A lady is the epitome of charm and grace,” Fogwalker responded as she flexed her wings and kicked out her legs, checking herself for injuries. “I was schooled from an early age to be a Ranger. I was trained in tracking, woodcraft, lore, law, and there were a few combat lessons.” “That was amazing,” Sunrise gushed, looking at the pegasus. She turned her gaze to Garlic. “What about you?” “I was a farmer. I pulled a plow. I’ve had a few combat lessons once I was accepted as a Preserver,” Garlic replied as he rolled a goblin over. “Garlic is just naturally good at combat and smashing stuff. When we were accepted and going through our basic training, we were supposed to fly over a wooden barrier. Garlic couldn’t fly, so he smashed through it instead. Scared the sergeant something awful, that old pegasus never had anypony crash through the barrier,” Fogwalker remarked as she looked at Garlic fondly. Drawing in a deep shuddering breath, Sunrise Surprise held it for a few moments, listening to the rushing sound in her ears as she did so, and then let it out slowly. “This one had a pouch full of lumps of silver, we should take it,” Garlic suggested as he looked over at Sunrise. Taking the hint, Sunrise levitated the pouch free of the goblin, tried to shake some of of the filth from it, and then stuffed it into her own saddlebags. She looked at the metal weapons, her eyes lingering over each of them, her brain attempting to reach some still unknown conclusion. She eyed the sword laying on the ground. It was short, about two feet in length, sharp, double edged, heavily nicked, and the tip had been broken off, leaving a jagged end of metal. She lifted it in her telekinesis, hefted it, and found that it was quite easy to manipulate in her magic. She stared down at the goblin who had the sword in disgust, and, shivering with revulsion, she began to undo the goblins crude belt and removed the sword sheath. Worried that she might never feel clean again, she secured the sword sheath to her saddlebag straps and then sheathed the sword. “Wise,” Garlic grunted, nodding in approval. “Setting stuff on fire is good, so is stabbing something with a length of jagged metal,” Fogwalker announced. She looked down at the torch laying on the stone. “We should take this too, the last one was useful.” Sunrise nodded and lifted the torch. “We should get moving, that kind of sound travels through the rock. Others are bound to come and investigate,” Garlic said in a concerned voice. The big earth pony began to walk up the passage, stepping over goblins and avoiding the still burning corpses. “For some reason, I thought we were gonna die,” Sunrise confessed, her voice still fearful and wavering, but there was also a hint of confidence there now. The unicorn fell into line behind Garlic, her head held high and a new spring in her step. “It is good to come close to death,” Fogwalker said in a soft voice. “It makes life feel livelier once you’ve spent a some time in fear of losing your own life. Food tastes better, wine tastes sweeter, and I’m pretty sure a kiss might feel pretty good right about now.” “In your dreams Foggy,” Garlic deadpanned. “Oh come on Stinky-” “No,” Garlic interrupted. “Damn,” Fogwalker grunted. “I’ve never been kissed,” Sunrise admitted as the group left the goblins behind them. “Give Foggy a kiss… she’s in the mood,” Garlic suggested, not bothering to look back and see if Fogwalker was glaring at him. He could feel her burning stare and there was no need to look back. “She’s wearing a helmet,” Sunrise said, her nervousness making her nasal lisp even more pronounced. “And I don’t know how I feel about kissing a mare… that’s kinda icky.” “Sunrise, if you ever want to attract yourself a stallion, walk up and give a mare a big wet soggy kiss,” Garlic suggested as he peered ahead into the dimly lit passage. “Pervert,” Fogwalker grumbled. “Both of you are so dirty,” Sunrise whined in protest. “Would that really work?” she asked in a hesitant voice after falling silent for several moments.