Part Four: Stale Memories On The Wind
The pale sunlight beamed down through the dust and grime, rays twisted around down through the shattered blackened limbs of the trees over him that seemed to point down menacingly. In his mind flashed what these bucolic woods appeared before the Flash. Small woodland critters flitting in the branches of the trees as small green leaves floated down on a warm wind. Next to him trotted the mare whom he wanted to give his heart to. She was his whole world, even in this place of extreme beauty he ignored everything else. The memory faded as the wind howled stinging his face irritating his eyes making them bloodshot. The rags that were once pulled tightly around his muzzle were made loose by the tearing wind, he tried to ignore the mountains of sand that filled his vision but the feeling of guilt the accusing fingers above made him feel. He was the only living thing in this place of death. He was also a lie, walking on borrowed hooves wearing another pony's life in whose body he now occupied.
Airborne carefully shook Duty awake from what seemed like a restful slumber. Duty quickly pounced onto Airborne pressing his strange knife to his throat. Airborne's eyes widen in shock and he gulps nervously watching the knife press into him. Inside he could feel something stirring wanting to wrench free of his body. His very soul seemed to quiver at the touch of the knife. Airborne could feel himself fading into darkness and what waited beyond that was bleak nothingness. He wouldn't even so much as be a memory to his friends should Duty plunge the knife into his throat. Gradually Duty lifted the knife away from Airborne's throat.
"It's unwise to touch me young Mortal." He said as he sheathed the knife back. Airborne picked up his hat, his hooves trembling from the experience. "I will make note of that Duty. Tell me though if you don't sleep why did you close your eyes?" Airborne asked. Duty sat silently not uttering a single word. Airborne let the silence remain having felt that maybe he had pried too deep into the mysterious pony. "I was not sleeping just merely remembering things from before. Even though this body is not my own I possess the memories of this pony who's life I stole."
Airborne rubbed the back of his head having felt that he pried to far into Duty. Duty sensing his feelings pats Airborne on the shoulder, "You did nothing wrong Airborne and thanks for your concern. I am not used to other ponies asking about how I am doing." Airborne smiles hands a small pouch to Duty. "I am not sure if you like to eat but here are some of my wife's apple crisp cookies." Duty holds the small pouch and opens it carefully with his hoof. The aroma from the pouch tickles his nostrils as a smile slowly spreads across his otherwise stoic muzzle. Duty removes a cookie from the pouch and takes a quick bite of it. Normally he doesn't tend to eat the food of mortals but it would be rude to refuse such a kind offer after he nearly slit Airborne's throat by accident. The cookie was warm and briefly the bright smile of somepony flashed in Duty's mind before fading into darkness.
Duty blinked as he felt tears rolling down his cheeks, lifting a forehoof to his muzzle Duty caught a tear as it fell off of him. Looking at the gleaming liquid Duty could have sworn he saw a face smiling at him. Duty blinked and the image was gone. Shaking his forehoof the tear disappeared, being soaked into the dry cave floor. Fractured turned over in his sleep snoring loudly, the sound echoing through the cave. "I am glad the others are able to sleep with him snoring so loudly." Airborne laughs while Duty chuckles slightly.
The next morning the small group of ponies left the safety of the cave they had sheltered in during the night. A few hours later they had crossed the border into Mustangia. Sunrise only had noticed they had crossed the border when she trotted over the sign causing the aged metal to clang loudly under her hooves. Brushing away two hundred years of silt, she barely makes out the words, "Mustangia welcomes you." The royal crest of the Princesses was barely visible, the paint had cracked over the years after sitting under the harsh sun. The other ponies came over and stared down at the sign. "At least we know that we have finally arrived. Now all we have to do is find Discord." Starshine said as she looked around her cautiously.
Duty looked up from the sign towards the twisted jagged structures which rippled up from the horizon. "Our goal lies there." He said as he pointed at the dead city. "That city was once Cimarron, the capital of Mustangia. If we are to find our foe chances are that is a good place to start looking for them." Airborne looks at the city ruins in the distance and tightens his armored barding and checks his weapons. The others look at him and do likewise. Duty watched the ponies prepare themselves thinking, "It would appear that they can handle themselves. It's good to know that ponies like this can defend those who can't fight for themselves still exist." Fractured opens his canteen and takes a swig of water. "So I think I will be the one to say it. We are officially in enemy territory now. Every move we make Discord will no doubt be watching or worse Nightmare Moon." Duty nods.
The ruins of Cimarron were at least two days walk ahead of them. Passing by the wrecks of downed Raptors that had been caught in the blast when the city of Cimarron was destroyed. Other than the occasional burnt out husk of a carriage containing the skeletons of the Mustangs who were unfortunate enough to be within the blast radius of Cimarron there wasn't a single pony anywhere to be seen. "Most of those living near the city have fled since Nightmare Moon appeared." Duty said. Although there were no living ponies around every now and again lay the body of somepony who had died with a look of sheer terror on their muzzle. The air around the bodies crackled and snapped in a weird way, the remnant of some strange enchantment that had killed them. Duty was unable to discern what enchantment had killed the ponies but whatever the spell was it was far more powerful than anything that a normal Unicorn was able to produce. As night approached the small band stopped in the village of Kiger.
The village wasn't very large and despite the War it had survived relatively intact. Searching through the rubble Starshine and Fractured found some Pre-War food. Sunrise had managed to start a fire in the ruins of an old department store. As night fell Airborne patted his stomach, as he leaned back on his bedroll he saw somepony lurking beyond the ruined doorway. Carefully reaching for his weapon he slowly lifted it. The others sitting nearby didn't seem to notice and they faded as Airborne took aim through the scope on his rifle. Who emerged in the firelight made Airborne's heart stop, it was his great-grandmother Lightning Dust. His eyes widened in surprise, only once before had his great-grandmother visited him like this and it wasn't exactly something he was used to. The world where the dead stayed dead made more sense than having their ghosts come back to offer pieces of advice to their living descendents but Lighting Dust looked more solid than a spirit come back from the grave.
Lightning Dust smiled at her great-grandson and brushed a lock of hair off his muzzle. Her smile was warm, it made Airborne feel both uneasy and at home. Looking around he saw that his companions were gone just leaving him and his great-grandmother by the fire alone together. Airborne slowly lowered his weapon but didn't easy his pressure on the guns trigger. Lightning Dust perked her ears and smiled once more at her great-grandson. "Airborne, do you really think I am here to hurt you?" Airborne shrugs and shoulders his weapon while keeping his eyes fixed on her. "I don't know why you are here or what exactly you are. The last time I saw you was at Baleout's funeral and you didn't exactly look so alive then as you do now." Lightning Dust sat down by the fire and helped herself to some food. Airborne sat a few feet away watching her. "So why are you back? Don't you have to move on or something?"
Lightning Dust swallowed her meal, "I came back because I wanted to spend sometime with my great-grandson. Honestly Airborne I figured you would be happy to see me again." Airborne blinks and shuffles his hooves in embarrassment, "It isn't like I didn't want to see you again Grandma but I had expected that we would see each other when I umm passed on." Lightning Dust chuckles. "Well I did have a reason in coming back to see you again Airborne and that was to say why are you doing here in Mustangia? You should be at home with your wife in New Cloudsdale."
Airborne sighs and trots over then sits by her side. "Its not like I want to be here grandmother its just this is something that I have to do. Rainbow Dash herself gave me this mission to find out where either Nightmare Moon or Discord is and I intend to see it through to the end. Then I will go home to New Cloudsdale." Lightning Dust wraps her hoof around Airborne's shoulder while she leans in close to him. "I am just worried that you might not make it back from this trip Airborne. Going to look for both of them seems like a really bad idea, just go home and you won't have to find out where this path leads to." Lightning Dust says as she leans away again helping herself to more food. Airborne looks at his grandmother and smiles slightly feeling his cheeks grow red as his grandmother's words sank into him. It wasn't like there wasn't any truth in them after all he and his friends were going to out why the two most powerful Pre-War entities were still roaming around. Even though he wanted to return home to New Cloudsdale this was a mission given to him by Rainbow Dash herself. She had placed her trust in him to see this mission through to the end and he didn't want to let her down.
Airborne sighs, "I can't go back to New Cloudsdale after not having completing my mission Grandma. Like I said this is something I have to do so please just help give me the courage to get this done." Lightning Dust frowns at his response and stands up looking down at her grandson. Airborne pins his ears back at having felt that he upset his great-grandmother. "You will die here Airborne. Going after them is a foalish thing to do. If you are so determined to die then don't expect me to see you when you arrive on the other side." Airborne flicks his tail in annoyance and before he can respond Duty appears saying, "Enough of this!" He grabs onto Airborne and jerks him around as he does so the angry image of his grandmother Lightning Dust disappears.
The next thing he knows he is laying on his back staring up through the hole in the ceiling of the building at the twinkling distant stars above him. Airborne sits up and feels a knot in the pit of his stomach. Duty stands nearby, his chest heaving and his flanks covered in sweat. Duty looks at him, "It took me awhile but I finally broke the enchantment that held you and the other mortals in its grasp. The enchantment was draining your life forces, if I hadn't broken it then it would have killed you all." As the others awoke they all looked at each other in complete disbelief. Sunrise nervously said, "Did you all experience what I just did?" The other ponies just nod in surprise.
Fractured looks at Sunrise, "Who did you see?" Tears start to streak down the sides of Sunrise's cheeks, "I saw Baleout. But then he disappeared as Duty helped us. He said that if I didn't return to New Cloudsdale that I would die on this journey." Celestial nods and coughs, her metal voice whirring to life, "Well if this is Discord's trickery then he made the mistake of pissing me off. I say we continue on to find that twisted draconequus and put a bullet in between his eyes." Duty rolls his eyes and walks outside. Airborne and the rest of the ponies follow him.
He turns looking at them sternly saying, "Do you really think it's going to be that easy to kill Discord? That a bullet between his eyes is really going to stop the God of Chaos? What a foalish notion! Every step we take towards Cimarron we have to watch out for more tricks like the enchantment I just saved you from because you can bet on a pretty bit that he has far worse in store for us. Even I can recognize that and I am immortal. Don't let your guard down for even a second in this land of death otherwise you will end up just like those who we passed on the roads and if he has indeed managed to enlist the help of Nightmare Moon then I fear for all those who live in Equestria. With her at his side Discord could reign supreme over everypony and everything. Nopony will be able to match their combined power. So I suggest we put all foalish bravado aside and realize that we are up against two of the greatest threats that Equestria has ever faced. The only way we will triumph against them is to never underestimate our opponents and to find a way to deal with them. Otherwise I don't look forward to having to perform my job on those who I have come to consider brothers in arms."
Airborne was taken aback by Duty's statement, the normally enigmatic Servant of Sleipnir didn't tend to share much of himself with others so this sudden outburst showed that there was more to this deathless pony than it seemed. Celestial clicks her tongue and snorts in annoyance at having been lectured by Duty. She then turns in embarrassment trotting back into the building. Sunrise and Starshine both hug Duty tightly, "Thanks for saving us Duty. Its nice to know that underneath that fierce demeanor that there is somepony who genuinely cares about us." They both collectively say as they let go of Duty. Duty while he doesn't smile at their hug does nod in response before heading back inside of the building. Airborne and the others join them to get some rest after their ordeal in order to make the final push towards Cimarron in the morning. As Airborne starts to close his eyes Starshine cuddles close to his side, the warmth of his wife comforts him as he closes his eyes hearing his grandmothers words echo in his mind, "You will die here Airborne."