//------------------------------//
// Harmony is magic 
// Story: Before Celestia~ 
// by CuttingEdge 
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After Blue Blaze had finished questioning the other two ponies, he went straight to his tent.
As he finally made his way to a well deserved slumber, Smart cookie met up with him.

"Thank you again for lending me this tent. It gets kind of. . . difficult, sleeping on the dirt all the time."

"Aw, it was no problem. Not like we need THAT empty thing lyin' around, do we?"
Smart cookie smiled an let Blaze pass her by.
"If you or any of your friends needs anythin' I'll be in the wagon."

"Ok, thanks again."
Blaze watched as Smart Cookie walked back over to the wagon.
He could see how a pony could be good friends with her. But how they managed to use that to summon magical powers was a mystery.

"Now. . ." 
Blaze held a nice long stare at his tent's zipper.
One thing out of the way, one big one in it.
He first tried his wings. No luck. His feathers were too soft to grip the zipper.
Hooves? He fumbled for a second or two before deciding it was futile.
Mouth! He opened his mouth and held it out to the rusty. . . Dirty. . . . Germ covered. . . . . NO!
He spent another minute staring down the zipper. If stares could do anything, that one would have.

"Need help?"
Clover's voice came from behind him.

"Definitely."
He looked back at her. Bags under her eyes and a crumpled mane suggested she had either come up for a drink, or he had roused her.

Clover unzipped the tent with her horn and turned away, walking off in her own direction.

Blaze didn't even stop to thank Clover. The sight of his pallet laid out on the ground was too much.
It had been two days since he had gotten a good rest. The officers warning seemed so far away. But it was so true it was not easily forgotten.

He hit the ground snoring. Sleep was precious.

- 6:30ish 24 of red leaf. -

Blaze lifted his head. The sun was up. He wondered how they were still doing that back in Equestria.
Most unicorns were servants to Diacon. Others were in hiding.
It must be a true hero to do this. . . Sacrificing their magic every single day, for the sake of all people.
When the sun came up it said to Equestria: "We're out here. And this war is NOT over."
Light was hope. And pain to the great wolves.

"Sleep well?"
Peach's quiet voice peeped from outside his tent.

"Very."
Blaze stood up and cracked his neck. The universe called!
Well, almost.

"Hey peach, can you get clover over here. . . Stupid zipper."

Later, at the camp. . .

Blaze laughed loudly at one of Smart cookie's jokes. This earth pony was hilarious!

"And wha- What about the sky? Hahahaha!"
Blaze was having the best time he'd had since he got drafted.

"That's the thing. . . Misty was so confused, she thought he said; "Cloud blasting."

Blueskies roared laughing.
"Sounds like Blaze! He tried to do that once."

"But it worked!"
Blaze crossed his hooves defiantly.

Just over the last day he had grown so close to these ponies.
They were a merry bunch in all. But from what Hurricane had said, he would need to be leaving soon.

A bell dinged all the way up at the front of the train. Everypony reacted to the noise. grabbing loose items and stuffing them into their wagons.

"That's the starting noise. Anypony who needs something better get it now."
Smart cookie ran up to her wagon and started to pull the harness around herself.

"Actually. . . We have been told to take y'all back to Equestria."
Peach told her.

Blaze cut in, trying to keep the conversation calm before it went awry.
"What she means is, Hurricane told us to bring you back to Equestria so you can help the uprising."

Clover trotted over to Blaze.
"But. . . Why? We had planned to follow this train until they got back to the original tribes. Equestria is lost. You pegasi need to stop living that fantasy."

"But we NEED you! You can take back our home. And so many other ponies homes as well."

Pansy flew over to Blaze.
"Hurricane was the reason I left the army. He was reckless. He is prepared to sacrifice more to save less as long as the less remains."

"Princess platinum? Anyone remember that name? Chancellor pudding head? Governor Yew tree? Princess Flowing breeze? All these ponies. . . Dead in the time it took for you to flee Equestria." Blaze's voice cracked up towards the end. Some of these ponies he knew personally, others he knew were friends of the three before him.

"They died fighting. At least they tried."
Clover uttered this with such spite.

"Ponies are in chains, our own homes burn. All of us have seen our families collapse from this. He takes our conflict earned lands and lights the sky on fire. Can you not look at his evil without seeing some of your own?"

"And you let him pass the boarder. You brought this on us."
Smart cookie started walking off with the rest of the train. The other ponies fell in with her.

"AND YOU CAN STOP IT!"
Blaze shouted this last word at them.

None of them hesitated. They all faded into the distance.
Peach and Blueskies hovered beside Blaze.
They kept looking. Following was a bad idea. Every other option was just as bad.

"We have each other. They can't take us apart."
Peach said this. But the others were saying it in their hearts.
Equestria's darkest hour. And the only lights were being turned out one by one by one. . . .