//------------------------------// // Chapter I- Rest // Story: Crystalline Fragments // by Dragonborne Fox //------------------------------// Swift opened her mouth and shoved the gemstone inside a cheek, being careful to not accidentally swallow it or inflict a scratch with her teeth. Silently cursing her lack of a pouch with which to hold the treasure, she held her weapon with both hands now and gripped it tightly. “Pry his mouth open!” yelled one of the guards as he loaded another arrow into the drawstring. The pegasus could barely contain a giggle of mirth. “How cute, he thinks I’m a stallion,” she thought as she dove towards the hornless guard who gave the order, spearhead aimed at him. The guard shrieked as the weapon went through his leather-made armor and clean out of his backside. Swift made a landing, and was once more surrounded by guards who aimed their weapons in her direction. The disguised mare swung her spear, now capped with a dangling body, like an elongated and crude club. Some of the stallions were knocked into their allies as the weapon smacked them, while others were simply sent staggering back. Regardless, they got right back onto their hooves and tried to overwhelm the pegasus as she spread her wings and became airborne once more. Swift darted about yet again, narrowly avoiding the speeding arrows with a grace the people below just couldn’t match. Sure, she had a body attached to her weapon, and it was hard to juggle, but the pegasus was grateful the body wasn't any heavier than it already was—considering she had a gem which needed protection, to be kept safe from the guards below. She noticed an open end on one side of the hall, and she made for it. When she did that, she found herself in a vast room with a set of stairs that lead to the second floor, one lined with strong marble pillars on the railed edges that line the balcony of said second floor. She quickly flew behind a column and folded her wings shut, taking a moment to scan her surroundings. That was cut short when she heard a mare shouting, followed by spotting an entrance to another hall. Marching to her from that entrance was another guard who was hassling a struggling Melody, and he was using one hand to drag her by the collar of her tunic. “Lemme go!” Melody cried as she continued to fidget about wildly, hoping to slip out of his one-handed grasp. Swift’s ear began to twitch as she silently slid to the opposite wall before the guard could see her, and when he turned to walk down another corner with his captive in tow, she flinched as he didn't even look in her direction. Then again, he was dealing with a screeching mare, so Swift supposed that was the reason why. Nevertheless, she quietly approached the two, raising her spear like it was a golf club and lifting the body attached to it up so as to not drag it along the floor. “Not until you give me the orange gem!” the guard replied in a harsh tone of voice. He passed by a segment that should have been filled in by railing but wasn't, and he turned to look at the first floor as guards poured in from the hall Swift had left. Speaking of, as she slowly rose up to stand, spear still raised, the guards below saw her and began squawking in unison. “Hey!” cried one guard below, immediately garnering the attention of the one holding Melody. “The one holding the damn sparkling rock is the dragoon, and he’s right behind you!” The warning came too late as the body on the spear met with the side of his head and packed enough force to knock him out cold, only further accentuated by his helmet of steel clanging like a bell in the process. The dead corpse slid off of the weapon, thus painting both that weapon and the out-cold guard it landed upon in gratuitous crimson. Melody took off the small bag that rested at her waist, and she tossed it to Swift. “I’ll distract them, just go!” she cried. Swift nodded in understanding as she caught the bag and took off in a sprint past Melody, only to find herself inside one of the building’s many hallways yet again. With another wave of guards at that, but this one was also having to deal with the bloke from earlier—he flailed madly. His limbs constantly connected with the guards, and though the attacks made them stagger and struggle to hold him, they nonetheless tried in vain to keep him pinned. She spread her wings and began flying once more upon realizing that this batch of troops was fully distracted, not once opening her mouth as she passed the occupied lot in her search for an opening. Behind her, half the platoon ran after her, leaving that one pony to finally break free of the hands assailing him to then make his own attempt for freedom. She came upon another hall that, to her left, lead to another hallway that remained empty with a set of doors swinging open in a breeze. She descended towards it and landed fast on her hooves, bolting towards the door on the other side in another sprint. This one led to one of the building's exit and she ran to it—or at least, she'd hoped it was an exit. The mare glanced down a hallway that she passed as she ran, skidding to a halt as she was witnessing Pippin hold off three guards by himself using only a dagger. “For the last time,” Pippin began in an angry shout, “I do not have the crystal gem!” Swift took the gem out of her mouth and stuffed it in the little leather bag before strapping it around herself. She then held her fingers to her mouth and let off a shrill whistle, which caused the guards to turn away from the earth pony and towards herself. “I have the crystal gem, you ill-equipped piles of horse manure!” she cried in such a sing-song tone that the guards could not mistake her voice for that of a stallion's, before she went bounding out of the nearby entrance like a jackalope. “Seize her!” cried one of the guards, which prompted the other two to begin to rush towards her, while he himself chose to stay and fight Pippin one-on-one. By the time they got out of the building, Swift was already on a stone roof of a building directly opposite of the opera-school and running with wings still flared. “Damn that pegasus!” cried the second guard as he and his ally ran along the ground, hoping to keep up with the dragoon who was jumping from building to building with ridiculous and brazen ease. “If only our infantry could keep up!” bemoaned the other, loading his bow with another arrow as he ran around the corner with his friend in a desperate bid to ground the fleeing mare. But it was much too late for him to fire; the armor-clad mare had already vanished after she lept to and from a few more buildings. ~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~ It had been three days since the mare fled the city, orange gemstone safely secured in the small leather bag all the while. She trudged through a dense woodland, gasping for breath as she found the bank of a creek and collapsed right next to it. “I need to stop overexerting myself,” she sighed, panting heavily in between words. With shaky hands, she removed her helmet and winced as the air stung at her sweat-covered face like a thousand blades. She crawled and then leaned towards the creek before she began drinking some of its water greedily, all the while shivering as it cooled her throat and stomach a bit. After a few moments of drinking the life-giving fluid—with a good few breaks in between in order to avoid choking—she looked at her reflection. Her white skin was dirtied and greyer than it normally was, and her purple-and-silver-streaked hair clung to her face and neck. Eyes the color of summer leaves were bloodshot and irritated. Her dirtied wings had feathers sticking out of alignment here and there, as well as sticky burrs and thorns. Her armor had scratches all over it, as though she fought a rosebush and barely made it out alive. No doubt she’d needed a bath now. If the waters of this creek were as refreshing as when they graced her tongue, then why not let them caress her body? Her ears twitched as the sound of rustling bushes hit them. “Swift Spear?” cooed a feminine voice. The dragoon turned her head as the bushes rustled some more, from which emerged a familiar earth-colored unicorn mare. “Melody?” Swift asked in a hoarse voice riddled with exhaustion, eyes widening in surprise. “How did—” “After the guards left the school and began scouring the town once they all knew you had the gem, me and Pippin snuck out. It wasn’t easy getting out of there ourselves, since we aren’t pegasi like you,” Melody answered before the worn mare could finish her question, a frown adorning her face. “Is the gem still with you?” “Yes,” Swift answered, taking the bag off of her body and opening it. The light orange fragment was still in one piece, safe inside its leather pouch. The bushes rustled again, and this time, Pippin emerged from them with slightly-torn clothes. He noticed that the mare had removed her helmet, as well as the condition of her face and wings. “You look worse for the wear,” he stated with a sigh escaping his mouth. “No, I feel like I just became queen of the countryside,” Swift scoffed sarcastically, her wings shifting a bit. “I’ve been on the run for three days and nights, and I feel as if I could black out any minute.” “As have we, but you look as if you ran nonstop,” Melody sighed, the frown still present on her face. Swift grabbed her helmet and set it back upon her head, before reaching for her spear and the crystal in the bag. She shifted so she could stand, but now every muscle in her body cried out in pain, and there was little the mare could do to hold back a yelp of surprise. The other two people rushed to her, grasping her by both the shoulders as soon as they were close enough. “Don’t move; you haven’t the strength to get past the creek,” Melody pleaded, ears flat on her head. “Would it be too much trouble for me to ask one of you to…” Swift trailed off as her wing muscles seized again.. “Carry you?” Pippin finished for her as he shifted so he could give her a piggyback ride. He spoke as she climbed onto his back, “Why, certainly. It’s goes against my nature to leave a weakened mare in need here in this woodland.” Melody picked up the crystal in the bag and the dragoon’s spear. She briskly walked alongside the stallion who was now carrying their wounded companion. After a walk lasting about fifteen to twenty minutes, the two came upon a small stone bridge that connected the banks of the creek together. “Where are we going?” Swift asked as she was carried across the bridge. “We’re heading to the village past this creek,” Pippin answered with a small smile. The tired mare’s ears perked up. “I never knew a village was here,” she sighed. “That’s because these folk are a secretive lot; so secretive that the guards only discovered them last month,” Pippin replied. Swift thought the answer over for a moment. “Makes sense,” she began, “but how did they remain so elusive?” “I know not their ways, nor their techniques of staying hidden,” Pippin sighed with a frown on his muzzle. “If you know not their ways of staying out of sight and mind, yet you know their village’s location…” Swift stopped, wincing in pain as she felt her wing muscles cry out in agony. “For some reason, the villagers trusted me and not the guards. I just passed through their town by chance.” Pippin frowned as he spoke, “and then the guards found me as I was passing by.” “Then again, given what happened three days ago,” Melody piped up, ”I can see why they don’t trust the guards.” “So, the guards found you walking out of the village a month ago... what happened after?” Swift asked, her ears twitching. “They were scouts; diplomats sent by the Royal Highness himself to aid in map-making and war-preparations or some nonsense like that. Sadly, I had to give them the location of the town we’re nearing,” Pippin groaned, his ears flattening upon his skull. “Did we pass Luna Creek?” Swift asked, frowning now. She lifted a brow slightly, a niggling feeling encroaching in her mind. Somehow, Pippin didn't convince her that well—though whether he was aware of that or not, he didn't remark on. Though he did answer her inquiry after a full minute had passed. “Sadly, no. The creek’s past the village,” Pippin stated as a clearing came into view—and in that clearing, there were old wood houses lined with thick moss. The few people out and about today looked at the lot who had just set foot into their town. “It’s the stallion in jester’s clothes!” exclaimed one bloke who ran up to the trio in that moment. “What brings you here today?” “Listen, do you have a spare bed?” Pippin asked. “One of my friends, who I am carrying upon my back, is exhausted and in need of rest.” The local stallion observed the dragoon head to hoof, a frown adorning his face as he was nodding. “Yes, follow me,” he answered. The person turned around and slowly walked to one house, with the other three following him. The other few locals looked on as a door creaked open and the four went inside, finding a hefty half-dozen beds that were empty. “We’ll need to remove that cumbersome armor, though,” Melody pointed out, a frown still lingering on her face. “Say, where was everyone else the last time I walked through here?” Pippin questioned the local as he carried Swift towards the bed. “They were out training and gathering food for the village,” the local stallion answered flatly. Swift Spear was finally placed on the bed, and the first piece of armor to come off was her helmet. The two stallions then walked out the door when Swift gave them a stony glare, as if she had pointed her spear at them in a threatening manner. “Guess you didn’t want them peeping, huh?” Melody teased with a smile as she helped the dragoon remove her armor. “'A mare taking her armor off is bad news,' so I've heard. Frankly, I've every reason to believe that particular tidbit of information,” Swift answered with a sigh as her breastplate and gauntlets came off, exposing her well-toned muscles which were as grimy as her face was. She had dirtied bandages covering her chest, and some cloth underwear covering her lower region. Then, the greaves came off, as well as the rest of the suit. She laid on the bed belly-side down, shivering as her body was fully exposed to the air of the makeshift inn. Melody looked in the armor, and found that many of its components had cloth lining the innards. “No wonder you’re freezing,” she remarked as she turned back to Swift Spear. “You could say I often go to bed fully dressed,” Swift replied with a small grin on her face. The worn person quickly frowned as she then said, “May I ask something, Melody?” “Hm?” Melody hummed, brow arched. “Why is that orange gem so important, pray tell?” Swift asked, her ears twitching.