The Somewhere Cycle
Volume 1: "Wander and Green Brier"
Written by The Descendant
Chapter 6
Green Brier:
It was still before dawn, the second time I awoke. There is an unusual sensation across my foreleg and I awake to find Jeroh is standing next to my bed, massaging my leg, looking down on me with sad eyes.
"Jeroh?" I asked, "What's wrong?"
"You…you were cryin' in your sleep, sir…cryin' pretty bad," speaks my summoner.
"Well, yes," I say, "I had a…dream."
I had been about to say "bad dream". As he looks on I put a smile on in the dim light, then returns to his bassinet.
Wander:
The second time I wake up bawlin', shaking. Tucker is roused from his slumber once more. I hear him grumbling from the lavatory as his clawed feet make their way across the tiles.
Soon the door opens and I see the wyvern's form silhouetted in the pre-dawn light.
"Ya' alright, general, me bucko?" he asks, peering at me with drowsy eyes.
"Meh," I answer, "Must have ate somethin' disagreeable at the ball…"
"Well," he answers with a yawn, pointing into the bathroom, "If ya' need to use the facilities here in a jiffy just give me 'ah kick…"
Both:
I lie there for a good long while, just staring at the ceiling, wondering why the visions had come out of order…
Green Brier:
Was there any meaning to it?
Wander:
Was there a purpose? Perhaps it was somethin' physical, with my body?
Both:
These worries washed over me. How I wished I had somepony I could speak to about these things!
Green Brier:
Dawn felt as though it was forever in coming. When finally the first glimpse of the sun punctured the horizon I bowed to it, as I always have since that long ago day in the garden.
I then did something I never have done before…I went back to sleep.
Wander:
There was no getting back to sleep. I knew that I'd now be drowsy all day, even during the special super-secret meeting that I had to remember to act all surprised about.
I roused Tucker from his ensconced redoubt in the tub long enough for me to get mahself ready for the day. When I came out he was asleep in mah' bed so I sat in a big chair and watched the dawn rise over Ponyville.
Both:
I actually was surprised when there was a knock on my door.
Wander:
I roused myself from the big chair and went slowly to the door. Tucker tossed over a bit on the bed, and I let him lie there as I answered.
"General Wander, sir," says a big old Royal Guardspony lieutenant as the door comes open, "Your presence is requested at a meeting. Breakfast will be served there, sir."
I look at the big fellow for a few seconds, blinking. They look so grim all the time, even when they're wearing Celestia's white paint. "Yes," I say, yawning, "Yes, well…let's be off then."
I leave Tucker asleep on the bed, making my way down the stairs as I see one more guard waitin' by Brier's door. I hope he got more sleep than I…at least one of us should look presentable.
Green Brier:
I roll from the bed. I feel very wavy, almost ill. As I go to open the door Jeroh stands in his bassinet. I wave to him to be still, and he lowers himself back within, eyes on the door.
I open it to reveal the deep dark eyes of a Royal Guardspony, a captain by his badges. He looks most severe, as always, but my mind goes at once to his helmet. They haven't changed at all since that long ago day in the garden…and my regular army one shows more hard-earned laurels.
"General Brier, sir," intones the guardspony, his eyes looking up, noting that I'm staring at his helmet through my delirium, "I am to escort you to a meeting…your breakfast will be taken there, sir."
I try to act surprised, ask if there's any purpose to the meeting, but he says that he is unable to say.
As I turn back into my room to get dressed I hear the familiar hoofbeats of Wander going down the stairs. I do hope that he is more collected than I, that he had a more restoring respite. One of I us should look the part of a new corps commander, and at the moment I doubted that it was I.
As I finish washing up and slip on the uniform I come out of the lavatory to find Jeroh looking up to me once more.
"General," he asks, his hands over the side of his bassinet, "Am I coming with you? Do…do you want me to come?"
I smile down at him; leave my bits on the nightstand beside the bed.
"No," I speak in a hushed tone, "You go back to sleep, have a big breakfast downstairs in the restaurant…more than likely nothing of importance is going to happen…"
I closed the door behind me as the guardspony bowed. I followed him down the stairs, out through the lobby, and into the morning streets. As we went on I almost asked him what regular army unit he had served in, what he had done to have such an honor as serving in the guard bestowed on him…how badly he had been wounded.
I don't venture such a conversation though…it wouldn't seem proper. I laugh to myself a bit as I go on past the waking city scenes…I am unable to join the guard now. The dream of that little colt went in a different direction than I had anticipated. The commander of Their Majesty's Brigade of the Household is, of course, a brigadier…I'd need to be demoted first!
By some miracle we arrive at the city hall before Wander, despite his head start. I look around for him a touch before my escort salutes and then states, "I shall go announce your presence, sir."
I return his salute, and as he goes up the steps I look to the flags. Flags tell us many things, you see. For example, where our regiments are, whose headquarters this is, where I can find my division commanders, and things along that line.
I looked again to the flags upon the porch. They told me many things indeed. Not only was the city hall of Ponyville serving as the current headquarters of Sycamore Corps, due to the presence of our headquarters flag (Black Hat's, soon Wander' or my own), but also happily, My Sovereign was present!
I looked upon her Golden Sun flag upon its immaculate white field, my face brightening as I did so.
There was another flag. The flag of the Minister of War stood there on the porch, gentle bobbing on the breeze. That, I knew, worked this in favor of Wander.
I let myself think about breakfast. Bobby had a chicken that he kept with him during the war. It laid his breakfast for him every morning. I myself pondered some nice granola over yogurt…hearty grains, some raisins, roasted almonds…
Roasted…
At once the vision jumped to me, literally dragged me forward through my consciousness.
I was at once startled and aghast. For one to reach out for me here, in the morning, in the middle of the street…it was unusual to say the least. What happened next though went beyond unusual into the realm of the bizarre and amazing.
We come up a dirt road in the middle of a sleepy village, led by a human who shows us to a small brick house. It is very attractive house, wrapped as it was by a white porch with a flight of seven stairs leading up to it.
I had been so sure that there was to be a battle…I had heard the guns firing…but now it was quiet. So very quiet, that spring morning.
The groom takes me off the bridle, lets me nibble on the grass as Bobby comes up the stones past me to the steps. His head is heavy, and despite his immaculate uniform and sword he looks entirely beset.
I repeat that…as I, the animal, nibbled on the grass Bobby walks past me, Major General Green Brier as I stand there staring at him unseen…
What in Celestia's name is going on?
Wander:
Ponyville is only just beginnin' to wake up as my escort makes his way through the streets. He's lost…the guardspony obviously wasn't a Ponyville native. I had found my way back to the hotel last night fair enough, but he's leadin' me all over Equestria.
I look on as street vendors set up their carts, as the first shop owners to open begin to unfurl their canopies, shaking them a bit to let out the mornin' dew.
It's a good little city…only that much more than a village, but a good one. I know that the ponies who we left up in those hills knew that they were fighting for these here today…that they could go on with their lives without having to worry, to face fear and doubt, that the Equestrians could continue on.
As we finally come up to the city hall the guardspony bows to me.
"I shall go announce you, sir," he says, cantering off ahead of me, realizing he's late. As I come up to Brier I stare up at the flags that flutter outside. I see Celestia's personal banner, the white field with golden sun, and I know that works in Brier's favor.
A lift my head and take a deep whiff of the smells that are comin' from within. I am ready for breakfast, and I guess the source of each one. Eggs, pancakes…waffles…roasted almonds…
Roasted…
At once my vision begins to recede, and behind my ears is the crackling sound that denotes that one of the dreams is reaching out for me.
Amazing, simply amazing. They don't come this way, in the middle of the morning. My heart races to see which one it could be…
But it does not simply sit before me, doesn't just play out before me. I am not just seeing through the eyes of the animal…I am him, I am once again the big black and brown horse…that world is absolute, and I am entirely there.
Sam jumps off, takes off the bridle, and lets me eat the grass. I watch him do this both completely as the horse, but…but…
But also as myself as Major General Wander, a phantom in that world. I…I…
What in the name of The Sisters is going on?
Sam gives me a pat. There's…there's a grey coated officer at the top of the stairs of a brick house, one wrapped with a white porch. I know which vision this is, but it is suddenly very different.
I am the horse…but, but I'm also watching Sam go up the steps…as me. I'm in the vision!
Green Brier:
The vision had shook, trembled as the sad officer and his compatriots in the blue coats arrived, as they always had.
Yet as the other horse is led into the yard and turned loose with me, the animal me…he is also standing here beside me.
Wander…Wander has entered the vision.
Wander:
Brier is in my vision. How…how is it possible?
Green Brier:
I see Wander's eyes follow the sad looking human up the stairs. I see in him the same longing that I have when I think on my Bobby.
For a moment I settle back into the animal, the horse, feel the sweet grass cross my lips, hear the other horse move near me. For the first time in my life I know this other horse…this other horse is Wander.
I cleared my throat…
Wander:
As soon as Sam has entered the house I fly back into the horse, yet I stay outside myself, watching myself graze back and forth across the grass while at the same time feeling it crunch in my teeth, feeling my massive body slowly moving.
Another horse is nearby, one I don't immediately recognize. I'd seen it before in the visions, each time this one has rolled around in their cycle.
Yet, this time I do. That horse, the grey one, I…I know him. It's Brier. Oh Sisters, tell me! How can it be Brier? What in the Well is going on?
Near to me somepony clears his throat…yes, somepony.
I return look up through my eyes and see Brier next to me, and my mind goes blank.
Green Brier:
Wander has a look across his face as though he had accidentally swallowed a warm oven mitt. I must appear equally bedraggled. We simply stare at one another for a long moment, and slowly our heads turn to face ourselves. Our Equestrian eyes settle upon our animal bodies, the bodies of the horses that nibble on the grass, slowly swinging our heads back and forth across the green expanse and brushing away the flies with long tails.
I am astounded at it…Wander, Wander must have suffered the visions as I do…felt, so alone. He is strong, perhaps stronger than I, no wonder I had not noticed the travail upon him.
Wander:
Brier would never have said anything…about the visions. He is more determined than I, more contemplative…I would never have guessed that he's been living these things as well.
There's a motion at the door to the house…a grey-coated officer, very prim and studios, elegant in a fashion, comes out first. He's very much like Brier in a sense, and I can see the heavy burdens on him.
My Sam and his officers come out afterwards. He's changed, my Sam, as though much worry has left him. I've often wondered what exactly happened in that house…but after my decades of these visions I've put it together.
They'd ended the war…it's over.
Green Brier:
As my Bobby comes out of the house he is so much lighter…some, but not all, of his worry has left him.
I know now what I am seeing, sensing, what the animal that is being lead up to him had seen.
The war was over…my Bobby had lost, but it was over, and I am very glad for it.
My Bobby shakes the hand of the human that Wander's eyes had been set upon. With that Bobby turns, comes down and waits upon the bottom step as I, the animal me, am lead up to him.
I glance to Wander's human. He's a bit unkempt and haggard, but he has a strength about him and a clear, if saddened, eye. He's like Wander, after a fashion.
Suddenly I know him, that human, I know his name. It leaps to me across the void of thought.
My Bobby lifts his hands. He pounds his gauntlets together, once twice, three times…
Wander:
I follow Sam's gaze down to the grey officer. As I do I see that Brier, or the horse that is Brier, is being lead up to him by another grey officer.
I see Brier, the one I've worked with for all of these years, cast a long sad glance over the older human, the one with the white hair.
Suddenly I feel his connection to him, feel how they are woven together, not unlike…no, very much like, the connection I have to my Sam.
Sam looks on taking deep breaths. His eyes are alight, he's happy. It's ended alright, and suddenly I think of Abram's words.
"Go easy on them, Sam. Just let them go home…"
Sam was letting them go home, just as he had promised.
The old grey officer, suddenly I know him. I know his name.
He lifts his hands, drives the tough leather gloves together once, twice, three times…
Both:
Suddenly the world expands. Suddenly I am taken someplace I had never been before. Suddenly I occupy the world of the mind.
I see them, the humans looking to us, the horses. In that sharp unforgiving moment they both think the same thing, share the same thought.
"What beautiful horses."
Green Brier:
As my Bobby passes by I turn, follow him. I don't want to leave him. What…what if Wander is here because this is the last time?
I don't want to lose my Bobby again.
My suspicion becomes worse when I see him seated upon me, upon the horse, and I cannot feel him. I have no sense of the horse anymore…for the first time I cannot see through my old eyes.
I…I can not force myself back into the animal, the horse that I was in this long lost forgotten reality…I'm, I'm not able…
As Bobby begins to slowly ride off all of the blue officers salute him, raising their hats in the air.
In the usual visions I simply carry him off, get to be the good horse that stays with him…but I'm denied that comfort. Instead now I can only canter alongside, avoiding my own hooves, the hooves of the horse, as we go along the fence line.
At once I am stopped. I reach the border of the vision…and I am left to watch as my old body, the horse, carries him away from me once and for all.
I don't turn back to Wander immediately, less he should see my tears.
Wander:
As Wander chased himself down the sidewalk and along the fence I feel the tug of the vision, literally feel him bouncin' off of something that engulfs us here in this distinct shard of a long dead time.
Or is it? Could Sam still be alive…in this reality could time…perhaps…
No, no…not with what those weeds were doing to his body. No, best not think on that.
Brier had stopped short, and as he pushed forward once more I wondered why it was that he was so upset. As I saw his eyes following the horse, his other self, an awful thought slipped through my mind.
I concentrated on myself, my other body, the horse. I…I couldn't enter it…I was outside, watching.
My Sam and his officers come down the steps. They begin shoutin', celebrating. Sam quickly quiets them, tells some to go stop the army from shoutin'. It weren't that kind of war…
As he goes along the sidewalk I trot beside him. I know…know that this is the last time he'll seem so close, so real. I let the rustle of his uniform catch in my ears; let the hated tangle of the smoke from the weeds catch in my nose…even that becomes a parting gift.
He comes up to where I, the horse, stand. He pats my shoulders. I can't feel it, I can only watch. The realization that I'll never feel that again wafts over me, and my eyes begin to water.
I follow myself, the big ol' horse I was, as far as I can. Soon I too reach the periphery of our shared vision, watch myself carry him away. Sam goes off…
…goodbye, Sam.
I turn back to Brier. I cross over to where he is standing, facing down the road where his master had long ago disappeared.
"Brier?" I whisper.
Green Brier:
I turn around to face Wander, no longer ashamed to be crying. Any lingering fears are assuaged when I see he too has great wet tears running down his face.
We had never been close. We had never been friends. But, now, as we watched that long lost day together I suddenly felt lighter…
Wander:
…as though I had somepony in whom I could finally confide…
Both:
…a new friend, one who truly knew the content of my character and from where my strength flowed…because he'd been down that lost road before as well.
At that the vision whipped away with a rushing sound, leaving the humans, the war, and all of it behind the veil of time and thought forever.
Green Brier:
We regained ourselves outside Ponyville City Hall, no time seeming to have passed.
I looked on as Wander shook himself, regaining his perceptions.
"I…know who he was…the human," I said, trying to speak normally, to stifle my own shaking, "Grant…and you…you were Cincinnati, his...his horse."
Wander:
Hearing the words spoken here in Equestria was not unlike walking through a thunderstorm. There was a poundin' in mah ears, and as I nodded I looked back up to Brier and told him was I had sensed.
"Yes, that…that was Sam's family name. That, that was my name, I believe…yes, yes it was…that's what he called me. Cincinnati," I agreed.
"And," I continued after seeking some clarity, "He…your master…he, he was Lee…and you were, were Traveller…your name was Traveller."
Green Brier:
"I am Traveller!" I brayed, my head swimming with horror at the thought that I would never see through those eyes again, never witness those things again as Bobby stands nearby, peering through his field glasses.
I glare at Wander and at once his head falls down in shock and hurt.
With small steps I cross to where he stands as ponies pull carts along and singsong calls of birds chirp from the rafters of the city hall.
I place my head against his in the quickest embrace in Equestrian history, and then supplicate myself in embarrassment of my actions.
"Forgive me," I ask as he raises his head, "I…I am missing him terribly, again, already. Yes…yes, I was Traveller, am Traveller. You, you are Cincinnati, his good horse…we are their good horses…forever…"
Wander:
I understand Brier's hurt. I understand. I feel it as well. As I nod the city begins coming alive around us.
I look at them, the colorful ponies that make up this nation, one race made of three. I wonder if any of them could even imagine the world that we two had seen, had lived through. Were there others like us? Ones who had seen that world? Perhaps, not just in our time…yet also before, after?
I wondered if that world still existed, somewhere…somewhere beyond time and space, hanging gently under a different sun. Were…were there still humans? How long had passed? Were there any living still that remembered the crack of the weapons…
Brier:
…the shriek of the artillery…
Wander:
…the flags flying above blue and grey soldiers…
Brier:
…and the smoke hanging over fields of broken bodies and crushed machines of war and death?
Wander:
Was there anyone left alive who remembers Sam, or have generations sped along since those days?
Brier:
Do there exist any living things that remember my Bobby, or are Wander and I that last breathing witnesses of that era of sacrifice and the horrors of that war? We, here, in different forms, a different world…perhaps even a different reality, are we the final witnesses?
Wander:
We pondered what we had beheld for a great long while. Slowly I lifted my head, turned the earth beneath my hoof as a smirk crossed my face.
"We were damn fine horses!" I spoke with an authoritative whisper.
Brier:
I smirked back at Wander.
"You're not just whistling 'Dixie'."
As we chuckled at the remembrance of the song's name we watched the good ponies walk by, going about their business.
Soon the doors of the city hall would open, and we would be ushered into our new fates, one as a corps commander, and the other as his trusted division commander.
Wander:
Whichever way that was to be we faced it together, and in this world we would now not have just the lessons we learned in the other reality to rely on, but now each other as well.
Brier:
As I turn to look towards the hall I catch one last glimpse of my greatest friend, Bobby…
Wander:
…Sam…
Both:
…as he walks me down a garden path, turns to me to scratch my nose, and smiles.
Brier:
A life lived in a different reality, granting us the gifts we use here in our own little paradise, an Equestria we can protect.
This, then is what is possible, I take it, as long as my Procer Celestia Invictus…
Wander:
…and Procer Luna Revenio…
Both:
…continue to guide their charges across the Equestrian sky.
End.