The dirt trail into the E.W.E.F camp had always irked Blaze. Something about it seemed disingenuous. The trail was cleared shortly after they arrived, and supposedly it was the connection between the town and the explorers. ‘What a load of garbage,’ he thought to himself.
Though there had been some events where the two had come together, the town didn’t involve itself with the activities of the E.W.E.F. unless they had to. If one of them wanders into the swamp and dies then it’s our fault, but if one of us dies they couldn’t be phased.
Blaze stumbled slightly. The sun had been up for about an hour now, and the bar keeper had rudely expelled him from the local taproom where he had spent the night.
When he arrived at camp he haphazardly entered his tent and collapsed onto his cot. If he was going to get any sleep at all, now was the time.
He gazed at the shelf of books by the foot of the cot, and closed his eyes for a moment.
“Blaze, wake up. We need to talk,” a faint voice called, snapping him out of his sleep.
“What?” Blaze asked not opening his eyes.
“Penzance is giving a speech. You need to come with me now.” As the haze around his mind faded he realized that voice was Arata’s.
“Buck off kid,” he growled, “I don’t care what he has to say.”
Arata let out a long breath, not entirely sure how to deal with Blaze. “You will when you hear what he has to say. Look, you don’t need to do this for him, what he’s saying is tied to you, so just do it for yourself.”
“Tied to me?” Blaze asked.
“Yes, so come with me.” Arata said firmly. The events of the past day had left Arata with no clue as to what he should do next. He knew that the rest of the team was feeling the same way, and he had to do something about it.
Blaze haphazardly crawled out of bed and glared at Arata for a moment before the light from the opened tent flap stabbed him in the temples. Shielding his eyes he followed after Arata who had already turned and left the tent.
The center of camp was filled with ponies all gathered around Penzance who was standing on a set of crates. A cold wind blew across the group, and everypony was iced over in silence.
Blaze stood at the edge of the crowd with Arata. He scanned the audience and noticed that Ivory Shield was now flying toward Penzance. She whispered something in his ear as he turned to the audience.
“As I am sure some of you have heard by now, Vox has passed away.” Penzance paused for a moment as the crowed gasped and muttered amongst themselves. “Her death was not avoidable, and sadly, it is a reminder of the risk we all take in this career, however it has reminded me of the price I ask each of you to pay.” He took another breath before continuing, “I have decided that the goal we have been striving for is not worth the number of lives we have lost. I can no longer ask any of you to continue this mission. From this point on the E.W.E.F will be officially be disbanded. All of you are to leave and return to you homes and family immediately.”
He scanned the audience and saw that most ponies were in disbelief. “I will not stand any insubordination in regard to this order. I have already begun to make arrangements for your transportation, you will need to be ready to leave by the weekend. Thank you all for your loyalty, and for your service. It has been an honor serving alongside each of you.”
He stepped off the stage and retreated to his tent.
“So that’s it then,” Blaze scoffed, “We lose a kid from the city and there no issue, my dad dies and they can all keep exploring, but this happens and he shuts down the whole organization, pathetic. Thanks for wasting my time, kid, I’ll be in town if you have any other news for me.” Blaze walked off towards the edge of camp, leaving Arata alone in the crowd of ponies that was dispersing.
…
Arata had called Ivory, Rose, and Camphor together later in the afternoon. He had tried to get in touch with Blaze, but he was too busy drinking to be of any use. Penzance dissolving the E.W.E.F. was a shock to everypony, and they only had a few days to decide what to do.
“Everything is falling apart,” Compass Rose sighed. Judging by the look on her face she hadn’t been able to sleep either. “How are we supposed to go on like this?”
Camphor silently nodded, his eyes fixed on the center of the table.
“You don’t have to go on.” Ivory Shield said, her eyes closed. “If everypony else got an out I don’t see why you shouldn’t too. Anypony who wants to leave should do it now. If we have more shadows to fight, along with that… thing, we need to know exactly what we have to work with. I don’t want anyone dropping out down the road.”
The table was silent as each team member considered their options. Arata thought of returning to Nippony. He could simply claim that he had finished his tour with the E.W.E.F. and decided Equestria wasn’t the best place for him to live. He would always have Hittoriko to be friends with. But, that wasn’t really a choice. At the moment he and Blaze were the only ponies with the power to stop the shadows. He couldn’t abandon his responsibility, and more than that, he couldn’t abandon his friends. These were the first ponies he had felt close to his entire life, there was no way he could let that slip by.
“I’m staying,” Arata proclaimed breaking the silence. “Things are bad right now, but we can’t let them get worse.”
“I won’t leave my home,” Camphor agreed somberly.
Compass Rose scanned the table, “Right, then I’m staying too.”
“What about Blaze?” Camphor asked.
“I think he would be gone by now if he was planning on leaving.” Ivory Shield answered, “He’s understandably upset, but I don’t know if he’s going to be snapping out of it anytime soon.”
“I think you’re right,” Arata agreed, “What should we do now?”
“I’m going to go talk to the mayor, you should come too Arata. Penzance is leaving and we’re going to need some help if we want to keep the town safe. I think it’s time we let the mayor know what’s going on. Having you and your Persona will help if she doesn’t believe us.”
“Okay…” Arata trailed off, “If you’re sure that’s what’s best.”
“I’m not. But we need to do something.” This was the first time Ivory hadn’t been confident in one of her plans, it was more than a bit unnerving for the group.
“What about the rest of the E.W.E.F?” Compass Rose asked.
“We’ll deal with that bridge when we get there.” Ivory Shield said. “Arata, I know this is putting a lot on you, but tonight I’d like you to come to the lake with me. We need to make sure your Persona is ready to fight.”
“Right.” Arata nodded.
The table was silent for a long moment.
“I’m sorry,” Compass Rose burst out, “I can’t just ignore what happened to Vox like this. I know we have more important things to worry about, but she’s dead! She even tried to kill us. How could she do something like that? We were friends…” She started to cry as she finished speaking.
“I don’t know…” Arata whispered. “I really don’t.”
“And Blaze,” Rose cried out again, “why did he have to do that… there had to be another way.”
“None of us were conscious when that happened. Blaze is the only one who knows what really happened. I’m sure he wouldn’t have done something like that unless it was necessary.” Ivory Shield said trying to remain calm, although the tremble in her voice was easily noticeable.
“He’s going to need us,” Camphor added.
The group sat in silence, each member somberly piecing together the events that transpired, and those still to come…