//------------------------------// // XXXII - Heroes // Story: Mortal Coil // by Reeve //------------------------------// The purging process turned out to be… more than a little uncomfortable. I could tell Twilight was going easy on me, simply be the strained look on her face, and how she flinched uncomfortably when she went too hard and a bolt of pain shot through my skull. The best way I can describe the process, is having strand of spaghetti pulled out of your brain, one at a time, and at the end of every strand there’s a little moment of shock as it pops out. Twilight wasn’t lying when she said it would take hours, although I wondered how much of that was due to her going intentionally slowly to reduce the pain for me. Needless to say, neither of us spoke during the experience, to do so would have felt a little bit wrong with the way our horns were touching, it was almost intimate. I briefly thought how funny it would be to ask Twilight if she fancied getting a meal together once we were done, but I decided not to jeopardise our blooming friendship with a poorly timed gay joke. During the first couple of hours Stranglethorn occasionally popped down to check on us and replace the cloth on my forehead. I didn’t think it was necessary anymore, but I appreciated the gesture and I didn’t want to risk offending him by refusing it, especially after I bungled up our interaction in Dolor when he admitted to considering me a friend. After a while however, he came down and held a note in my line of sight. It explained that he had a job to do and he would be back shortly. I tried to nod in response without shifting my head too much and disturbing Twilight’s focus so it ended up being little more than a twitch of the face. When the lengthy process was nearing its end, Twilight spoke up for the first time since we started. “Alright, I’m almost done,” she explained a calm voice. “Now you might feel a small…” I’m going to assume she said twinge, I didn’t actually hear because at that moment it felt like a double pronged whisk had just been driven into my eye sockets. I wanted to scream and thrash away but my body was completely paralysed, it felt like my whole mind was being sucked into a vacuum, and before I knew it I wasn’t in the barge any longer. Images began flashing before my eyes, I felt things that were alien to me and remembered memories that were not my own. I saw the world around me engulfed in flames, while a terrible demon towered over me and I felt fear unlike anything I had ever known. I saw a crystalline tree radiating with light… I stood before it with five figures at my sides and felt a connection with them. I stood before a statue and felt the tear runs down my cheeks as I felt a sorrow that threatened to tear my heart in two. I saw a bright light in the sky, a star that shone even in the day and brought the end of all things, I spread my wings and I flew straight into its path… and I knew peace. I came rushing back to the present, my mind crashing back into my own skull like it had been travelling at the speed of light. I sat bolt upright, my real eyes snapped open and I was in the barge once more. Twilight staring at me with wide eyes, struggling to get her breath back as sweat streamed down her body. “What in the name of all things holy was that?!” I demanded once my lungs had filled with air. “I… I have no idea!” Twilight panted, looking as exhausted and confused as I felt. “I was just finishing off when… something happened.” “I gathered that much,” I replied sarcastically. “I saw… I don’t even know what I saw.” “Neither do I…” Twilight agreed in a wary voice. “I saw… it doesn’t matter. What’s important is the spell has been removed from your system, you’re free to take those off.” With Twilight’s help, I removed the straps around my legs; the runes ceased glowing once they were no longer in contact with my body. I offered them back to Twilight, but she shook her head, reminding me of Stranglethorn when he let me keep something. “You can hold onto those,” she told me. “You never know when they’ll come in handy, especially in your line of work.” I gave thanks and made my way over to where my clothes and equipment lay on the table, as I dressed and readied myself, Twilight made her way up to the cabin to meet with Maverick. Once I was sorted, I made to follow her, hesitating a moment to dwell on what I had just seen. It had all happened so quickly, but they appeared so vivid, like I was actually experiencing those memories as my own, and if they were memories, whose were they? My first thought was Twilight, but considering I had wings in those memories and I was pretty sure I died in the final one, I ruled out Twilight. So then whose memories were they, because they certainly weren’t my own? I tried to think back to the individuals I had seen in them, those five figures, that horrific demon or the statue, but try as I might, their faces eluded me, their details faded and blurred when I tried to focus on them. A strange experience that would itch away at my mind but I would never get to the bottom of. Ascending the ladder, I found Twilight and Maverick discussing their next move against the Solar Empire and the Liberators. “I think it’s safe to say you won’t be negotiating with them for a while,” Twilight pointed out rather bluntly. “And Stranglethorn told me Rarity had done so well before the spell kicked in,” Maverick muttered bitterly before noticing my arrival. “And speak of the devil, how are you feeling? My apologies for my attitude earlier, I’m sure you can appreciate I was annoyed at the negotiations failing, not at you.” “I’m sure,” I replied, unconvinced. “And I’m fine now, although I’d like to get a hold of Blueblood even more after going through all that.” “Well I’m afraid that is where your services end for a while,” Maverick informed me. “Excuse me?!” I exclaimed. “You’re sending me away after something that wasn’t even my fault?!” “Of course not, don’t be silly,” Maverick assured me quickly, although it was much too condescending to make me feel any better. “We just need you clear of the city for a while… again. We need to get straight to work weeding out the Solar Empire agents, but you can’t do anything here while Typhoon wants your head.” “So I need to lay low again,” I finished, feeling particularly annoyed. “Fine, where’s the barge at now?” “Still in Mule,” Maverick replied. “But don’t worry, Stranglethorn has arranged for a way to get you out of the city. He’s waiting outside for you, just keep your head down when you step outside, it may have been yesterday that you attacked Typhoon, but the guards are still on high alert. If they see you anywhere near this barge you’ll be putting us all at risk.” With a reluctant nod and a warm farewell to Twilight, I exited the cabin and found Stranglethorn waiting for me on the deck, his eyes sweeping the harbour for any nearby guards. “Hey Strangle,” I greeted wearily. “Maverick wants rid of me again, he said you could help.” Stranglethorn gave me a sympathetic look and patted me on the back as he led me over to the gangplank where I saw something I wasn’t expecting to be sitting on the jetty. “Howdy Rares,” Applejack greeted, leaning against her apple cart. “Heard you need a way out of the city.” “I thought you were done helping the Rebellion,” I pointed out with a hint of amusement as I descended the gangplank to meet her. “Ah ain’t helpin’ the Rebellion,” Applejack stated flatly. “Ah’m helpin’ mah friend.” I gave her a quick hug before noticing the other mare standing behind Applejack, looking slightly uncomfortable at being there. “Oh, Rarity, you remember Autumn, don’t you?” Applejack asked when she saw me looking at her. I did actually remember her, I was just struggling with the name, she was the pregnant mare we rescued from Pivot. “Of course,” I replied, giving her a friendly smile. “Glad to see you’re okay.” She smiled back, but before I could ask Applejack what was going on Stranglethorn gave a loud stomp on the deck behind me. “Oh shoot,” Applejack murmured as she saw a patrol walking down one of the other jetties. “Into the cart Rarity, quickly now.” I obeyed without question, clambering up into the back and nestling myself in among the empty apple crates before Applejack draped a sheet of cloth over the whole cart. It would hide me from view, but anypony who saw it would presume it was just there to keep the produce dry from the light rain. “Just stay put and keep quiet,” Applejack instructed. “We’re takin’ the east exit, once we’re clear of the city I’ll let you out and I’ll explain everything.” Before I could answer, I felt the cart jitter about slightly as Applejack hooked herself up, before long I felt it trundle along as Applejack started walking. It didn’t take long for Applejack to get through the city, I occasionally heard her speaking to Autumn but I didn’t pay much attention. At one point I heard a voice ask her what was in the cart, the voice presented itself as a guard but it sounded very young, Applejack had no problem telling him to jog on and mind his own business. As we carried on, I heard Autumn ask if that was a smart thing, Applejack just said that she could always tell a greenhorn just from looking. Always looking to go above and beyond, but very easy to intimidate, and he was never going to tell his superiors about it because it would be too embarrassing to admit that he ran away from a mare. I guessed when we reached the gate just from the chatter around us, but I couldn’t have been sure as the guards didn’t talk directly to Applejack. So much for the high alert Maverick spoke of, apparently they didn’t care what went out of the city, even if it was the mare they were being paid to search for. Things got much quieter after that and it wasn’t long before the cart slowed down and I heard Applejack detaching herself from it. When the cloth sheet was pulled back I saw Applejack and Autumn both smiling down at me. “You’re a free mare,” Applejack declared, offering a hoof to help me out. Once I was back onto the ground I looked back and saw Port Mule back off in the distance, we had followed the coast after leaving by the east gate so we had stopped at roughly the most northern point of the bay. “Thanks you two,” I said, turning back to them. “I must say, it’s not nice being chased out of my home town.” “You’ll be able to go back and live properly someday,” Applejack assured me before looking to Autumn. “Do you want a boost up now?” She nodded and with Applejack’s help she clambered into the cart I had just vacated. “Sorry about this Applejack,” she said as she got comfortable. “Nonsense, a pregnant mare shouldn’t be expected to walk such a distance,” Applejack told her before noticing the confused look on my face. “Oh yeah, Autumn here decided she wants to travel to the Bask to have her foal.” “There’s just so many on the farm now that I don’t want to add any extra burden,” Autumn explained. “And since ah had a delivery to make to Mule,” Applejack continued. “Ah offered to escort her there once ah was done. When your friend found me and asked if ah could help you out of the city, naturally ah said yes, and ah figured you wouldn’t mind taggin’ along, another sword in case we run into trouble.” “Of course I’ll come along,” I agreed without a moment’s hesitation. “I haven’t much else to be doing for a while anyway.” “Great, well let’s get movin’,” Applejack declared as she began hooking herself up to the cart once more. “Ah reckon we’ll be there by midday tomorrow.” As we set off down the road in the direction of the Bask, I noticed that Autumn had new bandages around her head. “So did Braeburn get a doctor then?” I asked. “He sure did,” Applejack confirmed. “Things are much better now, the unicorns all needed their horns… uh, cauterised.” I flinched at that, I wondered if they would be able to salvage something, but if that’s what they resorted to, then there was no hope of those unicorns ever using magic again. “I’m sorry,” I said to Autumn, offering her a sympathetic look. “It’s okay,” Autumn tried to say, but I could tell she was still upset about it. “It only hurt a bit, but now I feel fine, and the baby’s still kicking, that’s all I could ask for.” “The doc was still workin’ on the pegasi when I left,” Applejack carried on. “They’re requiring a bit more work, but that little Scootaloo was the first to be operated on and she was already up on her hooves and lookin’ better before ah left.” I smiled at that, although I wondered if that wasn’t due to the condition she told me about and if the other pegasi would have quite the same time about it. By the time we decided to stop for the night so Applejack could get some rest, the rain was coming down hard and the pair of us were soaked to our skin. Autumn managed to stay relatively dry by sheltering herself with the cloth sheet, which Applejack propped up on sticks to keep us all sheltered while we rested. “So you’re like some… vigilante?” Autumn asked over the howling wind which the cart kept off us. “I wouldn’t say vigilante,” I replied awkwardly as Applejack sniggered. “Well I wouldn’t say Rebel either,” Autumn stated. “Why’s that?” I asked curiously, even Applejack looked a little surprised by that. “I didn’t see any Rebel soldiers coming to save us back at Pivot,” Autumn continued bitterly. “We weren’t saved by the soldiers who claimed to be fighting for us; we were saved by you two and your other friend. You didn’t have to help us, you could have turned and run from Pivot when you saw what those monsters were doing and nopony could have blamed you for it. But you didn’t run, you came for us, so I guess you aren’t vigilantes either, you’re more like… heroes.” Applejack and I shared a grim look; I could tell she was thinking the same thing as me. “I don’t think we are,” I admitted. “Think of how many ponies we left there, sure the Rebels might save a lot of them, but if we were heroes we should have done more.” “Three ponies who saved ten…” Autumn began to argue before stopping mid-sentence, smiling as she rubbed her bump. “Sorry, eleven ponies from a small army, that is a huge feat. True, there are others, but you’ll never be able to save everyone, nopony expects that of you. And now you’re both here, helping me for nothing in return, you sure sound like heroes to me.” Applejack and I shared another look, this time more speechless than disappointed in ourselves. “You know what,” Applejack began, looking over at Autumn. “Thank you; ah think you just made our day.” “It’s okay,” Autumn replied before wincing slightly as she shifted position. “You don’t mind if I try to get a quick sleep do you?” “Of course not, you work away,” Applejack told her. As she lay down on the bedroll Applejack kept in the cart for just such occasions, I looked over to her. “You should get some sleep to,” I said quietly. “You’re the one doing all the heavy lifting, I can keep lookout.” “Ah can’t even argue,” Applejack replied with a yawn before lying back on the wet grass. I waited until they were both asleep before I pulled off my coat and draped it over Autumn like a blanket so I was just wearing my white ruffled shirt. While I stayed up, I looked at my compass and spyglass, thinking to myself. Just a few days before I had been in tears, convinced I was a monster and my parents would despise me for the things I’d done, but now I looked down at those treasured items and thought about Autumn’s words, I wondered if their pride would outweigh their shame. Would they hear about the things I’d done in my travels and remember me as a monster… or a hero? As the sun rose, I gave Applejack a rough shake while I started packing up the shelter, the cloth sheets was soaked through, it certainly wouldn’t be keeping anypony dry for the foreseeable future. Once the others were both up and ready to get moving, I helped Autumn into the cart while Applejack got herself hitched up. “Sorry we don’t have anything to eat,” Applejack said, mostly to Autumn. “But we’ll be at the Bask shortly if you can wait.” She nodded and we set off once more. It only took a few hours before we came over another hill and saw our destination a short distance off. The Bask was a monastery, a beautiful building that I had never actually seen before, even in all my years living in Panchea. Of course I had heard of it, everypony knew of the Celestial Sisterhood and their home in the southeast of the country. The Sisterhood was a group dedicated to the worship of Princess Celestia as well as the other five alicorns that made up the Six, although they tended to focus on Celestia, no doubt because she was the only one they knew for a fact is real. Their purpose is to uphold peace and offer sanctuary to any who require it, naturally they stayed clear of the war, and the fighting forces dared not attack them out of respect for their peaceful ways. But they sheltered the victims of the war, whether they be soldiers wounded in battle, or citizens who were injured or lost their homes or families as a result of the fighting. The members of the Sisterhood were either Crusaders, guardians sworn to protect the Bask as well as smite creatures they deemed… unholy, and the sisters themselves who acted as healers. I wasn’t surprised that Autumn wished to come here as it was common for mares who were expecting to give birth to travel to the Bask, there they could do so under the protection of the sisters. Birth was considered to be a very sacred thing within the Celestial Sisterhood, as such, all sisters were expertly trained as midwives and had vast amounts of experience in looking after young foals. We would escort Autumn to the bridge that led directly to the gatehouse of the Bask, from there she would be taken in by the sisters to her new living quarters, where she would be able to live and have her child under their care. We would probably have left then and there, gone back to Sweet Apple Acres and seen little more of the Bask or the Celestial Sisterhood… unfortunately things didn’t go quite as smoothly. We stood on top of the hill, looking out at the Bask, over its white brick walls and orange tiled roofs. It looked like a cross between a castle and a small town clustered into a tiny area, sitting neatly at the top of a small crag on the other side of the river. We were too busy looking ahead that we hadn’t seen the ponies approaching from behind, not until we heard a high pitched whistling punctuated by an arrow striking Applejack just behind her shoulder. Applejack screamed out, dropping to her knees, her leather armour had protected her, stopping the arrow from penetrating too far and possibly saved her life. I spun around in time to see a gang of six ponies galloping towards us, all wearing a mismatch of clothing that hid their faces and cutie marks and gave them the whole ‘outlaw’ look they seemed to be going for. The one furthest back was a unicorn and he had the bow, he was already drawing back for another shot. As he let the arrow loose, I pulled my sword out and, with either the best reflexes in the world or a huge amount of luck, managed to swat the arrow out of the air with a swing on my blade. Turning back to Applejack, I saw that she was already on her hooves and struggling to get out of the harness keeping her attacked to the cart. I saw that we didn’t have enough time to get it off properly before the bandits reached us, so I swung my sword straight down twice, severing the connection between Applejack and the cart. While I helped Autumn off the cart and instructed her to duck down behind it, out of range of any more arrows, Applejack swapped out her Stetson for her sallet helmet, and drew the claymore she had stashed away in the cart. The attackers were almost upon us, the unicorn switching out his bow for a curved dagger, while the others wielded various swords and clubs. “Autumn, run for it!” Applejack ordered. “Don’t argue, just run! We’ll hold them off.” Autumn looked up at us in distress for a moment before getting to her hooves and running in the direction of the bridge. She would make it, it wasn’t too far away, but only if we stopped any of the bandits from chasing after her. I wasn’t even prepared for the first pony when they reached me, swinging their club wildly at my head. I hopped back out of range, while throwing one of my knives with magic at another pony who thought he could run around the cart and go after Autumn. He dropped when the knife caught him in the leg, but it wasn’t long before he was getting up and coming after me instead. I blocked another swing from the club with my rapier, but the force just knocked me off balance. As I stumbled back, he took another swing and his club caught me straight in the side of the leg. I cried out in pain as I dropped down, unable to stand and hold my sword at the same time with one of my front legs out of commission. I resorted back to using magic to hold my knives, spinning them around me in a flurry that forced the bandit with the club back. As I kept him at bay however, the attacker whose leg I cut, had reached me and swung his sword. It cut right through my coat and shirt, and I felt the blade slice through my flesh. It wasn’t too deep, but I still dropped all my knives out of shock as I clutched the wound, blood seeping out through my clothes and flowing over my hooves. I picked up my fallen sword with my magic and swung it, slicing into the bandit just as he had sliced into me. He fell, but as I swung the sword around to deal with the other pony, he had already taken his opportunity to get close to me and swing his club. It struck me squarely in the side of my jaw, my entire body was tossed back like a rag doll by the impact. I lay in a crumpled, bloody heap, even as he came in and hit me a second time in the stomach. From where I lay, I could see the other four ponies ganging up on Applejack, she was giving them a good fight, and if she had been at the top of her game she would have destroyed them, but her injury had slowed her down and the bandits took advantage of that. I watched as Applejack fell, just like I did, and one of the ponies stepped over her, raising his sword high, getting ready to plunge it down into her head after they kicked her helmet off… But then I heard the sound of galloping, and saw the bandits all look off at something, suddenly panicking. They quickly forgot about us, retreating the way they came as some new figures entered my line of sight. They were wielding long swords and dressed in white tunics, on the chest of which was emblazoned with a yellow sun at the centre of a golden cross. One of them leaned over me, like their comrades, this one wore a crusader great helm. They spoke to me, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Like the galloping, her voice sounded so far off, and even the sight of her leaning over me became blurry and undefined. The last thing I remember before slipping into unconsciousness, like I was taking a much needed nap, was feeling of somepony taking hold of my body and carrying it away.