//------------------------------// // Grief, and Madness // Story: The War of Equestria // by rainbowtiger00 //------------------------------// Thornton Landerson was not having a good day. First, he woke up from water dripping onto him that had come from the cave stalactites in the cave that they were hiding out in. Then at breakfast, they found that all the food ended up spoiling overnight. So there was no breakfast, which made nearly everyone grumpy. Well, except for Hannah Thompson. But Hannah Thompson was always cheerful, so no one was surprised that she wasn't grumpy. Then, the Commander of the Exile Legion sent all the scouts to find food. That included him and his twin brother, Carlton to go off to the middle of nowhere for supplies. Again. Any kind of supplies that they could find, especially food. They were scouts, and the scouts of the Exile Legion were often sent to do that. But that didn't make it any less annoying. Not that he was going to say that to The Commander of the Exile Legion, who's temper was rather nasty. Addressing him was hard enough already. You had to call him, by the full title of 'Commander of the Exile Legion' and call him 'sir' at the end of every sentence. Yeesh. But, it was the proper way to show respect. They were supposed to only look in this forest that was in the area, but Carlton had insisted that looking through the old ruined town was a much better choice, even though The Commander of the Exile Legion had specifically stated otherwise. Carlton's reasoning was that the supplies left in the town was by now, so old that no one would be able to tell that they were from there. But, Carlton had not counted on the fact on how many Demons of Shadow were in the area. Nor did he count in all the rotting bodies in the town that made it smell very, very bad. So now, much to Thornton's dismay, he was stuck with carrying the two bags where they placed the loot. He followed Carlton, trampling through a crumbling, charred building that used to be a house. His red, brown, and gold boots had smudges from the ash. "Carlton. If we get caught, you are taking the blame." Carlton snorted and waved a red, brown, and gold armored hand at him. "IF we get caught, my little brother." Thornton glared at him. "I am not little! We are twins! Twins have the same age!" Carlton rolled his eyes as he walked out of the house, and onto what once was a street. "I was born first." He said, with irritating calmness. Thornton groaned. "One minute. You were born first by one minute." Carlton bent down and picked up a dagger. It was lying next to a charred, rotting body of a woman. "So technically, I am the elder brother." Thornton snorted. “No, you are not.” Carlton examined the dagger, checking to see if it was still useful. “Yes, I am.” Thornton frowned. “Says who?” Carlton's finger touched the end of the blade, as he tested the sharpness of the blade. “Says our elder sister who said I was born a minute before you.” Thornton sighed loudly. "And what if you are the elder brother?" Carlton opened up one of the bags and dropped the dagger inside. "So I know better." Thornton glared at him. "I still say we shouldn't have come here." Carlton was about to reply when an animal like scream echoed out. Thornton jumped back as someone came out of nowhere, and punched Carlton in the face. “Hey!” Thornton slipped, and fell onto his back, the bags falling behind him onto the ground. His hood fell off, revealing his closely shaven caramel brown hair, skin that was red from the cold, and black eyes. He stared at the man in front of him. An eighteen year old male was standing there, fist outstretched. His brown eyes were lit with a hateful fury, and the red, black, and gray locks that crowned his head shook about as he whipped his head to look at both men. He was screaming, and as he screamed, tears fell from his eyes in a steady stream. A crystal halberd was hooked on his back. Tough muscles that showed through his light brown wool shirt. Dark blue pants covered his legs. A wolf pelt's belt was around his waist. And a silver necklace with an amulet in the shape of a miniature horse. Carlton lay at the man's feet, his nose bleeding from the punch. His hood as well had fallen off. As they were twins, Carlton looked like a copy of Thornton. Closely shaven caramel brown hair, black eyes, he had it all. Thornton slowly got to his feet while the man's attention was focused on the bleeding Carlton. He had seen this type of situation before. When a hunter left their village to go and collect meat for their families and returned only to find that their village had been ransacked by the Demons of Shadow. They often went mad with grief and attacked whoever they deemed responsible. It was excepted for them to go and hunt down some Demons of Shadow and in the process, find a village that had been destroyed by them. Most often there was someone that had not been present at the time of the attack. Some one that wanted justice for their slain family members. The man saw Thornton, and charged. Thornton bolted, running through the ruined streets, jumping over bodies of Demons of Shadow, and humans alike. The man followed, crystal halberd drawn. Thornton panted as he tried to keep ahead of the man who was crazy with grief. His feet pounded on the concrete, as his hood bounced on his back. Thornton's lungs began to burn. He rounded a corner, and met with a surprise. A Engel was sitting there in the ruined street with it's back turned to him, wings twitching slightly. The wings were a lavender blue edged with pink, so it was a female. The Engel had chestnut brown hair, and creamy, fair skin. She was dressed in dark green pants with a long sleeved gray shirt. A dark blue cape was draped on her back. She was covering a body with a dark gray blanket. As he ran toward her, the screams of the crazed man alerted the Engel of their presence. She took one good look at them with her gold brownish eyes, before dashing to the side. Thornton jumped over the body, and kept running. Carlton appeared at the other end of the street. He looked mad. “Carlton!” He shouted to his twin brother. “There is a Engel here!” Carlton grabbed his sword that was hooked onto his side. “Where?” He shouted. Thornton pointed, and ran past Carlton. Carlton ran past the man who in turn, began to follow Carlton instead. Thornton growled. “Look out, Carlton!” Carlton dashed toward the female Engel and swiped his sword at her. He barely missed her face by inches. She dodged, and drew out her own sword. It was a long, very thin piece of metal with an elaborate handle. Thornton snorted. “Really?” Carlton ran over, and swung his sword at her. The Engel quickly blocked the blow and returned the attack with a flurry of sharp blows. Carlton quickly backed up as he tried to block the blows. The Engel was stepping forward with her attacks with practiced speed. Thornton groaned and turned around. He ducked the slash from the crazy man, and ran over. He drew his own sword. "Carlton! Switch!" The move, 'Switch' was a move in the Exile Legion where two members switched enemies. It was done to confuse their enemies. It often worked. Carlton ran from the Engel and slashed his sword at the crazy man. He snarled at Carlton and began to chase him instead. Carlton ran away. "This guy is fast!" Carlton shouted. They disappeared behind a corner. Thornton slashed his sword at the Engel. Again, she blocked it with the only, thin sword. Quickly, she made several jabs at him. He dodged half of the jabs and blocked the rest. As she stepped forward with her attacks again, his foot tripped the Engel. She snarled at the dirty move as she fell onto the ground. "That's cheating!" Swiftly, she dodged the slash he made at her and rolled onto her feet. Carlton's figure ran in-between him. "Help!" The crazy man ran after him, still screaming. His necklace flashed in the pale winter sunlight. The Engel froze at the sight of it. Thornton took advantage of that and kicked her in the stomach. She flopped onto the ground in pain. Thornton glanced at Carlton and rolled his eyes. He ran over to the crazy man. He took the flat of his blade and lifted it high above his head. "Carlton! Run over here!" Carlton obeyed and ran past him. The crazy man followed. Thornton swung the flat end of the blade and smacked him with it. Hard. The crazy man's brown eyes rolled to the back of his skull. Then he collapsed onto the snowy ground. Thornton breathed out. "You know best, eh?" Carlton rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Let's get out of here." The Engel was gone. She had probably run away during the fight. It didn't matter and was probably for the best. If The Commander of the Exile Legion was there, she would have died… Jonathan slowly opened his eyes. His vision was fuzzy, and his head was hurting something awful. Someone came into his field of vision. It was a female with chestnut brown hair, gold brownish eyes, and creamy fair skin. She was wearing dark green pants, a dark gray, long-sleeved shirt, and a dark blue cloak. She was staring at him. The smell of smoke, and burned flesh was in his nostrils. It took a moment for him to see that she had lavender blue wings edged with pink. His eyes widened. The female tensed, and slowly took a few steps back. “Hey buddy. You aren't going to attack me, right?” Jonathan shook his head. “No, I'm not. I don't attack people without a reason.” The female relaxed. “Oh good. I thought for a second that you going to. I'm Andromeda.” Jonathan gave her a very slow nod. “Jonathan.” He looked at her wings. “You have wings?" The female laughed. "Yeah, I'm an Engel. We have these." Her wings ruffled slightly. Jonathan nodded very slowly. "Your feathers. I have seen them before. In the forest, and in that ruined old castle.” Andromeda cocked her head. “My feathers? Well, I know that if you were in the forest that you would have found a feather or two from my preening, but I wasn't in any old castles. Then again, the one that you found could have been from another one of my kind. All females have this type of wing color.” She took a few steps forward. Jonathan held his head with one hand. “What happened to my head? It aches really bad.” Andromeda bit her lip. “Well, those men that you were attacking had to knock you out to make you stop. Good thing for you, they knew that you were attacking them only because you went a little crazy. If it had been me, well.” She gave a bitter chuckle. “I wouldn't be here now.” Jonathan's heart chilled. He slowly got up, and looked at his surroundings. The town was now nothing more than ruined, charred buildings. Dead bodies were laying in the streets, weapons beside them where they fell. Snow was lightly falling onto the bodies. Jonathan felt very sick. Bile rose in his throat, and he coughed from the smell. Tears fell at the sight of them. “Andromeda, did those men, did they.” He paused, unable to speak. Andromeda raised an eyebrow. “No… Those men were with the Exile Legion, you could tell by their armor and by the way they attacked me on sight.” She added bitterly. “The Exile Legion doesn't hurt humans, they save them.” Jonathan blinked. “Wait. Exile Legion?” His eyes widened. “The dream with those cat people!” He exclaimed. Andromeda blinked. “Pardon?” Jonathan quickly looked at her. “Who did this?” Andromeda scowled. “The Demons of Shadow.” She nudged a dead creature with her foot. Jonathan stared. “The creatures? But Argon and Lena should have been able to stop them.” He started. “Argon and Lena!” He turned to Andromeda quickly. “Are they okay?! Are they hurt, did they make it? Is Argon's family okay?” Andromeda held up her hands. “Slow down, there Jonathan. I would love to give you the answers, but I wouldn't even be close to knowing them.” Jonathan blinked. “Why not?” Andromeda cocked her head, confused. “It has been a year since this town was attacked.” The news hit him in the gut. “What? You mean the date isn't 3018?” Andromeda shook her head slowly. “No. Its 3019.” His heart stopped beating. Jonathan sank to one knee in shock. “3019…” He whispered. Out of all the weird things that had happened to him, this was the most awful. He felt a tear slide down his cheek. After it came another, and another. Soon, he was crying in the middle of the ruined street, surrounded by dead bodies. “3019…”