What Remains I: The Griffon and Her Dweeb

by Bateman66

Invisible Hand

A squad of six colts inspected the small cave chamber, moving to and fro from each corner of the space inspecting every inch they walked across.

Each had a heavy wool muffler about their face with snow goggles further shrouding them from official recognition. On their torso each wore a matching gray and blue garment, a survival vest of sorts with several small pockets and openings able to store a pack-full of necessary supplies.

A new pony entered the space, this one a mare but still with the same outfit as the rest of her companions. A lavender mane popped up through her pulled down goggles and gray fur could be easily seen beyond her unmarked vest. And despite her face being fully concealed by the cloth, her presence alone seemed to hold a commanding aura that prompted all the colts within the space to stop what they were doing previously and stand at direct attention.

“Where is your commanding officer?” she coolly asked through the muffled garment, her voice ringing through the ears of all who heard it.

“I am!” called a muscular earth pony from her right. “Is there something you request?”

“The items of interest you have recovered thus far,” she answered. “I wish to know of them and their importance to our search.” She leaned in toward the colt, her voice suddenly harsh. “I trust you have found something of significance?”

The colt nervously swallowed. “Yes ma’am. As of now we’ve located an opened tin can, a scrap of green fabric, a few small feathers, three threads of a chestnut mane—”

“They’ve been here,” she stated absently to both the colt and everypony in the silent chamber, “just yesterday if the feathers you located did not crumble from advanced exposure to the ice.” She sighed. “We just missed them. We’ll have to find another tactically viable location to begin our attack. Agents, lets get moving.”

Without hesitation to see if anypony would jump to the command, the mare began down the exit passageway in the chamber, going further into the bowels of the complex ice cave system.

She heard the wordless clicks of other sets of hooves behind, signaling that the agents under her domain were fast learners when it came to her instructions. She smiled wickedly beneath the thick wool muffler. That’s exactly what she hoped.

--------------------

Alistair didn’t remember falling asleep, but the swirling vortex around him signaled that it some point it had gotten to him. The fog this time was blacker, an obsidian cloud that rushed around him menacingly, threatening to move in on where he stood and suck him into its dark embrace.

He didn’t even look down at his feet as the gray earth beneath him shattered, he knew he was falling once again into a blinding white light. But where he would end up still remained a mystery. He waited in freefall for the answer to be given.

--------------------

“I’m leaving now,” said Alistair studiously as he clutched the leather suitcase tightly with sweaty palms. “The train’s pulling in at noon, just thought I should say goodbye.”

Twilight beamed at him, a joyful gaze that seemed to exemplify her kindness and wisdom outwards…just like Princess Celestia.

“Alistair,” she said brightly, “I can’t even say how proud I am of you, finally going off to make your own way in the world. It’s been quite a journey let me tell you.”

A slight, uncomfortable smile crossed his face as he nodded in acknowledgement. “It sure has been.”

Twilight sighed happily. “I remember first speaking with you that stormy night, how scared we both were of one another. Me more so than you if you can believe it.”

He rigidly nodded. “I bet.”

“We were so distant from one another, both keeping our space from one another. Such a strange time.”

She reached in with both her hooves and wrapped them around him, tenderly hugging Alistair with every ounce of her absent kindness. He quickly snaked his own arms around her, doing his best to match her action in tow.

As they embraced, he couldn’t help but swallow his own feelings as the recent addition of her Alicorn wings brushed against his side. Now was not the time.

“So what are you going to be doing once you arrive in Canterlot? I hope you’re not going to go at it too hard on your first day.”

He shook his head faintly, keeping glacially calm as he spoke. “I’m just going to settle in with the housing. My first day isn’t till tomorrow.”

Twilight shook her head in disbelief. “I just can’t comprehend it, my friend, an Equestrian diplomat. But I guess you know what it’s like having a friend in politics, right?” She jokingly nudged him, implying her own position within Equestria’s royal hierarchy.

He nodded tightly in agreement, Twilight’s passive implication gnawing slightly at him. “It’s not too difficult once you get used to it. Just go through the rounds every few days and then it just seems like commonplace.”

“I would certainly hope so,” she sighed once again. “Have they given you any idea where your first assignment might be?”

He shrugged. “They listed several possible places. The Vile Stretch, Griffon Kingdom, Dragon Territory, even the outlying regions of Tartarus if you can believe it.”

“The Vile Stretch?” repeated Twilight. “Why on Earth would they have you go there, that’s in Equestria?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I had more assignments to other parts of the country. The ponies in the swamp regions don’t take very kindly to being bossed around by a city that’s thousands of miles away from them. They’ve always been an unruly bunch.”

Twilight shook her head. “I hope they don’t send you on anything too dangerous. You’re still a child after all, no matter how you look.” She paused. “But I shouldn’t keep you waiting; you’ve got a train to catch.”

He nodded, keeping an over courteous manner that he hadn’t used since first meeting Twilight all those years ago. He’d been scared then, unsure and plainly uncomfortable, cautious over how he acted and displayed himself. Oddly, that’s exactly how he felt now.

“I’ll be sure to write to you once I arrive,” he said as he turned to walk into the train station. “It’ll be short, but there will be more to come afterwards.” He began to walk towards the station’s double doors, not wishing to say anymore in his obligatory farewell to his old ‘friend’.

“Good luck!” she called cheerfully, unaware of his own intentions. Pushing against the glass door, he turned around and waved a farewell, a simple and dismissive gesture, but one that appeared legitimate and heartfelt.

Twilight of course took the bait, not even once picking up on the distant attitude he kept while they spoke or while she’d been a Princess for the past few months. Darkening at the thought of this, he steadily pushed his way through the door without even a backwards glance to her.

--------------------

Alistair’s eyes twitched open and were met with a dim blue light reflecting off the cave’s ice walls. The dream had not come at much of a surprise for him at this point. The cycle of reflection had been spinning for nearly half the year, ever since he saw Twilight for the last time.

Ever since then he’d doctored excuses, overworked himself, and even made covert trips to Ponyville just to visit with his two pals Jam and Commodore and their ever increasing circle of other young colts they as well knew. Granted, Twilight did now have a new permanent residence within her whole kingdom, negating the entire need for secrecy in the first place.

He still wrote to the mare, keeping her informed of what was going on in his life while still maintaining a comfortable distance from her. It was much easier to write through pen and paper then to see her face to face, with her changed disposition and arching Alicorn wings to boot.

Interesting enough, she hadn’t even seemed to notice his shrinking presence from her life, not even realizing that he’d been along the fridges for so long, shifting in and out from their former friendship little by little.

That’s what him the most, that she hadn’t even noticed the gap that had formed, the fostered dislike that grew within him each passing day. And the whole business with acquiring her own kingdom didn’t help their relationship either, furthering an inadequacy that had started the day the golden tiara had been placed atop her head.

But he didn’t want to think about that now; he mulled it over in his mind too much on a daily basis, the thought never really escaping from the cage of his mind. The feelings that they brought were slowly engraving themselves into him, beginning to define him just as his own personality already did.

It was hatred, pure and simple. Although not red hot and simmering around the edges, the idea of it all was still there, cold and lifeless. He could stand writing to her, maybe even stand speaking with her once again, but nothing so far had shaken the deadness he felt towards her, a black void that had replaced the memories he once shared with her and one that grew in power whenever even her face appeared in his head.

But the most striking of it all was that it seemed he’d grown tougher from it, more weathered against torment whether it be physical or emotional. When he’d let the rage coarse through his veins during the snow trolls ambush, he felt a power never quite experienced by him before. It felt like control, like he finally had some semblance of representation in how things played out for him.

For too long he’d been running from his own life, not quite sure where to go or where to continue. He’d never formed a long term plan when living under Twilight’s wing, the sheer enjoyment seeming to negate any necessity of actually planning for one day leaving her. And unfortunately, it had happened and he had no tactic to go off of.

He was directionless really, without any real want or desire to go off of for the rest of his days. And all though some would see this as a positive mindset, one that encouraged humility and independence, he saw it as something different. He saw it as how life had been for him before Equestria, before he’d experienced true happiness and learned the magic of friendship as Twilight had described it.

Now, there was nothing for him. And even though he had other friends and other interests, something integral to his existence was gone, and without it he was lost.

Turning over onto his side, he forcibly closed his eyes, no longer wishing to reflect on his ever changing world. For now, he had a journey to complete and until then he had more important things to worry about. If only it could always be that way.