Lantern

by Imperator Chiashi Zane

Zwei

Twilight Sparkle was ripped from her studying by a combination of a pink hoof on her arm and screams from outside. Another catastrophe, probably. The young princess wasn’t too surprised, at least, until Pinkie shoved her in front of a towering beast. It superficially resembled a minotaur, though much taller, even sitting on its haunches than any minotaur she had ever met. It had to stand at least twice the height of Macintosh Apple, and he was a meter and some tall, quarter of a meter over the average height of a pony. Then there was the lack of horns. Her eyes wandered across the garments it wore, starting at the top. It’s ragged brown mane hung down into the raised collar of a green coat. A pair of emblems on the collar probably indicated military rank, they resembled the pips worn by Celestia’s Guard.

The scar across a flat face…It’s face was flat, and with a scar that size, it had probably been severely damaged. Enough to amputate? Or was he of the subspecies that shared more traits with monkeys than ponies? Like …Tirek… Her eyes shot around to the creature’s haunches, checking for a longer lower half that would indicate that it was actually a Centaur. Nope. Definitely Minotaur. Back to the face. It had a chin that was strong, though scarred. Square enough that Applejack could use it building a table. Deep blue eyes that she didn’t want to look into yet. A neck thick enough to support his head, which must have outweighed Celestia’s, even with the half-meter horn protruding from her forehead throwing off the measurement.

Shoulders. Broader than Snowflake, though that may have been the coat. She remembered that Shining Armor looked quite a bit broader in uniform than out of it. The coat was finely trimmed, a marvel of fabric-craft that was tailored close to its body. It contoured along the creature’s legs sticking out towards her. Cupped around the creature’s knees, massive brown claws protruded from the end of the sleeves. No…Gloves. They had the same careful stitching along the individual talons, though they sealed at the end, quite unlike Minotaur gloves, or even those made for drakes, which left the tips bare to allow use of their razor sharp talons. Beneath the coat, it seemed to be wearing trousers. Thick, heavy affairs that made it impossible to tell the shape of his lower limbs. His hooves seemed abnormally short, where they were curled underneath his buttocks in heavy looking brown boots. She looked closer. There was treading along the arch, all the way back to the heel. The only time she had seen that style was on ancient dagger-types of soldiers in the Unification Wars, meant to allow a pony to grip a surface behind them without twisting their hoof awkwardly.

It spoke, softly, unthreatening, with an undercurrent of fear, “Ich kann erklären.”

Twilight stared at it for a moment, “I’m sorry? I don’t understand.”

“Englisch? You. Speak. English?”

“Equestrian. You can understand me?”

“Mich. I,” it raised a claw and pressed it to it’s chest, “I. Yes. Some. Englisch.”

“What are you?”

“Deutsch. Mensch. Unteroffizier Randel Oland. Dritte Nachrichtendienst-Brigade. Kürbis Schere,” it paused for a moment, “Entschuldigung. Corporal Randel Oland. Third. Intelligence,” he tapped his forehead, “Brigade. Pumpkin. Scissors,” his claw tapped an emblem on his shoulder. It slid down to his flank, “Formerly Neun hundert erste Gespenstjäger Zug.” Another pause, “Wieder, Entschuldigung. Nine Hundred First Ghost Hunter Platoon.”

Twilight recognized some of what the creature said. Ancient texts, Germane if she remembered right, from before the Unification War, thousands of years ago. The translations to Equestrian weren’t perfect analogues. He was, if she remembered correctly, at the bottom of the Non-Commissioned Officer ladder. She got roughly his unit. The third something. Short version had something to do with shears and, if she was right…She had to check the book again. The Equestrian translation he had struggled out was clearer, though archaic. Intelligence, she recognized, though this brute being a member of any intelligence division made her question whether it was actually a tactician behind the huge body, or just a leg-breaker. The regiment number was unfamiliar, for what he declared his former allegiance to. Maybe it was in the book somewhere.

The last part though, that confused her. She was about to ask, when her much less tactful friend dropped in from the cloud she had been sitting on, “Ghost Hunter? So you go out and find those creepy things that like to scare foals in the night?”

The creature took the blue Pegasus’ question in stride, turning it’s blue gaze on her, “Nein.”

“What do you mean, No? What else could you mean? Do you hunt shadows? Changelings maybe?” Now Twilight was beginning to realize something. Something seriously wrong. A subtle shift in the magic around the creature. She began to scoot away, careful not to be obvious.

“Nein. Ich bin der Geist,” It closed those soulful blue orbs, “Entschuldigung. I AM the…Ich sollte gehen. Folgen Sie nicht . DO! NOT! FOLLOW!”

Twilight let the creature go, backing away frantically as it placed both claws on the dirt and shoved at it like it meant to move the cobblestones themselves. As it stood, Twilight realized that her estimate of its full height was way off. It had to stand at least two and a half meters tall. It could stand over Macintosh and not even touch him if it removed that bulky coat. Thunder rang out of the stones as it started trotting out, then cantering, then galloping full tilt. It crested the hill, thunder dying out to the sound of Pinkie’s mane deflating with a hiss.

“Aww. I was gonna throw him a party. He’s sad,” Pinkie grew serious at Twilight’s side, “He misses his brothers, his sisters. I don’t think I could live with…” The pink mare stopped. Looked cross-eyed at her muzzle, babbled some nonsense, “…I…I need to go throw up.” The pink dart was fully visible as she made a wobbly line to the side of the road and heaved what must have been a very light breakfast for her into a bush. This was followed up by dry hacking and sobs. Everypony stared. It was the first time most of them had seen the party-pony not smiling. Even for her closest friends, it was the first time they had ever seen her so distraught. Not even Discord, or their surprise party had gotten her so hard. Whatever her inexplicable sense told her…Twilight found herself meeting Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as they encircled their friend, with Rarity and Applejack sitting close enough to reach in and place hooves on the pink ball’s quivering form.

Author's Note:

The German comes from Google Translate. Blame it.

Comments

[harts fire]

not really sure about this story lets get a few more chapters down and see ware this goes.