Finding My Place

by Firestar463

Chapter 7

And so it continued. Every day seemed to bring the same thing. I’d wake up early, before dawn, and meet with Blossom and Orchard next to the fire pit. We’d get the grill going, prepare the fish for the morning meal, and cook for a couple of hours until everyone in the camp had gotten their share. At this point, Blossom and Orchard invariably had some other task to do - going to catch more fish, collect wood, repair armor, and Blossom was even once sent to spy on a Minotaur war band that had set up camp not far from the outpost.

As for me, in between my two cooking shifts, I was essentially left to my own devices until it was time to cook dinner. Every day, right about the point where the sun was beginning to pass out of view behind the tall hedge walls, I would find myself walking back to the fire pit. Blossom and Orchard were usually there already, sometimes with the fire already started, sometimes not. Either way, I’d spend the next couple of hours once again hunched over the fire, moving and cooking fish to feed the hungry army.

I’d then only have a brief time to eat my own meal and rest before Luna would arrive. Our training sessions were coming along nicely, and it had only taken a week and a half for her to be satisfied with my ability to shoot a bow and arrow. At this point, we’d moved on to a sword and board, the standard weapons of the Equestrian infantry. I had to admit, maneuvering with such a bulky shield was more difficult than I’d expected, and progress with this set of weapons was much slower than with the bow. Still, progress was made every night, and eventually she would call off our session for the evening. At this point, I would return to my tent and fall asleep, resting and recovering for the next day.

It was a very set-in-stone routine. In fact, the only variance in my daily activities came during the time between my two shifts cooking fish. So long as I didn’t cause any trouble - an act I was certain to avoid - I was left alone, free to do as I wished. After a few days, even the other Ponies in the camp had stopped staring, only sparing me a passing glance as I wandered through the camp.

The day after my first encounter with Captain Sombra, I hadn’t returned. I’d felt bad about disturbing his rest, and was intent not to do so again. Instead, I’d found myself wandering around the camp. Ponies were still staring at me at this point, and their gazes quickly became uncomfortable, to the point that I’d quickly found myself hunkered back in my tent. I’d spent the rest of the afternoon listening to some music on my phone, soft enough that only I could hear it. When it was time to go back to cook dinner, I’d made sure to turn my phone off to conserve what battery remained.

The day after, however, I found myself itching to shoot my bow again. So I once again found myself in the storage area. Sombra was nowhere to be seen when I showed up, so I’d set up the trio of empty barrels again. I have no idea how long he’d been watching, but eventually I looked up to see him perched on top of one of the walls that divided the area into three lanes. He’d noted that I was improving, and even helped me out again. And so it was every time that I showed up in that area to practice. I’d start shooting, keeping an eye and ear open for when Sombra would appear. Still, I could never catch his arrival. Somehow, he always managed to show up without me noticing. It was a little unnerving, to say the least, but Sombra had proven to actually be very helpful and patient, and so I welcomed his aid.

On the days where I didn’t show up to practice, I’d usually find myself wandering through the camp looking for odd jobs to do. And boy, were there plenty of them. One day, I ended up helping a team of Earth Ponies hauling crates from the storage area to the smithy. Another day, I found myself opening crates of what appeared (and felt) to be raw wool and cotton, moving it over to a group of unicorns who were using their magic to weave it into cloth.

And one day, almost two weeks after I’d arrived in this crazy world, I’d found myself saving lives.

“More bandages!” a shrill voice pierced through the chaos surrounding me. I gave no acknowledgement that I’d heard the demand, instead saving precious seconds by simply grabbing an armful of rolls of bandages for a nearby crate and sprinting in the general direction of the voice. I quickly spotted the Pony who’d called for them - an off-white unicorn mare, waving urgently at me. I skidded to a halt next to her, allowing her to take several rolls of them before sprinting off towards another call for aid.

Honestly, I had no idea what had happened. I’d been preparing to go practice my archery in the storage area when I’d felt something grab my arm and drag me in the opposite direction I was headed. It had taken me a few seconds to identify my new forced companion as Celestia, who’d insisted that there was little time to explain - only that every available hand was needed urgently.

She hadn’t been kidding.

A section of the camp, near the southern wall of the camp, had been walled off with makeshift barricades of crates and random bits of wood. We’d forced our way through the barricade to find that the area within had been transformed into a makeshift hospital, with sturdy tents having been erected in a far more organized and efficient manner than the rest of the camp. Ponies were running this way and that between the tents, some bearing supplies, others stretchers.

I could instantly tell something terrible had happened. I could hear the groans of the injured all around me. When I’d turned to ask Celestia what was going on, I’d found she was already gone, running into the chaos without me. I had no idea what was happening, or what to do.

So I’d started answering the calls for help.

“Need a set of hands, anypony!” I heard another voice call out as another unicorn in a nurse’s uniform took the last set of bandages I’d managed to grab. I quickly spotted the source of the voice - another unicorn, this one mint-green, dressed up in a surgeon’s gown - and ran towards him. He spotted me heading in his direction, and seemed to hesitate for a moment before slipping back into the tent he was standing next to. I dodged around a pair of Pegasi bearing another stretcher and slid into the tent a few seconds after him.

Inside the tent, the surgeon was standing next to a wooden table. On top of the table was a stretcher, and inside of the the stretcher was a Pony - a pale blue Pegasus stallion. I could instantly tell that he was in bad shape. He seemed to have no strength left, judging by how he barely even glanced at me as I walked in. His body was covered in numerous cuts, all long and deep, with a few still oozing blood, and a single arrow was lodged in his right shoulder.

“I’ll use my magic to keep him sedated,” the doctor explained quickly. “Check and see if the arrow is lodged in a bone. If not, push it through out the other side. It's better than pulling it out," He added, noticing my look of confusion. "Pulling it out might hook the head on the muscle and do even more damage on the way out, or break the head off entirely and leave it stuck in his shoulder. Once it's out, cover both holes with this,” he continued, tossing me a rag. I caught the rag, feeling a slight dampness to it. A few seconds later, the unmistakable odor of alcohol hit me. I looked up to see the doctor’s horn lit up with a pale green aura - an aura which quickly enveloped the Pegasus on the stretcher. “Go,” he commanded.

I stepped up to the stretcher and took the arrow shaft firmly in my left hand, with my right braced against the Pegasus’s shoulder. I could instantly tell just how deeply the arrow was buried into the shoulder. I gave it a gentle twist to see if the arrow had hit bone, and found that it twisted with relatively little resistance - a good indication that it had not hit bone. I took a deep breath and gave the arrow a sharp push. The arrow easily slid through, and I couldn't help but shudder as I felt it poke out through the other side of his shoulder. I grabbed the shaft from the other end and finished pulling the arrow out. As soon as the shaft had been pulled clear, both the entry and exit wounds quickly began oozing more blood. I dropped the arrow to the ground and grabbed the rag that had been tossed to me, covering the wounds and pressing hard in an attempt to stop the flow of blood.

It was only for a few seconds, though. The doctor quickly stepped around to the other side of the table and nudged me. “Thank you,” he said. “Go. I can handle him from here.” I nodded and stooped down to grab the arrow, jabbing it point-side down into the ground next to the tent flap as I exited. At least that way, there was less of a chance of someone stepping on it… though with their hooves, I wasn’t sure whether that was a real risk or not.

And so it continued for the rest of the day. I was running this way and that, delivering bandages, running stretchers, helping doctors with whatever they needed to treat the numerous injured. And yet it wasn’t enough. Numerous times throughout the day, as I ran to and fro, I would spot a stretcher being hauled away with a Pony covered in a white sheet, moved out of the hospital area and out of sight.

Slowly, the panic and chaos in the makeshift hospital began to die down. Fewer Ponies were running around, the calls for help were more sparse, and I found that at long last I was able to catch my breath and take wind of the situation. It was obvious that a battle had taken place, and a pretty big one if the number of injured Ponies was any indication. I found myself leaning against a pole holding an open-air tent up, with a pair of those light-giving energy orbs floating just outside. My breathing was heavy, my body drenched in sweat from head to foot, and...

Wait… energy orbs?

I blinked and poked my head outside, looking upward. Sure enough the sun was long gone, and the moon was beginning its slow arc across the sky. I hadn’t even noticed that the sun had gone down, that the natural sunlight illuminating the camp had been replaced by the harsher glow of the numerous energy orbs that served as torches for these Ponies. I’d been too busy running all over the medical area, doing what I could to help out.

Of course, that would mean that I’d not been at the fire pit to help cook dinner.

As if on cue, I felt a soft, furry hand rest upon my shoulder. I turned my head to see the mint-green unicorn from before. It looked as though he’d been just as busy as I had been, if his frazzled mane and the blood stains on his surgeon’s gown were anything to judge by. “Thanks for your help today,” he said with a sad smile. “Go on. There’s not much else that you can do here.”

I couldn’t do much else other than nod and walk away. I was too tired from all my running around to reply. I stumbled a little trying to get past the wooden barricades that still marked off the makeshift hospital, ducked past the pair of guards that stood watch next to the barricade, and began to weave my way through the tents towards the fire pit, away from the pained groans of the injured and dying.

The fire was already out by the time I got there, with only a small plume of smoke rising from the pit to indicate that it had been recently lit. Even the crew that would normally clean up after us was gone, having completed their task before I’d arrived. In fact, there were only two shapes that could be made out against the glow of the light orbs.

Orchard spotted me at the same time that I saw him, and he nudged blossom to get her attention before pointing at me. She turned her head to look and began waving her arms over her head, trying to get my attention. I shook some of the weariness from my limbs and made my way over to them.

“Thank the founders you’re alright!” Blossom exclaimed as I approached. “We heard that somethin’ big happened today. Lots of injured Ponies. When you didn’t show up for dinner, we feared the worst.”

“I’m alright,” I reassured them. “Princess Celestia found me in the middle of the camp and dragged me off to help. Said they needed every available hand they could get, and she wasn’t kidding. You’re right, there were a lot of Ponies hurt. Looked like a battle of some kind.”

“How so?”

“Just the way they were injured,” I explained. “Arrows, clean cuts. Blood everywhere.” Blossom blanched a little at this, but I pretended not to notice. “And a bunch of them were wearing armor. But what about you two?” I asked. “What are you doing here still? I’d have figured you’d be off to bed by now.

“Waitin’ for you, honestly,” Orchard spoke up. “Princess Luna only left a couple of minutes. Told us that when you showed up, you were needed in the command tent.”

Princess Luna had already been and gone? It must have been later than I thought. Instinctively, my hand went towards my pocket to check my phone, but I quickly reminded myself that I had it shut off to preserve what little battery remained. “What for?” I asked as I turned my attention back to the two in front of me.

Orchard shrugged. “She didn’t say,” he replied. “Only that they needed you there. I’d imagine it’s important, though.”

“I’m sure,” I sighed, a sense of dread welling up inside of me. If Princess Luna wanted me at the command center, there was no doubt that Queen Serenity and the other commanders would be there as well. And if they all wanted to meet with me… I wasn’t sure what they wanted, but I was sure that it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Right… well thanks for letting me know,” I finally said. “And sorry I wasn’t here to help tonight. I got caught up and lost track of time.”

Blossom shook her head. “No problem,” She smiled. “We’re just relieved that you’re alright. I’m sure they needed you more over there than we did here.”

“It wasn’t too bad to do with just us two,” Orchard agreed.

“Well that’s good, at least.” I turned my back towards the pair and began to walk away. “Good night Orchard, Blossom,” I called over my shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning!” With that, I walked out of the clearing and off towards the command center.

It was only a couple of moments before the large tent came into view. Unlike the last couple of times I had been there, almost two weeks before, there were nearly a dozen guards stationed outside the entrance, each heavily armored and armed with spears and shields. It was certainly an intimidating sight, and I felt myself hesitate as I approached. None of them seemed bothered by my presence though. I was unhindered in my approach, and they made no move to stop me as I pulled the tent flap open and stepped inside.

The inside of the tent was emptier than I had been expecting. No Ponies sat at the tables next to the walls now. In fact, there were only five Ponies in the tent, all huddled together and speaking in hushed whispers. There were the princesses, of course, as well as Queen Serenity. They were joined by a pink pegasus mare - Captain Firefly, I reminded myself - and the brown Earth Pony stallion, Doctor Caligari. Notably absent, however, were the two Unicorn captains from my first visit here - Thunderbolt and Wild Strike

None of them seemed to have noticed my entrance. At the very least, their conversation did not stop as I made my way over towards them. Luna was speaking now, and I could catch snippets of what she was saying as I approached. “Dangerous… not ready…”

“We have no choice,” Serenity interrupted as she finally looked in my direction. She stood up to her full height as the other Ponies present turned towards me. I took the last few steps around the table and stopped a few paces away from them.

For a long moment, there was silence between us. I didn’t know how much they thought I’d overheard. It admittedly hadn’t been much, though what I had heard did little to reassure me about this visit. I glanced over towards Luna, and a small warning bell went off in the back of my mind. I could see her tail twitching behind her - a small tell that I’d picked up on very quickly while living here amongst the Ponies. It was a sign of apprehension. Nervousness.

Fear.

Finally, Serenity cleared her throat. “Chris,” she said, her voice piercing the silence like an arrow through paper.”

“Queen Serenity,” I inclined my head slightly.

“I understand that you were present at the medical sector today.”

“I was. What happened?”

“Something we knew would come, and yet had hoped it would not. A team was out gathering fish from the lakes when they were ambushed by Minotaurs. It is as we feared. They know we are still in the Everfree Forest, and are trying to hunt us down.”

I nodded. A battle, just as I had figured. “How bad is it?” I asked.

“Seven dead,” Caligari replied. “With at least three more soon to join them. And dozens more injured or crippled.”

“So… where are the other two?” I asked. “The Unicorn captains. Thunderbolt and Wild Strike?”

Again, it was Doctor Caligari that replied. “Captain Wild Strike was out with the gathering group when they were ambushed, and was injured in the fight. His brother is with him in the medical sector now.”

There was another stretch of silence before Serenity cleared her throat again. “We’ve known ever since we arrived here that this was a war we cannot fight for long,” she began. “Today’s massacre is a grim reminder of that fact. We are deprived of our resources, our army… even our magic is useless. Even with our enchantments concealing the camp from those we would wish to keep out, it’s only a matter of time before they find us and either break the enchantments or else lay siege to the camp and starve us out. Time is our enemy now. We must put an end to this war as quickly as we can. Do you agree?”

“...Yes,” I nodded after a brief hesitation. What she had said was indeed true, not to mention that the end of the war would also mean that we could go hunting for that underground lake that could take me back home. But something about the way she had said it… the warning bells in the back of mind started ringing even louder.

“The only way that we can end this war quickly is to get back our tactical advantage - magic. If we can use our magic against the Minotaurs, the war will quickly swing in our favor. But with Adamant Will still protecting his forces with that talisman, we have no hope. Our only chance at victory is to remove that talisman from him. By any means necessary.”

“Of course, a frontal assault is out of the question, for obvious reasons. Attempts by our agents still within the city to remove the talisman or assassinate Adamant Will have all met with failure, and rather quickly as well. He knows we want that talisman. He knows we want him dead. He’s not appearing anywhere without a full squadron of elite guards, all on full alert to protect him from anypony who would wish him harm. And so an inside job by a Pony is out of the question as well.”

“But there is one last resource we have available. One even Adamant Will is unaware of. One which could bring this war to a quick and decisive end.”

“You.”

Silence. I could hear the rustle of the autumn wind outside, so absolute was the silence in the tent. No one spoke as I tried to process what Serenity had just said.

Then it hit me. And I laughed.

Not just a quick laugh, either. I’m talking doubled over, struggling to breathe, tears flowing from my eyes kind of laugh. I could barely see the gathered commanders exchanging nervous glances back and forth, but I didn’t care. I was too busy laughing.

It was several minutes before my laughter died down. I managed to stand up straight as I let out one final chuckle, and wiped the tears from my eyes. I looked back at Serenity, whose expression had not changed through the entire fit. “You had me worried for a second there,” I grinned. “That’s… that was a good one.”

“I fail to see the humor in my words, Chris,” She replied calmly.

“Because it was a joke!” I laughed again for a moment, while Serenity’s expression still did not change. “You’re joking! You’ve GOT to be joking!” Still no change. I found my own grin becoming strained. Pained, even. “You’re… you’re not serious. You ca… You can’t! You CAN’T be serious!”

“Deadly serious, Mr. Powell.”

Silence.

…

…

…”What?”

“Adamant Will will not trust any of our Ponies,” Serenity began. “But we require an inside job to bring him down. That requires using an agent that is not a Pony. That would eliminate anypony except for you. You are a unique creature on Gaia. Adamant Will does not know you are here, nor that you have been working with us. No Minotaur does. That means that you can earn their trust far more easily than any Pony could. We have been discussing this for several days, and have agreed. Your assignment is to infiltrate Everfree, locate Adamant Will, gain his trust, and use that trust to get close to him and remove the talisman… by any means necessary.”

“Wha… bu… I ca… guh…” My mouth didn’t seem to want to cooperate, didn’t feel capable of expressing just how I couldn’t do this. My hands, likewise, were gesturing this way and that, trying to get some form of meaning across. Trying, and failing miserably.

It took several minutes for me to re-gather my composure. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, let it out, and opened my eyes to look directly at Serenity.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

Instantly, the commanders surrounding her tensed up. I didn’t care. “I’ve been here for not even two weeks,” I began, my voice deadly calm. “I’ve done what part I can in your little war effort. I’ve even done some combat training. But not enough for this. I cannot - CANNOT - fight one of those things. Not even one of the grunts. They’d tear me in half!” My eyes narrowed dangerously. “And now you’re sending me to kill their leader. The biggest, baddest motherfucker of them all.”

“Chris, please. Listen.” Serenity took a few steps forward to look me directly in the eyes. “I understand that, for your kind, you are barely a full-grown stallion. And I know what I ask of you. Under any other circumstances, I would not do this. It pains me to ask this of you. But my kingdom is dying. Should we fail - should Adamant Will succeed and defeat the small resistance we have - then my people will spend the rest of eternity as slaves.”

“I wish I did not have to ask this of you. I truly do. But you are our last hope. If you cannot do this… We may as well surrender to the Minotaurs now.”

I opened my mouth for a rebuttal, but quickly found the words stolen away from me. Serenity’s ears were folded against the top of her head - a gesture that I had already known from Earthen (“Terran,” I quickly corrected myself) horses, and which I had soon found out had the same meaning here amongst the Gaian Ponies.

Fear.

Serenity was afraid. Terrified, in fact, if the barely-controlled thrashing of her tail behind her was any indication. I noticed the bags under her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept in days. And most of all were her eyes themselves. They seemed to want to look anywhere else except for at me, but she would still occasionally glance up at me.

And in those eyes, during those few seconds when she would look at me, all I could see was desperation.

I couldn’t help it. Despite my misgivings, despite the rational part of my mind screaming at me that I should not care, that I should look after myself first, I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Everything she had ever known and loved was crashing down her. It was to the point that she was having to ask, no, beg a stranger - an alien, no less - for help.

What she had said… As much as I didn’t like it, I knew she was right. In order for Equestria to survive, in order for me to have a shot at getting home, the talisman had to be removed from the equation. In order to that, someone had to get close to Adamant Will. And a Pony couldn’t do that. I was the only one around who had even a modicum of a chance of getting close to him.

Did I like it? No. Not one bit. But difficult as it was to do so, once I removed my own emotions and misgivings and fear, I began to understand just why Serenity was so desperate. Why she had asked me to do what no Pony could do.

No Pony.

I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. I took my time in releasing it, slowly, trying to shove my fear aside. It didn’t help much, but it would have to do. I opened my eyes and looked directly at Serenity, who now had her eyes, filled with desperation, locked on me. I opened my mouth, only able to say four words.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

Comments

[Moongaze14]

Wow, this chapter was heavy as now Chris is required to infiltrate the Minotaur and steal the amulet from their kid. Gotta say, you realistically portrayed the reaction of a guy who's forced into a dangerous adventure by a desperate ruler. In any other story, the protagonist would gladly accept the quest out of altruism, but Chris here is bold enough to get mad at her and remind her that a few days of training won't turn him into a hero who can defeat the bad guy and that he just wants to go home. Still, he's mature enough to realize the point of Serenity's plan and that she's desperate and ashamed of having to resort to endangering his life, so he decides to help. Gotta say that I love this chapter and I hope the next one comes soon.

[Douglas MacArthur]

“You pull the arrow out, and then cover it with this,”

You push arrows out so the barbs on the head do less damage, pulling can result in a good chunk of muscle coming out with the arrow.

[Firestar463]

7255518 good to know. Will fix when I get home from work. Thanks :)

[Douglas MacArthur]

7255544
No problem, just keep making good chapters like this one.

[Sipioc]

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Narrowing my eyes as I looked into the faces of the assembled group.

"If I do this...." I began softly, "if I succeed in this, clearly, last ditch, suicide mission..." I paused staring daggers as the Queen. "....then I get a holiday named after me!" The ponies regarded me with a mixture of confusion and audacity.

"A nice one too!" I continued, my finger stabbing the air. "Nothing like Arbor Day or Columbus Day!" I snarled my voice thick with contempt. "Like a day off of work and mass feasts all day!"

This story is really grabbed me! Please continue on!

[mylaptop]

More!

[Kage no Brony]

7254771

Five bucks says after this story Chris becomes the Dovahkiin.

[Amethyst Blade]

Why can't they just accelerate a small rock to hypersonic speed using magic aiming at the leader?
No need for any of the infiltrating shit.

[Ardent Dusk]

7699654 The amount of magic required to accelerate a rock to such high speeds would most likely be quite high. The Alicorn Amulet (I'm assuming this is what it is) would likely protect him or warn him due to the fact the rock was accelerated with magic beforehand as well.

[Skalula7]

if I was in that situation i'd be like.

[LinktheLazy]

7854711
They could use cannons instead? You can actually make a decent cannon from a tree trunk with a couple iron straps around it and a hole drilled in the middle. (Thank you Mythbusters) the ingredients for gun power are not all that difficult to get, you have carbon, sulfur, and saltpeter. Sulfur is the hardest but even if they couldn't make gunpowder they might be able to sub in a magical explosion. Gunpowder is a low explosive and it burns at subsonic speeds so a magical replacement would be much easier than just hurling a rock at a useful enough speed.

[Animatorsnake]

Assasination request: Accepted
Target: Adament Will
Objective: Remove Amulet around his neck
Method: Any means as possible