Look to the Past

by Evilhumour

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

It was odd to be away from her tribe, Fang had to admit. On one hoof, ponies were a herd species and to be away from one’s herd was very difficult. The isolation that came from being on the road meant she had no one beside her that was familiar by tribe and there was a risk it could cut into her mental well being if she was alone for too long.

On the other hoof, she had felt this sense of freedom that she had not experienced before. That she could do anything she wanted now, that she was free to soar high in the sky and buck a cloud or scream to the heavens without anyone viewing her as weird for doing so.

All she really had to worry about was finding one pony and talking to him so her alicorn wouldn’t step in.

Fang paused mid-step and let out a whine, hanging her head. This was still an insane mission; not only travelling through the vast Neutral Lands but actually managing to enter the Flutter tribe’s homeland city and finding that medic among countless others without a name to go by. All on the off chance he was her special somepony.

What would she even say to him if she found him? Fancy meeting you here, I’m Snarling Fang. No, that was just awful. Hey, do you come here ofte- No, she just sounded desperate. My, you have a nice coat- No, just no. Hi, do you remember me, I was that bat pony that yelled at you during the war when you tried to patch me up. My alicorn thought we’d be good togeth-

Fang let out an annoyed groan; she couldn't even finish that thought. Kicking at the ground, Fang took in her surroundings. The Neutral Lands were wide-open flatlands, rather dry and empty save for a few rare stands of trees every couple of miles or so. She knew there was a mountain range off to one side, but it was several hundred miles away, so she couldn’t see it yet. She also couldn’t see any of the settlements that were home to either the outcasts that would not, or could not, make it in the south where the alicornless pony nations lived, or to the ponies that had left their tribes on their own volition for some reason. She also had yet to spot any wardens on her travels and she certainly wasn’t planning to fly to the direct centre of the Neutral Lands to see their headquarters.

Those ponies bothered her more than she liked; she clearly knew the power that fear had for those whose faces were hidden, and the wardens of the Neutral Lands covered their entire bodies to promote their supposed neutrality in their duties to the travellers in this mostly lawless land. In truth, they were their own enforcers and there was little to no oversight in their actions. The danger in fighting them was the high risk that one might be a disguised unicorn, and she wouldn’t be able to tell until it was too late; there was also the fact that she would have no safety in the Neutral Lands in the future if one of them went after her unless she could convince other wardens that she was innocent.

Twitching her wings, Fang continued on the stomped out pathway that was the Main Road, eyes travelling along the barely visible other pathways that led elsewhere before she reached out for her map to study it again, looking for the next town and hoping it was close.

Casting her eyes upwards, she knew she should start to move quickly if the storm clouds were anything to go by; it was looking to be a real gully-washer and she did not want to get caught up in something that bad.

---

Cursing under her breath, Fang stalked into the small tavern. She’d given up walking and started flying in the hopes of avoiding the coming storm, but had barely - just barely - come in sight of the town when the skies opened up. Now she was drenched and in a thoroughly rotten mood.

Shaking her head to clear her face of the water, Fang heard a few shouts of complaint. Ignoring them, she was about to shake herself dry when Fang head a loud voice directed at her.

“Hey, stop that or I’ll toss you outside!” a large Sound earth pony shouted at her as he headed her way. “Bad enough it’s raining outside, we don’t need it raining inside too!”

“Shove it up your plot!” she shouted back, stalking over to the hearth where she began to warm herself up as the ponies in the tavern went back to their conversations. The pony behind the counter glared at her before blowing some air at her that caused her coat to fluff up. Flapping her wings to keep herself steady, Fang leaned against the wall and let out a sigh as her people skills had yet to improve beyond insulting others. How was she supposed to talk to this medic when or if she ever found him? And she didn’t know if she would need to clean herself up before meeting with him; she knew that she couldn't show up like a vagrant but she had no idea exactly how clean she needed to be and she had no way of knowing of what would be appropriate in terms of additions to her appearance. By the Ancient Ones, what if she had to use makeup‽

Letting out a defeated sigh, Snarling Fang let her head slide down the wall as another wave of doubt slammed into her. She was so far from home, following the off chance that this pony she met once could actually be her soulmate on the notion that love at first sight existed. It was all so ridic-

“Good, no pony took my space,” the quick pace of a Speed pony’s voice caused Fang’s ears to perk up and with some worry, Fang saw it was the same pony from the night she had met her medic walking right past her.

“None would, my lady,” another voice came from behind her and Fang’s worries grew even further as she saw it was a warden. “Now we can continue where we left off, Lady Shot.”

“Please stop it with the lady talk,” the mare let out an annoyed sigh before lowering her voice even more. “I’m not returning home until I find her; that bitch that killed my sister.”

“And we are doing our best to aid you,” the warden said. “We know that there have been a number of Bat pegasi out in the lands and if it were not for this damnable weather, we would be able to tell you where this one we’ve been following is.”

Snarling Fang felt her heart fall at this; she had some insane mare after her and the wardens were helping the nutcase to find her! She mentally shook her head. This day could not get any-

No. No, she was not going to finish that thought. It was tempting fate, and that would bring down something even worse on her.

Picking up her belongings, Fang knew she had to get out of here before things developed into something further beyond her control. Shuffling to get out from behind the table she was sitting at, Fang had her eyes focused on the door, so much that she didn’t see the pony in front of her.

With a shout as the two fell to the ground, Fang was able to see the mash of colours that told her that she had run into a speed pony. A thousand thoughts ran through her head in what she could do and suddenly Fang was able to settle on one.

“Hey, watch where you’re going, you idiot!” she shouted, shoving the pony off of her and managing to hit the pony across the face.

“Hey, you should watch where you’re going and how dare you hit my friend!” the Speed pony from behind her shouted as she pulled her and shoved her chest. The mare was a unicorn with a pale turquoise coat, while her mane, like all Speed ponies, was striped - in this case, a mix of a light brilliant lime green, brilliant amber and brilliant gold, and she had a very angry look on her face. “You’re the clumsy griffon that couldn’t see in front of you!”

“Piss off,” Fang shouted back, shoving the mare back. “I’ve got better places to be then here,” she snorted with the mare snorting louder and shoving her again.

“Oh, I don’t think we’re done here, missy,” Lightning sneered at her, clearly getting worked up which was part of the plan.

Now came the part that sucked.

“And what are you going to do abou-” that was as far as she got before the mare in front of her sucker punched her in the face and the bitch began to use her natural speed abilities to attack her.

She was able to hear the Sound pony shouting at the Speed pony to stop as well as the warden ordering ponies around to take her to the local healer before blacking out.

Comments

[Asolem2]

All she really had to worry about was finding one pony and talking to him so her alicorn wouldn’t step in.

It would be hilarious if she did though

Those ponies bothered her more than she liked; she clearly knew the power that fear had for those whose faces were hidden, and the wardens of the Neutral Lands covered their entire bodies to promote their supposed neutrality in their duties to the travellers in this mostly lawless land. In truth, they were their own enforcers and there was little to no oversight in their actions.

Yeah that's an organization that will always become corrupt in some way

“And we are doing our best to aid you,” the warden said. “We know that there have been a number of Bat pegasi out in the lands and if it were not for this damnable weather, we would be able to tell you where this one we’ve been following is . ”

Oh no what a shock, a supposedly neutral organization (or at least two or more members of it) is acting very non-neutral, who could have ever seen that coming