Dragon's Descent

by Compendium of Steve

Act 1 Verse 4

Act 1 Verse 4

Midflight Confessional

The majority of the flight was pretty mundane. The cabin reserved for me was a roomy number toward the stern, near the captain’s. It was no Ritz by any means, but it had a large bed, a shelf of books, a swanky wardrobe chest, and even some tapestry (i.e. rug hung on the wall). I instantly took advantage of the amenities after putting away my sword, finishing up the snooze from earlier without further disruption. After waking up, I headed up onto deck and saw that it was well into morning, possibly nearing noon. I’ve ridden in airborne chariots plenty of times, but there’s something about being able to walk about while hundreds of feet above the world that’s really refreshing. The verdant plains below, all bright from the morning sun; the ludicrously fresh air; the lulling drone of the airships.

Naturally I got bored pretty quick, just walking about there with hardly anyone else around, so I headed back down to get me some grub from the mess. Or what could be charitably called a mess, as it was more an elongated pantry. Still managed to swipe me some bread and water (yippee). After breakfast I took to the deck again, deciding to move about “inspecting” things with my shades on and looking all business. Nodded my approval to the deckhands, though I’d be hard-pressed to know any of this nautical stuff. Got to have some talk with a few of the escort pegasi, weather updates and words from the front, the like. No sign of my stalker, meaning he either flew the coop or he’s planning some kind of ambush. I really hated those kinds of revenge-seekers: minding your own business and they just come leaping on your back, spoiling whatever day you were having right then and there.

After my lazy excuse for a royal inspection I went back down to my cabin to read a book. Some airship captain memoirs, almanacs, weather guides, and some harlequin romances. Very riveting material for any restless traveler of the skies.

I managed to tear myself away from the haughty escapades of Smolder Hoof to get me some lunch, managing to have some ground soldiers as company. Not the sort to chat with, but it made things more congenial in a weird way. When that was done, I felt tempted to go back to my cabin to see what the promiscuous ne’er-do-well was getting into, but realized there was something far more productive and beneficial to my IQ and headed for the section of the ship that contained the armory. Asked around for sharpening tools, and the quartermaster got me a whetstone. Gotta love the classics.

So for the next half hour or so I put that thing to use, giving my travel companion a good honing. The ol’ girl had seen a drastic drop in action these past few years; mostly carried around for decoration, sadly. Every once and awhile I may cut to hinder, but nothing fatal. Yet in all this peacetime, I still make sure that my buddy maintains their killing edge… just in case.

A knock at the door interrupted the scraping of metal, yanking me from my personal meditation.

“Yeah?” I asked the door.

“May I come in?”

It had been a male voice (no duh; the whole ship’s one flying sausage fest). Not one I had heard from anyone up to then, and I doubted it was the captain whom I’ve yet to meet.

“Is it important?”

“It is… kinda sorta.”

That bit of uncertainty and the tone that carried it didn’t strike me as terribly threatening, so I said, “Come on in.”, while putting aside my sword and the whetstone.

This will come as no surprise to you, but it turned out to be my stalker come literally knocking at my door. He was in the standard issue gold of the Guard like the other times I saw him, his head uncovered to show off his tuft of blonde and that pair of powder blues as he walked in. Figured he’d finally confront me on this trip; at least he was civil in how he approached me. Like his voice he didn’t appear the hostile sort, almost like somebody come to give me an update or provide escort. Also he was shorter up close.

The guy stood a moment before saying, “I wasn’t interrupting anything, was I?”

I was gonna get smart with him, but clearly he, for whatever reason, hadn’t heard the sound of stone on metal, so I just said to him, “Nothing important. What are you here for?”

Usually this is where they get all serious and straight to the point (or throat), but remarkably he just goes, “Well, I should probably introduce myself first. My name’s Daybreak, Captain of the Thirteenth Royal Air Supply Unit. My friends and unit like to call me Davy. It kinda bugged me when someone first came up with that, but it really grew on me after a year or so.”

“I see, Davy.”

“I was a bit surprised seeing you back at the airport, and it was only a few hours ago I learned you were coming along on the princess’ behalf. I hope you’re enjoying the flight.”

“Boring, but nothing miserable.”

“That’s good. Normally my detachment doesn’t do escorts: we normally oversee the movement of supplies onto ships and perform inventory. Guess they wanted all the horsepower available for this one. I’m kinda nervous, to be honest, but we’ll be at the back away from everything, so we should be fine.”

I honestly felt a bit weirded out by the casual jibber-jabbering. But he had indeed looked like a nervous sort that needed to get up to pace, so I let it play out.

“Anyway, umm… I’ve been wanting to talk to you.” And there it was. “You’ve seen me around the castle, looking at you?”

“Yeah. A number of times.” See two chapters ago for my thoughts on his spying techniques.

“I didn’t mean to seem creepy or anything. I meant to talk to you sooner, but wound up getting wrapped up in indecision more than anything. Kept thinking to myself you were in the middle of something important, or that I didn’t have the time to get out everything I wanted to talk to you about. For being a captain in the Guard, I can be pretty indecisive about the little things.

“But, uh, I’m here now and I… well, I guess I can talk to you. Unless you’d rather be doing something else.”

Jeez guy, was my thought. Can’t go pussyfooting now. “No, I got nothing else going on. What’s on your mind?” Keep things as civil as possible, I told myself then. Plenty of times I had underestimated someone because they didn’t seem the strongest kind of individual… or capable of concealing very large, deadly weapons.

“Okay, the thing I wanted to talk about is… Actually, it’d probably be best if I started things from the beginning. Ease myself into what I wanted to say to you.”

“Sure. That’s fine with me.” Like he hadn’t already been doing that?

“Great! So, where to start… Umm, I’ve been in the Guard for about fifteen years. Got in as soon as I was old enough to enlist.”

“You don’t say? You look pretty young for someone who’s… thirty?”

“Thirty two this fall. But yeah, I eat healthy and get plenty of sleep, so I guess that makes for a young complexion, heheh. Anyway, I did well enough in training, but I wasn’t very adept at combat, so I got assigned stock duty. Didn’t like being cooped up, so I requested for transfer to Patrol duty, and wound up there for several years.”

“So one of those guys just walking about the place keeping it safe with ‘due diligence’?”

“Yeah. Not that much different than working in the warehouses, only I had to move around more and carry a spear. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I didn’t get the handling of those things down pat the first few nights and wound up stabbing myself a couple of times. Reeeeal embarrassing when going to the infirmary, I can tell you that much.”

“Heh, I can imagine.” I smiled at that, and he seemed to be loosening up as he smiled as well.

“But I’m grateful for my time there. I learned to take things more seriously and trained myself to act more like a soldier. It’s also where I met my wife.”

“Oh, that’s pretty sweet.”

“It sure was. Her name’s Lily Dusk. She’s a thestral; we met when I had to pull double shifts in the Night Patrol to make up for some sick days.”

“Thestral, huh?”

“Yeah. She came off as coerce and pretty arrogant, but she’s committed to her job, and she helped me be more confident in myself. We became friends after a while, then she asked me on a date and that’s when we became an item. Didn’t know what to think at first, being a pegasus-thestral couple, if there would be any problems from our friends or family. But nobody even batted an eye, so I was worrying over nothing. It’s something she teases me about to this day.”

“Uh-hum. That kind of intermingling might have been scandalous like, fifty years ago. But social norms have come a long way, so very few ponies getting bent out of shape over things being unorthodox.”

“Plus I was surprised shortly after how many other guard couples were like ours. Guess you could say it’s Equestria’s prevailing pairing in the Royal Guard.”

A sudden silence went down, but he seemed to notice it and picked up the conversation. “Had to owe it to Luna for integrating them back into society. They’re a pretty good bunch of ponies.”

“Cool ones, too.”

He nodded, then went silent again before continuing. “Lily was torn up over her death. A lot of thestrals were.”

“I remember that. There had been some downsizing in the Guard.”

“Not much use for nocturnal ponies if there were no princess of the night to defend. There were plenty of other jobs, but being a guard was Lily’s passion. Also fighting, which went well with guard duties. She was able to keep her station, thankfully, but at reduced hours. Kind of a blow to finances, but nothing terribly serious. At least until a few weeks later when…”

The air got real heavy after that pause. Seemed he was finally getting to the point.

“I was at the castle that day when it got destroyed,” he resumed, more somberly. “Just around the outer perimeter, but I got pelted by some debris and got a nasty cut on the neck. Had to get some stitches. The whole thing scared Lily unlike anything I’d ever seen; she was raring to tear down the reception area in trying to find out if I was alright. I felt bad making her worry like that. Though I’d have been the same if we had switched places.”

“So you wanted to tell me off for nearly getting you killed and upsetting your wife?”

“No, not at all. In fact, that incident was what finally motivated us to tie the knot. And it’s been a fantastic marriage, especially with our first foal arriving later this year.”

“Oh really? Congratulations.”

“Thank you. But what I really wanted to say to you was… Celestia was special. To me, to all of us. I still remember the first Summer Sun Celebration I got to witness her raising that sun in all her radiance. It floored me as a kid, inspired me.”

“She had a tendency of doing that each year, yeah.”

“It was the first time I felt pride in being a citizen of Equestria, seeing someone that glorious as our ruler. She’s what made me want to be in the Guard: to serve this country, to keep it as great as I remembered it. So of course, that day you killed her, it left many of us shaken.”

And so it finally arrived.

“So much of the Guard hated your guts after that day. All that collective anger and disgust, hanging like a poisonous cloud those first couple of months after Princess Twilight took control, it was stifling. Many of them talked of payback, and you’ve no doubt met the ones who went through with it.”

“Yup…”

“I knew a bunch of the guards that got killed that day. Some from way back in boot camp. I should’ve been in the same boat: thinking up a way to get back at you. To deliver the justice that had been denied for those of us left reeling from that day. And I certainly felt sore about you killing Celestia and all those guards, my friends. But as days, weeks and months went by without an opportunity to do anything about it, I was left thinking. And I came to the realization that… I felt no honest major resentment toward you.”

He left that hanging for a moment, no doubt to let it sink in for me. And gotta say, yeah, totally not how I expected this clandestine engagement to go. Lackluster, but still a surprise.

“I bet you think this is absolutely silly: a random guard who’s been spying on you like a stalker, confronting you just to say they hold no ill will toward you.”

“A little. More of a letdown, really.”

“But the thing is, I’m not entirely okay with how things happened, either. You still went and killed my comrades and Celestia, a pony everyone and their mothers looked up to. Yet I wasn’t fanatic about her, obsessed with her well-being. If anything, it was like you had… destroyed Equestria’s brightest symbol. The very thing that guided the country and made it what it is, but a symbol nonetheless. It seemed to me, at least.”

He huffed for a brief pause, then looked me dead in the eye and said, “I read the reports once everything settled down and the record was set straight. I understand that you… were put in a position that forced you to retaliate, and I cannot blame you for defending yourself. A lot of my companions didn’t want to see it that way, but I understood. Even so, there was this nagging at the back of my mind to go and do something about this, speak my mind, maybe wallop you, something, anything. To show that I, we, Celestia’s citizens, won’t stand for what you did.

“But time went on, and I did other things. I kept carrying on my duty, being with the one I love, living my life. I realized that I kept on with life like everyone else. I had accepted what happened and moved on, save for that nagging of my conscience. So after all this, what I really really wanted to say to you was… what you did was awful, and it damaged this country that I love. But what’s done is done, and you seem to be doing alright in keeping our remaining princess safe. So to me, at least, you’re still alright. And I’m sure Lily would be okay with you, too.”

Another pause, only it signaled the end of his piece. He looked emotionally exhausted, probably on the verge of tears. The kind of position where you have to broach things smoothly.

“You know, I gotta say… that was the most eloquent, sincere way of saying you didn't have the guts to fight me.”

“Kinda, yeah. Just thought I'd make it sound profound.”

“Have to hand it to ya, though: still took guts to come and say it to my face.”

“R-really?”

“Uh-hum. It's something that bothered ya, and you came to confront it. Took you a long while, but lots of ponies keep that kind of thing bottled up their whole lives. You can't do that to yourself if you want to live without regrets. Makes you a pretty miserable guy, so kudos on improving yourself.”

“Well uh, huh huh, thanks. I honestly hadn't thought it would go like this.”

“Neither did I. But it's a nice way of burying the hatchet. Didn't have to worry about about personal injury or property damage.”

“Definitely. Oh! That gave me an idea. Let me grab something; be right back!”

He turned and galloped back out into the corridor, but not even a minute later he came back, his left wing carrying a silver thermos and his face alight with a sly grin.

“I have a little something to help us in burying that hatchet.” He went over to the bookshelf and planted the thermos on top, then that wing of his reached back to this side and (somehow) produced two tin cups, which also got put up. “Usually take it along to ease the nerves or relax on long trips. Sometimes to liven things up with the boys when it gets really boring.”

That got my attention. “Booze?”

“Brandy, actually. It’s an anniversary gift from two years ago,” he explained while working the thermos cap with his hooves. “I’m no big drinker, but it can soothe me pretty good. Bet you think it’s weird I bring it around in a thermos.”

I shrugged. “Somewhat. Not the weirdest thing I’ve seen used to smuggle alcohol, though.”

“Hm, I’m sure. Care to have some with me, as a sign of goodwill?”

I smiled and nodded. “Sure thing.”

He got done pouring the cups, prompting me to get up and come over. He took a cup with his wing (freaky how dextrous those things are) as did I, then he raised his glass (so to say). “Here’s to the future, Equestria, and no regrets.”

I raised my cup and nodded. “And to your good wife and your coming bundle of joy.”

“Yessiree.”

We took our drinks to our lips and downed them like gentlemen. Been a long time since I had a taste of hard liquor, and my hiss of a breath made it obvious.

“It’s a good burn.”

That got a snicker from him. “Sorry. That’s just weird to hear from a dragon.”

“Well, I’m not your typical dragon.”

“Can’t argue with that,” he agreed before pouring himself another cup.

And that’s how it went for the next few hours, just me and Daybreak hanging out over some drinks. The brandy really got him to open up, sharing with me his early days in the Guard, the mischief and escapades he and his future wife would get into, about getting a promotion into the Supply Fleet to work his way toward a “desk job” to better support his family, his hobbies (stamp collecting and painting. PAINTING. Those wings, I tell ya), all that minutia. I even told him some embarrassing stories and day-to-day happenings of my own as well.

I guess it was something we both needed. For him it was obviously some kind of closure to simmering misgivings, and for me it was a chance to talk little stuff with a near total stranger, the sort of thing travelers may do to pass the time until their next destination. Learn some things, have some laughs, maybe wind up being fast friends. It had been a long time since I had been in that kind of scenario, and it felt really damn relaxing. For those few hours, it was just two chums in a cabin-shaped world with little care.

Yet as with all the nice things that miraculously stumble my way, something even worse has to come along to put things in balance. As our conversation started winding down, a shipmate barged in looking flustered as all hell.

“We got hostiles!”

Daybreak immediately snapped to attention, assuming the stance of the hardened officer. He certainly had the chops for his role, I give him that.

“What's our position?”

“Half a klick from the outpost, sir.”

“How can there be hostiles this far out? I was to be updated about these things.”

“I don't know, but hurry up on deck!”

And away he galloped off, leaving the captain to give an uncharacteristic curse (in accordance with the character I formed of him, anyway).

“Dammit! Come on, I think everything's just gone FUBAR.”

I got up from my bed and followed after him, bringing along my jacket and sword. Soldiers and sailors were raising a commotion, but I pushed through and sprang up the steps to the outside. Up top, I saw mountains passing by on both sides and deckhands working frantically, yet I ignored them and went after Daybreak. He came to a stop near the prow of the ship, and when I got there I took a good look down and whistled.

“Seems your prediction was spot-on, Davy.”

The canyon floor was a bed of activity. Reminiscent of ants going at each other, only one side gleamed faded gold in the evening light, and the other was kicking up a lot of feathers and flames.

“How did they get all the way here? We were briefed that they wouldn't get to the outpost until tomorrow.”

Looking up and forward of the ship, I tapped his armored shoulder. “I think that's the least of our immediate worries.”

He turned to have a look, blanching considerably (if that were possible). A fair ways ahead but steadily approaching was our advance fleet, over a dozen ships, engaged with what looked to be twice as many, if not more griffon-brand warships. Bristling with propellers, cannons and harpoons, they roared and advanced like a firestorm, a description further aided by the torches placed all around them. And of course, the hoards of feathery screeching warriors going at the smaller yet no less agile escort pegasi. Definitely paints a lovely picture.

“Think we should back up?” I asked the good officer to snap him from his petrification act.

“No. Too many other ships are behind us. We have to set her down and get our troops out right now.” About-facing, he shouted out, “Captain! Take us down!”

Our fair vessel kept sailing forward, nudging past the attack ships in the rear.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said bring us down!”

“I don’t think he can hear you,” I said over the din of the deckhands and the air battle. This earned a frustrated stomp from Daybreak.

“We have to get grounded right no—”

“Incoming!!”

We looked back to the prow, and immediately spotted the wave of slow-moving but very large and deadly cannonballs about to rain down on us.

“Hit the deck!”

Anyone barely had time to jump before the cannonballs struck. One managed to crash through the deck two feet from me, followed a moment later by a buckling and a blast before my senses went dark.

*********

And you already know what happened next. A little glide, some fisticuffs, and the good ol’ Spike brand devastation. Though the enemy caught us by surprise, I felt that we had a good chance to recover (especially with me around). Besides, there’s no time to fret when much ass-kicking needed to be had. So without further ado, we return to Equestria’s defense and my glorious return to mayhem...

Comments

[Dragon of Shadows]

FUBAR i know that reference

[Pyro The Reader]

8080793 Pretty common military slang, from what I know.