Our new Friends, Our new Enemies

by The Potato Guy

Chapter 48: One bad apple

It was all lies.

Everything.

How could it not be? Poisonous misinformation spouted from the mouth of a vengeful, dying Pony. How better to spite his captors, then a false invention fresh from the pits of depravity and evil. The mind of the eternal enemy, the deceit that flowed freely like their vile cause intended it to be so, was one meant for the sole purpose of frustrating and opposing the true progress of the Night. Thus it made only perfect sense for any comment, especially one made in the knowledge that further repercussions could be avoided in death, to be said with the sole hope of advancing this degeneracy.

Such a cheap parting shot, said in the shadow of inherit cowardice, was not meant to be taken seriously.

Was it?

“Bucking relax Neon!” Solar cried out, approaching the edges of the Everfree Forest while he was hounded by his Shadow companion. “He’s messing with us! Trying to divide and conquer us while we wallow in confusion and shock.”

Why would Solar give any credibility to the words of a broken and dying Child of the Solstice, even on a good day? A tortured Pony often said whatever their captors wanted to hear in hope of missing out on any further pain. This was simply another one of these such occasions.

Neon Edgy however, was not so convinced by Solar’s care free dismissal of the cultist’s last break. It was her investigation after all that suggested some hidden information was in need of uncovering, so her commitment to her own results was perhaps expected, even admirable.

“Why ignore this like that, Sol?” She asked pleadingly. “Don’t you think we should at least give the thing a little sniff around?”

A laughable conclusion to her little mission. Humanity, so insular and fearful of Equestria, having been here before and spawning enough trouble, either directly or indirectly, to cause misery for Luna. As if the histories would be so empty of that apparently so terrible visit.

“No.” Solar replied aggressively flat. “Why give the Day what they want with pointless snooping into the past? Don’t you realise they would love it if we bickered like scholars and historians at something that, most likely, never happened?”

Finally escaping the dark constrictions of the Everfree Forest, the setting sun was finally met with less than expected enthusiasm, Solar did not enjoy of chaos of the old forest, but, especially recently, did not appreciate the summer sun as he once had.

“The Dayling told us it because your…aggressive methods had broken him!” It was strange that Neon now seemed so indebted to Solar’s punishment of the captive. From what he could remember, she seemed quite the obstacle to any results in those moments. “He died hoping we would divide ourselves with all this! So how about we jump ahead of that and actually uncover the truth ourselves?” Neon was banking on her friendly demeanour, the one made more obvious as the relationship between the co-commanders had grown. She was truly naïve if this was indeed the case.

“He died because he was weak!” Solar spat back. “He died hoping we would ignore the fact that they now have to rely upon fabricated histories to distract us.” Solar did not look at Neon as he spoke, demonstrating his care for obliging her time wasting detours. Looking upon the rolling hills and meadows that was a quaint characteristic of Ponyville’s surroundings, his eyes instead settled on the greatest landmark for miles around. Canterlot Mountain. “I say they are scared, Neon. I see them desperately trying to hold on while the ground beneath them rises up. Soon, that mountain there will crumble under the weight of its own failures! The people won’t stand for the cruel trickery that has plagued their lives for this long!”

Solar smiled, looking upon a monument that soon enough, wouldn’t exist.

“How long will Speck take to regather her forces?”

The leader of the Disciples had not followed her more northerly allies. After what was supposedly meant to be a ground shaking piece information having been told, it was not just Neon who allowed themselves to be consumed by worry and hyperbole. By this much, the dying words of the enemy had succeeded in inflicting intended damage. Speck did now allow herself to show this infliction, ever the unreadable Pony she was, but having started that interrogation full of blood lust and a desire to initiate savage rituals, her concluding persona was one struck down from her from the alien cultural pedestal that she proudly stood atop , down to the point of quiet contemplation.

“Don’t think she is. Think she’s going to get her people ready for what comes next, now things are even more complicated. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea, Sol?”

Solar’s head span intuitively towards his condescending comrade. Her jokes were often contradictory to his plans on the best of days, but using that joke as a pathetic mask to hide her willingness to stoke division in the Night was an unfortunate confirmation of earliers feeling. That responsibility had been disproportionally placed upon his shoulders.

“You’ve wasted enough time with this fruitless venture, Neon. What that degenerate held was not worth it, as you told me it would be. I swear if I didn’t enjoy squeezing the life out of that cretin then this conversation really would be playing out differently.”

That was that, as far as Solar was concerned. Why he had not enraged himself with the reminder that prior to all this, his patience for Neon’s theories was at all time low, that much seemed unknown. He was a vindicated figure now, and while there remained equality in leading the NG, it was not Neon who carried the half of responsibility with any sort of legitimacy. True leadership belonged to he who saw the proverbial hour glass quickly depleting. When so much time had been wasted as it had been, the logical course of action was to strike back against those who tried to infiltrate and break Ponyville. The Guards that had been sent here had come in hope that they could reclaim the town, as if their vile souls believed themselves entitled to such a freedom loving place. Solar was of course under no illusion that Ponyville’s citizens would suddenly take up arms and concede themselves to the command of the Night, but it was a project made possible due to the increasing alignment of one Twilight Sparkle towards the light of the Night.

Ponyville, having become somewhat of a home base since the withdraw from Canterlot, needed further work, and remembering that Twilight now played a part in it, this was the next call to action, the next battle. Solar was a commander, and fighting every little scrap as if he were just a common solider was far from ideal. If this town were to be a headquarters, then his work would remain here, not where a few audaciously foolish Guards decided to take a stroll.

“H-hey!” Cried Neon, having watched Solar totally disregard her pleas and take aim back towards civilisation. “You seriously just going to let this go? If this turns out to be true, and those apes have bee-“

Stubborn and indomitable. That was what Solar admired in Neon. Alas, strong personalities, when pitted against each other, clashed spectacularly. Neon had become part of a strange form of family to him, but following the path she currently was, as if it were a parasite burrowing into her mind, then strong personalities be damned. It was his will only that mattered.

“I said drop it!” Solar retaliated, the mere thought of some convoluted plot involving the Human’s one going back centuries, causing his eye to twitch. No doubt Victus and his people were not innocent in their motives, the willingness of them to align with the Night confirming this to the moon and back. Yet this was a desire older than any apparent past visit. The desire of power and influence was a universal one, and whatever strange place they came from, for now at least, Solar was confident in at least guiding the hunger that came from yet another ambitious species, and the emotional cravings of a Human who above all, wished to please those back at home.

“I’ll drop you.” Came a quiet, almost muttered response. Solar’s head was now firmly targeted it’s dagger like eyes towards the source of this insult. That of an oblivious, disgustingly sweet Thestral, was the one that stared back. Were this any other Pony, then they would have discovered what happened to Enkindling was a pure mercy. Neon however, for better or for worse, was perhaps the only Pony in Solar’s history that could say they not only challenged him, but did so foolishly and dangerously, while managing to live to tell the tale. Sometimes, a filly had to be treated as such.

“Fine. Do what you want. Maybe you’ll see sense and actually assist the Ponies that need us. Those who are fighting this war!” A simply dismissal, that was all Solar could manage in place of rage. It was curious that this time however, such a ludicrous and contrary plan, compared to his own, was let off so easily. Why this was the case, Solar began to endlessly ask himself. Why this Human conspiracy was one he simply just wished to ignore, as if it didn’t exist, plagued his fierier, destructive side.

He dare not admit it, but unbeknownst to the identity that had dominated his path in recent times, concern had already set in. What had been so evident until now, a clear coherent destiny, was just that little bit less so now. However loathsome the thought would be, should he allow it to be so, but accepting Humanity were so much more than they appeared, that was a front of this war left completely undefended. Enkindling’s words had to be pure fear mongering, for that lack of preparation was the true fear here.

“Don’t worry, I will!” Spat Neon back, clarifying the fact that these commanders of the NG were not acting as one. “Hope that this works out for us. We can’t let her down now…”

And with that, Neon fluttered off. Solar did not theorise on her destination, having failed on predicting that Thestral once too many times. In truth though, he was glad to be rid of her. The parting look of sorrow offered to him did little to sway him from any costly change in strategy. Neon believed what she did, the belief shared by her more savage kin also, and that much Solar could respect. Dignity and consistency were qualities sorely lacking in today’s world, but purity, however hopeful in achieving, would not win this war. Belief had forced this war through the sheer denial infested within the Day and now, belief had tragically cast Neon into a different direction to his own.

Solar was alone now, in more ways than one. Reliable responsibility had now been even further slammed down upon him, continuing that disproportionate burden.

Having championed the war for the grace of the Night, it seemed cruel fate that Solar would have to fight the cause to an even more oppressive degree.

Expected perhaps. This was the tale of Solar’s life ever since he was abandoned in life from such an early age. Solitary duty had blossomed into something that had both gifted him with friendship and love, yet had also pressured him unfairly to levels that always seemed to increase.

Alone, Solar walked into Ponyville, a sort of bitter mirroring of when he first entered this town not too long ago, with a heart lonely and burdened, but seemingly incapable of sharing that trouble with anypony else. Now Neon was not here, neither was Luna.

The sun was fast setting, and Solar’s energy had been drained through physical and emotional difficulty. He needed a rest….

---

The established “HQ”, despite providing him with a secure place to sleep, did not feel as if it lived up to its namesake. Granted, the place had been spruced up a fair bit since he was last here, ramming through walls. Doubtless Neon had something to do with this, which was an annoying reminder that she had parted. Still, the place was dark, disorganised and lacked any sort of confidence in its hope in serving the elite of the NG sufficiently.

Worst of all, it was not a luxurious, tower view room back in Canterlot. Solar truly did not care for the pristine nature of the place, having slept in far worse placed than even a hole in the mud before, but that pretentious horror was closer to Luna. Closer to a place where his heart lay, and where his own hope would bloom into a picture perfect world.

A run down house in a provincial town was not this place. Far from the beating heart of Equestria, yet always in taunting view of it, Solar awoke after an unusually long sleep, just as the tail end of summers sun crept through cracks and dirty windows. He was alone, and when success in battle was found in numbers, this reality did not make for a pleasant experience. On the other hoof, it provided him with uninterrupted clarity of what he should do next, with little reason not to escape this solitude.

Right now, so that Celestia may feel every portion of pressure capable of being inflicted by his NG, the focus should be attack, attack and again, attack. The Ponies of the land would make the first attack up, so that when the final battle came, the Night would not have to slaughter countless innocents, whose minds had only been allowed to be corrupted by the Day.

So alone he may be, but provided that his truth may be seen by enough, that loneliness should lessen in a short amount of time.

Leaving the safe house, the first call of action however, was a far more primal one.

He needed to eat.

Thanks to his perhaps uncalled for sleep in, Ponyville’s markets and restaurants were open and bustling, and again thanks to Neon, a nice bag of bits was awaiting for him in the house.

Solar was not a fussy Pony when it came to eating. As was the case with his sleeping situation, that which was barely even suitable for a life form had been tried and tested many times before, Solar could and would eat anything if it meant not poisoning him, so faced with so great selection of food, a quick decision would not be hard to find.

“How much for that?” Solar demanded of a street food seller. Something quick and easy was picked as being the most efficient way of consuming right now. Yet the somewhat startled owner of the sandwich stall did not take Solar’s, admittedly direct, question with much reciprocated enthusiasm.

“T-This, sir?” What was so scary about Solar’s appearance, he could not say. Solar’s scars was just that, scars. He was not hideously deformed because of them, but such was the gentle nature of Ponykind, an infliction brought down from the top of the powers of the Day, this was enough to cause alarm. Usually Solar could say he was used to this sort of interaction with the public, but when enough time had been wasted at it was, and now, he actually had responsibility, quivering conversations were not beneficial to his mental state at all. Especially when he was hungry.

“Look! Unless you’re a blind idiot, you’ll know I indeed was referring to the lettuce and tomato one. So don’t waste both mine and your time by questioning your customers as if you don’t want any of their money. Got it?” If only the Pony knew how important he was, with the fate of Equestria resting upon him. Maybe then he would hurry up with the given order without beginning to sweat like lost foal. “Yes that one! For bucks’ sake, what’s wrong with you?!”

Fear did a lot to a Pony. In small doses, dread against a threat gave one enough realisation that should they not beat that fear, then only further dismay will come down upon them. It gave an individual reason enough to stay alert, without believing themselves safe from the threat to bring on cockiness. Solar feared the tyranny of the Day, the venomous tendrils that had constricted the collective spirit of the citizens of Equestria. Solar feared them because as shown with this shop keep, weakness had become the majority of the land.

“Oh Celestia! Please, I’m sorry. Forgive me sir!” Now, as shown embarrassingly here, unregulated fear was of no benefit at all. It made a Pony soft and malleable, just as the Day wanted of its subservient population. So when faced with an almost trivial upset, such as a Pony with an appearance telling of the actual world, they folded in on themselves and become whatever Solar was currently witnessing.

“Are you even sure you want my bits? You damned fool!”

It made Solar cringe with despair at the demobilised essence of the Ponies of Equestria on show right now, when all he wanted was a just a literal sandwich. He thanked the Empress that this tragedy had been somewhat expected, thanks to fighting against those who had caused it, so as the stall Pony finally managed to retrieve the chosen sandwich, no audience stood there to also witness this mess.

Except one Pony.

“Well, you’re one sweet talker, aint you?”

The distinct butchering of comprehensible speech, that being a one of a country accent, was then suddenly heard behind him, as Solar begrudgingly parted with a couple of bits, coin he knew were not deserved by a seller that could barely even sell.

“What?” He shot back uncaringly, not one for idle chit chat with strangers.

“I’m just saying you’re colder than an uneaten pie on a winter’s day!” Pulling an attached wagon of apples behind her, there now stood a bright gamboge Earth Pony, sporting a brown Stetson as if to truly complete the tired stereotype.

A joke as the blonde maned Pony may be, and audacious beyond all belief, she had somewhat of a point. Solar was who he was, and made no apology for the Pony he had turned out to be. His personality, apparently so cold, was one required for the age he found himself in. Chilling necessity, a brutal nature and a powerful will were all needed so that in time, the blinding glow of the Day may be extinguished, and the fake warmth of which Celestia’s minions found solace in, would be soon made ice cold.

“Imagine that. Somepony with a spine.” He said back, wishing only to eat now in peace.

But the Pony did not too part ways with him. As if she were taking the apples to the exact same direction as he, she followed Solar with perhaps the most condescending raise of an eyebrow.

“Y’know, I’m really struggling to picture some Pony like that…”

An insult that Solar could not ignore. Bait as it may be, but Ponyville would soon have to be his. A collection of souls to use against Celestia, and having even just one pesky annoyance among them was not only counter to that goal, but on a more personal level, too much of an insult not to punish.

“Excuse me?” He spat, stopping so that his muzzle almost met hers. “Don’t think some hick would know their right hoof from their left, let alone everything about me!”

The Earth Pony did not react. Appearing as uninterested as ever, her arrogance, upon further inspection, seemed nothing more than an overwhelming overconfidence in her physical strength, should this confrontation escalate. Foolish, Solar knew. She looked strong indeed, but what use was muscles born of monotonous farm labour when Solar’s own had been perfected through years of battle, tribulations and death defying challenges?

He did not wish to smack down some random peasant in the streets, but by the Empress, Solar swore that insolence would never fester while he was here to assure Ponyville’s purity.

Yet she still stood her ground, unmoving and unimpressed, as if pride was ever a suitable defence against power. So if this indeed was the path she chose, then let her realise the consequences of ruining the day of a Pony far greater her superior. One who’s job couldn’t be replaced on a whim.

“Apple farmer, huh?” He noted, stalking around the Pony towards the basket of red orbs. Picking one up, Solar inspected the fruit, if only to somehow aggravate its owner. He knew not what made a good apple and did not care to find out, but unable to eat his sandwich, the moment was simply to delicious not to take.

“Enjoying them sugarcube?” She asked, drooling with sarcasm. “These here beauties were grown through the hard work and sweat of my family! Good old honest work, Y’know?” Solar was truly fortunate that this Pony had not ended her prideful statement without patronizing him any further. For the apple he had spitefully bitten into was not just some other piece of fruit that he would only eat to survive, in any other circumstances. His mouth rushing with flavour, only his anger saved him from surrendering to the obvious care and love put into the produce. Falling back to insult and paranoia, Solar disregarded this rare enjoyment, all so that he may deny the momentary enemy any further ground.

“You don’t know the first thing about what work I’ve done in my life!” Some random off the street truly did not deserve the poison that Solar threw. The beauty in his current life was that he may shape the future as few Ponies could ever do so, all while remaining relatively anonymous to the world. That was why, despite the whole world by now knowing about a brutal skirmish in the heart of Canterlot, he was here unopposed, his face not labelled as some sort of murderous agitator. But to be challenged as if he somehow were not honest in his intentions was something too far. What trials could some simple farmer go through that matched to the bloodshed and literal war he designed? “You’ll never understand what it means to really work for something.”

Honest work wasn’t living day to day, attempting to falsify some sense of virtue. In pretending a life of laborious monotony was somehow the path to inner peace and earned pride, then this was a too well told lie. Even Solar himself had bought into this school of thought, albeit in his more criminal, cold sort of way. But he had dropped out, and had seen that however seemingly fulfilling a basic livelihood was, however blissfully ignorant one could get within that isolated lifestyle, the true road to honesty was accepting the very simple fact that things weren’t working, and life in actuality, was not good.

To be an honest Pony meant not only surrendering oneself to the desire of battle, that being against evil and corruption, but also being able to discard the entirety of a past that one may have thought themselves moulded by. To the forces of the Day, Solar was an evil agitator, somepony who wished only chaos upon the land. To everypony else however, even if they did not yet see it, he was a Pony bound by the honest fact that his life depended on altering the course of history, and the pursuit of the potentially new unknown.

“Uh huh?” The orange Pony questioned, raising her eyebrow more than even previously possible. Either she did not believe Solar’s words, pegging him as just another rude vagabond of some sorts, or she was being purposely antagonistic because instinctively, she distrusted him. This was an aliment inflicted by Celestia’s sponsored societal collapse, so now, every Pony was at each other’s throats.

This angered Solar. He however, would not subject himself to further torment at what was truly, a just another fire burning down what was left of Equestria.

“I’m done with you. Go back to your fields. It’s all you’ll ever be good for.”

Solar had to curse this town. Every Pony here seemed intent on pestering him, like the entitled beings they were. A minefield of individuals that would not leave him alone, even as he attempted to make good his escape. Now was no different, not as the hat wearing mare tailed behind him, as if no crate of apples were weighing her down.

“Didn’t you hear m-“

As he vented his frustrations, ideas of how to convert the town to his cause conflicted heavily with wishing to just plain out cease all interactions with its citizens. These contradictory hopes could have ruined him then and there, were it not for an audacious and very surprising reaction from his new pesterer.

“Y’know, I aint no Pony who’s got some psychology degree from one of them fancy schools in the big cities.” She began seriously, a hint of proud strength rallying her words. “I might not be cleverest Pony, and I’m sure as buckers behind that I’m not gentle like, but me and my family didn’t get to where they are now without a little sweat and elbow grease. Now say what you like to me, I sure can take it, always have! But don’t think for a cotton picking minute that you can frolic back into this here town, acting like you’re king of the castle and such, while also having the nerve to bring down my family!”

Solar withstood the chastisement, surprised that such a simple minded Pony had the willingness to stand up to her betters like that. Yet he was not intimidated. Why would he be?

“Ten eggs and a chicken coop says that you aint know a single thing either about me or my family.” Solar snorted a laugh. Of course he didn’t know anything about this particular peasant. While her life story, and the simplicity of her personality could be learnt in a single day, he knew all he needed to know about sheep in Pony form.

“I know enough.” He replied dryly. Under any circumstances, this was either a free attempt at leaving cleanly, or an invitation to fight. When he felt the hoof grab onto his back leg with surprising strength, the latter seemed inevitable.

“Oh yeah?” She questioned with a snort of her own. “Bet you an orchid and a pig pen that you don’t.”

Solar had grown quickly tired of her strange turns of phrase, not to mention the sheer foolishness of grabbing him. The stupid Pony opposite could see his patience wearing thin, so before Solar could either say a word or swing a hoof, she took the initiative.

“Mister, if you knew how hard we’ve been working these years, then maybe you’d have some good old decency to at least pretend you care about the place. Instead, it seem that y’all just aint better than them rotten apples messing up the place in Canterlot.”

Solar paused, and the Pony, unimpressed to Tartarus and back, began to actually make her exit. Only then did it begin to click, and only then did Solar begin to realise what he had done.

“Hey! Wait!” He cried, charging after the farmer Pony.

“What now you yuckin’?” She asked as if he had desecrated her ancestor’s graves.

“Who do you think I am then?” Perhaps this Pony knew more about him than he wished. Perhaps she didn’t. What mattered was that whatever came out of her mouth next, it wasn’t that he had marched through Canterlot with an army, intent on spilling blood.

That was an act he wished to be pegged on distant trouble. Not the Pony that wished to get Ponyville on side.

“Shucks. Not used to somepony telling you the honest truth hey?” Her condescending tone, one said as if talking to a foal, rubbed Solar all the way up the wrong side of his anger, but in an actual effort to not swallow his pride, he needed to withstand it.

“Well considering I’m meeting the Princess of Friendship, then perhaps you could tell me, or I could tell her some Pony hounded me in the streets, belittling me.”

The Pony stopped. Her face became emotionless, unreadable. She stared at Solar, wondering something while her target could only guess her intent.

“Belittling y’say?” She said deeply. “Huh. You can try telling her that. Not sure she’d believe you though.”

Clearly this Pony was a lost cause. Living such a simple life, caring little about anything put a good harvest, it was most likely the case that arguments and the fortunes of wider Pony kind meant little to her. Admirable, in a way,

“Why’s that?” Solar asked in parting, as the Pony restarted her journey.

“Because she’s one of my best friends, and when I too stroll over to that castle of hers, I got a haunch that she aint going to shoo away the element of honesty.”

Oh no

No apparent knowledge of his more clandestine, revolutionary actions. In fact, it could be the case, initially, that he was just another rude Pony, thinking this small town his own to play in. Instead, it was worse than he could ever have anticipated, and it was about to be even more so.

“Oh and like I said just a moment ago, I aint no fancy Pony with her head in some book. Don’t know much about you personally, but I just thought one of Luna’s own buddies would have had the common decency and head about him to keep his mouth shut and look stupid, then to open it and prove it. Especially around the ‘simple’ Pony with the apparent cahonies enough to come and collect said dirty mouth. To meet Twilight that is…”

This was Applejack. One of the element wielders, and a Pony who had rushed to the defence of Equestria far too many times.

Everything Solar had said had not only been flat out wrong, but downright stupid. Twilight had probably asked her friend to find him so that she may talk to him again, and what had he done? Misidentified her, insulted her and worst of all, maybe even set his goal to convert Ponyville back.

As he stood there, utterly stunned, the Pony now identified as Applejack stopped again, and turned her head around, the faintest of smug smirks on her face.

“Well, you coming or what? You’re starting to look like one of these here apples, the way you’re standing there all still like. Or is that all you’re good for? I wouldn’t know, I’m just a simple farmer…”

Author's Note:

Is it just me, or are things getting crazier?

Dont be surprised at Solar's apparent lack of tact and a sharp mind. To me, he's just becoming too consumed by single mindedness and fanaticism. Perhaps if he actually took the time to be professional and not be so consumed by hate and distant goals, he would have remembered the exact appearance of Applejack. Who knew turning the world over was a hard job?

Anyway, enjoy reading folks! God knows we all need distractions during these interesting times

Comments

[KillerJacob04]

NICE Loving This Story So Far But When is The Story Going Back To Rainbows POV?

[miraak]

10780151
Agreed